U.S. senior men’s basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski should have enough talent to win the World Cup for a second straght time this September in Spain.
When Coach K’s team arrives at training camp in Las Vegas at the end of the month, he will have a 19-man roster that includes NBA MVP Kevin Durant of Oklahoma City, who was the MVP and the best player on the U.S. gold medal team at the 2010 Worlds in Turkey; All Star center Kevin Love of Minnesota and both James Harden of Houston and center Anthony Davis of New Orleans, two other holdovers from the 2012 gold medal team in London Olympics. He will also have franchise forward Blake Grffiin of the Clippers and lead guard Derrick Rose from the Bulls, the 2011 NBA MVP who could be a game changer if he is totally recovered an injured right knee that sidelined him for most of last season.
Durant, Love, Griffin, Davis, Harden and guard Steph’ Curry from Golden State should be locks to make the 12 man roster, along with Rose, if he is healthy.
“We’d like to see him play like the Derrick of old, because he’s one of the best players in the world, an MVP in the NBA,” Krzyzewski said during a conference call. “What we’ve heard is that he’s in great shape. Hopefully this would be a launching pad for him for a great NBA season this upcoming year.”
The U.S. will be missing several marquee names like forwards LeBron James of Cleveland and Carmelo Anthony of the Knicks and guards Chris Paul of the Clippers, who have all opted to sit out this pre-Olympic qualfier but have left open the possibility of playing in the 2016 summer games at Rio. Guard Russell Westbrook from Oklahoma City, a member of the 2012 national team, will also be absent after deciding to give his right knee a rest after undergoing three surgeries last season.
Even with the absence of future Hall of Famers, the U.S. should have more talent and versality than any of the 24 teams in the bracket and should have a fairly easy trip to the finals since Spain, Argentina and France — the teams with the most veteran experience– are in the other bracket. But the Americans will not be a total lock to win gold if they face host Spain in the gold medal game in hostile Madrid.
It is hard to tell how much interest this tournament will generate in the States, but the 2010 Worlds were a breakout moment for Durant and Love, who surfaced as young stars who made the Olympic roster two years later.
The winner of this tournament gets an automatic pass to Rio and the summer off in 2015.
If the United State’s loses, it will have to qualify next summer at an Olympic pre-qualifying tournament against teams from the Americas,
If nothing else, this will be a chance for younger stars like forward Paul George of Indiana and guards Kyrie Irving and Damien Lillard of Portland to gain international experience before the Olympics and a chance for Krzyzewski– who has a gaudy 43-1 record in international competition since 2006– to find an additional post like DeMarcus Cousins of Sacramento, Andre Drummond of Detroit and Kenneth Faried of Denver and locate a spot up, three point shooter like Klay Thompson of Golden State, Bradley Beal of Washington , Gordon Hayward of Utah and Kyle Korver of Atlanta in case the U.S. faces a big bodied zone.
The complete roster includes Durant, Love, Harden, Davis, Curry, Thompson, Irving, Griffin, George, Lillard, Hayward, Cousins, Beal, Drummond, Faried, Korver, DeMar DeRozan of Toronto and Chandler Parsons of Dallas. There is a chance guard John Wall of Washington could also be a late addition.
All have some level of experience with USA Basketball.
“The advantage of having a national team program like we’ve developed since Jerry (Colangelo) took over in 2005 is the incredible depth of talent we can draw from,” Krzyzewski said. “The commitment we receive from our players continues to amaze me and the fact that all of the players who will be in Las Vegas all have prior USA Basketball experience shows that the USA Basketball pipeline is working. The prior experience these guys have will help us with our continuity and jelling as a team as well.
Krzyzewski will slash the roster to 15 after Vegas and the team will play a series of exhibitions in Vegas, Chicago and New York before the 12 finalists charter to Europe, Aug 28.
Center LeMarcus Aldridge of Portland and forward Kawhi Leonard from San Antonio, the MVP of the 2014 NBA championship series, were invited but apparently opted for rest this summer after their long seasons, with Leonard also in the midst of negotiations on a contract extension with the Spurs. “We could only offer an opportunity and then they can either accept or not,” Colangelo said. “In Aldridge’s case, this has happened a couple of times previously, but the bottom line is he advised us he’s not available.”
