Team USA roster announced

GhostofBTT

GhostofBTT

Banned
Bring on the world! The 27 man roster was announced today to begin international competition to prepare for the 2012 Olympics. There are 9 returners from the 2008 gold medal squad, while three will not return (Kidd, Prince, Redd). In addition, Rajon Rondo and Andrew Bynum refused offers to join.

LaMarcus Aldridge,
Carmelo Anthony,
Chauncey Billups,
Carlos Boozer,
Chris Bosh,
Kobe Bryant,
Kevin Durant,
Rudy Gay,
Eric Gordon,
Danny Granger,
Dwight Howard,
Andre Iguodala,
LeBron James,
Al Jefferson,
David Lee,
Brook Lopez,
Kevin Love,
O.J. Mayo,
Lamar Odom,
Chris Paul,
Kendrick Perkins,
Derrick Rose,
Amare Stoudemire,
Dwyane Wade,
Gerald Wallace,
Russell Westbrook
Deron Williams
 
I'm glad the good players actually play now and take the team seriously after that terrible embarrassment in 2004. This team is going to be a ridiculous dunk show.
 
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So what three guys replace Kidd, Prince and Redd? I would think Durant and Rose are fairly easy selections, but the third could in a lot of directions. I think it could be David Lee, Granger or even Love depending on what they're looking for.
 
Durant has to be on this team to help stretch the D. Redd's long bomb ability will be severely missed. We could use Steph Curry or Mike Miller on this team.
 
imported_Tmoney12 said:
Durant has to be on this team to help stretch the D. Redd's long bomb ability will be severely missed. We could use Steph Curry or Mike Miller on this team.
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Gordon and gay are pretty good shooters, and I bet one of them makes the final team.

The biggest concern to me is the age of some of the players, particularly Bryant. Not only will he be 34 at the Olympics, but he will also have been playing in the NBA for 17 years, which is a ton of mileage on a guy who plays like he does.
 
GhostofBTT said:
Gordon and gay are pretty good shooters, and I bet one of them makes the final team.

The biggest concern to me is the age of some of the players, particularly Bryant. Not only will he be 34 at the Olympics, but he will also have been playing in the NBA for 17 years, which is a ton of mileage on a guy who plays like he does.
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He is still better than anyone on any of the other teams though.
 
GhostofBTT said:
Gordon and gay are pretty good shooters, and I bet one of them makes the final team.

The biggest concern to me is the age of some of the players, particularly Bryant. Not only will he be 34 at the Olympics, but he will also have been playing in the NBA for 17 years, which is a ton of mileage on a guy who plays like he does.
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I wouldn't be too worried about Kobe's age. It's not like he has to go through an 82 game season. It's 12-16 games counting the exhibtions, plus by 2012 he won't have to the main man anymore. Lebron, Wade or Durant will fill that role. If they're just looking for a shooter Granger would be a good fit too.
 
HawkeyeMike23 said:
I wouldn't be too worried about Kobe's age. It's not like he has to go through an 82 game season. It's 12-16 games counting the exhibtions, plus by 2012 he won't have to the main man anymore. Lebron, Wade or Durant will fill that role. If they're just looking for a shooter Granger would be a good fit too.
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Kobe has serious age concerns. He is 31 now, and it is taking him very long to recover from an ankle injury. In the history of sports, age is undefeated, and it will beat Kobe soon enough.

Kobe doesn't just play an NBA season. He routinely plays the full season, and four playoff rounds, which keep him playing from October to June. He has also been spending off seasons with Team USA for years, so he pretty much has one month of rest per year for the past decade.

In 2012, assuming he has a long playoff run, he will play a season of upwards 90-100 games. It will be his 17th season (Jordan played 15), and he has always been an attack the basket, get contact player.

There is plenty of reason to worry he may break down.
 
This would be my team as of now....not too concerned about having enough bigs....its a different game...

PG Paul, Williams
SG Durant, Wade, Bryant
SF James, Anthony, Granger
PF Bosh, Aldridge
C Howard, Lopez
 
EckoHawk said:
This would be my team as of now....not too concerned about having enough bigs....its a different game...

PG Paul, Williams
SG Durant, Wade, Bryant
SF James, Anthony, Granger
PF Bosh, Aldridge
C Howard, Lopez
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Boozer was on the '08 team, so he probably makes the '12 team because of expereince. Otherwise, I think that looks good. They may add Rose as another PG. The '08 team had three PG's and one center. Also, I think where you put Granger is a toss up between all of the good young swingmen, like Gordon, Mayo, Gay, or maybe a tweener like Odom, though that seems unlikely.
 
GhostofBTT said:
Kobe has serious age concerns. He is 31 now, and it is taking him very long to recover from an ankle injury. In the history of sports, age is undefeated, and it will beat Kobe soon enough.

Kobe doesn't just play an NBA season. He routinely plays the full season, and four playoff rounds, which keep him playing from October to June. He has also been spending off seasons with Team USA for years, so he pretty much has one month of rest per year for the past decade.

In 2012, assuming he has a long playoff run, he will play a season of upwards 90-100 games. It will be his 17th season (Jordan played 15), and he has always been an attack the basket, get contact player.

There is plenty of reason to worry he may break down.
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He's spent two offseasons playing for Team USA, I wouldn't exactly call that years. But my main point was he's not going to have to take over next Olympics. Lebron, Wade and Durant will be the go to guys. Kobe isn't going to need to play more than 20 mins a game, if that. He can pick and choose his spots. Save up his energy for key moments. The USA doesn't need to worry about qualifing next Olympics so he won't even need to worry about playing in those events.

The USA would win without him, a healthy Kobe will be great to have but it's not the difference between winning and losing the gold medal.
 
EckoHawk said:
This would be my team as of now....not too concerned about having enough bigs....its a different game...

PG Paul, Williams
SG Durant, Wade, Bryant
SF James, Anthony, Granger
PF Bosh, Aldridge
C Howard, Lopez
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I agree with that team minus Lopez. I think they probably go with another pg, which would be Rose. If they go with a big man, I think Kevin Love might be the choice, Colangelo and Coach K both are big fans of his.
 
HawkeyeMike23 said:
He's spent two offseasons playing for Team USA, I wouldn't exactly call that years. But my main point was he's not going to have to take over next Olympics. Lebron, Wade and Durant will be the go to guys. Kobe isn't going to need to play more than 20 mins a game, if that. He can pick and choose his spots. Save up his energy for key moments. The USA doesn't need to worry about qualifing next Olympics so he won't even need to worry about playing in those events.

The USA would win without him, a healthy Kobe will be great to have but it's not the difference between winning and losing the gold medal.
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Team USA doesn't just play in the Olympics. They also play in the FIBA tournaments, which was last in 2006, and there is another one this summer. Bryant is on both.

Also, Bryant is not needed to take over games. His use on the international team is as the stopper, and he is the best perimeter defender in the world. That is where his absence, or loss of a step, would hurt them most, because there is no one ready to step in a replace him there.
 
EckoHawk said:
This would be my team as of now....not too concerned about having enough bigs....its a different game...

PG Paul, Williams
SG Durant, Wade, Bryant
SF James, Anthony, Granger
PF Bosh, Aldridge
C Howard, Lopez
Click to expand...

I think Lopez will be a beast by the 2012 Olympics. Also agree with the Kobe age concerns.
 
GhostofBTT said:
Team USA doesn't just play in the Olympics. They also play in the FIBA tournaments, which was last in 2006, and there is another one this summer. Bryant is on both.

Also, Bryant is not needed to take over games. His use on the international team is as the stopper, and he is the best perimeter defender in the world. That is where his absence, or loss of a step, would hurt them most, because there is no one ready to step in a replace him there.
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Kobe won't play on the FIBA tournament this summer. It doesn't matter to the US since we won the last Olympics, we don't need to qualify like in 2006.

Kobe is a great defender, but his main contribution last Olympics was taking over in the gold medal game against Spain. The rest of the team defered to him over the last four minutes of that game.

The US will be fine defensively without a full strength Kobe. Wade and LeBron both really stepped up their defense last season after playing with Kobe in the summer and seeing his intensity. Also, Paul is a terrific on the ball defender.
 
This just shows how good the NBA is right now. This list is filled with athletic freaks who also have a ridiculous set of basketball skills.
 
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