Heres my team Rose/Rondo/Billups Curry/Gordon Granger/Igoudala/Gay Durant/Love Chandler/Lopez Reasonings Rose - Best point guard. Seems to have a good feel for the game and I like his chemistry with Durant. Gets to the rim at will. Rondo - Dude is a defensive beast. Also an underrated passer IMO. Billups - Need some veteran leadership. Ability to hit big shots. Curry - His game translates perfectly in FIBA. He's a zone buster. Gordon - Same as Curry. Not as good a shooter but better slasher. Granger - Works well with Durant. Great shooter. Igoudala - Defensive purposes. Great during fast breaks. Gay - Soild all-around game. Can take the ball to the rack. Durant - the best player on the team. Enough said. Love - Chuck Hayes of the US team. All hustles and rebounds. Chandler - Most important big for US. Basically the defensive anchor for this squad. Lopez - provides some low post scoring. Westbrook - His game doesnt translate to FIBA very well. Mayo - He's just not needed. We have plenty of players like him Odom - His head is just not in the game. Looks like he gained a good 10 pounds since the finals Wallace - Heard he didnt want to go overseas Evans - Injured Green - worst player on the team. Doesnt bring anything unique to the squad. McGee - He can make the team if Coach K decides they need another big man. Biggest surprise in the game today
I think Curry makes the team because you need a zone-busting jump shooter which is why Redd was on the team in 2008.
Good stuff, I agree with it all except I dont think Iggy is neccesary but i guess he will fill one of the two unneccesary roster spots, Id like to see McGee make the team as the 12th man, he shows flashes just like in the summer league.
Sorry, didn't mean to say that as if I were correcting. Just reiterating. But yeah, France doesn't have the experience but if that team sticks together, and guys like Beaubois, De Colo, Batum, Noah all continue to grow in the NBA that could be a really good team come 2012 I think Spain wins this competition, USA in second because we are still a much more talented team and Brazil has a really good frontcourt that should allow them to finish 3rd. Varejao, Nene, and Splitter and of course the backcourt whose PG name escapes me right now but is experienced and of course Barbosa. The Head Coach has also one the thing with Argentina so Brazil should be a really strong team in this tourney.
Blue team sucked balls in the scrimmage but then again, white team was stupidly stacked, bad job on the coaches for that. These are the players that stood out to me, anyone I don't mention isn't a knock against them because a lot of players simply didn't get many opportunities, the big guys especially. -JeVale McGee -Rudy Gay -Curry -Durant -Iggy Mentioned JeVale McGee because he had several points in a row that looked impressive which stands outs especially because none of the other big guys did much except Chandler. It was just a few moments for McGee but he made the moves look really smooth. Maybe it was just those moments and more time on the court would reveal he's not that consistently smooth, I dunno.
My final 15 are Russell Westbrook Derrick Rose Rajon Rondo Stephen Curry OJ Mayo Eric Gordon Kevin Durant Rudy Gay Danny Granger Andre Iguodala Jeff Green Kevin Love Brook Lopez JaVale McGee Tyson Chandler Cuts Chauncey Billups Tyreke Evans Lamar Odom Gerald Wallace
Final 12 man roster 2010 (IMO): Derrick Rose / Russell Westbrook OJ Mayo / Stephen Curry / Eric Gordon Kevin Durant / Rudy Gay / Andre Iguodala Kevin Love / Jeff Green Tyson Chandler / Brook Lopez I don't know why you guys are knocking on Westbrook so much. His jumper is consistently better than Rondo's which means he's more useful in zone-busting on the international level. Rondo's game translates the least to international play. Shooting is an elite skill in FIBA, and Curry can play the 1 or 2. Mayo also has been improving his ball handling but most importantly those guys are pure shooters. Also hopefully Jeff Green doesn't get cut. The team can run a Westbrook/Durant/Green trio on the floor and 3/5 of the OKC Thunder should be great for chemistry
so how many players actually make the USA team?? and was this game played just so the coaches could get a better look at them?
12 make the final team but final cut isn't until a couple weeks. This game was played to see who makes the training camp, which will be 14 or 15 players.
12 players make the final roster. Yes, these games and workouts are essentially try-outs for the invited players. If i remember right, there were originally 24 players for the invitationals
My guess of the 12 players. Rose/Rondo/Billups Iggy/Gay Durant/Wallace/Granger/Green Odom/Love Chandler With all the reports about the flexibility of the position of players, as well as the consistent defensive press. I guess they will be taking players that can play in multiple positions as well as defend. Can't see them taking out Odom just because of his experiance. All those rookies and sop will have to wait for another year or 2 ala Durant in the 2008 olympic.
Any team we field, even with second tier players, is gonna be by far the most talented team in the tournament, the only reason other teams beat us is because our lazy players refuse to learn how to defend a high school level pick and roll. Our national team would be better served to use role players who will do the little things, than stars who are not used to playing without the ball.
Good job. I did not see how Rondo's passing is underrated. Dude averaged 9 or 10 apg. would have won the Finals MVP if not for Kobe and Fakers winning the title
Like it or not, Rondo will be on the team. He can pressure the ball better than anyone else by far; only Westbrook is close in that regard. You can also pluck off Jeff Green, who didn't look very good to me despite his stat line. He still seems snakebit like he was in the Lakers series. I also follow the Thunder closely and wanted to give Green the benefit of the doubt, but he did not impress me. I would love to see Westbrook make it.
Yeah i meant to say underrated playmaker. I dont feel like he gets enough credit setting up his teammates for the easy bucket. And for the person who said Westbrook has a better jumper than Rondo. Westbrooks jumper is nothing to write home about. Rondo is better than Westbrook in every aspect except shooting and maybe athleticism. Rondo is the better defender, passer, and playmaker. Westbrook plays out of control sometimes.
