USA National Team 2012 Olympics

[OliveButtercup]

Stupid question, but I was hoping someone could give me an idea of the seeding as mentioned above as it pertains to actual games. It may be reaching but I have tickets to a semifinals game 8/4/12 and was hoping to luckily see the USA team play. Hope that made sense...thanks

[CKR13]

Since Chauncey Billups will be out for the season and may not be ready to participate in the national team training camp, Jerry Colangelo stated that USA Basketball will not replace Billups. Colangelo expressed concerns about the possibility of serious injuries of the names in the twenty man pool.

USA Basketball doesn’t plan to replace Billups

[CKR13]

More hype-up of the USA-Spain showdown. This time between teammates Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. Both are teammates for now, but in six months, both would be fiercely competing against one another.

Kobe & Pau: Lakers teammates, Olympic opponents

[CKR13]

Kobe Bryant said that his wrist is fully healed and it will not be a problem in the London Olympics.

Kobe: Wrist Healed; Will Play ’12 Olympics

[Dtown]

Team USA reportedly will play Spain in Barcelona in a pre-olympic warm up

http://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/219006/Team_USA_To_Play_Spain_In_Barcelona

[CKR13]

In Barcelona? Wow, this is like what happened twenty years ago with the original Dream Team that dominated in the Barcelona Olympics.

[CKR13]

According to Kobe Bryant, the 2012 Team USA roster for the London Olympics will be better than the Original Dream Team.

Kobe Bryant: USA will field most powerful Olympic team ever

[CKR13]

Team USA will play Argentina and Spain as a test match.

http://espn.go.com/olympics/basketball/story/_/id/7578677/spain-united-states-argentina-play-olympic-basketball-warm-event

[Raze Lupin]

Team USA needs to warm up against Brazil!

[Raze Lupin]

USA has a problem with injuries to its 2012 Olympic training roster. Looks like injuries could keep the following guards out of the Olympics;
Kobe Bryant(wrist tendons)
Eric Gordon (knee surgery)
Derrick Rose (back spasms)
Chauncey Billups (Achilles rupture).

With the condensed season more injuries to team USA training roster are likely. I think possible replacements should be:
#1Rajon Rondo, No particular order;Raymond Felton, Ty Lawson, Kyle Lowery, jeremy Lin, Monta Ellis

[rikhardur]

USA - Bryant: "I'm not letting Pau get a free run at a gold medal"

LOS ANGELES (NBA/Olympics) - The Los Angeles Lakers went through some pretty radical changes ahead of the 2011-2012 NBA season, but one very important constant has remained intact: Kobe Bryant is still the face of the storied franchise.

The 33-year-old, now in his 16th season, is chasing a sixth championship and is also a very likely candidate for the USA to go after a second gold medal at this summer's Olympic Games.

Before London beckons, Bryant will look to lead the Lakers to their 17th championship and match the Boston Celtics for most NBA titles.

That will be no mean feat for a team that has had a busy off-season to say the least.

It began with the retirement of legendary head coach Phil Jackson, who was summarily replaced by Mike Brown.

In December, after the NBA lockout ended, LA changed up its roster, most notably trading Lamar Odom - last season's Sixth Man of the Year and a member of the USA's 20-man preliminary squad ahead of this summer's London Olympics - to the reigning champions Dallas Mavericks.

A three-team blockbuster deal that would have seen Pau Gasol leave California in return for Team USA point guard Chris Paul was revoked by the NBA, but the Spaniard's name is still mentioned in trade rumours on a daily basis.

As for Bryant, he gave Lakers fans a huge fright when injuring his right wrist in pre-season and a spell on the injured list looked inevitable.

However, one of the league's toughest players decided a torn ligament was not going to mess his campaign and he has played through the pain.

With so much change taking place within the franchise and so little time to prepare for a compact season, Bryant and the Lakers got off to a slow start but have steadied the ship somewhat in recent weeks.

FIBA.com caught up with Bryant to talk about the current season and look ahead to this summer's Games.

FIBA: Kobe, where do you feel the Lakers are at this moment in time? Are you encouraged by your recent play?
Bryant: We just don't have a big margin for error. It's really not that bad. We play very well for long stretches of the ball games but then we have a couple of minutes where we don't execute well defensively and teams tend to bust us open in those stretches. It's not as bad as the record may indicate. There's a lot of positives here and we're close to really turning the corner and we really have to keep at it.

FIBA: The Lakers are among the oldest teams in the league. Is that playing against you in this compact season?
Bryant: We're not necessarily young and we've been around the block twice. In this particular season it may take a little longer for us to get going.

FIBA: You're in your 16th NBA season and have accomplished everything. What keeps you motivated?
Bryant: (Winning a) sixth ring. I'm obsessed...I got to get it, it's what I play for. I can think of nothing else. As a kid growing up, that's all I saw. I watched Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan winning multiple titles. You grow up thinking that's how it should be. This is what I must do. Then after you win one, you become addicted to it, you win two and three. You get greedy. I want another one.

FIBA: Speaking of wanting more, can we expect to see you in London at the Olympics going for a second gold medal?
Bryant: I'm definitely going to play. I'm looking forward to it, if anything else just not to let Pau (Gasol) win a gold medal (laughs). I'm not letting Pau get a free run at getting a gold medal.

FIBA: One USA player who likely won't be in London is Chauncey Billups because of the injury he suffered recently.
Bryant: Hopefully he'll still be there. I'd be surprised if he wasn't there in some capacity, helping out some of the younger guards. He did a great job helping Chris Paul a lot at the beginning of his career. I know Chris views Chauncey as almost a big brother. Chauncey did a great job showing Chris the tempo and pace of the game and things like that.

FIBA: What are your thoughts on the USA's preliminary squad?
Bryant: We have so many great players, it's a good problem to have. The challenge has always been to put a good mix of players that play well together. It's not necessarily getting the best players but it's finding the players that fit together the best.

FIBA: But if you, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony all play, the USA will have no shortage of star power. That can be intimidating for any of your opponents.
Bryant: It's not about star power. It's really not. It's about putting a group together that plays well together. Spain play extremely well together, Argentina play extremely well together and so forth and so on. That's going to be our challenge.

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/news/presRele/p/newsid/50612/presReleArti.html

[CKR13]

More comparisons and hypothetical match-ups between 2012 Team USA vs. The Dream Team.

2012 USA basketball team heading to London Olympics is better than the 1992 Dream Team

[NorCal]

More comparisons and hypothetical match-ups between 2012 Team USA vs. The Dream Team.

2012 USA basketball team heading to London Olympics is better than the 1992 Dream Team

As others have pointed out before- the thing about the '92 Dream Team was what their career accomplishments were by the end of their playing days. This 2012 team could be better than the '92 team on paper simply because they have almost everyone on the projected team in their prime years whereas the '92 team had 2 out of its top 3 players historically speaking well past their primes for age and health reasons- Magic and Bird. Also, the '92 team had Laettner.

So, better on paper, possibly. But, as the article states the historical significance of this 2012 team will be based upon its results in these upcoming games as well as the further accomplishments of the players down the road.

[CKR13]

TEAM USA

[Dtown]

Team LISA err USA!

Alright so we won't be the best looking team at the tournament....