Photo credit: @poormanscommish of @LetsGoWarriors
MENDENHALL CENTER, LAS VEGAS, NV – USA Basketball’s Men’s National Team convened at Mendenhall Center today to take a team picture and for some light offensive drills.
“With this being a summer where we do not have an official competition that we need to prepare for, this year’s minicamp is an opportunity to continue and expand the brotherhood and camaraderie that has been built,” said Jerry Colangelo, Team USA’s managing director, last week when the 34-player roster was officially announced.
The selection process for the eventual twelve-man Olympic team that will head to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, next summer remains a fluid situation. Colangelo said today after the workouts were done that they may not have a “minicamp before the big camp” next year.
“We may just very well use the NBA season as the final look-see on all the players, and select twelve and go with our twelve players without a minicamp. That means twelve players would show up. We’d have a select group come in and scrimmage against them,” said Colangelo. “A lot of it has to do with the timing of the end of the NBA season, playoffs and how quickly we have to turn it around and be ready for Rio.”
Head coach Mike Krzyzewksi elaborated on the timing of the eventual selection process.
“A pool will probably be announced during the season, but the team would probably be announced after the NBA season. Wait until it is all over and announce it. And we will make a decision as to whether or not we have a minicamp. The Olympics come early. The gold medal game is August 21st,” said Krzyzewski.
Reporters learned to day that Andre Iguodala, who was a member of both the 2012 Olympic gold medal team and the 2010 World Championships in Instabul, was included on the list of invites. Iguodala, however, is currently on his honeymoon.
“He got married on Saturday,” said Krzyzewski. “He was willing to postpone his honeymoon. We said don’t do that. He was our defensive stopper in Istanbul, and on the 2012 team he didn’t play as much, but he was there.”
Among the NBA stars who may be out of the running: Damian Lillard and Derrick Rose. Both declined their invites.
Lillard told CBS Sports Radio in late July, “I don’t know why I would go (to the Vegas minicamp). After I got cut last summer, I don’t think I’m a part of it.”
Rose, according to his trainer Rob McClanaghan in an ESPN report, elected to stay in Los Angeles to “just be consistent with the workouts.” Rose is coming off an injury-plagued NBA season.
Back in action today was Kevin Durant, showing no indications of any problems from his healed broken foot as he made hard cuts on dribbling and shooting drills.
“I’ve been feeling great. This is about my fourth week really getting after it, and I’ve been feeling really good. It’s good to be back in a team setting,” said Durant. “I can go 100 percent. I’m not going to go five-on-five just yet. I’ll ease my way into that part, but everything else is no restrictions.”
Paul George did not attend the minicamp today, but according to a report from ESPN, had a one-on-one meeting with Krzyzewski last night and was excused from having to deal with media at Mendenhall Center this afternoon.
Per USA Today, LeBron James and Chandler Parsons are expected to make an appearance tomorrow on Day Two of the minicamp. There will be a scrimmage on Thursday night held at the Thomas & Mack Center.
Both Parsons (recovering from knee surgery) and James (resting from a grueling NBA Finals two months ago), therefore, will have fulfilled the commitment to Team USA as expected by Colangelo.
James is, of course, a shoo-in.
“We said this was a loosey-goosey kind of a meeting time we’re having here in Vegas, and some people have shown up like they were requested to do. Since we don’t have any kind of competition to get ready for, we could have that kind of attitude,” said Colangelo. “But, I’ve said very publicly that if LeBron wants to play next year, he’s got a spot. That’s his position. He’s earned that. He’s one of the great players of all-time, certainly in the NBA today, and he’d have a chance to play in his fourth Olympics and that’s pretty significant. We’d like to see him have that opportunity if he so desires.”
And, because there was no invite to decline, technically still in the running is (drum roll) Kobe Bryant.
“If he had a great year, it would be a great story for him to try to close out his career by winning a gold medal,” Colangelo told SheridanHoops. “The thing is, he’s going to have a lot of competition.”
“We made a point today with our team to say it hasn’t been like the twelve best. You could all vote for who the twelve best are. It’s how they fit,” said Krzyzewski. “Instead of saying someone is on the fringe, someone might fit exactly right when the time comes, because you can’t predict injury, contracts and personal (matters)…So, that’s what we need to do, is make sure we have guys who might come in and be game-changers, too.”
Said Colangelo, “We’ll be watching with the microscope all year long. We’re putting in some other methodology, a little bit that will be our vision of how we’re doing analytics.”
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