by Sekou Smith, nba.com
USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo and head coach Mike Krzyzewski didn’t have a single bad option in choosing the 12-man roster that will chase gold at the Olympics in London.
LeBron James admitted as much here Saturday, after the decision was made and Anthony Davis, Rudy Gay and Eric Gordon were trimmed from the group of 15 that assembled here for
training camp.
“There wasn’t a guy, one through 15, who you couldn’t see making this team,†James said. “It’s too bad we have to cut at all. I wish there was a way you could take all 15 guys on this trip and have everybody get a chance to experience this process and how special it can be.â€
Cutting the roster was the first major step for Colangelo and Krzyzewski, whose job it is now to craft a cohesive unit from the 12 players who did make the cut – a star-studded bunch led by James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Tyson Chandler, Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook that was rounded out with Andre Iguodala and national team newcomers Blake Griffin and James Harden.
That list includes five players — James, Bryant, Anthony, Paul and Williams — that own gold medal from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Five more — Durant, Westbrook, Iguodala, Love and Chandler — helped the U. S. to gold at the 2010 World Championship in Turkey.
Carving a 12-man crew out of the 15 healthy, mostly, stars that showed up for training camp was the sort of endeavor most of the competition wish they had to endure.
“It’s the best challenge that you could have because everyone has been so committed,†Krzyzewski said. “The guys who were not selected are in our pool, and if someone did get hurt, they are already part of our team and could be seamlessly woven in at a later date. We really appreciate the commitment of all of these guys.â€
Linkback:
https://tubagbohol.mikeligalig.com/index.php?topic=52415.0
