Team USA roster for basketball, where's AI?

[africas seed]

Bryant, James, Wade among those on U.S. rosterBy Chris Sheridan
ESPN Insider


Josh Howard, Luke Ridnour, Shane Battier, Rashard Lewis and Brad Miller are among those going to training camp with Team USA. Lamar Odom and Allen Iverson are not.

Through league sources, ESPN.com has learned the identities of the 22 NBA players on the preliminary roster for the U.S. national team, whose director, Jerry Colangelo, will make the news public Sunday.

NBA players on Team USA's training camp roster
Carmelo Anthony, Denver
Gilbert Arenas, Washington
Shane Battier, Memphis
Chauncey Billups, Detroit
Chris Bosh, Toronto
Bruce Bowen, San Antonio
Elton Brand, L.A. Clippers
Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers
Dwight Howard, Orlando
Josh Howard, Dallas
LeBron James, Cleveland
Antawn Jamison, Washington
Joe Johnson, Atlanta
Rashard Lewis, Seattle
Shawn Marion, Phoenix
Brad Miller, Sacramento
Chris Paul, NO/Okla. City
Paul Pierce, Boston
Michael Redd, Milwaukee
Luke Ridnour, Seattle
Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix
Dwyane Wade, Miami
 

The list includes All-Stars Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Gilbert Arenas, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Chauncey Billups and Paul Pierce, but it does not include two players -- Iverson and Odom -- who were members of the 2004 U.S. Olympic team and had expressed strong interest in playing again for USA Basketball.

Among those who declined to play were Kevin Garnett, Jermaine O'Neal, Vince Carter, Ray Allen, Jason Kidd, Tracy McGrady, Richard Hamilton and Tayshaun Prince.

Colangelo has not revealed all of the players he has invited, but sources around the NBA helped ESPN.com compile the following list of players who have been asked to report to training camp in Las Vegas in mid-July and who are expected to attend.

The entire roster includes Carmelo Anthony, Arenas, Battier, Billups, Bosh, Bruce Bowen, Elton Brand, Bryant, Dwight Howard, Josh Howard, James, Antawn Jamison, Joe Johnson, Lewis, Shawn Marion, Brad Miller, Chris Paul, Pierce, Redd, Ridnour, Amare Stoudemire and Wade.

In addition, Shaquille O'Neal has a standing invitation to join.

Three young players will be added to bring the training camp roster up to 25, with Gonzaga's Adam Morrison, Duke's J.J. Redick and Indianapolis high school star Greg Oden currently the leading candidates to get those spots.

The list of invitees includes seven of the NBA's eight leading scorers (Iverson is the exception) and two of the top three rebounders (the exception is Ben Wallace, who was interviewed by Colangelo but did not want to play.)

Billups will attend training camp but is not expected to compete at the 2006 World Championship in Japan because his wife, Piper, is due to give birth to their third child in late July or early August. Also, Redd is not expected to play in Japan, either, because of his wedding plans.

The Americans plan to take 15 players to Japan (including three who would be inactive for the Worlds). By removing Redick, Morrison, Oden, Billups and Redd from the equation, there would be 20 players vying for 12 active roster spots.

Team USA Discussion
Jerry Colangelo, the managing director of USA Basketball's national team will appear live in the studio on Sunday's GMC NBA Nation at 12:30 p.m. ET on ABC to discuss the players on the team as well, as other issues and plans leading up to the 2006 World Championships and 2008 Olympics. 
Taking an educated guess, Bryant, James, Wade, Bosh and Marion would seem to be virtual locks for Japan, along with Miller (the only true center) and Arenas and Paul (the top two point guards). Brand and Dwight Howard would seem to have the edge for spots nine and 10 because of the team's need for size (we're keeping Stoudemire out of that group because he is recovering from knee surgery), which would leave Pierce, Anthony, Battier, Bowen, Josh Howard, Jamison, Johnson, Lewis and Ridnour competing for the final two spots on the active roster. Colangelo has said he would like to include at least one defense-minded role player on the active roster, and it would appear Bowen, Josh Howard and Battier will vie for that role.

Those players who do not go to Japan will remain on the larger national team roster through the 2008 Olympics. If the U.S. team does not win the World Championship, the team will regroup in 2007 for an Olympic qualifying tournament in the Americas zone.

The U.S. team will be coached by Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, who will be assisted by Phoenix Suns head coach Mike D'Antoni, the Portland Trail Blazers' Nate McMillan and Jim Boeheim of Syracuse University.

The World Championship begins Aug. 19, with the Americans in a preliminary round group in Sapporo, Japan, that includes China, Slovenia, Puerto Rico, Italy and Senegal. The U.S. team is planning a pretournament trip to South Korea and China to play exhibition games.

Training camp is scheduled to take place July 18 to 25 before the team takes a five-day break. It will then reconvene for an exhibition game in Las Vegas, likely against Puerto Rico, before the team plane leaves for China on Aug. 4 with 15 players aboard.
 





im surprised allen iverson aint there as he has shown loyalty and committment to thte program before where as others have not and he has openly expressed that he wants to be on the team.
im also interested in seeing guys like Oden straight outta high school to see how good this guy really is. i think the team looks pretty good as they also have some key role players  to complement the stars.

[7even]

Allen Iverson will be an old fuck by 2008. The US has plenty of good guards. McGrady and Carter ain't there either.

[africas seed]

^^^ iverson will be old but is still a leader and has usually been their for Team USA and a little veteran leadership aint all that bad. carter and mcgrady turned down the offer to play for their country.,

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

It sucks that they didn't select Odom, cuz he was the only upside to the the last USA team...

[7even]

Im suprised too, but let's not act as if they needed Iverson. It's not about the roster, cause either way they have better individual players than any other team. It's about the team, we'll see if they do better than last time.

[africas seed]

the team is def solid on paper for sure and is easily better talent wise than any other country out there. the thing to me that was lacking in their last few teams were players who could consistently shoot the ball well and who played wit a passion to want to win.

[$do11a biLL$]

Luke Ridnour? are you fucking kidding me?

[h cottie is bac-tive?]

i think the reason they chose this lineup was to get a sense of team unity rather than ALL all-star players. like what happened last olympics, they had amazingly talented players, but they didnt play well together.

i say they put in the DET starting 5 to play the international teams, they wud probly whoop some ass and win the GOLD. SHEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDD is $$$ in any language 

[wcsoldier]

Finally US start to understand they need to build a team and not just a bunch of superstars. Believe it or not, Brad Miller, Billups, Redd, Shane Battier, Jamison styles are filling international B-Ball perfectly.

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Luke Ridnour? are you fucking kidding me?

LOL, seriously...Might as well select Smush Parker and maybe even Tierre Brown.

[herpes]

Iverson was one of the only guys that played with heart at the last olympics.  He took a leadership role an really represented this country well an get now he gets slapped in the face like that.  And 7 AI will only be 33 when the next olympics role by, not like hes goin be 40 when that time roles around.

[Javier]

Ridnour is one of the leauge's best passers, top 10 passer

[Now_Im_Not_Banned]

Ridnour is one of the leauge's best passers, top 10 passer

Overall, Ridnour is not even an all-star caliber player, let alone a USA olympic team caliber player.

[K A I N]

It don't matter they gonna get raped.

[Javier]

Ridnour is one of the leauge's best passers, top 10 passer

Overall, Ridnour is not even an all-star caliber player, let alone a USA olympic team caliber player.

On that roster, he's still last on that PG Depth Chart so it doesnt matter.. Him being a PG with Above Average Pass Ability should fit well with a team anyway just as much Bruce Bowen fits there as a Defensive Specialist.  He also holds on to the ball pretty damn good, another above average ability he has.  His weak spots are him not being an efficient shooter and not being a good scorer, but there's no need for that if the team is planning to fill the rest of the lineup with scorers.