Team USA Men’s Basketball Roster Finalized
USA Basketball finally has a 12-man roster for the 2012 London Olympics and its a strong lineup full of NBA all-stars.
The full team lineup was announced on Saturday night by Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski.
Playing at center is Tyson Chandler who will have the support of forwards LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, Blake Griffin. Also on the 12-man roster are guards Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Russell Westbrook, Andre Iguodala and James Harden.
Speaking of the chosen roster Colangelo revealed:
“If someone had projected the 12 names six or nine months ago it might have had a different look. It’s a very versatile team that’s much more mature than they were in ’08. We think we’re deeper, we think we’re better.”
Also named as the teams three alternates in the event of an injury were Rudy Gay, Eric Gordon and Anthony Davis. Those three men can be called up at late as 48 hours before the team’s opening game on July 29 versus France.
The 12-man roster will now spend the next three weeks practicing together and playing in five exhibition games including matches in Washington, D.C., Manchester, England, and Barcelona.
When asked about the knee injury that limited his playoff play Blake Griffin said the injury is now healed and that he had proved that fact to coaches during camp.
In the meantime Team USA is full of experience on the world stage, both James and Anthony are competing in their third straight Olympics and the rest of the men minus Griffin and Harden have either earned a 2008 Olympic gold medal or a 2010 FIBA World Championship.
Team USA loaded with big guards and versatile wings should be able to create some interesting mismatches against their opponents.
