While its recent mainstays take the summer off, the United
States gets back to work Tuesday in Las Vegas, opening training camp for the
players competing for a chance to play in the world championships.
“I think everyone is antsy to get going again. It’ll be fun
because we’ve got a bunch of young guys who are very hungry and it’s a
different group,” USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said. “It’s
challenging, but it’s also exciting. That’s the way we choose to look at it.”
The new-look team still has plenty of talent, including NBA
scoring champion Kevin Durant, perennial All-Stars Amare Stoudemire and
Chauncey Billups, and Lamar Odom and Rajon Rondo, last seen on the court in
Game 7 of the NBA finals.
The camp roster includes 21 players who will practice
through Friday, working some of the time against a group of 20 college seniors.
The week ends with an intrasquad game Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack
Center.
The roster could then be trimmed before the team reconvenes
next month in New York to continue its training before leaving for Europe. The
world championships run Aug. 28-Sept. 12 in Turkey.
Colangelo won’t make any predictions about who will make the
final roster, saying the team is “just wide open as to what our plan is.”
Durant is considered a lock, having nearly made the team that played in the
2007 Olympic qualifier before he played his first NBA game.
There were no such questions about the roster the last time
the Americans played. Most of the team had been together three years before
they won gold in the 2008 Olympics, and the core of that team committed early
last year to return for another run.
But it wasn’t long before talk of free agency put the status
of Miami’s new trio in jeopardy. Those who aren’t under contract don’t have chance
playing in the summer, and though they’ve already signed their deals, it was
obvious they wouldn’t be taking part.
“That all took its toll. Everything centered around free
agency, certainly took the focus away from the world championships. We
definitely have our share of guys who couldn’t participate anyway,” Colangelo
said, citing injuries to Bryant, Paul, Deron Williams and Tayshaun Prince .
Carmelo Anthony was just married, and Colangelo said other
players just wanted some time off, so he decided all of them could have a pass
without jeopardizing their status in the program, calling it “no harm, no
foul.”
“All we do is focus on the world championships with
excitement about this group, outstanding young players to go with some
veterans,” Colangelo said.
Mike Krzyzewski and his coaching staff of Jim Boeheim, Mike
D’Antoni and Nate McMillan are back, and they’ll have some familiar faces in
camp.
Billups, Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler all were on the US
team that went undefeated in the FIBA Americas tournament three years ago, and
a number of players who will be in camp took part in a minicamp last summer.
Krzyzewski and Colangelo have both said the current national
team roster is better than the original one that was picked in 2006. The
Americans couldn’t handle all their withdrawals that year, finishing third in
the world championships.
This time, they feel the pieces are in place to win the
tournament for the first time since 1994. Otherwise, they would have to qualify
for the Olympics next summer — with the potential of a lockout meaning they’d
have to do it without any NBA players.
“We feel comfortable with what we have,” Colangelo said.
“Let’s just get the job done this summer.”
