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Tweet of the Day: USA Basketball Loading Up

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Kevin Durant, Mike Krzyzewski, Jerry Colangelo and Kevin Love at a USA Basketball announcement in 2013. (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

Kevin Durant, Mike Krzyzewski, Jerry Colangelo and Kevin Love at a USA Basketball announcement in 2013. (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

The World Cup just ended, right? I’m sure of it. I watched it. Germany beat Argentina one-to-nil in extra time, thus ending two months of highly anticipated, very engrossing fútbol (spelled as such so as to not confuse it with American football).

Well, it is and it isn’t over. FIFA has had its fun, and its time in the spotlight is now over. Now, we look forward to the 2014 FIBA World Cup—the World Cup of basketball.

With action set to tip off August 30 and the groups having already been drawn, all that remains is for each country’s national team to set their rosters. The USA Men’s National Team will begin training in Las Vegas at UNLV a week after NBA Summer League ends.

USA Basketball chairman and National Team managing director Jerry Colangelo announced the NBA athletes who have been invited to training camp Monday.

Vying for space on the depth chart in the backcourt are Derrick Rose, Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, Stephen Curry, James Harden and DeMar Derozan. Paul George, Gordon Hayward, Kyle Korver, Chandler Parsons and Klay Thompson will vie for the small forward position.

Curry and Thompson were the only pair of teammates to make the initial roster.

Competing for the power forward spot are Kevin Durant, Kenneth Faried, Blake Griffin and Kevin Love. Finally, rounding out the front court, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis and Andre Drummond will battle for the center position.

ESPN’s Marc Stein reports that Colangelo and head coach Mike Krzyzewski will likely announce later additions.

A couple players and their respective teams responded to the announcement.

With all of the superstars listed on among those vying for roster spots, there is a very real likelihood that players like Kyle Korver could still make the roster. Why? Because, among those having shot more than 75 attempts, he’s the league’s most efficient three-point shooter, having made 47.2-percent.

Coach K talked about some of the other players invited to join the roster, including Derrick Rose’s who is coming off yet another season shortened by a knee injury.

Krzyzewski seemed rather impressed with the talented roster.

Looking at the roster of players who will be participating in the training camp I’m impressed by the success they had this past season and by what they have achieved in their careers. It’s valuable to have some veteran leadership who has won gold at the highest levels internationally.

“The list also includes some of the most exciting young players who could definitely contribute to this team. Myself and the entire coaching staff are excited to get things underway and as we’ve done each summer our team will strive to represent the United States with respect and a commitment to excellence that hopefully will make every American proud.”

Based solely on the 19 players already invited to training camp, the roster is deep enough and talented enough to make any basketball fan quite hopeful and anxious. A little over a month away, it’s already hard to wait for the world’s best basketball athletes to converge in Spain to compete for the first FIBA World Cup.

 

 

Previous Tweet Posts:

Tweet of the Night: Chandler Parsons Officially A Dallas Maverick, Rockets Bring In Ariza

Tweet of the Night: Paul Pierce Set To Join Washington Wizards

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Michael Brumagin writes the Tweet of the Day for SheridanHoops.com and is also a correspondent for BleacherReport.com.
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Comments

  1. Umm… Maybe this is because he wasn’t on a team at this point, or something, but what about Da King? Is LeBron not on this list because the reason above, is he simply skipping training camp, or…..Is he not even on the squad?

    • LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul are all sitting out this year, though none of them have ruled out the possibility of playing in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

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