The national colors of Slovenia are red, white and blue, but for some reason they wear green as their national color when playing basketball. And technically, chartreuse is a shade of green. But damn, those were some ugly unis that Goran and Zoran Dragic were sporting. Watching the Americans’ 101-71 victory of Slovenia from the home office (I will be covering the tournament from Spain after pool play ends) gives you a different perspective. For instance, I thought Mark Kestecher and
NEW YORK — Two pieces of news to report after Team USA’s final exhibition game on American soil: They are going to bring only 12 players on the plane tomorrow when they fly to Grand Canary Island, and while they are in the air they will discuss whether Derrick Rose should remain the starting point guard. Four players will be cut Saturday morning, and the educated guess here is that those four will be Gordon Hayward, Kyle Korver, Chandler Parsons and
We now know that the deal sending Kevin Love to Cleveland will go down Saturday. Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and Miami’s 2015 first-round draft pick will go to Minnesota, and in a side deal Thaddeus Young will be sent from the Sixers to the Wolves for Luc Richard Mbah a Moute and Alexey Shved. Minnesota comes out with the last two overall No. 1 picks, Philadelphia comes out with an even worse team than before, and Cleveland comes out with …. In
Derrick Rose expects to play Friday night for Team USA against Puerto Rico, which will end a six-day reprieve from actually playing basketball. He has not taken part in scrimmages at practice since playing 24 minutes in a victory over Brazil last Saturday. Knee soreness and general precautionary reasons are what is keeping Rose sidelined, and should that really be a surprise? He has had surgery on each of his knees overt the past two seasons, and it takes players time
The summer is winding down, and things are about to get interesting for Team USA as they depart for Spain and push forward toward a much-anticipated matchup with the host nation in the gold medal game. Unless, of course, the United States and Spain do not make it all the way to the final. Hey, a Spain-USA gold medal game is NOT a certainty. Strange things can happen along the way. Ask Paul George, who is out for a year with a
NEW YORK — Derrick Rose will play Friday against Puerto Rico, we have been assured. Of course, knee soreness has a way of changing things — which was why Rose did not play Wednesday against the Dominican Republic. As I wrote Tuesday, Rose’s status and questions over his ability to play five games in six nights remain the biggest roster questions surrounding Team USA. As for the other cuts that will get the roster down from 16 to 12, Gordon Hayward now
It is always great going on the air with ESPN Radio in Lexington, Kentucky, because the hosts on that station know more about basketball than most folks have forgotten. Did you know that Anthony Davis used to be a ballhandler extraordinaire before undergoing a growth spurt that has turned him into one of the NBA’s top big men? That nugget of knowledge was one of many pieces of wisdom tossed around in this interview with hosts Chris Cross, Mike Cameron and Matthew
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. — Knee soreness kept Derrick Rose out of practice Tuesday, making it the third straight day he has not played any basketball. And that left Team USA officials wondering whether Rose will be capable of handling the rigorous World Cup schedule. Also, DeMarcus Cousins practiced Tuesday but listed himself as 50-50 for Wednesday night’s exhibition game against the Dominican Republic, an assessment that appeared to catch Mike Krzyzewski by surprise when the comment was relayed to the coach. It