So far there has been one worthy suggestion for Team USA’s most fitting new nickname: “The Unknowns.” By the end of this week, perhaps something else will be more fitting, like the “C-Deem Team.” I was the guy four years ago who dubbed the 2010 World Championship team the “B-Deem” team as it traveled to Turkey, learned of how hard it would be to not lean on Kevin Durant, and got out of Istanbul with the gold medal by trouncing the
Kevin Durant quit. Paul George broke his leg. So what do we have here? The darkest days for USA Basketball since 2004 (Athens Olympics, which opened with a 19-point loss to Puerto Rico)? Here is the news story on Durant quitting. Yes, quitting. This is shameful, in my opinion. No national team anchor has ever done this. The fact that it comes at the same moment that Durant is leaving Nike and finishing details of an unbelievably lucrative $325 million sneaker and apparel deal with
In a stunning development, Kevin Durant withdrew from Team USA today, explaining he could not accommodate his “responsibilities to the team from both a time and energy standpoint.” The news came as Durant was switching his athletic apparel and sneaker affiliation from Nike to UnderArmour. USA Basketball issued a news release in which Durant explained: “This was an extremely difficult decision as I take great pride in representing our country. I know that I owe it to my USA Basketball teammates
The first round of Team USA cuts have been made. Adios John Wall, Bradley Beal and Paul Millsap. The roster now stands at 16. They have to cut it to 12 — and they’ve said they will cut it to 12 before leaving later this month for the World Cup in Spain. They still have four point guards. They are back to having just one power forward. They have four centers, one of whom — Andre Drummond — played horribly in
Glen Taylor, the owner of the Minnesota Timberwolves, is a shrewd man. A shrewd man with a very valuable trade asset in Kevin Love. And while all indications are that Love will be traded to Cleveland for a package headlined by Andrew Wiggins, one has to wonder why Taylor would come out nearly four weeks ahead of time and say Love is likely to be traded on Aug. 23 or Aug. 24. Is Taylor doing everyone and their Google calendar a favor
Paul George was used to playing in an NBA arena. Unfortunately, the Thomas & Mack Center is not an NBA arena, and it did not have an NBA-type basket stanchion at both ends of the court. Bobby Gonzalez, the former Division I NCAA coach at Seton Hall and Manhattan, was at Friday night’s Team USA scrimmage in Las Vegas when George suffered his gruesome broken leg injury. In this interview with Howard David on ESPNRadio in New York, Gonzalez describes what he
Evelyn Wood can read this column in less than 30 seconds. You don’t have to. One sentence can sum up the offseason thus far for all 30 teams as July comes to an end. I will be a man of few words. We’ll do it alphabetically. [Read more…]
Paul George suffered a gruesome leg injury Friday night in Team USA’s intrasquad scrimmage when he went up to block a shot and came down against the basket support, his lower right leg buckling beneath him. [Read more…]