Nine places confirmed on USA Basketball team as training camp for the 2012 London Olympics nears – NBA News
With the training camp scheduled to start on July 6th and the London Olympics just around the corner, Team USA received two set backs last week when Miami Heat stars Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh both opted out of the Olympics.
And now while the team is still figuring out with whom to replace Wade and Bosh, New Orleans Hornets rookie and number 1 pick of the 2012 NBA Draft Anthony Davis has sprained his left ankle severly and has been sidelined from the Olympics.
The Hornets released a statement today, confirming the injury to Davis and labelled him day to day. His chances of being healthy before the training camp commences are bleak.
USA basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo however believes that Davis could still be selected for the team and then later replaced if he was not fit enough to participate. However, a final decision is yet to be made on his role in the team. Lamar Odom has also opted out of the Olympics and said that he would spend the summer working with the training staff of his new team, the Los Angeles Clippers. Odom has had a dismal 2011-2012 NBA season and wants to be ready for the next season when he takes the floor as a Clipper.
Colangelo added 9 players now have guaranteed spots in the team. These are LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Deron Williams, all the players who won the gold medal in Beijing in 2008.
Also on the roster are Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love and Tyson Chandler and now only three spots are remaining in the team. For these places, a total of six players are fighting which include the likes of James Harden, Eric Gordon, Anthony Davis, Rudy g*y, Andre Iguodala and Blake Griffin and a final decision will only come after the camp is concluded.
The US team has lost key players due to injuries over the course of the lockout shortened NBA season. These include Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard, LaMarcus Aldridge, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh among others. However, the team management is not concerned about the roster as they know that James, Anthony and Durant can play at the power forward position.
They however have only 1 centre in Tyson Chandler which could be a problem, particularly against Spain who have three big men in Pau Gasol, Marc Gasol and Serge Ibaka. The training camp is scheduled to begin on July 6th and the final 12 man roster will be announced on July 9th.
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