USA Basketball minicamp

[awhom111]

Deron Williams and Andre Igoudala are the two players from 2012 who have expressed a willingness to play in 2014. That is smart on their part, even if they do not ultimately play, because spots on 2016 (hopefully not needing a team for 2015) will certainly be at a premium. Personally I think it is important to go all out to win in 2014. It would be much better to have the option of not playing in 2015 than to fall short in 2014 and have to play for three straight summers. I hope that the leadership and the players realize that 2014 is likely to be tougher than 2010 and it might be harder to duplicate the results with a less experienced roster.

Here would be my ideal 12 for 2014:
Irving, Williams, Rose, DeRozan, Thompson, George, Igoudala, Howard, Griffin, Anderson, B. Lopez, Davis

Here is what I think is a more realistic 12 although I would not be surprised if the team is younger:
Irving, Williams, Curry, DeRozan, Thompson, George, Igoudala, Leonard, Lee, Anderson, B. Lopez, Davis

Of course, if I were in charge, I would also send this 12 down to Venezuela this summer with Tom Thibodeau, Monty Williams, and another coach (would not be able to be a college guy, maybe a figurehead guy like Jerry Sloan?):
Wall, Lillard, Holiday, Gordon, DeRozan, Beal, Parsons, Cousins, Monroe, Aldridge, B. Lopez, Drummond

Here would be my 12 for 2014 if I were in complete charge:
Irving, Williams, Rose, Thompson, Gay, George, Igoudala, Howard, Griffin, Anderson, Davis, Lee

[duke09hms]

People have Kyrie on all their 2014/2016 rosters. Does anyone else think his defensive weaknesses will keep him off the team? Especially with such a defensive-minded coaching staff?

[Dev11]

People have Kyrie on all their 2014/2016 rosters. Does anyone else think his defensive weaknesses will keep him off the team? Especially with such a defensive-minded coaching staff?

Not to mention all of his little injury concerns. Kyrie may have a tough time getting a gig among the group of potential players since his position is probably the deepest in the country.

[CDu]

Not to mention all of his little injury concerns. Kyrie may have a tough time getting a gig among the group of potential players since his position is probably the deepest in the country.

It's the deepest in the country, but most of the elite guys (Rose, Westbrook, Paul) are unlikely to participate in 2014. None of the next-tier guys are clearly better than Irving.

Now, for the 2016 team? I agree that it'll be tough sledding to make the team. I'd expect the 3 guys in parentheses above to be the 3 PGs on the Olympic team.

[roywhite]

People have Kyrie on all their 2014/2016 rosters. Does anyone else think his defensive weaknesses will keep him off the team? Especially with such a defensive-minded coaching staff?

Not to mention all of his little injury concerns. Kyrie may have a tough time getting a gig among the group of potential players since his position is probably the deepest in the country.

I'd say the injury concerns are the more likely problem, while playing style or ability are not. Did you see some of Kyrie's performances in early to mid-season? Judging from what he can do against NBA defenses off the dribble, it seems very likely he can do even better vs international teams that are not as athletic. Kyrie's selection as an All-Star prior to age 21 puts him in a very elite category reserved for super-stars.

Look forward to seeing him in Rio.

[Billy Dat]

Deron Williams and Andre Igoudala are the two players from 2012 who have expressed a willingness to play in 2014. That is smart on their part, even if they do not ultimately play, because spots on 2016 (hopefully not needing a team for 2015) will certainly be at a premium. Personally I think it is important to go all out to win in 2014. It would be much better to have the option of not playing in 2015 than to fall short in 2014 and have to play for three straight summers. I hope that the leadership and the players realize that 2014 is likely to be tougher than 2010 and it might be harder to duplicate the results with a less experienced roster.

Here would be my ideal 12 for 2014:
Irving, Williams, Rose, DeRozan, Thompson, George, Igoudala, Howard, Griffin, Anderson, B. Lopez, Davis

Here is what I think is a more realistic 12 although I would not be surprised if the team is younger:
Irving, Williams, Curry, DeRozan, Thompson, George, Igoudala, Leonard, Lee, Anderson, B. Lopez, Davis

Of course, if I were in charge, I would also send this 12 down to Venezuela this summer with Tom Thibodeau, Monty Williams, and another coach (would not be able to be a college guy, maybe a figurehead guy like Jerry Sloan?):
Wall, Lillard, Holiday, Gordon, DeRozan, Beal, Parsons, Cousins, Monroe, Aldridge, B. Lopez, Drummond

Here would be my 12 for 2014 if I were in complete charge:
Irving, Williams, Rose, Thompson, Gay, George, Igoudala, Howard, Griffin, Anderson, Davis, Lee

Nice intel on Williams and Iggy expressing interest in playing in 2014. The team will need experienced veterans and both those guys have plenty of FIBA ball under their belts. I worry a little about Williams thinking he needs to be "the man" and playing shoot first, but naming those players is a long way off.

Thanks for taking the time to offer up your wish lists and prediction lists. I don't know about DeRozan, he didn't have an awesome year. Ryan Anderson is interesting, but his 3 pt shooting % was below 40% this year (granted, he shot more than 550 of them). I feel like the team has moved away from sharp shooters because so many of the top players can nail that international 3, I wonder if Anderson will get a camp invite this summer. The en vogue 3 point marksmen are definitely Curry and Thompson. Dancing Danny hit 43% on over 400 attempts this year - ugh - perish the thought.

Dwight Howard is an interesting riddle moving forward. If he doesn't return to 2011 and earlier form, then I don't think he's a shoe in to be on the team. In fact, right now, I think Roy Hibbert would be my #1 center pick. I also think the bloom is off the Rudy Gay flower. He had his stint with Team USA in 2010, didn't make the 2012 team, and I think he's on the decline.

As for Kyrie, his defense is his weakness. I hope that's what he's working on this offseason. Still, his combination of exciting play and marketability make him an attractive name to have on the roster.

[CDu]

In fact, right now, I think Roy Hibbert would be my #1 center pick. I also think the bloom is off the Rudy Gay flower. He had his stint with Team USA in 2010, didn't make the 2012 team, and I think he's on the decline.

I agree with you about Gay, but I'm not sure I agree on Hibbert. I suspect that his awesome play against an undersized (and soft on the interior) Miami team is clouding your judgement there. Prior to the Miami series, Hibbert averaged just 14 ppg shooting just 47% from the field in this year's playoffs. In the regular season, he's never topped 13 ppg, or 9 rpg, or 50% from the field in a season. This season, for example, he averaged just 11.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg, and 44.8% from the field.

Among players who have not participated on an Olympic team, I'd take Brook Lopez and Greg Monroe ahead of Hibbert. And that's assuming that Chandler (who has the international experience) and Love choose not to play in 2014.

[Billy Dat]

I agree with you about Gay, but I'm not sure I agree on Hibbert. I suspect that his awesome play against an undersized (and soft on the interior) Miami team is clouding your judgement there. Prior to the Miami series, Hibbert averaged just 14 ppg shooting just 47% from the field in this year's playoffs. In the regular season, he's never topped 13 ppg, or 9 rpg, or 50% from the field in a season. This season, for example, he averaged just 11.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg, and 44.8% from the field.

Among players who have not participated on an Olympic team, I'd take Brook Lopez and Greg Monroe ahead of Hibbert. And that's assuming that Chandler (who has the international experience) and Love choose not to play in 2014.

I definitely am experiencing recency bias with Hibbert, likely because he also took it to Tyson Chandler in the prior series (boo hoo), and I just feel like something has clicked with him in the second half of the year and the playoffs where he now plays angry. Plus, he is a legit 7'2" and his defense has come a long way. We'll see what kind of season he has next year. I feel like Love has graduated to the "Olympics only" veteran pool because he's had the recent injury issues. Chandler may be in the same boat, especially since he has 12 season and 900+ games under his belt (inclusive of playoffs and FIBA).

Anthony Davis will be a real wildcard as far as the big men are concerned. Do we think he'll make a huge leap these next few years and establish himself as one of the best bigs in the game?

[CDu]

I definitely am experiencing recency bias with Hibbert, likely because he also took it to Tyson Chandler in the prior series (boo hoo), and I just feel like something has clicked with him in the second half of the year and the playoffs where he now plays angry. Plus, he is a legit 7'2" and his defense has come a long way.

All of that sounds good, but I don't know how accurate the bolded part is. Here are Hibbert's numbers for the second half of the year and playoffs:

Post All-star game: 29.0 mpg, 15.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 50.8 fg%
First round (vs Hawks): 32.0 mpg, 14.7 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 47.8 fg%
Second round (vs Knicks): 37.5 mpg, 13.3 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 46.8 fg%
EC Finals (vs Heat): 39.6 mpg, 22.1 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 55.7 fg%

He certainly played better in the second half and in the first two rounds of the playoffs. But those are still just decent, not great, numbers. Especially the FG%. For a guy 7'2" to only shoot around 50% from the field is pretty bad, especially when he rarely shoots more than 10 feet from the basket.

He is certainly a good player and appears to be on the rise. But aside from that strong Miami series, nothing about Hibbert's 2013 season stands out as notably different from his 2012 season.

[Des Esseintes]

All of that sounds good, but I don't know how accurate the bolded part is. Here are Hibbert's numbers for the second half of the year and playoffs:

Post All-star game: 29.0 mpg, 15.7 ppg, 8run .3 rpg, 50.8 fg%
First round (vs Hawks): 32.0 mpg, 14.7 ppg, 8.8 rpg, 47.8 fg%
Second round (vs Knicks): 37.5 mpg, 13.3 ppg, 10.3 rpg, 46.8 fg%
EC Finals (vs Heat): 39.6 mpg, 22.1 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 55.7 fg%

He certainly played better in the second half and in the first two rounds of the playoffs. But those are still just decent, not great, numbers. Especially the FG%. For a guy 7'2" to only shoot around 50% from the field is pretty bad, especially when he rarely shoots more than 10 feet from the basket.

He is certainly a good player and appears to be on the rise. But aside from that strong Miami series, nothing about Hibbert's 2013 season stands out as notably different from his 2012 season.

I think you might be understating his value on the defensive end, which is half the game. What American center was a better defender this season? And Hibbert's defense was huge in the New York series. Elite rim protection + 16 & 9 is a pretty fantastic combo.

[CDu]

I think you might be understating his value on the defensive end, which is half the game. What American center was a better defender this season? And Hibbert's defense was huge in the New York series. Elite rim protection + 16 & 9 is a pretty fantastic combo.

But the international game doesn't necessarily need elite rim protection. Most foreign teams pull their bigs out away from the basket, so the shotblocking aspect takes a back seat to mobility.

Furthermore, Hibbert's offense would be nonexistent in the foreign game because of the pack-it-in defense crowding the paint.

[awhom111]

While the Roy Hibbert talk is enlightening, this is one reason he is unlikely to ever play for the United States:
http://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa...Men/index.html

He has been trying to get permission to switch teams, but it seems unlikely to happen anytime soon. I feel like this has all been discussed already in another thread.

[Billy Dat]

While the Roy Hibbert talk is enlightening, this is one reason he is unlikely to ever play for the United States:
http://archive.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa...Men/index.html

He has been trying to get permission to switch teams, but it seems unlikely to happen anytime soon. I feel like this has all been discussed already in another thread.

Again, great intel, awhom111. I guess that answers the Hibbert question.

The 27 man mini-camp roster was announced today:

Ryan Anderson
Harrison Barnes
Bradley Beal
Mike Conley
DeMarcus Cousins
Anthony Davis
DeMar DeRozan
Andre Drummond
Kenneth Faried
Derrick Favors
Paul George
Taj Gibson
Gordon Hayward
Jrue Holiday
Kyrie Irving
DeAndre Jordan
Ty Lawson
Kawhi Leonard
Damian Lillard
Greg Monroe
Chandler Parsons
Larry Sanders
Klay Thompson
Dion Waiters
Kemba Walker
John Wall
Tyler Zeller

[Troublemaker]

Anthony Davis is going to be a huge key to 2014. Not necessarily the best player on the team (Kyrie?) but it'll be tough for the 2014 team to come close to matching the defensive prowess of previous USA teams unless Davis stays healthy, develops like he should, and ends up anchoring the team defensively. One possible reason why the USA coaching staff ended up being so defense-dominated (and why Davis' NBA coach ended up on the staff) is because USA looked at the pool of players that likely will be available for 2014 and though to themselves, "Wow, how are we going to assemble a USA-worthy defense from these guys?"

[NSDukeFan]

Anthony Davis is going to be a huge key to 2014. Not necessarily the best player on the team (Kyrie?) but it'll be tough for the 2014 team to come close to matching the defensive prowess of previous USA teams unless Davis stays healthy, develops like he should, and ends up anchoring the team defensively. One possible reason why the USA coaching staff ended up being so defense-dominated (and why Davis' NBA coach ended up on the staff) is because USA looked at the pool of players that likely will be available for 2014 and though to themselves, "Wow, how are we going to assemble a USA-worthy defense from these guys?"

If they've been watching the last few games of the playoffs, they probably think about featuring Kawhi Leonard.

[Class of '94]

Again, great intel, awhom111. I guess that answers the Hibbert question.

The 27 man mini-camp roster was announced today:

Ryan Anderson
Harrison Barnes
Bradley Beal
Mike Conley
DeMarcus Cousins
Anthony Davis
DeMar DeRozan
Andre Drummond
Kenneth Faried
Derrick Favors
Paul George
Taj Gibson
Gordon Hayward
Jrue Holiday
Kyrie Irving
DeAndre Jordan
Ty Lawson
Kawhi Leonard
Damian Lillard
Greg Monroe
Chandler Parsons
Larry Sanders
Klay Thompson
Dion Waiters
Kemba Walker
John Wall
Tyler Zeller

Seeing Beal on the list of invitees and Austin failing to make the list makes me wonder where the relationship between Duke and Austin stands. I'm not saying
Austin should've been on the list and it's not K's fault that he didn't have a great rookie year or make this list; but I do wonder why it appears that Austin hasn't been back to campus recently, especially during the time of the K academy when guys come back to campus to hangout and/or take classes (like GH and Kyrie) to get their degrees. I read a link that said Austin has been working after being cleared to do so. http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nba/1951/austin-rivers

Maybe Austin may have the opportunity to earn considersation for at least the US Select team that trains with the 2016 Olympic team.

[CDu]

Seeing Beal on the list of invitees and Austin failing to make the list makes me wonder where the relationship between Duke and Austin stands. I'm not saying
Austin should've been on the list and it's not K's fault that he didn't have a great rookie year or make this list; but I do wonder why it appears that Austin hasn't been back to campus recently, especially during the time of the K academy when guys come back to campus to hangout and/or take classes (like GH and Kyrie) to get their degrees. I read a link that said Austin has been working after being cleared to do so. http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nba/1951/austin-rivers

Maybe Austin may have the opportunity to earn considersation for at least the US Select team that trains with the 2016 Olympic team.

I wouldn't view Rivers' exclusion from the minicamp as evidence of any rift between him and Duke. I think that it's just a reflection of where Rivers is in terms of performance. Beal played substantially better than Rivers last year (PER of 13.69 for Beal, 5.95 for Rivers; Beal averaged 13.9 ppg on 41.0 fg% and 38.6 3pt% while Rivers got 6.2 on 37.2 ft% and 32.6 3pt%).

In looking at the list of guys invited, Rivers just doesn't belong yet. Hopefully with time he gets better.

[awhom111]

Anthony Davis is going to be a huge key to 2014. Not necessarily the best player on the team (Kyrie?) but it'll be tough for the 2014 team to come close to matching the defensive prowess of previous USA teams unless Davis stays healthy, develops like he should, and ends up anchoring the team defensively. One possible reason why the USA coaching staff ended up being so defense-dominated (and why Davis' NBA coach ended up on the staff) is because USA looked at the pool of players that likely will be available for 2014 and though to themselves, "Wow, how are we going to assemble a USA-worthy defense from these guys?"

I do share some of your concerns, but we still do not have a clear picture of which older players may get involved and only a few hints of how the overall roster selection might work for the tournament. I hope that we do try to put the best available team forward allowing for some rest of certain proven players. I would hesitate to use the five-letter F word to describe the relative ease with which we won the last world championship, but I do think that we will face a few tests along the way and one loss in the knockout stages of the tournament means that we will have to play basketball in 2015, which is definitely not my preference from both a USA and Duke perspective. If we do take a relatively unproven roster to Spain, I wonder which player emerges as the Kevin Durant type star.

[luburch]

Seeing Beal on the list of invitees and Austin failing to make the list makes me wonder where the relationship between Duke and Austin stands. I'm not saying
Austin should've been on the list and it's not K's fault that he didn't have a great rookie year or make this list; but I do wonder why it appears that Austin hasn't been back to campus recently, especially during the time of the K academy when guys come back to campus to hangout and/or take classes (like GH and Kyrie) to get their degrees. I read a link that said Austin has been working after being cleared to do so. http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nba/1951/austin-rivers

Maybe Austin may have the opportunity to earn considersation for at least the US Select team that trains with the 2016 Olympic team.

Maybe he hasn't been around and isn't on the list because he's hurt.

[ChillinDuke]

Seeing Beal on the list of invitees and Austin failing to make the list makes me wonder where the relationship between Duke and Austin stands. I'm not saying
Austin should've been on the list and it's not K's fault that he didn't have a great rookie year or make this list; but I do wonder why it appears that Austin hasn't been back to campus recently, especially during the time of the K academy when guys come back to campus to hangout and/or take classes (like GH and Kyrie) to get their degrees. I read a link that said Austin has been working after being cleared to do so. http://www.rotoworld.com/player/nba/1951/austin-rivers

Maybe Austin may have the opportunity to earn considersation for at least the US Select team that trains with the 2016 Olympic team.

What?

How by any reasonable metric should Austin ever be included in the conversation for Team USA 2014?

Because Beal is on the minicamp list and him and Austin were top SG recruits in the same year? Their career progressions are in no way similar thus far. And Beal is with zero question a player worthy of consideration on the team. Austin with zero question is not.

And so he didn't come back to Duke like Grant or Kyrie. He's not Grant or Kyrie.

Austin is Austin. He gave us a great year. That seems to be all he wanted to give us. I'll take it. But we should probably stop trying to shove him into the Duke legend category at this point. It is what it is. It won't be more. At least it doesn't appear so.

- Chillin