The USA Basketball men’s senior national team has been devastated in recent years by players not participating because of injuries or family matters, or simply declining invitations.
That won’t be the case this year.
USA Basketball will not have Denver native Chauncey Billups (who has a newborn child), Lamar Odom (recent death of a child), Paul Pierce (elbow surgery), Michael Redd (wedding), Greg Oden (wrist) or J.J. Redick (back injury) available at the 2006 World Championships in Japan beginning in mid-August.
But because the Americans have assembled a 24-member roster loaded with NBA stars, they will have no problem making up for the losses.
USA Basketball, whose roster includes Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony, begins training camp Wednesday in Las Vegas.
“It’s never happened before where we have this group of people,” USA Basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski said during a media teleconference Thursday. “Thank goodness we have (it) because we’ve had a few family matters that were very serious, a few injuries that will preclude a few of these guys from participating. But they will still be on the roster, and we can still add people to the roster.”
USA’s roster will be trimmed to 15 on July 25. The team will be cut to 12 in mid-August after training and exhibition games in China and South Korea.
“It will be tough to get down to a final 12,” Krzyzewski said. “Those are good, hard decisions to have. We are going to try to pick a team and not the best 12 players.”
Although Billups will be attending training camp, he will not play in Japan because he wants to spend time with his newborn daughter in his offseason Denver home. The loss of the former University of Colorado star initially left the U.S. team with just two available point guards, Chris Paul and Gilbert Arenas, but Kirk Hinrich of the Chicago Bulls was added to the roster Wednesday.
Even with the losses, the U.S. team is deep at forward, with Anthony, LeBron James, Shane Battier, Chris Bosh, Bruce Bowen, Elton Brand, Antawn Jamison, Shawn Marion, rookie Adam Morrison and two forward-centers in Dwight Howard and Amare Stoudemire.
Krzyzewski spoke highly of Anthony.
“He’s shown that he’s knocking down the outside shot. That helps us against the zone,” Krzyzewski said, adding Anthony would be a tough matchup in international play.
Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-820-5449 or mspears@denverpost.com.
