Nuggets guard Chauncey Billups got a step closer Wednesday to the USA Basketball team’s roster for the World Championships in in Turkey. He was among 15 players to make the cut, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said.
The team trimmed its roster of candidates for the world championships to 15 by cutting Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans, O.J. Mayo and Gerald Wallace.
Kevin Durant leads three Oklahoma City players on the guard-heavy list announced that included the Clippers’ Eric Gordon, who was thought to be on the bubble.
Tyson Chandler and Brook Lopez are the only true centers on the squad, which includes talented point guards such as Billups, Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo and Russell Westbrook.
The Thunder’s Jeff Green also will join Durant and Westbrook in New York when the team reconvenes Aug. 9. The roster has to be reduced to 12 before the world championships begin on Aug. 28 in Turkey.
The remainder of the finalists are: Lamar Odom, Stephen Curry, Andre Iguodala, Rudy Gay, Danny Granger and Kevin Love.
Evans missed the last few days of practice in Las Vegas, including the team’s intrasquad scrimmage Saturday, with an ankle injury. Wallace had only four points and no rebounds in 12 1/2 minutes, while Gordon may have clinched his ticket to New York by making four 3-pointers and scoring 16 points.
Mayo was dropped despite a strong performance in the game, scoring 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting.
Washington center JaVale McGee, who participated in the Las Vegas camp but was not on the roster, also won’t be coming to New York.
The Americans hoped to have at least some of the players from the team that won the gold medal in the 2008 Olympics, but all declined to return this summer. The team was further weakened when All-Star forwards Amare Stoudemire and David Lee were forced to withdraw early in last week’s camp.
The team is scheduled to train in New York from Aug. 10-16, playing an exhibition game against France on Aug. 15 at Madison Square Garden. The Americans also will play potentially tough exhibition games in Europe against Spain, Greece and Lithuania before arriving in Istanbul.
