<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div><div class='quotemain'>DURHAM, N.C. -- Calling it "the toughest decision" facing USA Basketball since it began using professional players, U.S. Olympic team coach Mike Krzyzewski said the 12-man roster for this summer's Beijing Games will be released Monday. Krzyzewski, Duke's Hall of Fame coach, said the roster will be announced during a news conference in Chicago. "The pool of players that we have have all made commitments and have given time and effort," Krzyzewski said Tuesday during his annual summer news conference in Durham. "Really we have more people qualified for those 12 spots than we can take, so that's what makes it tough. There will be people we've coached, either last summer or the summer before, who will not be on this team." Earlier this month, USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo said the U.S. would pick its squad without a tryout. There are more than 30 players in the national team program, but he said officials are down to about 14 names. The deadline to submit the roster is July 1. The U.S. team will go to Las Vegas to train in mid-July and play an exhibition against Canada before opening the Beijing Games against the host Chinese on Aug. 10. Last year, the U.S. team started Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Jason Kidd and Dwight Howard en route to an unbeaten showing in an Olympic qualifying tournament. The roster also included Amare Stoudemire, Chauncey Billups, Deron Williams, Michael Redd, Tayshaun Prince, Tyson Chandler and Mike Miller. ESPN the Magazine's Ric Bucher reports that Billups has withdrawn his name for consideration for Beijing, citing personal family reasons.</div> Read More at ESPN.com
Getting Jason Kidd on the team is paramount; it was a completely different team with him on the floor.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Brian @ Jun 17 2008, 04:54 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div><div class='quotemain'>Are Wade and Chris Paul in consideration?</div> You have to think Paul is a lock for making the team. Kidd was great last year so he'll probably be back but who knows how much longer he'll be on the team if his play for the Mavs is any indicator of how he stacks up against today's top PGs. IIRC Monta Ellis tried out for them last summer, I wonder if hes getting consideration (pretty unlikely he makes the squad unless they take him under the assumption that he'll develop into a great player down the line). He and LeBron have been far and away the top 2 fastbreak points leaders in the NBA the last two years. They'd be fun to watch in Euroball.
Wade was supposed to be on the team originally, until the injury that took place took him off the team. If it wasn't for the injury, I'm sure Wade would probably be on the team in place of Mike Miller. That said, I think they should keep roughly the same team as they had last year, with that same starting five, and most of the backups. That team had chemistry, and played well in the America's tournament. I really don't think any team in the world can come close to beating that squad they had last year, so I wouldn't want to see it changed, even if it was to put Chris Paul out there in place of someone.
