Last summer, Team USA might have burned some talented bridges with their process of how they picked the squad for the 2015 FIBA World Cup of Basketball. Most notably Damian Lillard left last season with a chip on his shoulder, a chip so big he found there was no reason to come back this year for Team USA mini-camp.
Team USA Men’s Basketball director Jerry Colangelo and head coach Mike Kryzewski went through the process last year and also for the 2012 Olympics of bringing on a multitude of players just to end up cutting the list down to 12 guys with some alternates.
For the 2016 Olympics, it won’t be much of the same but instead they’ll be going back to their plan in 2008.
Following from USA Basketball.
Prior to the 2012 London Olympics, the USA Men’s National Team held a training camp in Las Vegas in order to pick its final 12-man roster. That meant that before the team could begin its journey, Colangelo had to sit down with several players he had invited and tell them they wouldn’t be coming along.
“That’s a killer,” Colangelo said. “It always has been and it always will be.”
Partly because of that, for the 2016 Rio Olympics the organization will return to its plan leading into the 2008 Beijing Olympics. After the NBA Draft in June, Colangelo will announce the 12-man roster instead of bringing 16 or more players in for a tryout camp.
USA Basketball’s leaders are aware of the time commitment required, so not only does the shorter schedule avoid some unnecessary conversations but it also takes a smaller bite out of the calendar. Even with that it’s more than a month from the time the team will assemble to the gold-medal game, which they fully intend to be a part of.
Krzyzewski pointed out that they could still make any changes as needed after announcing the roster. Also, putting together a USA Men’s Select Team to practice and train against the Men’s National Team will remain an important part of next summer’s camp.
“That’s the beginning of the next wave of players,” Colangelo said.
Cutting the number from the huge list of 34 players down to 12 without having guys going through a process it’s essentially just making a decision before anyone can get too comfortable with being on the Team USA roster. It avoids getting players hopes up next summer and it also allows those 12 select players to begin training camp in June and stick around with each other and the guys named to the select team.
The guys who participated in mini-camp, especially the guys that participated in the Team USA basketball showcase, are the players for the future and those guys will be the ones that dictate how successful Team USA basketball will be in 2020, 2024 and beyond.
