On Monday, USA Basketball announced its men's roster for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Here's who will represent the U.S. this summer:Carmelo Anthony (F - Denver Nuggets)
Carlos Boozer (F - Utah Jazz)
Chris Bosh (F - Toronto Raptors)
Kobe Bryant (G - Los Angeles Lakers)
Dwight Howard (F/C - Orlando Magic)
LeBron James (F - Cleveland Cavaliers)
Jason Kidd (G - Dallas Mavericks)
Chris Paul (G - New Orleans Hornets)
Tayshaun Prince (F - Detroit Pistons)
Michael Redd (G - Milwaukee Bucks)
Dwyane Wade (G - Miami Heat)
Deron Williams (G - Utah Jazz)
The biggest surprise is Boozer being taken over Tyson Chandler. This would've been a small team even with Chandler on board, but now the U.S. only has one legitimate center (Howard). This is obviously a team that's going to press and push the ball up the floor, which is risky but certainly plays to the United States' strengths.
More to come (USAB is holding a conference call at 12:30 PM ET today) but for now, I just wanted to get the official lineup out there.
Attractive Olympians
Maria Sharapova This will be the first Olympics for the Russian tennis star, who has won three Grand Slam titles.
Brad Barket/Getty Images for IMG
Laure Manaudou: The French swimmer and Gold medal winner in the 400m freestyle holds the world records for the 400m freestyle and 200m freestyle.
Getty Images
Anna Bessonova Ukrainian rhythmic gymnast won bronze at the 2004 games and earned gold at the World Championships in '07.
TATYANA MAKEYEVA/AFP/Getty Images
Demetrius Andrade The reigning world AIBA boxing champion at 152 pounds, Andrade was a Golden Glove winner in '06 and '07.
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Alicia Sacramone: A member of the United States gymnastics team since 2003, Sacramone has earned seven medals from three world championships.
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Ana Ivanovic: Serbian tennis player reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2007 and the 2008 Australian Open final.
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
Jennie Finch: Pitched the USA to gold in 2004. She and her teammates have many fans, none more so than Terrell Owens of the Dallas Cowboys.
Mark Davis/Getty Images
Apolo Anton Ohno: U.S. short track speed skater won TV's Dancing With the Stars, and has earned five Olympic medals, including gold in the 500m at the 2006 games.
Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
Kris Freeman: Competed for the U.S. Ski Team in cross country at the 2002 and '06 games, finishing 14th in Salt Lake City.
Matthew Stockman/Getty Images
James Blake: No. 9 pro tennis player in the world says he plans to represent the U.S. at the Beijing games.
Vince Bucci/Getty Images
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
6-23-2008 @ 11:59AM
CTown said...
Only 3 power players? Dayum. They better run.
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6-23-2008 @ 12:57PM
cl said...
where the hell is Garnett, Pierce and Allen? - all they did was lead the Celtics to the best regular-season record and the NBA Championships.
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6-23-2008 @ 1:11PM
sal cunningham said...
What is Prince doing on the roster?
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6-23-2008 @ 1:12PM
ricky said...
agreed this team is too small, we should have a o'neal or another big man like a garnett, howard alone , might be trouble for this usa team
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6-23-2008 @ 1:23PM
Dennis said...
Maybe not a lot of big men but the talent is crazy.
There's no way to stop Lebron, Kobe, Carmelo, Howard and Chris Paul even with the rotations. Look out world, the U.S.A. will win GOLD.........Easily
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6-23-2008 @ 1:34PM
DQ said...
NO CELTICS PLAYERS?? WTF??
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6-23-2008 @ 1:40PM
jesse said...
CL we already have to many SF so Pierce is out. But i do think Garnett should have been on instead of deron williams ( think we are set with cp3 and jason at the point with ballhandlers and passers like D-wade and Lebron helping), but im pretty sure they knew Kevin would decline like he has so many times in the past so they didnt even bother. They could use Allens silky smooth jumper but it looks ( as mentioned in the article) that they are attemtping to push the ball and Allen probably does not fit the speed they want to their tempo to be. And about the big guys there are really only 2 more options besides Chandler - Al Jefferson or Marcus Camby , and they most likely think Al is to unexperienced and Camby to old. Personally i think Jefferson's youth and athleticism would make him a good fit with the rest of that group.
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6-23-2008 @ 1:40PM
Jimmy said...
Good looking team on paper but where's the white guy? Where are Sharpton and Jackson's outrage at this inequality?
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6-23-2008 @ 1:42PM
Randy said...
According to Colangelo during today's conference call, Garnett did decline and he said it was someone else's time to shine.
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6-23-2008 @ 1:48PM
jesse said...
And cunningham Prince is on there strickly for defense im sure . Check this defensive lineup - CP3, Kobe, Prince, Lebron, and Howard. Thats about as tough as your gonna get defeinsively without Garnett ( if he was in that lineup at the 4 and Lebron at the 3 instead of Prince that could possibly be the best defensive squad in a LONG time for us. Ah what could have been.... still gonna win gold though!!!).
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6-23-2008 @ 1:48PM
Felipe said...
all i have to say is wow this tem doesnt even have a real center and why the hell would they take Boozer over chandler now the only player with good low post defense that they have is howard and howard tends to get in foul trouble at times so if he does get into foul trouble i dont think no one can really fill in for him if Amare was in the team this year he could have done that but he chose not to play and i really dont think Bosh could step up and play center he's too frail and he's kinda small to play center so other teams are going to try and take advantage of that
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6-23-2008 @ 1:50PM
jesse said...
Nice job Randy. And i was lovin Garnett so much lately but that is such bs if he did say that. He has delined repeatedly so that "time to shine" quote is just horrible on his part. Its been his time to play for the US for a while and he has not stepped up. I dont understand how a guy with such "passion" ,and everything thats been said by the media about him, can not play for his country when we have been embarrassed without him on the squad. Quickly forgetting all the likeness i built up for this patriotless gutless player during these playoffs. WE NEED YOUR DEFENSE KEVIN!
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6-23-2008 @ 1:57PM
bobdunk said...
Where is the white leader here, someone to keep these guys in check? Where is the outrage? Jessie, please tell me why??
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6-23-2008 @ 1:58PM
Adam Jacobi said...
What's "patriotless"?
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6-23-2008 @ 2:02PM
duckhead4154 said...
This team needs more bigs. They should have put chandler on the roster.There is hardy any defense on this team. JESSE- CP3 is not a good defender.Didn't you see Parker do anything he wanted in the playoffs? To bad Duncan isn't alowed to play for USA.
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6-23-2008 @ 2:07PM
lmsdec18 said...
For those of you commenting about Kevin Garnett not playing,and be unpatriotic....you need to check your facts...he played for the US in 2000 in Sydney and won a gold medal for the US...He has a gold and doesn't feel the need to deny another player a chance to win one "hence...its their time to shine" reference. If you are going to slam a guy, at least tell the whole story.
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6-23-2008 @ 2:27PM
skagbag said...
not one Celtic?? shame on you!! Kobe & Lebron are great but if Koby get's bit by a miskito he is out crying & Labron cant do it all by himself.. China whos average player is 4' 4'' will kill us.....
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6-23-2008 @ 2:44PM
terry lampiris said...
Ya, where the hell are the Celtics? And the Chinese players?? and, oh , any white guys?????
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6-23-2008 @ 2:44PM
terry lampiris said...
Ya, where the hell are the Celtics? And the Chinese players?? and, oh , any white guys?????
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6-23-2008 @ 3:07PM
si_yam said...
We need to DOMINATE the Olympics in all American sports. If we are going to have , men not kids , come over here and play above young men 3 or 6 years their junior, and lie about their age etc to exploit our leagues and sports - then we need to show them that our kids are the best and DOMINATE!!!
RECOGNIZE FOOLS !!!!
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