Team USA Camp Invites

Derrick Rose
Kyrie Irving
Damon Lilliard

Bradley Beal
Steph Curry
James Harden
DeMar DeRozan
Kyle Korver
Klay Thompson

Paul George
Gordon Hayward
Chandler Parsons
Kevin Durant

Kenneth Faried
Blake Griffin
Kevin Love
Anthony Davis

Demarcus Cousins
Andre Drummond



bob



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Wow.  It's impressive that there are so many Celtics on the list.

Sam

Dominated by youth- Just a few of the many young rising stars in the nba.

swish

This is the group they'll use to pick the roster for this summer's World Cup of basketball (the lamely rebranded FIBA World Championship). Some guys (LeBron, Chris Paul) are opting out of this summer but will be available for the 2016 Olympic team.

Rose is a curious pick. He has missed all of 2012-13, played only 10 games last season, was rusty in those 10 games, and hasn't played an NBA game since. How useful will he be to the national team? Why is he doing this instead of rehabbing and getting ready for the NBA season?

Did Rondo decline an invite, or was he not invited? He was a late cut last time. With Rose coming off injury, Westbrook withdrawing, and Chris Paul not participating, I'd think a guy like Rondo would be a perfect fit. They don't need him to score, he can deliver the ball to shooters at the four other spots, and he can defend. I understand including Damon Lilliard, but I'm not sold on Kyrie Irving yet as a distributor. They do have Steph Curry who can fill that role, and Durant is also good at finding the open guy, but both those guys are probably more valuable when they receive the pass rather than make it. Durant was an unstoppable shooting force in the 2010 World Championship because his length and range meant he could get off an uncontested shot any time he wanted (when you're 6' 10" and have a 7' 4" wingspan and a high release, having a 6' 4" guy guarding you means the shot is uncontested). Anyway, rambling paragraph, but it's curious to me that Rondo wasn't on this list.

The other guy who caught my eye was Bradley Beal. I guess I need to watch him more often if they think he's worthy of an invite. It's also interesting that they invited him but didn't invite his more celebrated teammate, John Wall.