Team USA didn’t lose to the select squad of NBA youngsters (Andre Iguodala, Al Jefferson, etc.) on Saturday, but they didn’t beat ‘em either. Split into four separately-scored quarters, the scrimmage was a tie: the kids won two quarters and the grown-ups won two. But the score isn’t as important as how the senior team looked — and once again, they were having trouble playing against the zone, unable to consistently hit their threes and find quality shots. Coach K is busy telling everyone not to trip, and found a silver lining by praising Team USA’s defense … Saturday’s starting five was Kidd, Kobe, ‘Melo, LeBron and Amare, but Coach K said that won’t necessarily be the permanent starting group. That’s good, because if the shooting struggles continue, we say they should start Michael Redd in place of ‘Melo (Redd at the two, Kobe at the three, ‘Bron at the four) to have an accurate shooter on the floor from jump and hopefully avoid a cold start … Reading between the lines and looking at the roster, it looks like Kevin Durant and Nick Collison are gonna be cut before next week’s FIBA Americas tourney. We never really thought Collison had a shot (even with Chris Bosh‘s injury and the shortage of U.S. big men), and now the L.A. Times says “seems to be inclined to feature more versatile perimeter players.” As far as Durant, Coach K told the paper, “He’s a special player but he’s young. That’s just the way it is. He’s solid and he keeps getting better every day, but it’s going to come down to what we need right now.” Watching KD get out-muscled for rebounds all during summer league and knowing that his specialty — scoring — isn’t exactly a weak area with this team (Kobe, LeBron, ‘Melo, Redd, etc.), we wouldn’t be mad at Durant being cut even though he looked good in the scrimmages … J.J. Redick is pretty much out of the mix, too. He was put on the team of youngsters for the scrimmage … In one of his recent blogs, Gilbert Arenas said he was the “No. 1 player” out of Arizona in the League, while his man Richard Jefferson was mad because RJ was No. 3 (on Gilbert’s list). Jefferson, who recently made a $3.5 million contribution to Arizona to go toward a new practice facility, responded: “Anytime he wants to come and practice in my gym, he’s welcome.” RJ’s donation is said to be the biggest chunk of cash given to a school from a former player — ‘Melo gave Syracuse $3 million last year … We knew that when the NBA scrapped the composite basketball for the leather edition last season, it wasn’t going to be for good. They went back to the lab, made some changes, and now the upgraded composite balls are ready to roll. “It feels 100 percent better than last year’s version,” wrote Sonics beat writer Gary Washburn in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. “It has the same design as the previous ball…but it feels more like leather instead of that dry stuff that gave you blisters.” That won’t stop some guys in the League from complaining, though; anything that’s different from what they’re used to is gonna get a negative reaction at first … Remember how Robert Swift was supposed to be this revamped beast last year until he blew out his knee? He’s back again and even more beastly. Swift has reportedly put on 40 pounds of muscle since the injury, and now weighs 280. P.J. Carlesimo told the P-I, “It looks like he’s been living in the weight room.” Coach isn’t far off. We read that there were times during rehab when Swift would beg the Sonics’ strength coach to let him stay in the weight room even though the coach was telling him to go home … And when he wasn’t lifting, Swift was in the tattoo chair. He said he’s had 120 hours of work done since getting injured; so much that he doesn’t even know how many tats he has in total … We’re out like Durant …