Report: DeMarcus Cousins, Greg Monroe & Anthony Davis In Consideration For Team USA

Going into this summer, I felt Team USA would have almost too much talent. The pool was too deep. They needed to cut a few All-Stars just to get it down to the final 12, and inevitably, those players would leave pissed off, feel alienated, and like Rajon Rondo, might not ever come back. Instead, after a rash of injuries that has left two Eastern Conference contenders fumbling for replacements, and a number of other teams with a cloudy future, ESPN is reporting the brass at Team USA is thinking about adding a few players to the London finalist field.

Marc Stein writes that DeMarcus Cousins, Greg Monroe and even Anthony Davis are all under heavy consideration to be added to the preliminary roster, and that USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo definitely intends to add at least one or two more players to the field.

As of right now, the healthy finalists are Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh, Kobe Bryant, Tyson Chandler, Kevin Durant, Rudy Gay, Eric Gordon, Blake Griffin, Andre Iguodala, LeBron James, Kevin Love, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Russell Westbrook and Deron Williams.

Even without starting center Dwight Howard (back surgery) and Derrick Rose (ACL tear), who was expected to be the team’s backup point guard, that list still boasts a ton of talent. But there is one problem.

While the backcourt is more stacked than Pam Anderson, the frontcourt comes down to Tyson Chandler, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love and Chris Bosh. Howard won’t be around. Neither will LaMarcus Aldridge (hip). Even with a number of versatile forwards who can masquerade as four men, that’s a pretty slim crop of power players, especially considering not one of them is a particularly impressive low-post scorer.

Andrew Bynum is taking the summer off to rest his knees. Greg Monroe has a tricky situation he’d have to get out of after playing in 2010 with Jamaica’s senior national team. And Anthony Davis is still just a pup. But Cousins desperately wants to be on the Olympic Team. The only problem? The Sacramento Bee is reporting his only chance this summer is to play with the Select Team and train with the big boys.

While ESPN.com wrote sources told them Cousins was in the mix, The Sacramento Bee reports Colangelo has already decided that while Cousins won’t be a finalist, just being in the mix as a Select Team member puts his name on the board for the future.

Who would you put on the final 12-man roster for the Olympics this summer?

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