All things considered, Spain vs. Team USA might be the most entertaining basketball rivalry on the planet right now. They don’t meet up nearly as often as Duke and North Carolina, or have the historical context of Lakers vs. Celtics, and their games don’t get as physical as any given Washington D.C. playground war. But as far as producing consistently close results and quality basketball with emotions on high, USA/Spain is up there with any rivalry out there currently … The last time the two national squads met, Kobe led the U.S. in a gold-medal game thriller in the ’08 Olympics over Pau Gasol‘s Spanish team. With the Lakers’ teammates sitting out this summer, yesterday’s pre-World Championship exhibition was another down-to-the-wire contest … Read More »

The best part of building a national basketball team is that you don’t have to abide by the rules and standards of the National Basketball Association. There’s no salary cap, no trades that have to be approved by both sides, no silly criticisms like, “Kevin Durant has to prove he can win a gold medal on his own.”

When building a national team for international competition, all you have to worry about is legit proofs of citizenship and making sure you have all your shots. If you need a guy, conceivably, you can simply go out and get that specific guy. Read More »

If Sunday morning’s roster cuts didn’t give you an idea of what kind of USA team we’re going to see at the World Championship later this month, Sunday afternoon’s USA vs. France exhibition hammered the point home. This squad is going to press and trap and run and shoot — that’s why big men Jeff Green and JaVale McGee were deemed expendable, and how the U.S. destroyed Tony Parker‘s guys at Madison Square Garden … Read More »

While the World Basketball Festival‘s name implies fun and games, there are some ballplayers on a serious mission in New York City this weekend. Sometime in between today’s exhibition versus Team France and the beginning of the FIBA World Championship, Coach K still has two cuts to make from Team USA — which meant the guys believed to be on the borderline needed to do something impressive during yesterday’s scrimmage against China … Read More »

The last two years have brought nothing but success for Mike Krzyzewski, better known as “Coach K.” In 2008, he guided the United States men’s national team to an Olympic gold medal in Beijing, and in 2010 — on his regular day job — he led Duke University to another NCAA championship. In between, Coach K landed some of the top high school recruiting classes in the country, and is committed to coaching Team USA through the 2012 Olympics at least, ensuring the winning won’t stop anytime soon. Read More »

O.J. Mayo. Tyreke Evans. Gerald Wallace. JaVale McGee. Those are the four names that were cut from Team USA in a media teleconference earlier today. This afternoon, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo and head coach Mike Krzyzewski announced the 15-man roster that will make the trip to New York City once training commences on August 10.

Colangelo said he met with players this weekend and on Monday and Tuesday to reaffirm their total commitment to the team. Read More »

Saturday night’s intra-squad scrimmage only re-confirmed some conspicuous truths regarding Team USA: They’re athletic, they can shoot, and they’ve got pure scorers all over the place.

But while Kevin Durant, Rudy Gay, Derrick Rose and Eric Gordon were busy dropping buckets from beyond the arc and above the rim, Team USA’s lack of depth among big men was also a glaring reality. The box score doesn’t tell the whole story, but it can’t go ignored: Read More »

After the Team USA tryouts wrap up in Las Vegas this week, the national squad’s next big trip won’t be to Turkey for the FIBA World Championship — it will be to New York City for the World Basketball Festival.

From August 12-15, NYC will (again) be the center of the hoops universe when it hosts the World Basketball Festival, a four-day celebration of the game and its culture conceived by Nike and USA Basketball. Read More »

Going into his senior year, Winter Park (Fla.) High School point guard Austin Rivers is ranked 2nd overall on the HighSchoolHoop.com national Top 50 list. Having recently de-committed from Florida, he now has Duke, North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky and the Gators vying for his signature.

The younger son of Celtics coach Doc Rivers, Austin has agreed to give HSH and Dime exclusive access by chronicling his thoughts in a regular diary. Here’s an excerpt from his latest entry: Read More »

This past weekend, the final regular session of Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League commenced in Los Angeles. With over 40 teams from across the country converging in L.A., the event was definitely loaded with top-tier talent and competition.

Among the competitors in attendance was a pair of Kentucky commits and consensus top-3 overall prospects: Read More »