Surprise: Kevin Durant was not among those cut from Team USA when Coach K brought out the axe yesterday. The four who were let go — O.J. Mayo, Gerald Wallace, Tyreke Evans and JaVale McGee — will not make the trip to New York City in August for the World Basketball Festival, the first exhibition games, and the final round of cuts … Tyreke was the only “sure” cut, and that was only because he hurt his ankle early in training camp and wasn’t able to participate. Crash and McGee had to be considered just because Team USA is lacking depth in the frontcourt, and O.J. was raining buckets in the intra-squad scrimmage. 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 »

Almost a full month into free agency, and still no home for Shaq, T-Mac and Allen Iverson. If you had told somebody back in 2001 that those future Hall of Famers would be standing in the same unemployment line next to Lou Amundson, Keith Bogans and Eddie House, they would have looked at you like you had lobsters crawling out of your ears … So far T-Mac appears closest to finding a new team; the Bulls are interested but want to make sure he’s (1) healthy, and (2) willing to come off the bench. Even banged-up McGrady has more offensive game than Ronnie Brewer, but defensively he can’t keep up like that anymore. Read More »

If you were already nervous or unsure about Team USA’s gold-medal chances at the upcoming World Championship, then Saturday night’s intra-squad scrimmage didn’t make you feel any better. This much we did learn: Kevin Durant could get buckets in a dark room against the monster/mutant things from I Am Legend, Rudy Gay and Derrick Rose might be the two best athletes in the NBA, Eric Gordon and O.J. Mayo can shoot the sh*t out of the ball, Rajon Rondo is a magician with the rock, and Andre Iguodala would be so much better if he were the Pippen to somebody else’s Jordan … But we already knew that. Read More »

LeBron James’ departure from Cleveland seems to have set off a reaction in the NBA. After LeBron officially left his hometown team, in what was seen by many as the ultimate betrayal, other stars have been not-so-subtly expressing their desire for a change of location.

While there are still many throwback franchise players as my colleague Austin Burton wrote the other day, just as many, if not more players are likely to jump ship via trade or free agency. Here are 10 stars who won’t finish their career with the team they play for now: 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 »

If you have NBA TV, you’ve probably been watching “Real Training Camp” featuring Team USA. More than two dozen pros are on the roster trying out to make the cut for this summer’s World Championship squad, and obviously not everyone will be able to suit up in Turkey.

This is literally going to be an entirely different Team USA from the one you saw at the ’08 Olympics. None of the “Redeem Team” is playing this summer. I mean, Kevin Durant was left off the Olympic roster two years ago, and now he’s arguably our best player. So who’s in and who’s out? Here is my ideal Team USA: Read More »

“David Lee is getting paid ($80 million), but he may not know what he’s getting into going to Golden State. Not to say there’s a curse on the franchise, but, well, No. 6 pick Ekpe Udoh has already gone down with a wrist injury that could put him out up to six months. And his replacement in the rotation will likely be Brandan Wright, who is about as durable as a cheap pinata.” … That was nine days ago in Smack. Then, in his first real court time as a member of the Warriors — yesterday’s opening session the Team USA training camp — Lee suffered what was believed to be a serious right middle finger injury. Read More »

2010, the age of insecurity.

All this posturing going on can’t kick the fact that for everyone out there dropping how much “swag” they have, in reality, they probably don’t have much at all. In the NBA, it’s more apparent than ever. People don’t want to be coached and aren’t willing to have their faults uncovered in front of the world.

Too much ass-kissing.

Circumstances aside, the last person who should be clamoring for some offseason coaching is O.J. Mayo. Read More »

NBA stars are dropping off of Team USA left and right. This week it was confirmed that none of the ’08 Olympic team members will participate in this summer’s World Championship, and other players in the USA Basketball program like Kendrick Perkins and LaMarcus Aldridge have recently pulled out due to legit injuries and apparent apathy.

With plenty of holes to fill for the red, white and blue, next week’s training camp in Las Vegas will be crucial. Two players whose names have been tossed around as replacements who haven’t yet been part of the USA program are Rajon Rondo and Blake Griffin. Read More »