May
26
Nothing official has been released regarding the Team USA mini-camp at
the end of July aside from the news today that Toronto Raptor coach
Jay Triano will be running the show
in Las Vegas. There's been a lot of unofficial confirmations regarding
who has been invited, but nothing from the desk of USA Basketball.
Geoffry C. Arnold
reported a few weeks back
that Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden were being invited to
try out for the 2010 World Championships. The tone of the article
suggested they'd be offered the opportunity, but that no specific
request had been made.
Yesterday the Associated Press
released a story stating
definitively that Roy, Aldridge and Oden had been invited, along with
21 others, to the July mini-camp in Las Vegas. It should be noted that
while the mini-camp is being used to decide which players will be part
of the World Championships team, those players won't necessarily make
the 2012 Summer Olympic team.
According to Chris Sheridan,
eight spots are most likely locked up
for the World Championship team, leaving four available lockers.
Sheridan lists Aldridge, Roy, Oden and Jerryd Bayless, who played on
the 2008 Select Team, as potential options.
At this point, it's
questionable that eight players from the Redeem Team will take part in
the 2010 World Championships, at least
according to head coach Mike Krzyzewski.
"First
of all, that summer, 2010, is when some of these guys are going through
[free agency]; I don't know if they can afford to do that," Krzyzewski
told Chris Sheridan. "LeBron [James] is great, but if he's going
through the biggest negotiation of his life at that time, can he afford
to do it?"
A very astute observation from Coach K. Career's are
riding on 2010 free agency, and I don't think anyone would blame a
player for taking that into consideration when making their decision.
Why does it matter? Well,
according to John Hollinger,
Roy would be a favorite to slide onto the team should any of the eight
holdovers from the Redeem Team decide to pass on the World
Championships. Hollinger gives Aldridge a shot as well, through he
seems less sure of that candidacy.