USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said Monday nine of the 12 spots for the U.S. Olympic basketball team are secured and there will be competition later this week to determine the final three spots.
In a phone interview with FOX Sports Florida, Colangelo said 2008 Olympic holdovers LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Deron Williams are assured of being on the team in London along with 2010 World Championship holdovers Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love and Tyson Chandler.
Colangelo said that leaves six players vying for the final three spots as Team USA will have practices Friday and Saturday in Las Vegas before the team is announced at 7 p.m. EDT Saturday in a selection show being televised by NBA TV. They are Blake Griffin, Andre Iguodala, Rudy Gay, James Harden, Eric Gordon and Anthony Davis. Despite a sprained ankle that could sideline him this week, Colangelo said Davis remains under consideration for the team.
Colangelo said Lamar Odom dropped out Monday, leaving Team USA with 15 finalists. He said there will be no further additions to the team. The three finalists who don't make the 12-man roster will be alternates.
"We will not be adding anybody," Colangelo said. "We feel good with what we have."
Colangelo said Odom's agent, Jeff Schwartz, called him to say Odom was out.
"Jeff told me quite some time ago that he really wanted the opportunity and so we talked about it and we decided to give him an opportunity and then he was kind of in and out a couple of times," said Colangelo, who had agreed to give Odom, who was traded last week from Dallas to the Clippers, another chance after he had a disastrous season with the Mavericks and was on the outs as far as making the Olympic team. "I think Jeff was perplexed, too. So up until (Monday afternoon), he was a go. And now he’s out."
Davis, taken last Thursday with New Orleans as the No. 1 pick in the draft, sprained his ankle in a recent workout with the Hornets. Colangelo, who said Davis always has been a "long shot" to make the team, said that doesn't necessarily mean Davis is out of consideration for the Olympics.
Colengelo said Davis could be selected for the team and then could be replaced by an alternate if his injury continues to hamper him. Or he said, if Davis doesn't make the team, the possibility could exist to replace a player if there is another injury.
"I'll tell all of them to stay ready just in case," Colangelo said of the three players chosen as alternates.
All players are due to report in Las Vegas Thursday, with training camp starting Friday and running through July 12. However, several players on the bubble will arrive earlier and have a workout Thursday.
The workout initially was going to be for Griffin, Odom and Davis. But with Odom dropping out and Davis hurting, Colangelo said Harden will now join the workout. He said it's possible some other players also could arrive early.
Team USA has been plagued numerous defections since 20 finalists were named last January. Since then, seven of the finalists have dropped out. Two more were added to the team in May in Davis and Harden.
Dropping out due to injury have been Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose, Chauncey Billups, LaMarcus Aldridge, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Then there was Monday's defection of Odom.
The only four true post players remaining are Chandler, Love, Griffin and Davis. However, James and Anthony can play power as well as small forward.
"I'm very confident with the roster we will have," Colangelo said. "We have a few days now to decide if we want a shooter, you've got Harden. Do we want a defensive specialist? There's Iguodala. And Rudy Gay is versatile. He played (center at times) for us in the World Championships. We have people who are versatile."
Team USA won Olympic gold in 2008 and the Worlds in 2010 to earn an automatic berth to London. The Games run July 27-Aug. 12.
Regarding Saturday's selection show, the only suspense will be the final three players chosen.
Chris Tomasson can be reached at christomasson@hotmail.com or on Twitter @christomasson
