The United States Men’s Basketball team, the most successful team in international men’s basketball held a media teleconference for the 2014-2016 Men’s National Team with members of the media including The Peach Review®. Participants included Jerry Colangelo, USA Basketball Chairman and Mike Krzyzewski (aka Coach K) head coach of the 2010-12 and 2014-16 teams.
The team has experienced a great deal of success and over the last years under the leadership of Colangelo and his staff they are ensuring that the success continues not only until 2016 but for many years to come. Team USA has medals in all 17 Olympic tournaments and claiming gold in 14 of those. Some of the 28 players listed on the 2014-16 USA Basketball team roster include 14 who have won Olympic and/or World Championship gold.
“This is the first step of building the USA Basketball National Team pool of players for 2014-16. This roster is extremely talented, deep and versatile,” said Colangelo. “We are very fortunate to have 11 of the 12 members who won gold at the London Olympics wanting to be part of the national team program again. To receive that kind of commitment is remarkable and it demonstrates how much it means to our players to represent USA Basketball and their country.”
Returning to the USA National Team for the 2014-16 include:
1. Carmelo Anthony – New York Knicks
2. LeBron James – Miami Heat
3. Chris Paul – Los Angeles Clippers
4. Deron Williams – Brooklyn Nets
5. Tyson Chandler – New York Knicks
6. Anthony Davis – New Orleans Pelicans
7. Kevin Durant – Oklahoma City Thunder
8. James Harden – Houston Rockets
9. Andre Iguodala – Golden State Warriors
10. Kevin Love – Minnesota Timberwolves
11. Russell Westbrook – Oklahoma City Thunder
12. Dwight Howard – Houston Rockets
13. Blake Griffin – Los Angeles Clippers
14. Stephen Curry – Golden State Warriors
15. Derrick Rose – Chicago Bulls
16. LaMarcus Alderidge – Portland Trail Blazers
17. Bradley Beal – Washington Wizards
18. DeMarcus Cousins – Sacramento Kings
19. Andre Drummond – Detroit Pistons
20. Kenneth Faried – Denver Nuggets
21. Paul George – Indiana Pacers
22. Gordon Hayward – Utah Jazz
23. Kyrie Irving – Cleveland Cavaliers
24. Kyle Korver – Atlanta Hawks
25. David Lee – Golden State Warriors
26. Kawhi Leonard – San Antonio Spurs
27. Damian Lillard – Portland Trail Blazers
28. Klay Thompson – Golden State Warriors
The coaching staff includes USA head coach and Duke University’s Naismith Hall of Fame mentor Coach K along with the following assistant coaches:
1. Jim Boeheim – USA Basketball and Syracuse University veteran coach.
2. Tom Thibodeau – Chicago Bulls head coach.
3. Monty Williams – New Orleans Pelicans head coach.
Both Colangelo and Coach K believe they have built a strong infrastructure to ensure not only a strong team but a pipeline that takes nothing for granted. They realize that in sports nothing is guaranteed and with the selection of players you also have to take into consideration injuries, contracts and personal issues which can come up at any given moment. They also discussed Dwayne Wade and how he is focusing on his NBA Career and they understand that but he has always shown a great deal of respect for the history of the game and his support Basketball in the United States. They also feel very confident that they have a great deal of players who can play in the post which is a a great situation they felt they did not have in the past.
Colangelo concludes, “Our first challenge will be the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup that is being held in Spain. With 24 teams competing for the world title, including host Spain who we had memorable games against in the last two Olympic Games, we know it will be challenge to repeat as world champions. In the history of the FIBA World Championships/ World Cup, only Brazil(1959 and 1963) and Yugoslavia(1998 and 2002) have won back-to-back titles, so repeating will not be easy and is a challenge we look forward to.”
-Desmond
The Peach Review®