For many years, the USA Basketball men’s national team roster featured an ever-changing group of names, with players shuttling in and out of the program. En route to winning every gold medal in major international competitions recently, however, the transient nature of the team has been significantly reduced. Among the 12 American players who captured the FIBA World Cup championship in Spain last fall, 11 attended Tuesday’s opening day of USA Basketball training camp in Las Vegas, including Pelicans two-time All-Star forward Anthony Davis (Chicago guard Derrick Rose was the lone non-attendee). Even dating back to the 2012 Olympics, Davis and seven of the other 11 members of that gold medal-winning squad are on hand for workouts.
“You can’t just put a team together in two weeks, pick 12 guys and have a coaching staff that doesn’t really know each other,” USA Basketball head coach Mike Krzyzewski said during NBA TV “Real Training Camp” coverage. “As much as you might like (the players), you never give them time to trust. So continuity (is important) and has worked out well for us, and to have the continuity of commitment of players.”
This offseason marks the fourth consecutive summer that Davis has participated with USA Basketball in some form, dating back to winning his Olympic gold medal in London as a 19-year-old. He added a FIBA World Cup title at 21 and seems to be a consensus lock to be chosen to play on next year’s Olympic team, which will compete in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He sat out Tuesday’s workouts in Las Vegas with a minor ankle injury.
Three of Davis’ USA teammates in 2012 – LeBron James, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony – will have a chance to win a third career Olympic gold medal in Rio. It’s the type of repeat and multi-year participation that has helped the Americans rule international hoops, after a period in the mid-2000s that showed the vulnerability of USA rosters that were given little preparation time.
“Many of these international teams had been playing together since they were 14 and 15 years old,” NBA TV analyst Stu Jackson said. “USA could no longer go out and compete (while using) a team that had been thrown together in two weeks, without galvanizing a team and having some continuity. No one would argue we didn’t have the most talented players, but the international teams had an advantage for a while (in chemistry).”