SACRAMENTO, CA ---- Sacramento Kings forward Rudy Gay has been added to the 2014-16 USA Men’s National Team and will be in contention for a World Cup roster spot when the squad reconvenes for training camp on Aug. 14 in Chicago, USA Basketball National Team Managing Director Jerry Colangelo announced today.
Gay will join Kings teammate DeMarcus Cousins as both will compete for an opportunity to represent the United States in FIBA World Cup action scheduled for Aug. 30 – Sept. 14 in Spain.
“I am extremely excited to once again be part of Team USA and its rich tradition,” said Gay. “I can’t wait to join my teammates in Chicago and work hard to make certain the USA takes home the gold in Spain.”
“I received a call last night indicating that Rudy was available to join the National Team if Coack K and I felt he could help,” said Colangelo. “We both felt he would be a valuable addition because of his outstanding skills and the fact that he so familiar with USA Basketball and our national team program. Rudy has been an integral member of USA Basketball since 2005 and was a tremendous contributor to our 2010 USA World Championship Team. He has a lot of equity in the USA Basketball National Team.”
Gay played and started in 73 games in 2013-14 (55 with Sacramento and 18 with Toronto), and averaged for the season 20.0 ppg., 6.0 rpg., 2.9 apg., 1.3 spg., and shot 45.5 percent from the field. Gay has played in 27 games for USA Basketball and boasts of USA career averages of 10.0 ppg., 3.9 rpg., while shooting 51.2 percent from the floor, 38.8 percent from 3-point.
The 16 USA finalists will resume training in Chicago with practices Aug. 14-15 at the Quest Multisport Complex, and will play an exhibition contest versus Brazil at the United Center on Aug. 16 (8 p.m. CDT).
USA National Team finalists DeMarcus Cousins (Sacramento Kings); Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors); Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans); DeMar DeRozan (Toronto Raptors); Andre Drummond (Detroit Pistons); Kenneth Faried (Denver Nuggets); James Harden (Houston Rockets); Gordon Hayward (Utah Jazz); Kyrie Irving (Cleveland Cavaliers); Kyle Korver (Atlanta Hawks); Damian Lillard (Portland Trail Blazers); Chandler Parsons (Dallas Mavericks); Mason Plumlee (Brooklyn Nets); Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls); and Klay Thompson (Golden State Warriors).
The 2014-16 USA Basketball National Team coaching staff features USA head coach and Duke University’s Naismith Hall of Fame mentor Mike Krzyzewski. Serving as assistant coaches are USA Basketball and Syracuse University and Naismith Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim, Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau and New Orleans Pelicans head coach Monty Williams.
Following Chicago, the U.S. will continue its World Cup preparations Aug. 18-22 in New York, and play a pair of exhibition games at Madison Square Garden, Aug. 20 against Dominican Republic, and Aug. 22 versus Puerto Rico. The USA will complete its pre-World Cup exhibition tour on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain.
Training Aug. 24-25, the U.S. will close out its exhibition tour on Aug. 26 facing Slovenia at Gran Canaria Arena. Conducting a basketball clinic for youth on Aug. 27 in Dakar, Senegal, the USA team will complete its training for the FIBA (International Basketball Federation) Basketball World Cup Aug. 28-29 in Bilbao, Spain, the site of its World Cup preliminary round games.
The 2014 World Cup, featuring a total of 24 national teams, is scheduled to be held Aug. 30-Sept. 14 in Spain. The USA will play its preliminary round games in Bilbao, after being drawn into Group C along with teams from the Dominican Republic, Finland, New Zealand, Turkey and Ukraine.
The USA opens the 2014 World Cup on Aug. 30 against Finland, and then faces Turkey on Aug. 31 in a rematch of the 2010 FIBA World Championship gold medal game, a contest in which the USA claimed an 81-64 victory. Following a day off on Sept. 1, the USA resumes play Sept. 2 facing New Zealand. The U.S. will go against the Dominican Republic on Sept. 3, and will conclude its preliminary play on Sept. 4 facing Ukraine.
Each team at the 2014 World Cup will play the other teams in its preliminary group, and the top four finishing teams from each of the four preliminary round groups will then qualify for the round of 16. Winners of the round of 16 games will advance to the quarterfinals, while losers are eliminated. Winners of the quarterfinals games will advance to the medal round semifinals, while the quarterfinals losers are eliminated from the competition. Winners of the semifinals will advance to the Sept. 14 gold medal game, while semifinals losers will meet in the bronze medal game on Sept. 13. The games from the round of 16 to the semifinals will be played in Barcelona and Madrid, and the bronze and gold medal games will be held in Madrid.
2014 USA Basketball Men's National Team Finalists
- Managing Director: Jerry Colangelo
- Head Coach: Mike Krzyzewski, Duke University
- Assistant Coach: Tom Thibodeau, Chicago Bulls
- Assistant Coach: Jim Boeheim, Syracuse University
- Assistant Coach: Monty Williams, New Orleans Pelicans
- Athletic Trainer: Gregg Farnam, Minnesota Timberwolves
- Athletic Trainer: Joe Sharpe, Oklahoma City Thunder
2014 USA Basketball Men’s National Team Schedule
NOTE:
All times listed are local time.
Practice sites and times are subject to change.