LeBron James, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant at Team USA minicamp (Photo : Twitter)
Any which way you form Team USA from the players who attended the minicamp in Las Vegas, they will be dominant. But are they unbeatable?
USA Basketball must be on cloud nine these days with the players who came out to confirm their interest in joining the team that will defend the gold medal in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
All the big names that Team USA invited turned out, except for Derrick Rose. However, considering his injuries, his decision to sit out seemed reasonable.
That did not stop players like Kevin Durant and Paul George, who were supposed to lead Team USA, 2014 FIBA World Cup edition. George had a gruesome leg injury that he's still recovering from, and Durant backed out of that team. Eventually, he sustained a foot injury that ended his NBA 2014-15 season.
The two recovering players were accompanied by the biggest names in basketball. LeBron James, James Harden, Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook. Stephen Curry, Blake Griffin, DeMarcus Cousins, Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge among others. (H/T USA Basketball)
From 34 of the world's best players will form the roster of Team USA. Would they even be challenged?
Hang Time discussed that question with their panel of experts:
Fran Blinebury of NBA.com still considers France and Spain as possible contenders and will still give the Americans a hard time.
"You wouldn't want to sleep on a Spanish team with Pau and Marc Gasol and Rudy Fernandez or France with Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Nicolas Batum and Rudy Gobert."
Ian Thomsen and Steve Aschburner both cited that the US will probably not be challenged, but they note that Canada is the team to watch and would pose a threat in 2020.
"Andrew Wiggins, Tristan Thompson, Anthony Bennett, Cory Joseph, Andrew Nicholson - so 2020 might be a year in which Canada makes real Olympic noise, but even one year out is going to make a difference for a tight and budding squad," Aschburner said.
Sekou Smith resoundingly stated that the US will not be challenged.
"With all due respect to the competition, they all know they are going to Rio to fight for second place," Smith boldly declared. "That's not American arrogance on display, it's just reality. Even if there is a team capable of challenging the U.S. for a quarter or two, the group Jerry Colangelo and Coach K have assembled (whatever the 12-man roster) should prove too strong and too deep for Spain, France, Canada or any other crew eager to play hero."
