USA Men's Roster

I was unable to see the USA Blue-White scrimmage live (though I've seen the GIF of Paul George's gruesome, game-ending injury), but shweet! ESPN3 has the replay.  All right!

Blue (Rose, Curry, Faried, Davis, George, Wall, DeRozan, Korver, Hayward, Plumlee)

White (Irving, Durant, Thompson, Cousins, Harden, Drummond, Beal, Lillard, Millsapp, Parsons)

This needs to be pared down to 12 men.  Paul George (sad to see) is out but let's assume the other 9 starting players are in.  That means 3 of the 10 bench players will be included; I would keep Lillard, Korver and Drummond.  

That makes Rose (PG), Curry (SG), Faried (PF), Davis (PF/C), Korver (SG/SF), Irving (PG), Durant (SF/PF), Thompson (SG/SF), Cousins (C), Harden (SF), Drummond (C), Lillard (PG) as your 12-man roster.  Rose looks great, the hype is real, and he clearly wants to be out there, I think he's the featured star on this team.  Curry can handle the ball but I'd play him at the SG with Rose or Irving.  Faried is a great rebounder and runs the floor well, he's the dirty work guy, he'll make plays without demanding the ball.  Davis is the best shotblocker in the world, you can't go out there without Davis.  Irving and Lillard are the playmaking ballhandlers off the bench.  Durant is the best player in the world, he can play on any team he wants to.  Thompson can play perimeter D and knock down 3's with the best of 'em.  Cousins can be a shotblocking rebounder who can handle the ball on the break and since he plays in Sacramento, this is his best chance to win something.  Harden can be the 6th man (a la his OKC days) that scores and handles the ball.  Drummond brings rebounding and interior D off the bench.  Korver is the sharp shooter who can guard the SF.  

As for the guys left off, I loved DeRozan in this game but I think he's a little too selfish offensively to put on a squad like this.  Wall is not enough of a scorer to put ahead of Lillard, Irving or Curry.  I was impressed with Hayward tonight but I think this team needs more size so I think he's the odd man out in the SF spot.  Plumlee gave a great effort but his reward is getting invited back for 2016 Olympics.  Beal is an interesting talent, Team USA wants to keep him involved going forward but for now I don't see him as a consistent enough scorer.  Parsons gives a little bit of everything, wouldn't be surprised to see him make the cut (#13 on my depth chart).  I like Millsapp as much as the next guy but I just don't think he stands out on this team.  

Personally my starting 5 would be Rose, Curry, Durant, Davis, Cousins.  (Tough to lose Paul George, I think he would've started and as THE defensive stopper might've led in minutes played.  Fortunately as ugly as the injury looked a broken leg is the least worrisome injury possible for these guys, but I reckon he'll be out til about Xmas.  Sucks for him and sucks for all us basketball fans) 

I love international sports, I wish there was more of this.  Its tough for Americans to embrace the FIBA World Cup because we already have the best basketball in the world right here, for most fans internationalizing the game doesn't make it any more interesting.  But, as a soccer fan, I love the international context, I love seeing familiar faces in unfamiliar arrays, I love the hype, the nationalism, the funky rules (no live ball timeouts, that'll take some getting used to).  I love it in golf and hockey, I love it baseball and soccer.  (American football is a distinctly American game and I don't have any desire to watch other countries play it but I'd love to see USA put a little more effort into rugby, its a great game and an international game)  Basketball is well-positioned to be every bit as popular as soccer worldwide.  And I think that's a great thing.  Go USA!