There has already been a lot of talk regarding the future of USA Basketball. We know that Mike Krzyzewski will not be the head coach although he plans to remain involved with the program to some extent. Doc Rivers, Gregg Popovich and Doug Collins are a few of the names rumored as possible replacements.

A lot of the players from the 2012 team are likely to not return in 2016. Kobe Bryant said that this was his last Olympics and a few others may not be back either. Four years is a long time and players like LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul will all be in their 30’s in 2016.

There has also been some talk of the NBA implementing a 23-under age-limit for future United States basketball teams. It is unlikely though that will come into effect until 2020.

If we look at the 2012 roster, there are a few players who are good candidates to be on the team again in 2016: Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Kevin Love and Anthony Davis seem the most likely. LeBron and Anthony might be the old guys who decide to give it one more run in what would be their fourth Olympics.

That leaves at least five more roster spots assuming no one else returns. Derrick Rose and Blake Griffin are two of the youngest players who would have been playing on this team. They both missed these Olympics due to injury. If chronic injuries become a growing concern for either, they might not be options in 2016 either. Dwight Howard will still be young enough to be an option as well.

A couple of point guards from the Select Team seem like good options in Kyrie Irving and John Wall. Both were former No. 1 picks which often are invited to the team.

Some other hopefuls from the select team include Kawhi Leonard, Greg Monroe and Paul George. Rookies Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Bradley Beal and Harrison Barnes are likely to be candidates as well.

There is also a very high likelihood that there will be a few players to make the 2016 team that aren’t in the NBA just yet. Some names that come to mind are top recruits Nerlens Noel, Shabazz Muhammad and Jabari Parker.

It’s really hard to tell at this point what the roster may look like in four years but here is what I am projecting:

Point guards: Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose, Kyrie Irving
Shooting guards: James Harden, Paul George
Small forwards: Kevin Durant, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Kawhi Leonard
Power forwards: Kevin Love, Blake Griffin
Centers: Anthony Davis, Greg Monroe

I think in 2016, we will make sure to send over a team that has more size than the 2012 team had. Love, Griffin, Davis and Monroe will be a good foursome to have banging down low. Of course, Durant can play a lot of the four as well.

Rose and Westbrook will probably start in the backcourt. Irving is going to be a monster by 2016 and Harden will be in the conversation for best shooting guard in the NBA with George right behind him.

MKG will be the Iguodala of the team. MKG is going to be a very well-liked player at this point and considered a kind of glue guy for this team.

Leonard seems like another guy who a lot of people are high on. He was impressive in his rookie season with San Antonio and is expected to increase his role with them going forward.

Durant led Team USA in 30 points that game, the most points ever scored by a United States player in a gold medal game. Durant set a U.S. record with 156 points in the 2012 Olympics as well.

Durant wants more gold though.

“We’ll see,” Durant told NBA.com when asked about if he plans to play in the 2016 Olympics. “You never know how these things are going to play out … Hopefully I get a chance to go to the next one.”

There has been talk about a new 23-under age-limit for Team USA and Olympic basketball although it is unlikely that will come into effect until 2020.

We also know that Mike Krzyzewksi will step down as the head coach of Team USA. Kobe Bryant also announced this will be his last Olympics.

Durant and two of his Thunder teammates, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, represented the U.S. this year. Those three are definitely frontrunners to be on the team again in 2016.

Durant would be on pace to become the all-time leading scorer in U.S. Olympic in 2016 if he plays. No. 1 and 2 on that list now are David Robinson and LeBron James, who each needed three Olympics to get to the top of that list.

“I felt like I did it right,” Durant said. “Out of college I had an opportunity to practice with these guys. Then I went into the Select Team process, and being one of the younger guys that was going to be looked at for years to come.

“Being one of the main guys on that 2010 team and then having this opportunity to come in here and compete for a gold medal, it was a long journey for me. Even though it was my first one, it was a long journey. I’m glad I got this opportunity and I’m glad I went through those situations and I’m just happy we got this gold.”

Mike Krzyzewski gets to ride off into the sunset from his Olympic coaching career, getting his second gold medal and finishing his career as Team USA’s coach with a 62-1 record.

The game was very reminiscent of the 2008 gold medal game. Spain came out playing better than they had all Olympics and trailed by just one point entering the fourth quarter.

Team USA came out great in the fourth though scoring seven quick points. Then LeBron James picked up his fourth foul, came out of the game and Spain remained within striking distance.

When LeBron came back in, he made a backbreaking 3-pointer over Marc Gasol in the same way Kobe Bryant made a huge three four years ago.

LeBron James caps off an amazing year for him that included an MVP, NBA title and now gold medal making him the first player since Michael Jordan in 1992 to do that.

Pau Gasol led Spain with 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists in the game.

The U.S. made the plays they needed to down the stretch. It wasn’t the prettiest win. Each team committed 27 fouls in the game and Spain also battled foul trouble with Marc Gasol picking up four in the first half and sitting the entire third quarter.

The U.S. made 15-of-37 threes in the game while Spain wasn’t as good at 7-for-19. Team USA also held their own on the boards outrebounding Spain and getting 12 offensive rebounds.

With the win, the United States capture their 14th gold medal in Olympic basketball history.

Here are grades for all of the players:

LeBron James – 30 minutes, 19 points, 3 assists, 7 rebounds – B+

It wasn’t LeBron’s best game but he came up big when Team USA needed him scoring five points in the final three minutes. The zone Spain mostly played limited what LeBron did on offense as less of Team USA’s offense ran through him. When he picked up his fourth foul late in the game and had to come out, it looked like Team USA might be in some trouble but they survived.

Kevin Durant – 38 minutes, 30 points, 9 rebounds, 1 assist – A

Durant passed Spencer Haywood as the all-time U.S. leading scorer in a single Olympics in this game. Getting 30 from him was huge and very necessary for Team USA to pull out the win. By his standards he was a little off on his shot making 5-of-13 threes in the game. He was better scoring all around in this one and got to the line 10 times, making nine. His defense remained solid as well as he got many deflections and held his own down low.

Carmelo Anthony – 21 minutes, 8 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds – C+

Anthony was nothing special in this game making just 2-of-6 threes. He also got into foul trouble and with him not scoring much, Team USA became really dependant on Durant and Kobe to fill it up, which they did. Anthony was great rebounding on defense in the fourth quarter though while matched up with bigger players.

Kobe Bryant – 27 minutes, 17 points, 2 assists, 2 rebounds – A

Kobe had been bad for a lot of these Olympics but really looked pretty good in the medal round, including this game. He hit some big shots early and late and shot a solid percentage. He had a few bad turnovers but luckily that didn’t cost the U.S. the game.

Chris Paul – 33 minutes, 11 points, 2 assists, 3 steals – B+

Paul was a little too passive in this game and could have looked for his shot a little more late. He still hit a big three in the third quarter and made a huge driving layup with 53 seconds left to put Team USA up 104-93.

Deron Williams – 10 minutes, 6 points, 1 assist – C+

Team USA could have used another player to step up and hit some outside shots. Williams made both of his 3-point attempts but didn’t do much else. He didn’t play as much as he had been either with the game pretty close in the second half.

Russell Westbrook – 9 minutes, 3 points, 1 rebound – C+

Westbrook did not play at all in the second half and didn’t make much of an impact in the first half either. Westbrook is a great NBA player but his game didn’t translate too well in these Olympics within this team.

Kevin Love – 19 minutes, 9 points, 9 rebounds – B

Love’s rebounding was huge and he had three offensive boards but his post defense was basically nonexistent. He couldn’t contain the Gasol brothers really at all and that was a big reason why the game was close.

Tyson Chandler – 9 minutes, 2 points, 1 rebound – C

Chandler hardly played again and didn’t even do a good job while he was in as Pau Gasol scored on him a few times. His impact was minimal.

Andre Iguodala – 2 minutes, 1 rebound, 1 turnover – C

Iguodala hardly played too. Even with LeBron in some foul trouble, Coach K went with Kobe playing more minutes instead of some Iguodala.

James Harden – 1 minute, 2 points – C

Harden came in with under a minute to play with the game pretty much in hand. He got fouled twice and went 2-for-4 from the line. Unacceptable.

Anthony Davis – 1 minute, 1 rebound – C

Davis pulled down the final rebound of the game. That has to count for something. Can’t wait to see him in Rio, and the NBA for that matter.

The United States is 6-0 so far in these Olympics winning games by an average margin of 37.3 points per game. They have been dominant but not perfect or without flaws.

The Team USA roster isn’t exactly the one envisioned by Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski. They are small without Dwight Howard, Chris Bosh or LaMarcus Aldridge and also missing a few other stars in Dwyane Wade and Derrick Rose.

The only three bigs on the roster for Team USA are Tyson Chandler, Kevin Love and Anthony Davis. Chandler has been barely playing largely due to foul trouble, Love has emerged of late and Davis only sees the floor in garbage time.

It has resulted in a lot of Team USA’s players playing out of position, mainly LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony who are playing the four and five positions primarily.

We’ve seen a lot of different lineups and rotations so far from Coach K as he still sometimes seems to be looking for the right grouping of five guys.

Team USA has done fine despite this so far and has won games because of their superior depth and talent. Now in the semifinals and playing Argentina for the third time in as many weeks, and Spain or Russia looming as a gold medal matchup, the United States may need to shrink their rotation some and find their best lineup.

What is the best 5-man lineup for Team USA?

We know it’s not the starting five of Paul-Kobe-LeBron-Durant-Chandler. They’ve gotten off to a few slow starts and with Chandler barely playing and Kobe’s struggles, this surely hasn’t been their strongest group.

The first sub is always Anthony coming in for Chandler as Team USA immediately goes small. This isn’t their best lineup either because Kobe, who hasn’t gelled well with this team at all, is still out there.

It’s usually Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook who enter next for Paul and Kobe. Now we’re getting warmer. Williams is arguably the better international point guard than Paul and Westbrook has been an upgrade from Kobe in a lot of instances as well.

But Team USA is still pretty vulnerable inside when Anthony and Durant are out there together and it’s not as if they work so great together on offense either. You probably only need one of them on the floor at a time, simply to focus more on defense.

Love is the final piece here and next sub in. He usually comes for Durant or LeBron at this point but Team USA’s best lineup definitely involves Durant and LeBron on the floor together.

Of the lineups that have played a good amount of minutes together so far in these Olympics, Team USA’s best is Paul-Williams-LeBron-Durant-Love.

The combining of Paul and Williams works well and Paul simply is playing at a higher level than Westbrook right now, fitting in more with the team too. Love has been a beast on the glass of late too, really establishing himself as a force down low while LeBron and Durant are good enough to hold their own on bigger defenders as well.

That is the best lineup we will see from Team USA going forward. The challenge for Coach K will be seamlessly removing Kobe from the floor to go with a lineup like this in crunch time. It probably won’t happen and Kobe and/or Anthony will be on the floor instead of Williams or Love.

The best lineup for Team USA is perhaps one we will never see and is totally different from the identity they’ve shown so far in the Olympics. It involves and basically highlights Davis in at center.

Davis has been a monster in the little time he has played swatting shots like nothing and rebounding very well too. He has also really meshed with Paul and the other guards, rolling to the rim and finishing alley-oops.

Team USA would be at their best going Williams-LeBron-Anthony-Durant-Davis. They’d have plenty of size and could use Williams running the point as well as LeBron. This would free up LeBron a little more to get out and run on the wings, really maximizing the potential of Team USA’s transition game.

It’s fun to think about different lineups with Team USA and this one in particular, but we probably won’t see it at all, even if it might be their best look. Instead, Team USA will have to try and win gold not with, but despite someone like Kobe, while more deserving players in Love and Davis watch from the sidelines.

Team USA had their first legitimate scare of the Olympic so far as Lithuania led the game in the fourth quarter with seven minutes to play.

The United States were coming off an 83-point victory vs. Nigeria two days ago and perhaps them not be challenged so far in the Olympics had something to do with this game being so close.

Now that the games are starting to get serious for Team USA, it’s time to seriously grade each player for them:

LeBron James – 35 minutes, 20 points, 5 rebounds, 0 assists – A

LeBron was quiet early in this one very much like he has been all Olympics so far. He hasn’t been needed to do much for Team USA so far but really stepped up in the fourth quarter vs. Lithuania. LeBron scored nine of Team USA’s final 12 points effectively shutting the door on any hopes Lithuania had of pulling off the upset. LeBron surprisingly didn’t have an assist in the game but that may have had a lot to do with the U.S. shooting so poorly from three in the game.

Kevin Durant – 28 minutes, 16 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists – C+

This wasn’t Durant’s best game and we are seeing him turn into more of a one-dimensional player on this team, becoming just a catch-and-shoot guy from behind the 3-point line. There’s not a lot wrong with that as he made 4-of-7 threes vs. Lithuania but he has kind of struggled scoring in other areas. Durant also was taken advantage of inside a few times by Lithuania and since he is being asked to play a lot of power forwards and centers that is not a good thing.

Carmelo Anthony – 25 minutes, 20 points, 3 rebounds – B

Anthony was coming off a fantastic game against Nigeria in which he set a U.S. Olympic record with 37 points and made 10-of-12 threes in the process. Anthony continued his hot shooting early in this one but then cooled off later. Much like Durant, Anthony has struggled with his defense inside and it was a weakness of this team that Lithuania revealed in this game. Overall it would be nice to see Anthony as committed on defense as he is on offense to get a better grade.

Kobe Bryant – 20 minutes, 6 points, 1 assist – C

Kobe really struggled shooting in this one going just 1-of-7 from the field and didn’t play very well on defense either. He often bit on pump fakes by Lithuania players at the 3-point line leaving the rest of the defense at a disadvantage. Sometimes Kobe just seems to not really fit in with this team being the old man of the group and the ball of course almost always stops when he gets his hands on it.

Chris Paul – 28 minutes, 7 points, 6 assists, 4 steals – A-

Paul was pretty good in this game and very good late. He was one of the most clutch players in the NBA last season and when he has the ball in his hands late with this team, good things always happen. He made a great play in transition late to find Durant for an easy dunk. He struggled a little from the field and was 1-for-4 on threes but other than that was great.

Deron Williams – 23 minutes, 12 points, 2 assists – B

Williams wasn’t the most efficient in this game ever but the 12 points he did contribute despite needing 12 shots to get them were valuable. With Team USA settling for so many threes in these Olympics, Williams is always a good guy to have on the floor and he made a pair of treys in this one.

Russell Westbrook – 14 minutes, 7 points, 2 rebounds – C

Westbrook was out of control and out of rhythm even more so than usual against Lithuania. Not being able to roam freely all over the floor like he does in OKC has made him very much less effective in the Olympics. He made some bad decisions on offense and defense in this one and really can play a lot better for this team. His strengths were not taken advantage of in this game and it made up seem like kind of a waste when he was in.

Kevin Love – 12 minutes, 7 points, 8 rebounds – C

Love really struggled from the free throw line going 3-of-8 and seems to not be in love with the FIBA basketball. He works so hard though and led the team with eight boards. Team USA needed him too in this one being one of the only actual big men on the roster. For Team USA to win gold and beat teams like Argentina and Spain, Love will have to play well and give them a little more than he did today.

Tyson Chandler – 8 minutes, 1 point, 1 rebound – D

Chandler has done very little for this team so far in the Olympics and hasn’t seen a lot of playing time despite starting every game. He went 1-for-4 from the free throw line in this one which makes him a liability to have on the floor on offense. Coach K has elected to go with smaller lineups and sacrifice the interior defense that he provides because of this. It would be nice to see him playing better and getting more minutes because Team USA may need him especially if they play Spain in the medal round.

James Harden – 4 minutes, 3 points, 1 steal – B

Harden barely played in this one and did make one very good play in his short time on the floor, making a steal and finishing at the rim with an and-1 layup. He won’t get a ton of minutes in close games for Team USA especially with him shooting not so great from three so far in the Olympics. He missed his only 3-point shot attempt today.

Andre Iguodala – 3 minutes, 1 rebound, 3 fouls – D

Iguodala got in early but picked up three very quick fouls and never came back in. Coach K likes him and will continue to use him in some spots. Team USA honestly could have used him more in this one since he is one of their best defenders on the perimeter and a good rebounder. Nothing much more to say about him vs. Lithuania though.

Team USA won its first two games beating France 98-71 then Tunisia two days ago 110-63. Nigeria won its first game vs. Tunisia 60-56 then lost to Lithuania 72-53.

Kevin Durant has led the U.S. in scoring through two games averaging 17.5 points per game to go with 9.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists. The U.S. is shooting .521 percent from the field as a team and .360 percent from three while holding their opponents to .374 percent shooting and .229 percent from beyond the arc.

Nigeria is led by former NBA player Ike Diogu who is leading the team averaging 12.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game in the Olympics. New Orleans Hornets forward Al-Farouq Aminu is averaging 11.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game for them.

Nigeria will be another tune-up game for Team USA who will win the game easily. Nigeria is possibly a step up from Tunisia but still nowhere near the level of a team with a chance to upset Team USA.

Nigeria is shooting just .286 percent from the field so far in pool play and has made just 3-of-29 threes. They also only have 12 assists as a team compared to 55 for the U.S.

One of the players for Team USA that has stepped up since the Olympics have started is Kevin Love who is second on the team averaging 15.0 points per game. Everyone on the roster has gotten a lot of playing time so far because the games haven’t been close but Love has made the most of his minutes.

Russell Westbrook is averaging 10.0 points per game and James Harden 7.5, although still struggling from three making just 2-of-7 so far.

In their last game, head coach Mike Krzyzewski subbed in an entire new five after a few minutes and slow start vs. Tunisia. It sent a message to the starters and was a reminder of how deep this team is.

Krzyzewski then started those five bench players the second half and they played very well. We can expect to see Krzyzewski taking advantage of the team’s depth maybe more so that he had planned for the rest of this tournament.

The United States is the only undefeated team left in their pool right now with France upsetting Argentina two days ago. The battle for the second seed will be between France, Argentina and Lithuania while the U.S. should cruise to the top seed.

Nigeria would have had an outside chance to advance to the medal round had they upset Lithuania in their last game. Now it looks like they may not win another game.

Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE

Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers is in London for the 2012 Olympics working as a studio analyst for NBC.

Team USA is currently coached by Mike Krzyzewski who took over the team in 2006. This is likely to be Krzyzewski’s last Olympics and USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo will be in need of a replacement.

Rivers looks like he would be a great replacement to coach the team in 2016.

“To represent your country is the absolute best honor,” Rivers told Yahoo! Sports. “And if you ever get the opportunity, it would be hard to turn down.”

Rivers went on to say how it is a different situation for Krzyzewski who coaches in college rather than the NBA where it is a much shorter, less grueling schedule. Rivers does appear to be at least a little bit interested and being in London now may be an even greater sign of his interest.

What has made Coach K successful coaching the biggest names from the NBA is that they respect him and play hard for him. Not just any coach can handle the kind of stars that are on Team USA’s roster. Krzyzewski is a basketball icon though.

Rivers may not be on Krzyzewski’s level yet in that regard but he is widely respected by players in the league. He seems to really know how to connect with the younger generation too, something that will be important in selecting the next coach as the team will likely be comprised of players 23-years old and younger.

Where Rivers will trump Krzyzewski will be on the chalkboard. Rivers may be the best in the NBA right now at drawing up plays on offense. He’s been a master with the Celtics over the past five years and imagine what he could do with the best talent in the NBA.

Krsysewski’s success has come from his ability to motivate and bring players together. Krzyzewski is greatest when it comes to getting these NBA stars to compete on defense for 40 minutes.

One thing is for sure though that the 2016 USA Men’s Basketball team will look different than this one. Krzyzewski will no longer be the coach and quite possible every player except Anthony Davis may be gone.

Winning gold now seems like a very sure thing. In four years, it may not.

Kevin Durant scored 13 points to go with 10 rebounds and five assists as the U.S. had no trouble taking down Tunisia.

Team USA shot 61.4 percent from the field compared to 35.4 percent for Tunisia. The U.S. had 27 assists on the night while Tunisia struggled a lot from the free throw line going just 8-for-21.

LeBron James scored only five points and had four assists in the game. Kevin Love and Carmelo Anthony each scored 16 points to lead the U.S.

Tunisia was not a team that was going to challenge the United States in any way. But Tunisia did come out strong and led in the game after a few minutes of action.

Head coach Mike Krzyzewski subbed in an entire new five midway through the first quarter prompting the U.S. to get their act together. The United States would go on to outscore Tunisia 64-30 in the second half alone.

Russell Westbrook scored 11 points to go with two assists, three rebounds and two steals in the game. James Harden had 10 points and made a couple of treys for the U.S.

Team USA will play Nigeria Thursday at 5:15 p.m. EST. Nigeria beat Tunisia in their Olympic opener then lost to Lithuania today.

Tunisia lost its first game against Nigeria and now is looking like they may not win a game in these Olympics. Tunisia is playing in its first Olympics ever and fell behind 29-10 to Nigeria early in the game. They rallied back to down 49-47 with 5:14 left in the game but was not able to finish the comeback.

Team USA was not really challenged by France. France has some NBA players on its roster led by Tony Parker and Nicolas Batum but they were no match for the United States’ depth.

“We played a very good game against an outstanding team,” head coach Mike Krzyzewski told USA Basketball.com after the game. “France is so well-coached and in (Tony) Parker, they have as good of a guard as there is in the tournament. I thought we did a good job defensively. We share the ball. We assisted on 27 of our 31 buckets and we rebounded the ball very well. Overall, it was a good first step or us, beating an outstanding French team.”

Kevin Durant led the U.S. with 22 points in that game and made three 3-pointers as well. Durant looked good but his coaches and teammates are actually calling for him to shoot more on this team.

LeBron James played the role of facilitator against France scoring only nine points but dishing out eight assists.

Kevin Love played well for really the first time with this team. He played 14 minutes and scored 14 points to go with three boards. With this team’s lack of size possible being an issue down the road, Love stepping up will be of great benefit. Love should be able to play a lot again against Tunisia today.

Listen to Andrew Kennedy talk USA Basketball on The John Ackeren Show

Russell Westbrook had nine points, four rebounds and three assists against France. James Harden scored five points in 14 minutes of action.

Westbrook hasn’t really found his rhythm yet on this team. The entire team though is a little hesitant playing how they usually do in the NBA and are being more passive. That doesn’t vibe with Westbrook and he needs to be more assertive to contribute more for this team.

Harden should see more time again today. He hasn’t really gotten it going from three yet in any game and we’ll see if he can find his shooting touch today.

Amine Rzig played the best game for Tunisia scoring 18 points in 24 minutes and making 4-of-5 threes.

Tunisia turned the ball over 19 times against Nigeria which is a high number that will only go up when they play the U.S. today. One of the great strengths of the U.S. is the pressure they can apply on opposing backcourts with Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook.

Look forward to a lot of fast break opportunities for the United States today as they should easily cruise past Tunisia.

Tunisia is pretty reliant on shooting from the outside too and went 8-for-23 from three against Nigeria while only shooting five free throws. Don’t expect the Tunisians to get the same looks from three they did in their first game and we may see their number of made threes go down against the U.S.

The game will tip at 5:15 p.m. EST and will air on the NBC Sports Channel.

Kevin Durant led the team scoring 22 points and making three 3-pointers. That number easily led the team as Durant is surely the favorite to lead this team in scoring.

But Durant’s teammates and coaches want the 3-time scoring champion to shoot the ball more.

“I told KD (Durant) to just be himself,” LeBron James told the Charlotte Observer. “On a team like this you can kind of shy away because there are so many great players here. But KD’s on this team for a reason. He’s one of the best players the world has and he’s a three-time scoring champ. So we don’t want the KD that defers. We want the KD that he is in Oklahoma City.”

LeBron is absolutely right about this. There’s no point in Durant playing on this team with a different mentality than the one that has earned him three straight scoring championships.

It is understandable for Durant to not immediately want to get on the floor and start gunning. It’s not really his personality to be that way especially with all of the great players around him. Durant needs to realize though that he should stop thinking and just start playing for this team to win gold.

Team USA has some flaws. They are small and will be at a disadvantage against a few teams that could beat them, mainly Spain and Brazil. Team USA’s greatest strength against those teams is Durant and his ability to score so easily against them.

Durant is seeing defense that isn’t even close to what he has to deal with in the NBA. Watching him against these countries you see him with so much more room to operate when he has the ball. It has resulted in him shooting a very high percentage from three so far as he is given a ton of room right on the catch.

Durant has been passive though at other times. When driving to the rim he has often kicked out and looked to make a pass instead of to score. Durant’s strength is scoring though and from anywhere on the floor. Team USA will live with him overshooting instead of him trying to play nice and get other players touches.

“Sometimes coach was screaming at me,” Durant said. “And Chris Paul was screaming at me more than anybody, ‘Shoot the ball!’ I guess I’ve got to be aggressive.”

We can expect to see an even more aggressive Durant now for the rest of the Olympics which has to be scary for every team the U.S. will play. No one has a player they can put on Durant to slow him down.

Team USA will play Tunisia in their next game tomorrow at 5:15 p.m. EST.

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

The United States will play their first Olympic Basketball game Sunday, July 29 at 9:30 a.m. EST against France.

The United States prepared for the Olympics with five exhibition games and won them all by an average of 26.6 points.

Kevin Durant averaged 17.6 points per game and shot .552 percent from three in those exhibition games. LeBron James led the team averaging 18.6 points to go along with 4.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists.

Team USA is the favorite to win the gold medal but France is one of the teams expected to give them a decent game.

France is led by San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker who is coming off one of the best NBA seasons of his career in which he led the Spurs to the best record in the NBA and a Western Conference Finals appearance.

Parker is joined by a few other NBA products in Boris Diaw, Nicolas Batum, Kevin Seraphin and Nando De Colo who should make up the starting five for them.

France is ranked 12th in the world and the last time they played the U.S. in the Olympics was back in 2000 in Sydney for the gold medal game which the United States won 85-75.

The blatant weakness for Team USA is their lack of size. They start Tyson Chandler at center and then have only two other legit bigs on their bench in Kevin Love and Anthony Davis, each who didn’t play much at all in their exhibition games.

Instead, head coach Mike Krzyzewski has elected to play smaller lineups consisting of LeBron and Durant at power forward and center a lot of times. This has its advantages on offense but disadvantages on defense. The consensus still is that the United States are talented enough that this size disadvantage shouldn’t stop them from winning gold.

France isn’t a particularly big team either so the United States should really have no trouble handling them. Parker will surely be the main point of emphasis for the U.S. defense which should be more than capable of slowing him down with Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and Deron Williams in their backcourt.

In Pool A, France has a good shot at coming out of pool play as the 2-seed. Argentina and Lithuania will be the other two teams competing for that spot. Finishing pool play as the 2-seed would mean avoiding the U.S. in the medal round until a potential gold medal game.

France is often overrated and seems to underachieve in international competition. This will be revealed when they play the U.S. as the game has no business remaining close for too long.

The question only will be which U.S. player steps up and has a big game. We’ve seen Durant and LeBron do it consistently in the exhibition games as well as Kobe Bryant and Carmelo Anthony.

It will also be interesting to see if the U.S. struggles at all if they see any zone from France. That will be the main defensive tactic thrown at the United States by other countries and the U.S. could be contained to some degree playing against a 2-3 zone.

The United States attempted 27.6 threes per game in their five exhibition games so they aren’t shy to toss up treys at will. In the closest of those exhibition games against Brazil, the U.S. went just 6-for-24 on threes and shot just over 40 percent from the field in the game.

A cold shooting night from three is definitely a key ingredient for a potential upset against Team USA. Again though, it really shouldn’t matter against France. The United States are fully prepared to roll to a victory in their first Olympic game of 2012.

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

The USA Basketball team is stacked as usual this year for the 2012 London Olympics. The team features some of the best players in the NBA including LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant.

The Oklahoma City Thunder make up 25 percent of the roster with Durant, Russell Westbrook and last year’s Sixth Man of the Year award winner James Harden.

Durant and Westbrook have made the rotation and will see a lot of playing time in the Olympics but Harden was one of the last players to make the cut for this team.

Harden is really only on the team because so many others dropped out due to injury but nonetheless is extremely talented and can help this team win gold.

Harden played in only four of Team USA’s five exhibition games in preparation for London and averaged 9.5 minutes per game and 6.0 points per game. He hasn’t been great shooting the three at just .364 percent, an area where he is most likely to help the U.S.

The United States have made it clear that they will rely on the 3-point shot attempting an average of 27.6 per game in their exhibitions and shooting .406 percent.

The team isn’t comprised of the greatest outside shooters though and many of the players logging big minutes right now are relatively weak 3-point shooters. This is where Harden could steal some minutes and start to get more playing time.

Chris Paul, LeBron James and Andre Iguodala are three players playing a lot who aren’t the best shooters. LeBron will play as many minutes as anyone and that is fine but Paul and Iguodala playing a little less for the better shooting Harden to get some more minutes might make sense.

Team USA is going to see a lot of zone defense once the Olympics start and they will continue to jack up 27-plus threes per game. If Team USA goes cold from three in one of these games while head coach Mike Krzyzewski is playing his main guys, he could turn to Harden at an important time to come in and provide a spark.

Harden is perfect against the zone not only because he is a good 3-point shooter but because he is best as a 3-point shooter from the wings, which is where the majority of open 3-point shots are taken against a zone. Harden has endless range too and should have the confidence to pull the trigger right when he comes in off the bench because he is already used to that role.

If Harden gets the chance to come in as someone who is needed to drain a few threes and come through, he could potentially jump into the main rotation for Team USA. He is fully capable in other aspects of his game too on the fast break and playing the passing lanes, two areas where Team USA thrives as a unit.

Harden will really have to show Krzyzewski something though to get any major run. Krzyzewski seems pretty set on his 10-man rotation that doesn’t include Harden and rookie Anthony Davis.

But this team isn’t perfect and if they find themselves in a situation where Harden is needed, Krzyzewski should take a chance on him. They added Harden to this team for this specific role of being a guy who can come in comfortably off the bench and knock down some threes.

Team USA will play its first Olympic game Sunday at 9:30 a.m. EST on NBA vs. France.

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

The United States beat Argentina yesterday 86-80 and are now 4-0 in their exhibition games leading up to the 2012 London Olympics.

Kevin Durant had 27 points, six assists and made seven 3-pointers in the game and LeBron James had 15 points, five assists and seven rebounds.

“We started off pretty well, got a couple of shots,” Durant said after the game. “Argentina did a great job of slowing the game down, making the right passes and penetrating and executing. So, it was a good game for us. We learned a lot tonight. We just have to keep getting better for the Olympics and our guys did a good job of playing through everything, playing hard, playing together.”

Durant and LeBron have emerged as the two best players in the NBA and the two best on this team. Believe it or not, Team USA is at its best with them on the floor together.

Team USA has outscored its opponents by 65 points in the 76 minutes Durant and LeBron have played together in the four exhibition games. Team USA won two of the games in blowout fashion but they’re still not dominating in all facets of the game.

The United States are small and they’ve had issues trying to go to smaller lineups. In the 58 minutes of action playing without any true big (Tyson Chandler, Kevin Love or Anthony Davis), the U.S. has been outscored 116-115.

Head coach Mike Krzyzewski has often gone with very small lineups featuring a combination of Durant, LeBron and Carmelo Anthony playing the four and five positions. This looks cool but it really puts the United States at a disadvantage.

This was more common in the first two exhibition games when Krzyzewski brought Durant off the bench. The first sub for Team USA in each game has been taking Chandler out. He was replacing him with Durant at center in the first two games, a move that leaves the United States vulnerable inside.

Krzyzewski will continue to play these small lineups although he should try and limit their time on the floor the most when Team USA plays a team like Spain. One way to make sure Team USA is still in good shape when these lineups occur is to start Durant so he can be out there with LeBron.

Durant is the perfect international player with his ability to easily shoot the shorter three over defenders. He’s a shooter that likes to get shots up early in a game too so coming off the bench doesn’t suit him the best.

LeBron compliments Durant perfectly especially at the start of games where LeBron prefers the distributor role as he feels out the game.

Krzyzewski has started Durant over Anthony in the last two exhibition games but did not in the first two. He has also said that this team essentially has seven starters and it doesn’t matter who he starts.

Durant and LeBron make for the perfect zone buster as well. Durant is the best catch-and-shoot player in the world and LeBron the best skip passer and ball mover in the world. When the United States has LeBron at the free throw line making decisions against the 2-3 zone and Durant is spotting up, good luck world.

It’s not rocket science that Team USA would be better with LeBron and Durant out there together but it’s also not impossible for Krzyzewski to fathom a rotation where the two aren’t necessarily playing together that much.

We’ve just seen exhibition games so far and Krzyzewski is likely to condense the rotation and play Durant and LeBron more minutes when the Olympics start this Friday.

The fact still remains though that Team USA will be at a disadvantage a lot during these Olympic Games. Going small is something we will see a lot of from them and when that happens, they’re not necessarily the best team in the world anymore.

The next test will be their last exhibition vs. Spain Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. EST on ESPN2. No team has better size than Spain and more potential to upset mighty Team USA.

“It’s going to be a tough game,” Durant said. “They’re on their homecourt. Those guys are big but I think we come out and play hard, play together, we’ll be fine. It will be fun playing against my teammate but on Tuesday, he’s not my teammate , he’s not my friend. I’m going to go out there and give it all for my group of guys and it should be fun.”

Joe Toth-US PRESSWIRE

Team USA Basketball won its third exhibition game yesterday defeating Great Britain 118-78 in a game played in England.

The game was never really closed as the United States continues to gel and look better the more time they spend together on the floor.

A key change to this game was head coach Mike Krzyzewski shuffling up the starting lineup. He started Kevin Durant and Deron Williams I this game instead of Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony who started the first two games.

“I don’t necessarily think there is any permanence to our starting lineup,” Krzyzewski said after the game. “You basically have a group, a core group, of veterans, mostly from the Beijing Olympics that I think do need to be the core of this team because they’re older, they’ve been through the Olympics. Durant, talent-wise, is right there with any of them.”

The starting lineup may not matter for every game as the United States should roll past most countries but finding some consistency could be important to have by the time Team USA makes it into the medal round.

Starting Durant should be a no-brainer too. Durant is perhaps the best player in the NBA right now for international competition. With the shorter 3-point line and the fact that he will mostly be matched up with opposing fours makes him Team USA’ most potent weapon on offense.

It just feels like a waste to have LeBron James on the floor without Durant at the start of games. Anthony is probably better suited as a scorer to come off the bench than Durant too and looked comfortable doing so against Great Britain.

“Coach just wanted to switch it up a little bit tonight,” Anthony said. “They’re still trying to figure out not so much his lineups, but getting everybody a feel for playing with one another. Tonight he wanted to go with KD (Kevin Durant) and Deron (Williams) he brought me and CP (Chris Paul) off the bench. So, we’re just trying to figure it out in these games, putting everybody in a lot of positions out there.”

The same can be said for starting Williams instead of Paul. Paul may be the better NBA point guard but Williams has the edge in the international game mainly because he is a far superior shooter from the outside.

The starting lineup is still not set yet and Krzyzewski says he will simply continue to start some combination of the team’s top seven players.

Team USA will play their next exhibition game Sunday night at midnight EST vs. Argentina.

Joe Toth-US PRESSWIRE

USA Basketball improved to 3-0 in their exhibition games leading up to the London Olympics beating Great Britain 118-78 Thursday afternoon.

Carmelo Anthony and Deron Williams each scored 19 points to lead the U.S. to victory.

The United States forced Great Britain to turn the ball over 26 times and they scored 34 fast break points in the game.

Kevin Durant started for Team USA for the first time in replace of Anthony. Williams also started for the first time as well instead of Chris Paul. Durant scored 13 points in the game and was relatively quiet going 1-for-5 from three.

Russell Westbrook played a fantastic game scoring 15 points to go along with nine assists. James Harden also had his best game so far with 11 points and three assists.

Great Britain featured one NBA player in All-Star Luol Deng but it was not nearly enough. Deng did have a nice game though scoring 25 points for the home team.

Great Britain is ranked 43rd in the world by FIBA and qualified for the Olympics only because they are the host country. They will be in the same pool as the U.S.

The United States were challenged in their last exhibition game against Brazil but did pretty much whatever they wanted today.

The new starting lineup with Durant and Williams in looked a little better but it is not set in stone if head coach Mike Krzyzewski will continue with that starting five. Coach K says they have seven starters on the team and seems pretty willing to continue to mix it up especially before the Olympics officially start July 27.

The United States will play their fourth exhibition next Sunday night at midnight EST vs. Argentina.

Geoff Burke-US PRESSWIRE

Team USA Basketball will play its third exhibition game this afternoon in preparation for the London Olympics.

The U.S. won its first two routing the Dominican Republic then closely beating Brazil 80-69 Monday night.

Today it will be Great Britain led by Luol Deng and not much else. The first two exhibitions for the United States were played in America while this one will be in England so there might be some home court advantage factoring in.

Great Britain is not one of the better international teams despite Deng being on the roster. They are ranked just 43rd in the world. They have qualified for the Olympics though and will be in the same pool as the U.S.

They could be a tough team though. They played Spain and France earlier this month and lost the two games by only a combined nine points.

The United States are far from looking their best at this point too. The win against Brazil was an ugly one. They trailed by 10 after one quarter, got outrebounded and really only won because LeBron James scored 30 points and Brazil didn’t play any zone.

Brazil is one of the tougher matchups for the U.S. though mainly because of their size and NBA-experienced players. Great Britain will not be that today and we should see the United States get out to an early lead and run away with this one.

Kevin Durant scored just 11 points against Brazil after having 24 and five threes against the Dominican Republic. Durant came off the bench again too and played a lot of power forward and center which we should see again today.

One of the greatest strengths of this U.S. team is the pressure their guards can put on their opponents in the backcourt. Russell Westbrook is maybe the best at this and continues to force a lot of turnovers this way and will be at it again for sure against Great Britain.

James Harden didn’t get a lot of run against Brazil and since the game was close, Mike Krzyzewski went with a more concise lineup. Harden has yet to get hot from downtown and will start to play more if he can become a deadly spot-up shooter which he has the potential to do.

The game will be at 2:10 p.m. EST and will air on ESPN2 today.

Geoff Burke-US PRESSWIRE

USA Basketball won its second exhibition game in preparation for the Olympics against Brazil Monday night 80-69.

An 11-point win is fine but it wasn’t a pretty performance by the United States as Brazil revealed some of Team USA’s weaknesses, especially early on as they led 27-17 after the first quarter.

Brazil is a much bigger team than Team USA, sporting three bigs with NBA experience in Anderson Varejao, Nene and Tiago Splitter who helped outrebound the U.S. 38-30 in the game

The United States still won because they turned up the defensive intensity and forced 23 turnovers in the game. After trailing by 10 after one quarter, they allowed just five points in the second and led 37-32 at halftime.

“Our defense was great in the last three quarters, we just weren’t making all of our shots,” Kevin Durant said after the game. “We know we’re going to have some games where we start off slow, but we just have to keep up our defense and be more responsive. We had open shots off of the pick and rolls, we just have to work on making them.”

Offense was a struggle for the U.S. too as they shot just 40.8 percent in the game and went 6-for-24 from beyond the arc. Team USA made up for those numbers with some good hustle work with 12 offensive rebounds and shot 11 more free throws than Brazil.

Brazil didn’t even show their entire hand in this game as so many international teams do leading up to the Olympics. They didn’t play zone at all in the game when that is clearly the most effective way to play defense against the U.S.

LeBron James scored 30 points and far too often found himself single-covered by a Brazil big and took him off the dribble. This wouldn’t have happened in the Olympics.

The lack of size will be a big issue for the U.S. They’re not just going to easily stroll past teams with LeBron and Durant at the four and five no matter how cool those lineups seem. International basketball is too different and not being physical in the paint is something you can rarely afford to be.

It’s still early but head coach Mike Krzyzewski and his affinity for playing a ton of different types of lineups could cost the U.S. as well. Maybe he’s just trying things out now but he has a history of playing questionable lineups with Team USA.

“It’s great,” Russell Westbrook, who scored four points vs. Brazil, said of Team USA’s versatility. “That’s why they put this group of guys together. There are talented guys on this team that are capable of doing a lot of different things. On any given night one guy could score 30 or a lot of guys could score 10 or 12.”

The United States needs to lock down a rotation before the Olympics start though. It’s great that they are deep and have 12 players that can contribute but in a 40-minute game that can be too much and a more concise rotation would be better.

We saw Coach K kind of do this against Brazil playing nine players most of the minutes with Kevin Love and James Harden barely playing and Anthony Davis not at all.

“We have just been sticking with it,” Harden said. “Obviously, our shots didn’t fall in this particular game but fortunately we still able to win. We held them to five points in the second quarter which was good. Our chemistry continues to build with every game we play together.”

Fortunately for the United States they drew the easier group in London. Spain and Brazil, the two teams with the most size, will not play the U.S. until a potential Gold Medal game.

“Right now we’re just trying to focus on us and getting better,” Durant said. “When we start in London, then we will start focusing on how to beat those teams. We know it’s going to be tough but right now we just have to focus on us.”

Until then, the U.S. will continue with its preparation for the Olympics playing their third exhibition against Great Britain July 19 at 7:10 p.m. EST on ESPN2.

Gary A. Vasquez-US PRESSWIRE

The USA Men’s Olympic Basketball team will play its second exhibition game tonight vs. Brazil. The game will be played in Washington, D.C. at the Verizon Center at 8 p.m. EST and will be on ESPN2.

Team USA won its first exhibition game last Thursday when they beat the Dominican Republic 113-59.

Kevin Durant led the U.S. with 24 points and 10 rebounds off the bench in that game and made his first five 3-pointers. Andre Iguodala was also hot from deep making four treys of his own and scoring 18 points.

Russell Westbrook had six points and five rebounds and James Harden scored eight points.

The Dominican Republic was very close to qualifying for the Olympics but lost to Nigeria in the final Olympic Qualifying game in Venezuela last week. NBA players Al Horford and Francisco Garcia played for the Dominican Republic but were no match at all for the U.S.

Brazil will be a tougher matchup for Team USA and is ranked 13th in the world by FIBA. Brazil has a few NBA players on its roster including Nene, Tiago Splitter, Anderson Varejao and Leandro Barbosa.

The United States is without question more talented than Brazil but Brazil could pose a few tough matchups especially with their big men.

Team USA does not have a big roster and will be relying on its versatile wings and backcourt pressure to beat teams. Team USA played a lot of lineups with LeBron James and Durant playing the four and five which will put them at a disadvantage against a team like Brazil where Nene and Splitter can score efficiently out of the low post.

The United States’ ability to pressure ball handlers may also be lessened going up against an NBA-experienced point in Barbosa.

The game changes under FIBA rules and the United States looks less like a collection of NBA players in the process. In their first exhibition match, they fired 33 3-pointers and made 13 of them, thanks to Durant and Iguodala. Team USA doesn’t have a lot of great 3-point shooters however especially considering some of the lineups head coach Mike Krzyzewski plays involving average outside shooters like LeBron and Chris Paul.

The name of the game for Team USA will always be their defense in the backcourt, scoring on the break and moving the ball well on offense. They looked expectedly rusty against the Dominican Republic often over-passing in a game they knew they’d easily win. They also didn’t do the best job of team rebounding, something Coach K has emphasized with this team and something that will be very important against bigger teams like Brazil.

Team USA needs to find a more defined role for all of their players if they are going to hit their potential and win a Gold Medal in London.

Brazil is a perfect test before the Olympics to get the United States into shape. The game should be much closer than the game against the Dominican Republic which should force Team USA to play their appropriate best lineups.

Brazil has always played the United States tough in international basketball and is coming off an impressive 91-75 win over Argentina who is ranked 3rd in the world right now.

Team USA should still win tonight but we can expect ugly basketball in the process.

James Harden, Blake Griffin and Andre Iguodala were the last three players to make the final cut for Team USA. Rudy Gay, Eric Gordon and Anthony Davis were the final three cut and will serve as alternates for the team.

Jerry Colangelo revealed that there were nine players who were locks to make the team a week ago: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams, Kevin Love and Tyson Chandler.

The Oklahoma City Thunder become the first NBA team ever to send three players from their roster to play for Team USA in the Olympics.

Harden made the final cut, beating out Gordon in what was a close decision.

“I think he surprised people,” USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said. “Two months ago he was on the radar screen, but not shining brightly necessarily. Given the opportunity, he finished so strongly this season, he gave us something to really sit back and think about. He has size, he has length at his position.

“Defensively, he’s more than adequate,” he continued. “He comes up with a lot of loose balls, a lot of steals and he is a scorer. And by the way, he can also shoot it. I think there’s a little bit of a difference between the two. Tough choice we had to make, Eric Gordon, James Harden. Harden deserved it for the reasons I mentioned and we expect him coming off the bench as he did and he’s accustomed to and to play whenever he’s called upon.”

Durant was an obvious choice for Team USA. Durant did not make the team four years ago and was one of the last cuts back then when he was only 19 years old.

“Well first of all, this young man was born to play the game. He’s a coach’s dream,” Colangelo of Durant. “He has great character, he has great passion for the game. And then his skills are off the charts. He plays with such enthusiasm that it’s difficult to keep him off the floor and in the World Championships he just rose to another level.”

Westbrook became a no-brainer when players like Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade pulled out of the Olympics because of injury. Westbrook was a part of the 2010 World Championships team with Durant.

“No, there isn’t [a more explosive player],” head coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “I love Russell. It’s an honor to coach him. He is such a versatile player and as good an athlete as there is on this planet playing basketball. He plays with an abundance of energy and courage. I’m a big Russell Westbrook fan.”

The Miami Heat were the only other team that could have also had three players make the roster. Four years ago, LeBron, Wade and Chris Bosh were all on the team and that was when it was rumored they decided to all try and play together when the time came.

The Olympic Games begin July 27. The first game for Team USA will be July 29 against France. Team USA will play five exhibition games before the Olympics start with the first one being July 12 vs. the Dominican Republic.

Here is the final roster:

Over the past few months, potential hopefuls for the final roster have been dropping like flies. Derrick Rose, Dwight Howard, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh will all not be playing this year.

Team USA will still have a pretty good roster and will be the favorites to win the Gold Medal. Jerry Colangelo announced last week that nine of the 12 roster spots were already secured.

Those nine players are: Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook, Deron Williams, Kevin Love and Tyson Chandler.

According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, Blake Griffin is also a lock now to make the final roster leaving two spots to be fought over between four players: Rudy Gay, Andre Iguodala, Eric Gordon and James Harden.

It is likely that the final two spots will be determined by two position battles: Gay vs. Iguodala and Gordon vs. Harden.

Gay vs. Iguodala

Both played on the 2010 World Championships team. Gay played some center for that team while Iguodala was the perimeter defensive specialist.

Looking at the 10 locks for the roster now, 3-point shooting seems like something the team would want to add. Gay is a better 3-point shooter than Iguodala by far but the versatility that Iguodala brings might give him an edge too.

Gay has more size but it is not significant enough. I believe Iguodala will make the team instead of Gay because Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski will want more versatility.

Gordon vs. Harden

This is a great battle between two of the best young shooting guards in the NBA. Gordon has had slightly better numbers throughout his career so far but Harden really came on last season.

Gordon didn’t play much last season and is dealing with some issues this offseason about wanting to leave New Orleans. Harden is working on an extension with the Thunder and would join Durant and Westbrook as the third representative from the Thunder, which could work against him since they like to spread out these kinds of honors.

I think Harden gets the nod at the end of the day. His game is really tailored to the international style and I think Colangelo is really partial to him.

If Harden makes it then the Thunder would be the only team in the NBA sending three players to represent Team USA. Serge Ibaka will also be representing Spain.

Here is my final prediction of the roster:

Wade will have knee surgery this offseason. Wade had knee problems during the playoffs and had his knee drained at one point.

AP: Dwyane Wade called Jerry Colangelo and Mike Krzyzewski today to withdraw from Olympic team. He will need knee surgery.

— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) June 28, 2012

Wade’s absence will open up another guard spot which Thunder players Russell Westbrook and James Harden will both compete for.

Chris Paul, Kobe Bryant, Eric Gordon and Deron Williams are the only other guards trying out for the team so there is a good chance that Westbrook and/or Harden will make the team alongside Kevin Durant who is a shoo-in.

The Thunder are now the only team in the NBA who could be sending three players to the Olympics to represent the United States. They will also be sending Serge Ibaka who will play for Spain.

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

Anthony Davis will be selected first overall tonight in the 2012 NBA Draft by the New Orleans Hornets. Then we will hear names like Thomas Robinson, Bradley Beal, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Harrison Barnes.

Austin Rivers will sit and watch these players walk to the stage, shake hands with the commissioner and put on that hat as their dreams come true a few minutes before his does.

Rivers won’t like it, seeing other players drafted before him. In his eyes, he’s the best player that will be drafted tonight.

Rivers was known within the recruiting circles since before he started playing high school basketball. As the son of Boston Celtics head coach, Doc Rivers, it wasn’t hard for Rivers to get on the map.

Once the rankings started coming out for Rivers’ high school class, his name could be found right there at the top of the list. It stayed that way through Rivers’ high school career and by the time he was a senior, his name was right in the mix with Anthony Davis’ and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist’s.

Rivers went to Duke to play college ball under Mike Krzyzewski. It was the right choice. There he would learn to defend better, become part of a team and learn to flop.

It was a tough season for Rivers at Duke though. The team was successful but still underachieved by the school’s standards. Rivers led the Blue Devils averaging 15.4 points per game, shot .433 from the field and .365 from three.

Rivers wasn’t playing with a real point guard. He was the only player on the team that could create his own shot and defenses defended Duke accordingly. Rivers looked frustrated all season.

In high school, everything ran through him all the time. That’s what made watching him in high school so special. He didn’t play for a prep school that had five or six Division-1 players on the roster. He was far and away the best player and his coach used him that way. He used him like an NBA coach would.

Rivers was always made for the NBA. College basketball was just something he was forced to do. He was born to play in the NBA and he’s been preparing for this opportunity his whole life.

But Rivers has become one of the most polarizing players in this year’s draft. Some people hate how he plays, mostly those that grade basketball players by: “Is he fun to play with?” Those are just outsiders that don’t understand what Rivers is about.

Those who have seen him up close and followed him for years know he wasn’t given this opportunity because his dad played in the league. It’s nothing but hard work for him. He has the best opportunities at his disposal and he has used them to the fullest.

That’s how you know that Rivers having the same alpha dog attitude Kobe Bryant has is a good thing. If he didn’t have the foundation around him and was a bad kid, it could backfire.

But it won’t and that’s why in a few years teams are going to regret passing on Rivers. You can’t kill them for it tonight and Rivers is probably going to go a little higher than most mocks are projecting him.

“He is an alpha dog. I think he will succeed in the NBA because of that,” Krzyzewski said. “He believes he’s going to be great. I’d rather have a guy like that than a guy who doesn’t believe in himself.”

As each player walks to the podium before him tonight, Rivers will be taking notes, writing down the names of those teams just like Kobe did.

Bob Donnan-US PRESSWIRE

Jeff Goodman of CBS Sports is reporting that Duke freshman Austin Rivers has declared for the NBA Draft.

I couldn’t be happier.

I was lucky enough to watch basically Rivers’ entire career in high school. He won the Florida state championship his junior and senior seasons at Winter Park High School. I went to his last 10 high school games. What? He’s my favorite player.

At Duke, Rivers was underutilized. This was no surprise playing under Mike Krzyzewski. Rivers was obviously featured as much as possible in high school and scored around 30 points per game his senior season. Every opportunity to score, he took. That wasn’t the case at Duke at all.

It really should have been though to some extent. Duke totally lacked players who could create off the dribble this season other than Rivers. This always held them back trying to rely on Seth Curry and Tyler Thornton to run the offense when neither could get by tough defense. It worked for a lot of the season but it was inevitable that by the end of the season, Duke was going to have to rely on Rivers more, and the fact that he wasn’t prepared for that and handed over the point guard job was a failure on Krzyzewski’s part.

Rivers obviously isn’t a point guard as far as his DNA goes. He’s a cold-blooded scorer. But if Rivers is going to make it in the NBA – measured 6-foot-5 with shoes on – he will probably have to play at least some point.

He really didn’t get that chance at Duke. The reason is he doesn’t initially look like a point guard on the floor. He’s not a great passer and misses open guys on occasion to try and force his own shot. Early in the season this resulted in Rivers getting called for charges or some low-shooting percentage nights. Duke was still always at its best with Rivers creating off the dribble though.

Paul Abell - US PRESSWIRE

This is my problem with college basketball. It’s more about the coaches and the school than the players. I loved Duke this year because of Rivers so it was naturally very frustrating for me to watch. Sure, he played more minutes than any Duke player but the ball should have been in his hands much more. The fact that this was not addressed is amazing. Duke lost in the NCAA tournament in the first round to Lehigh showcasing the same problems they had all season long.

When I first heard the news that Rivers had picked Duke as his college choice I was very pleased. I thought it would help him with his defense and discipline overall. Now, I’m glad he got out of there as quickly as possible. The college game and especially Duke’s is not for him. He was born to play in the NBA, there’s no question there.

Rivers was initially projected a lottery selection but this draft class has grown in depth and now he is more likely to be selected around pick number 20.

I’m happy with this because it means he will likely get picked by a better team and I think for him that will be good. If he were to be selected by a lottery team and labeled their star of the future I would fear he could become a bust.

His greatest skill is his elite first step. It is as good as any player in college and already elite at the NBA level. He has NBA three-point range but he’s not a catch-and-shoot guy so I wouldn’t expect a high percentage from three early in his pro career. He is a good penetrator and finisher but lacks some explosion and elevation that you see in the NBA game so I don’t think this will be a huge strength for him immediately.

He moves like a combination of Derrick Rose and Deron Williams but isn’t the athlete that Rose is, but who is? His handle will always be as good as any player in the league but it has always been used to create for himself. With the extra space in the NBA game Rivers will have more opportunities than in college to learn to be more of a playmaker for others and expand his game.

For the first few years of his career I’d project him to be a similar to pro to what O.J. Mayo has become. Down the road he has the potential to be an All-Star as a two-guard but since he isn’t the athlete that a lot of young players are coming into the league, that’s not something I see happening until he is considered a veteran.

Some sites are saying that Rivers is still a lottery pick but I expect him to be picked around 20th. Here are the teams picking from 10-20 as of their current records this season:

10. Milwaukee
11. Portland
12. New Orleans
13. Utah
14. Phoenix
15. Houston
16. New Jersey
17. Boston
18. Denver
19. Atlanta
20. Philadelphia

Those teams sound much better than Charlotte, Washington, Toronto or Detroit.

The coolest thing that could happen would be if Boston picked him and he played for his dad Doc Rivers. That’s definitely what I’m rooting for but I’ll also be okay with Utah, Houston, Phoenix or Denver.

I’ll finish with this: if there’s one thing I’ll say with confidence about Rivers it’s that he will succeed. I can’t imagine anything otherwise. He has a great foundation around him and work ethic and attitude that’s determined to be the best. I can’t imagine many teams being disappointed with a guy like that.