USAB Final Roster: 15 Lean to Thunder Alley

Notable makes/misses among those who participated in the July camp & scrimmage: Mayo (miss), Lee (miss), Evans (miss), Wallace (miss), Igoudala (make), Gordon (make), Westbrook (make), Green (make).

If you're counting, yup. Durant + Westbrook + Green = 3 x Thunder among the final 15.

Sam Presti is proudly pirouetting.

USAB: USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo today announced that 15 players had been selected as finalists for the 2010 USA World Championship Team.

Named as finalists for the USA World Championship Team were Chauncey Billups (Denver Nuggets); Tyson Chandler (Dallas Mavericks); Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors); Kevin DurantRudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies); Eric Gordon (Los Angeles Clippers); Danny Granger (Indiana Pacers); Jeff Green (Oklahoma City Thunder); Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers); Brook Lopez (New Jersey Nets); Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves); Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers); Rajon RondoDerrick Rose (Chicago Bulls); and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder).

The 15 finalists will reassemble Aug. 9 in New York City and train there Aug. 10-16. The official 12-man USA roster that will compete in the 2010 FIBA World Championship must be submitted to FIBA at the technical meeting that normally is held the day prior to the start of the competition.

Bryan's Song? Ow Canada!

Updated

Not malingerers then

Toronto GM Bryan Colangelo: “Despite limited swelling and any excessive damage on an MRI, he felt like he needed to sit for six more games ... I’m not even questioning Chris’ injury. I’m telling you he was cleared to play subject to tolerance on his part, and the tolerance just apparently wasn’t there and he chose not to play. The fact that our season was spiralling downward and we were hoping he’d come back sooner and we were also dealing with a few other things at that point ... we were really struggling there. Whether he was mentally checked out or just wasn’t quite into it down the stretch, he wasn’t the same guy. I think everybody saw that, but no one wanted to acknowledge it.”

Fact: Bosh missed 7 games spanning 18 days between 2/17 and 03/07/2010 over a sprained ankle.

But Colangelo claims Bosh was "cleared to play" after one day and one missed game (2/19); that Bosh missed 6 more games for no apparent reason.

Fact: Kobe Bryant missed 5 games spanning 18 days between 2/05 and 2/23/2010 over a sprained ankle.

But Kobe, GM Mitch Kupchak, Coach Phil Jackson all agreed Bryant should take as much time as needed to heal the ankle, to minimize risks for recurrence or worse by returning prematurely despite negative MRIs which -- like Bosh's -- indicated no acute damage to Bryant's ankle. Moreover, Laker docs did not "clear" Kobe to play after 1 missed game because team physicians heeding patient feedback concurred with the patient, as Kobe (the patient) explained: "tendons are a little different; they have their own agendas on what [and when] they want to heal."

Were it not for the All-Star break, Bryant would've likely missed just as many games as Bosh.

Yet, the Lakers won 4 of those 5 games without Bryant. While the Raptors lost 4 of 7 without Bosh.

Setting aside quality of opponent, which was the better team without their franchise star? Just as who, precisely, put those teams together?