Plenty of NBA stars declined invitations to Team USA this summer or withdrew from the roster for various reasons. Head coach Gregg Popovich faced troubles in assembling a squad that will travel to China later this month.
Although the scrimmages showed that there is still a lot of work to do, Team USA comfortably defeated the Select Team in an exhibition game, 97-78. After that game, USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo revealed that they cut Chicago Bulls forward Thaddeus Young and Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo. On the other hand, two of Select Team players were promoted to the senior squad: San Antonio Spurs’ guard Derick White and Sacramento Kings forward Marvin Bagley III. They will join the team next week as the training camp moves from Las Vegas to Los Angeles.
Team USA now has 17 players on the roster, and only 12 can travel to China, so there is still enough time for five more players to be cut. Another cut is expected after this weekend while injured guards Kyle Lowry (thumb) and Marcus Smart (calf) will be reexamined early next week. However, we will likely find out the final roster 48 hours before the opening World Cup game.
Team USA's scrimmage last night went down to the wire 👀 pic.twitter.com/37NnRLiKHh
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) August 8, 2019
“It’s the beginning, a new tournament, another World Cup, and I think our guys are making progress,” Gregg Popovich said. “They haven’t played together before. Showing great effort, doing a good job in a lot of different ways, just trying to get used to each other and form a team. We’re still in those early stages of trying to get together, figure out how we want to play and learn about each other.”
Kemba Walker is the leader of this team, and he managed to score 14 points with four dishes in 16 minutes as Team USA shot 57 percent.
“We had a great week of practice, and this game was all about showcasing what we learned,” Walker said. “We shared the basketball, we played together and we communicated. We’re just trying to take steps forward.”
Kemba has the step-back working for Team USA 🇺🇸
(via @NBATV)pic.twitter.com/hmAH77n7jR
— Bleacher Report NBA (@BR_NBA) August 10, 2019
Utah Jazz’ guard Donovan Mitchell started alongside Walker in the backcourt and ended the game with eight points and four assists.
“We had competitive practices, and today you saw it spill onto the floor,” Mitchell said. “This is just the beginning of a long journey. We’re continuing to build.”
After practices next week, Team USA will play against Spain in an exhibition game in Anaheim, California, on August 16 before flying to Australia the following day.
