2006 USA Basketball Men's World Championship Team Roster

amare said he's still at 70 percent so i can't really see him starting. i haven't see him play yet except for a few summer league highlights but it seems as if his speeds not there yet. he's going to need to chase people off the 3 point line.

i can picture this lineup:

c - howard
f - anthony
f - james
g - wade
g - paul

Would you really start carmelo at the power forward? I dont even think he is a proven Small Forward. Brand will start for sure especially since he played for coach K in college.
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yes, i'd start melo at power forward. international and nba ball are two totally different games. if it was nba rules, no way in hell would i start anthony at the 4. having said that, i think anthony can play the 4 in international ball. he's strong enough and he's got decent post moves. besides, international bigs tend to also wander around the 3 point line -- i wouldn't really trust brand chasing them off the line, i'd rather have a smaller/quicker guy like anthony do it.

and it's not like position (1/2/3/4/5) matters anyways. with the exception of paul and maybe wade, james/anthony/howard could all play the 4 or 5 at one point or another. moreover, d'antoni's implementing the offense so we probably won't see a lot of post ups and all that shit, it's going to be fastbreak, swinging the ball to the open man basketball.

That's a good point, but you are only thinking of offense. Anthony is a defensive liability at 4. He barely plays defense at 3, there is no way he can defend a post up from the opposing team. I would have no problem having Marion at 4 thought(but he's out).

Brand can play defense and offense. He has a nice mid range jump shot, and very good defender. Also a great rebounder. When the opposing team drives to the basket, you can always count on Brand to play the necessary defense.

edit: He's also from Duke

Nah he's probably fine on D, this isn't the NBA with 1-on-1 matchups being the primary objective. If Melo's man gets the ball as long as Melo is tight on him in his face he won't shoot...even if he's 5" taller. They work the ball around patiently until an open jumper appears. If Melo plays the perimeter, he will have to deal w/ guards slashing and his lack of D might be more of a liability out there than guarding a stationary jump shooting big man, which makes up most of international ball.

If Melo is going to struggle, it will be because he scores many of his points on drawing fouls, and the international rules don't make just breathing on the ballhandler an automatic foul like in the NBA. Although this affects a lot of this team USA roster, not just Melo.

What if Jordan played right now with these new rules? I'm guessing he'd literally average around 50 points a game. What do you think? I get sick of watching some games, with all the calls regarding ticky-tack fouls.
– Vincent Low (Naperville, Illinois)

Eddie Johnson: I agree. Heck, I would average 28-plus in my heyday with these rules. I
can't even imagine turning and facing my defender and he can not put his
hands on me. Are you kidding me? Jordan would have scored 100 points at
least twice with these rules, but they had to be instituted because players
today have no fundamental skills to score consistently. So the league had to
do something.

That's a good point, but you are only thinking of offense. Anthony is a defensive liability at 4. He barely plays defense at 3, there is no way he can defend a post up from the opposing team. I would have no problem having Marion at 4 thought(but he's out).

no, i'm thinking for both offense and defense. like i said, international and nba ball are two totally different extremes. from what i've seen, post ups aren't really part of their game as ball rotation and three point shooting are the main emphasis. please note that there's no three second rule in international ball, meaning players can clog the lane however long they want. even if melo is a liability on defense in the post, there will always be people bailing him out. i doubt we'll see international players trying to beat the post defense via jordan fadeaways.

Brand can play defense and offense. He has a nice mid range jump shot, and very good defender. Also a great rebounder. When the opposing team drives to the basket, you can always count on Brand to play the necessary defense.

edit: He's also from Duke

yes he is. i'm not going to dispute that fact. but again, this is international ball. in the nba, brand is a decent 1-on-1 defender (on bigs) and an excellent help defender (post). they're going to need people to chase the opposing team away from the 3 point line and personally i don't think brand can provide the speed. i know i have dwight howard listed as center and its clear he's not the quickest cat in town, but you *still* need someone to man the middle. it's subjective, i just chose howard over brand.

It is a good roster for team USA but there will be many good teams in this championship (My team also Have a chance to make the finals)

they should have invited mj.

they can win....although Argentina can definitely take them....

Is anyone else besides myself counting off the minutes until the warmup airs on ESPN tonight(...47)?

I'm really excited to see them in action. I recently heard Amare aint travelling with them to Asia because of his knee which I must say is very disappointing. Ah well, reminds me of the World Cup where you cant really complain since its the NBA team that gives them millions.

USA World Championship finalist Amaré Stoudemire (Phoenix Suns) will not participate the in team's exhibition game versus Puerto Rico this evening and will not travel with the team during its pre-World Championship tour, USA Basketball Senior National Team Managing Director Jerry Colangelo announced today.

"During the past few days of our training camp we concluded that it would be difficult for Amaré to continue with the rehabilitation he needs to do while the team continues its training in Asia. He is not quite where he needs to be and he needs to continue his work here in the States to get ready for the season. He is also expecting the birth of a child, so we decided it would be best if he returned home," said Colangelo.

Stoudemire is recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his right knee that was done April 5, 2006, and he also underwent surgery to repair a joint surface defect in his left knee on Oct. 15, 2005. He played in three Phoenix games in 2005-06.

The 14 finalists contending for the 12-man 2006 USA Basketball Men's World Championship Team roster include: Carmelo Anthony (Denver Nuggets); Gilbert Arenas (Washington Wizards); Shane Battier (Houston Rockets); Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors); Bruce Bowen (San Antonio Spurs); Elton Brand (Los Angeles Clippers); Kirk Hinrich (Chicago Bulls); Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic); LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers); Antawn Jamison (Washington Wizards); Joe Johnson (Atlanta Hawks); Brad Miller (Sacramento Kings); Chris Paul (New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets); and Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat).

Duke University head coach Mike Krzyzewski was named on Oct. 26, 2005, head coach of the USA Senior Team Program for 2006-2008, and named as assistant coaches were Syracuse University (N.Y.) and Hall of Fame mentor Jim Boeheim, Phoenix Suns head mentor Mike D'Antoni and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Nate McMillan.

The USA Team will conclude its training in Las Vegas Thursday evening when it meets Puerto Rico in the 2006 State Farm USA Basketball Challenge at the Thomas & Mack Center (8 p.m. PDT). The game is being televised live by ESPN2.

The USA's training moves to Guangzhou, China, where the team will train Aug. 6, and play two games as part of the China Basketball Challenge, facing China on Aug. 7 and Brazil on Aug. 8.

From Aug. 11-15 the USA will participate in the five-team World Basketball Challenge 2006 that will be held in Seoul, Korea, at the site of the 1988 Olympic Games basketball competition - Jamsil Gymnasium. The Challenge features national teams from the United States, Italy, Korea, Lithuania and Turkey.

The World Basketball Challenge 2006 officially gets underway Friday, Aug. 11, when Korea plays Turkey (6 p.m., all times local). On Saturday, Aug. 12, Korea will take on Lithuania (2 p.m.), while Italy and Turkey (4 p.m.) will clash in the evening's second game. The USA opens its play on Sunday, Aug. 13, against Lithuania (2 p.m.), and Korea versus Italy (4 p.m.) caps the day's schedule. The Challenge concludes Tuesday, Aug. 15, with Korea meeting the U.S. (3 p.m. local time). The U.S. squad is also scheduled to train in Seoul on Aug. 11, 12, 14, and 16.

The USA's visit to China and Korea mark the first time that a USA men's senior national basketball team comprised of NBA players has visited either country.

The United States will depart on Aug.17 for Sapporo, Japan, where it will play its preliminary round games of the 2006 FIBA World Championship for Men from Aug. 19-24.

It is a good roster for team USA but there will be many good teams in this championship (My team also Have a chance to make the finals)

Damn that's a nice team! I had lost track of how many quality players are coming from France.

You guys have Johan Petro as well?