Despite being the favourites heading into the 2012 London Olympics, this year’s edition of the United States National Team still drew much speculation as to who would represent the Americans at this year’s games.
On Saturday afternoon, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo announced the finalized roster, which consists of some of the top players in the world. Team USA will be headed by the likes of recent NBA champion Lebron James, future hall-of-famer Kobe Bryant, all-star guards Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Russell Westbrook and young phenom Kevin Durant.
The Americans will look to win a second straight Olympic gold medal, after a 2008 first place finish in Beijing where they battled past Spain for the top prize.
Spain will once again be a legitimate threat to the United States as brothers Marc and Pau Gasol will head a strong Spanish squad looking to top the Americans.
Noticeably missing from the USA Basketball finalized roster is Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade, forward Chris Bosh, and all-star Dwight Howard. All three stars withdrew their participation in order to rest injuries accumulated over the course of the 2011-2012 NBA season.
Barring any setbacks, this squad should easily repeat in London. The United States as a basketball nation have enough talent to fill two, probably even three competitive national teams that could compete for gold. Do you agree? Let me know in the comments.
Here is a complete list of the finalized roster:
