team usa basketball roster 2014 to be led by stephen curry (Photo: Warriors.com)
Back on November 14, 2013, before a home game for the Golden State Warriors against the Oklahoma City Thunder, LetsGoWarriors.com got the opportunity to ask Stephen Curry about the possibility of playing alongside Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook on Team USA Basketball (USAB) this summer for the 2010 World Championships, with the caveat that during the NBA season, Curry was probably focused on the Warriors.
“Yeah, we played together in the 2010 World Championships,” Curry told us, “and there’s an opportunity again this summer in going to Spain but, like you said, it’s not something I think about now but something I’ve expressed I want to do and hopefully I get that opportunity.”
Today, USA Basketball will announce a 28-player pool from which USAB chairman Jerry Colangelo and coach Mike Krzyzewski will choose the 12-man rosters for the 2014 World Cup of Basketball and the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports and Marc Stein of ESPN.com have both reported that Stephen Curry is among the 28 players selected.
Warriors guard Stephen Curry amongst players on the USA roster, source said.
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) January 22, 2014
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Hearing: DeMarcus Cousins, LaMarcus Aldridge and Steph Curry have all earned spots in USA Basketball's 2014 player pool to be announced THU
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) January 22, 2014
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Curry won a gold medal with the USA Men’s Basketball Team that won the 2010 FIBA World Championship. He also was a member of the 2007 USA U19 World Championship Team that won the silver medal at the 2007 FIBA U19 World Championship and that won the gold medal at the 2007 Global Games.
Earlier this season before the Detroit Pistons took the floor at Oracle Arena, Team USA point guard of the 2010 World Championship team, Chauncey Billups told our Poor Man’s Commish about his experience playing with Curry at the time.
“He didn’t really play that much, but times that he did play, he played well,” Billups said, “Obviously, now he’s playing on a different level. His confidence is different. He’s a leader now.”
Back then, Billups was the veteran and leader of that gold-medal-winning team.
“Yeah, I think all those guys kind of looked up to me as the leader of the team,” Billups added, “That was a great compliment then, but I think the old guards have a good impression of kind of what I did and how I led. Hopefully they’re all kind of doing the same things now on their respective teams.”
In addition to Curry, a few other members of the Golden State Warriors were on the list too. Andre Iguodala, a longtime Team USA veteran, has been selected along with David Lee and Klay Thompson, who both have some experience with Team USA as well.
Iguodala was on the same team as Curry that won the 2010 FIBA World Championship. He also was a member of the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team that finished 8-0 and won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics. He’s been a member of USA Basketball since he was named a member of the 2002 USA U18 World Championship Qualifying Team.
Lee has been a member of USA Basketball since he was named a member of the 2007 USA Select Team that practiced with the USA National Team that year. He participated in the USA National Team’s training camp in July 2010, but he injured his right middle finger and was unable to play the rest of camp.
Thompson was invited to the USA Basketball Men’s National Team mini-camp in July 2013. He also was a member of the 2012 USA Basketball Select Team that practiced with the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team.
LetsGoWarriors.com reported on Billups’s observation that Iguodala’s fit on the Warriors mirrored his fit with Team USA en route to the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics.
We also reported this past summer on Thompson and Barnes’s experiences working out with the Men’s National Team in Las Vegas.
Golden State gets four Warriors onto 28-man USAB roster for next three summers. Injured stars Derrick Rose & Russell Westbrook make cut, too
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) January 23, 2014
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[NOTE: Poor Man’s Commish contributed to this report.]
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