USA Basketball 2014 Roster: Jerry Colangelo: “We’re Pleased” With Klay Thompson (Photo: Warriors.com)
MENDENHALL CENTER, LAS VEGAS, NV — USA Basketball Men’s National Team (#USABMNT) managing director Jerry Colangelo isn’t ready to pencil in Golden State Warriors shooting guard Klay Thompson as one of the twelve players who will represent the country when it departs for the 2014 FIBA World Cup of Basketball in Spain, but there has sure been a lot of praise heaped on Thompson from those in the know at Team USA.
“We’re high on him. I’m not making any statement about him being a lock on our team, but he’s impressed us enough that we know who he is. We know how competitive he is,” Colangelo told LetsGoWarriors today after practice, “We’re pleased with him.”
With training camp only three days old, it wouldn’t make sense for Colangelo to say any players are a lock at this point. It behooves the team to still have its players compete at a high level and earn their spots.
There’s plenty more to go, including one more day of practice followed by an intrasquad exhibition on Friday here in Las Vegas, two more days of training on August 14th followed by an exhibition against Brazil on the 16th in Chicago, followed by three more days of training interspersed with tune-ups against the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico in New York, August 18-22. 2014.
Colangelo told reporters today that, under FIBA rules, he does not need to announce the final twelve-man roster until 24 hours before the first game, which is on August 30th against Finland in Bilbao, Spain.
However, Colangelo also said that he would probably take fifteen players to New York, but have the twelve-man roster determined after the last exhibition game against Puerto Rico, before heading off to Gran Canaria for two more days of training followed by their final exhibition against Slovenia.
“I don’t think you can ever have too many shooters on the team, especially in international play, and Klay can just flat out knock it down,” Colangelo said, “He would have to be one of the top two or three shooters on this roster.”
USA assistant and NBA regular season head coach of the Chicago Bulls, Tom Thibodeau, called him “terrific”. Twice.
“He’s terrific. He’s terrific,” Thibodeau said, “The way he plays, he has the ability to make any team better. He can shoot it on the floor, he can defend, he can play multiple positions, he can guard point guards.”
ESPN basketball analyst Jay Bilas told LetsGoWarriors that he saw Thompson’s potential on defense even as a junior at Washington State University before entering the NBA Draft in 2011.
“Klay’s a phenomenal player,” said Bilas, “I first got to be around him at the Nike Skills Academy several years ago when he was a Washington State. I thought, my God, that guy’s a lottery pick.”
The Warriors would select Thompson as the No. 11 pick of the Draft.
“One of the things that stood out to me was, I knew he could shoot, but I was really impressed with his defense,” Bilas added, “I thought he could be a really good defender. You get wrapped up — and rightfully so — in his ability to shoot it because he can really shoot it and he can score, but he can guard too.”
“His defense is probably under-rated in my opinion,” Colangelo said, “When you have a chance to see players get the job done in this environment against the competition, which has been pretty competitive, that impresses you. He’s done extremely well.”
Thibodeau agreed and also pointed to Thompson’s continued year-by-year improvement. Thompson showed off some new moves off the dribble on Monday.
“He’s one of those guys who may be a little under the radar. I don’t think by much, though,” Thibodeau said, “I think people know how good he is and he’s gotten better every year.”
“He’s a better player overall. His skill level has been lifted and he’s had another year under his belt and it was a good one,” Colangelo added, “His confidence is up, you can see that. That’s part of the maturity.”
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