As reported by Kevin Pelton at supersonics.com, Jeff Green and PJ Carlesimo have been confirmed as participants in the NBA Select team which will help Team USA prepare for the FIBA Championships in Vegas later this month. Carlesimo will serve as head coach for the team. The complete roster of the Select team is here.Also, there's a brief Q&A with Sonic rookie Jeff Green on nba.com, wherein we learn that, well, we don't really learn anything at all. But if you're thirsty for Sonic news in any form, go ahead and take a look. Elsewhere at nba.com, Dave McMenamin estimates that Kevin Durant is on the bubble for making the roster for the FIBA tournament, and that he may be edged out by Tyson Chandler. Honestly, it's a no-lose proposition for the Sonics and Durant. If he makes the team, he gets to spend a few extra days playing with the best basketball players in the world. If he doesn't make the team, he gets to rest a bit before training camp. As a rookie, Durant (and Green, for that matter), may wind up hitting a wall this year come February, and playing in extra games during the summer won't help matters.
12 comments:
While keeping the positive karma going I'd like to point out that the Sonics now have 4 player and a coach that have all been show some interest by the USA Basketball.
Ridnour - asked to participate last season and turned down the offer to be on the practice team this summer
Colisson - ask to participate on the practice squad and member of 2003 team.
Durant - asked to participate in Team USA workouts in LV and could be the last add to the squad that will compete this August.
Green - ask to participate on the practice squad
Carlismo - ask to coach the practice squad.
I think this great news for the Sonics future. Now I know that must of us out here in the blogger sphere rain flaming hate posts about Ridnour on a daily (some of us hourly) basis, but you got to recognize that Ridnour can run an offense. And even if Luke can't regard a tree it doesn't matter so much if he has team of good defenders to cover his back. Personally I think the Sonics are building a nice core, and I hope it's a core with a lot more defensive moxie.
I guess to take the other tack, Luke was asked to participate last summer, but not this year. What does that tell you about his development as a basketball player?
Ryan,
Just an FYI, Ridnour was not invited in 2006 and then uninvited in 2007.
http://www.usabasketball.com/seniormen/2007/07_msnt_July%2020-23%20LV%20Training.html
and
http://www.usabasketball.com/seniormen/2006/06_msnt_roster.html
He's actually still on the roster and choose not to participate this summer. In fact insidehoops.com had this blurb about the USA national team:
"There are 25 players on the Team USA roster for 2006-08 competitions. But only 12 players are allowed on the official active roster for the events, so "cuts" will be made as the roster gets trimmed for each summer's events, but no players are actually being "cut" from the overall team. For example, Luke Ridnour, Shawn Marion (knee injury) and Adam Morrison on July 25 got "cut" from the roster for 2006 summer world basketball championship competition in Japan, but they're still on the overall Team USA roster for the next few years and could be used in the summer of 2007 or 2008."
So Ridnour didn't make the 2006 team of 14 (12 and 2 alternates) that went to Japan, neither did Agent Zero (who turned down being an alternate). Furthermore Ridnour could have played with Durant down in Vegas this summer, but as I stated above he choose not to.
Ryan, you do bring up a great point about Ridnours development or lack there of. But I'm going to redirect it you statement. Has Ridnour lost so much confidence in his game that he did not want to play this summer with the national team in fear that they might drop him from the 25 man roster?
"Has Ridnour lost so much confidence in his game that he did not want to play this summer with the national team in fear that they might drop him from the 25 man roster? "--man, I really hope not... I can't imagine why any competitor would turn down a chance to play with the best.
So he has almost zero chance of making the team. So what?
You would think that playing with great players like Kidd would only help him develop his game....
Also, why is there no mention of Collison in the article linked in the entry?
Correction, I think Colisson also turned down his invite to the USA Select Team (aka practice squad) because it conflicted with his wedding plans.
I'm not sure were I read that, but here's an article from the PI that has the Ridnour info:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/basketball/324510_sonx21.html
"COLLISON GETS INVITE: While Luke Ridnour did not choose to appear at the USA Basketball minicamp this weekend in Las Vegas, Sonics forward Nick Collison received an invitation to join the team for workouts beginning Aug. 13 in Las Vegas."
Due to the recent addition of ignorantly unenlightend posters, SonicsCentral has turned into Celtic Blog, Jr. It's a bleak, dismal situation that coincided with Kevin Durant's arrival to the Seattle Supersonics.
From the implausible trade proposals to ill-informed analyses -- as well as the relentless butchering of proper nouns -- that place has severely dwindled in quality. Heck, one guy kept misspelling Lamar Odom and Luke Ridnour's surnames as "Odem" and "Ridneour," respectively, which is an embarrassment that's greatly disconcerted me as a fan.
http://sonicscentral.com/blog/?p=1378#comments
I, for example, cringe each time some ignoramus claims that the Seattle Supersonics have a realistic chance of acquiring Jermaine O'Neal from the Indiana Pacers through a trade.
First and foremost, Sam Presti doesn't posses the assets to create an overwhelming enough of a package to convince Larry Bird to part with O'Neal. Unlike the Los Angeles Lakers, the Supersonics lack a proven commodity at power forward (i.e., Lamar Odom), a young center with undeniably tremendous upside (i.e., Andrew Byunm), and an up-and-coming point guard (i.e., Javaris Crittenton) to include in such a transaction.
Besides, O'Neal wouldn't willingly agree to be dealt from one rebuilding team to another rebuilding team. All things considered, it doesn't make any sense for him to come and play here—especially when he could play alongside an established superstar such as Kobe Bryant.
Next, numerous naïve fools have preposterously referred to Kevin Durant as the second-coming of Kevin Garnett. Apparently, those folks fail to realize that Durant is a wing player who's natural positions are at small forward and shooting guard, while Garnett is a true power forward who's mostly comfortable manning the high post.
Even as a 6'11" and 220-pound rookie with the Minnesota Timberwolves during the 1995-1996 season, Garnett split playing time handling the interior positions with Tom Gugliotta and Christian Laettner; moreover, the froncourt was filled out with the platoon of Sam Mitchell and Doug West at small forward, while the backcourt sported the duo of Isaiah "J.R." Rider and Terry Porter.
In his first season, the 19-year-old Garnett averaged 10.4 points per game, 6.3 rebounds per game, 1.8 assists per game, 1.6 blocks per game, 1.1 steals per game, 49.1% on 361 of 735 shooting from the field, and 28.6% on 8 of 28 shooting from beyond the arc. Those, without question, are the numbers of a player who rotated across the baseline throughout the high-post to the low-post on both offense and defense.
With the Texas Longhorns last season, Durant averaged 25.8 points per game, 11.1 rebounds per game, 1.3 assists per game, 1.9 blocks per game, 1.9 steals per game, 47.3% on 306 of 647 shooting from the field, and 40.7% on 82 of 203 shooting from beyond the arc. Inarguably, Durant's ability to drain it from 25-feet deep is a quality that's held by a wing player rather than a post player; thus, it's blatantly evident that he and Garnett have uniquely different skill sets.
Anyway, Durant's one-man show down in Austin, Texas -- which also included a supporting cast of undersized power forward Damion James, overmatched off guard Justin Mason, dimunitive shooting guard A.J. Abrams, and sloppy point guard D.J. Augustin -- was fairly entertaining for the fans; however, the way in which he was utilized by head coach Rick Barnes wasn't effective from a team perspective. Yet, as it was, Barnes' amateurish reliance on the 4-1 motion offense was something out of a high school playbook.
In the end, ultimately, his squad was outcoached -- as they couldn't compete against more cohesive, unified teams -- consequently, Durant was exposed as a guy who couldn't do it all on his own. Therefore, we should all hope that P.J. Carlisemo doesn't make the same mistake by forcing Durant to shoulder the whole load with the Supersonics as a rookie this season, for that'd most likely be a disastrous decision.
Wow, I complained about the misspelling of Lamar Odom and Luke Ridnour's surnames; yet, I ironically botched Andrew Byunm and P.J. Carlesimo's surnames within the same post.
Although my lack of proofreading and current state of fatigue are to blame for those aforementioned errors, I'll nevertheless apologize for my hypocritical disparagement toward those of whom who've made similar transgressions.
That oversight was my fault.
Okay, I'm neither dyslexic nor a piss-poor typist; however, I've yet to properly spell Andrew Bynum's surname up 'til this point in time.
It's no big deal, though.
How many times are you gonna type the word 'surname'? Give it a rest, douche.
AK,
I agree that recently the post at Sonics Central have gotten out of control in regards to JO becoming a member of the Sonics and about KG comparisons. But please, do not use this forum for your gripes unless they are on the topic.
Seriously, you have good things to say, but if you want to just spout off your mouth, then make your own freakin' blog. Otherwise, please stay on topic.
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Ok... Once again the question is: Why did Ridnour turn down this opportunity to scrimmage with the US National Basketball team this summer in Las Vegas? I think he's lost confidence in his game and didn't want to risk being dropped from the 25 man roster with a poor showing this summer. Granted nobody has been dropped for roster since it was formed in 2006, but at some point guys like Riddick, Ridnour, Miller, & Morrison have to go.
Very constructive "anonymous." Where would we be without your genius contributions to this website?
"How many times are you gonna type the word 'surname'? Give it a rest, douche."
Okay, that's an 'xtremely creative insult. Man, I'm jus' flat-out impressed by it.
You totally deserve a ton of credit here, for I'd've ne'er thought 'bout takin' shots at folks by callin' 'em a douche bag.
Miraculously, I learned somethin' new today. That right there is some awe-inspirin' stuff for a simp like me.
All right, that's enough sarcasm, as I don't want you to drown in it and choke to death.
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