2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup Roster: USA Announces Final Squad; Cut Damian Lillard, Chandler Parsons, Kyle Korver
USA Basketball announced their final roster for the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain, cutting Damian Lillard, Chandler Parsons, Gordon Hayward and Kyle Korver from the squad on Saturday.
Team USA officials revealed the final roster following their impressive 112-86 win against Puerto Rico in an exhibition match on Friday night at the Madison Square Garden.
James Harden, Anthony Davis, Derrick Rose, Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving and Kenneth Faried -- the six players who were considered shoe-ins -- will headline the squad in their title defense in Spain.
DeMarcus Cousins, Klay Thompson, Rudy Gay, Mason Plumlee, DeMar DeRozan and Andre Drummond also made the squad. DeRozan and Drummond were previously considered as possible cuts over the past several days, and Gay was a late addition to the team after Kevin Durant withdrew from consideration.
USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski said that bringing several centers and power forwards to Spain is a key, considering the fact that the host will have a strong frontcourt composed of Pau and Marc Gasol along with Serge Ibaka.
Davis will be the starting center, and Faried is expected to become the starting power forward. Drummond, Cousins, Plumlee and possibly Gay will serve as backups.
"I'm excited about the 12 players selected and feel we have excellent versatility and the makings of a really good defensive team," Krzyzewski said.
USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said that this year's selection process was the most difficult since he joined the national team program.
"Since taking over the USA Basketball men's national team program in 2005, this was without doubt the most difficult selection process we've gone through," Colangelo said. "I can't stress enough the outstanding effort and commitment that has been given by each finalist."
Drummond's inclusion came as a surprise to many, especially after the Detroit Pistons already expected their starting center to be cut from the team after not playing during an exhibition match against Brazil. But Team USA's desire to go for size led to the decision to pick Drummond for the final squad.
"I also want to make it clear that this is not just about talent; each player is incredibly talented and each player offered us unique skills," Colangelo said. "In the end it was about assembling the best team, selecting guys who we felt would be able to best play the kind of style we envision this team playing."
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