Waiting On Team USA Invitations

Nothing official has been released regarding the Team USA mini-camp at the end of July aside from the news today that Toronto Raptor coach Jay Triano will be running the show in Las Vegas. There's been a lot of unofficial confirmations regarding who has been invited, but nothing from the desk of USA Basketball.

Geoffry C. Arnold reported a few weeks back that Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden were being invited to try out for the 2010 World Championships. The tone of the article suggested they'd be offered the opportunity, but that no specific request had been made.

Yesterday the Associated Press released a story stating definitively that Roy, Aldridge and Oden had been invited, along with 21 others, to the July mini-camp in Las Vegas. It should be noted that while the mini-camp is being used to decide which players will be part of the World Championships team, those players won't necessarily make the 2012 Summer Olympic team.

According to Chris Sheridan, eight spots are most likely locked up for the World Championship team, leaving four available lockers. Sheridan lists Aldridge, Roy, Oden and Jerryd Bayless, who played on the 2008 Select Team, as potential options.

At this point, it's questionable that eight players from the Redeem Team will take part in the 2010 World Championships, at least according to head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

"First of all, that summer, 2010, is when some of these guys are going through [free agency]; I don't know if they can afford to do that," Krzyzewski told Chris Sheridan. "LeBron [James] is great, but if he's going through the biggest negotiation of his life at that time, can he afford to do it?"

A very astute observation from Coach K. Career's are riding on 2010 free agency, and I don't think anyone would blame a player for taking that into consideration when making their decision.

Why does it matter? Well, according to John Hollinger, Roy would be a favorite to slide onto the team should any of the eight holdovers from the Redeem Team decide to pass on the World Championships. Hollinger gives Aldridge a shot as well, through he seems less sure of that candidacy.