USA Basketball Announces Nominees for 2012 Olympic Team

[USA Basketball]

USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo announced Saturday the official nominees for the 12-man U.S. Olympic Team men’s basketball roster. The U.S. hoops roster is pending final approval by the U.S. Olympic Committee.

“We projected we would have difficulty getting down to a roster of 12, regardless of the number of injuries that have taken place, because they are such an outstanding group of people and athletes,” Colangelo said in an official USA Basketball press release. “The final selections keep us in concert with our game plan to have athleticism, versatility and strong depth on our roster. I think our final roster epitomizes all of that.”

Nominated for the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team were: Carmelo Anthony (New York Knicks); Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers); Tyson Chandler (New York Knicks); Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder); Blake Griffin (Los Angeles Clippers); James Harden (Oklahoma City Thunder); Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers); LeBron James (Miami Heat); Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves); Chris Paul (Los Angeles Clippers); Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder); and Deron Williams (Brooklyn Nets).

The USA roster features five members of the 2008 gold medalist U.S. Olympic Team (Anthony, Bryant, James, Paul and Williams), five members of the gold medalist 2010 World Championship team (Chandler, Durant, Iguodala, Love and Westbrook), and two newcomers (Griffin and Harden).

To read the entire press release, please go to USABasketball.com.