Team USA Scrimmage Preview

The USA Men's Basketball team plays in a scrimmage tonight against themselves. The coaches divided the team into two teams White and Blue. The team rosters are below. On paper the White team seems much stronger with Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, and James Harden. These team is absolutely loaded with guards even without some of their best guards that opted out of playing for Team USA. But, even without some of our best players there are many big story lines to watch during tonights game. 

D-Rose Return from Injury 

Bulls PG Derrick Rose has he two major knee surgeries in the last three years which will be very tough to recover from especially since PGs rely on the crossover to shake a defender off and doing so take lots of knee movement for the ball handler. Rose has shown us that when he is healthy he is a top-tier PG, but he has been unable to stay healthy as of late. If D-Rose is hurting even the slightest bit he will pull himself out because the Bulls have worked hard to acquire Pau Gasol to surround him and the NBA comes before USA Basketball. But, good news Bulls fans, I expect him to fully recover and have a great game tonight and a great season for the Bulls.

The PG position 

The PG position is easily the deepest one Team USA has. Kyrie Irving, D-Rose, Damian Lillard, and John Wall will all be competing for spots on the Final roster. It will be very interesting to see which of these 4 players get the most minutes tonight and the stats that these players put up. It is also really cool to see how the players have little chemistry but are able to gel together come gametime. Out of these four I would have to say Kyrie has the edge over all of them followed by Damian Lillard following him. I put D-Rose as third on the sole reason of injury. We will need to see how he has recovered. John Wall being the 4th best PG.

BLUE TEAM 

43 — Stephen Curry, 6-3 G, Golden State Warriors

42 — Anthony Davis, 6-10, F/C, New Orleans Pelicans

45 — DeMar DeRozan, 6-7, G, Toronto Raptors

33 — Kenneth Faried, 6-8, F, Denver Nuggets

29 — Paul George, 6-8, G/F, Indiana Pacers

24 — Gordon Hayward, 6-8, F, Utah Jazz

39— Kyle Korver, 6-7, G/F, Atlanta Hawks

75 — Mason Plumlee, 6-11, F, Brooklyn Nets

41 — Derrick Rose, 6-3, G, Chicago Bulls

30 — John Wall, 6-4, G, Washington Wizards

Coach: Monty Williams, New Orleans Pelicans

White Team

28 — Bradley Beal, 6-5, G, Washington Wizards

36 — DeMarcus Cousins, 6-11, C, Sacramento Kings

25 — Andre Drummond, 6-10, C, Detroit Pistons

52 — Kevin Durant, 6-9, F, Oklahoma City Thunder

32 — James Harden, 6-5, G, Houston Rockets

23 — Kyrie Irving, 6-3, G, Cleveland Cavaliers

22 — Damian Lillard, 6-3, G, Trail Blazers

51 — Paul Millsap, 6-8, F, Atlanta Hawks

34 — Chandler Parsons, 6-9, F, Dallas Mavericks

21 — Klay Thompson, 6-7, G, Golden State Warriors

Coach: Tom Thibodeau, Chicago Bulls