{"id":1436,"date":"2012-01-18T17:43:53","date_gmt":"2012-01-18T23:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pauleide.com\/?p=1436"},"modified":"2024-01-27T16:30:32","modified_gmt":"2024-01-27T22:30:32","slug":"2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/","title":{"rendered":"2012 USA Basketball Team – Who Do You Cut?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I usually don\u2019t agree with\u00a0LeBron\u00a0James on anything. But his recent assessment of how the 2012 US Men\u2019s Basketball Team is shaping up is hard to argue.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can stack up with those guys,\u201d said James about the original \u201cDream Team\u201d and the 1992 gold medal winning USA basketball squad.<\/p>\n

“They set the standard for USA Basketball in ’92 with all the great players they had. But we have some great ones as well. We have some Hall of Famers, some champions. So it’s going to be a great team.”<\/p>\n

For the first time in at least a couple of Olympics, the entire roster will be loaded with jaw dropping\u00a0studs<\/i>.<\/p>\n

The 2008 squad won the gold medal, which hadn\u2019t happened since 2000. That roster had several studs- Kobe,\u00a0LeBron, D Wade, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul,\u00a0Carmelo\u00a0Anthony.<\/p>\n

But it also had a few players who just weren\u2019t quite to that same level- Carlos Boozer, Michael\u00a0Redd,\u00a0Tayshaun\u00a0Prince and a young Chris Bosh. You can\u2019t say that about any of the prospective 2012 team members.<\/p>\n

The list of 20 finalists was announced, a roster that will be trimmed down ultimately to 12 players-\u00a0Carmelo\u00a0Anthony, Kobe, Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard,\u00a0LeBron, Derrick Rose, D Wade, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin,\u00a0LaMarcus\u00a0Aldridge, Chris Bosh,\u00a0Chauncey\u00a0Billups<\/a>, Rudy Gay, Tyson Chandler, Andre\u00a0Iguodala, Kevin Love, Lamar Odom, Eric Gordon, Russell Westbrook and\u00a0Deron\u00a0Williams.<\/p>\n

Of the 20 announced Monday, 10 players were members of the 2010 men\u2019s team and eight were on the 2008 Olympic team that won the gold medal.<\/p>\n

So let\u2019s assume you keep the obvious \u201cname\u201d guys-\u00a0Carmelo\u00a0Anthony, Kobe, Kevin Durant, Dwight Howard,\u00a0LeBron, Derrick Rose, D Wade, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Kevin Love- that\u2019s 10 players right there.<\/p>\n

The real question is who do you cut?<\/p>\n

That means of the following list, only two players will make it-\u00a0Aldridge, Bosh,\u00a0Chauncey, Rudy Gay, Tyson Chandler,\u00a0Iguodala, Westbrook,\u00a0Deron\u00a0Williams, Odom and Gordon.<\/p>\n

From now until the final roster is announced there is always the potential for injury, but excluding that, there are few obvious cuts.<\/p>\n

The most obvious has got to be Lamar Odom, who is in the middle of his worst season as a pro. I don\u2019t even think\u00a0Khloe\u00a0would argue if he got cut. Speaking of injury, it would stand to reason that Eric Gordon wouldn\u2019t make the final roster if his knee injury continues to bother him for an extended period.<\/p>\n

Chauncey\u00a0will most definitely get cut, because he\u2019s like the Method Man of the NBA. Westbrook gets cut because they have enough scorers. Rudy Gay gets cut.\u00a0Iguodala\u00a0doesn\u2019t make it because they already have guys who do what he does.<\/p>\n

Aldridge\u00a0and Bosh are the same player essentially, if either makes it, it\u2019s Bosh considering he was on 2008 team. Then it comes down to D-Will (also on \u201908 squad) or Chandler<\/p>\n

Whew- tough decisions abound for Mike\u00a0Krzyzewski\u00a0and Jerry\u00a0Colangelo.<\/p>\n

The 2012 team could easily be the most talented team assembled since 1992.\u00a0LeBron\u00a0and I finally agree on something.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I usually don\u2019t agree with\u00a0LeBron\u00a0James on anything. But his recent assessment of how the 2012 US Men\u2019s Basketball Team is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1919],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-basketball"],"yoast_head":"\n2012 Team USA- Who Do You Cut?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"2012 Team USA- Who Do You Cut?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2012 Team USA- Who Do You Cut?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"2012 Team USA- Who Do You Cut?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"I-80 Sports Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/i80sportsblog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-18T23:43:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-27T22:30:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Paul Eide\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@I80SportsBlog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@I80SportsBlog\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Paul Eide\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Paul Eide\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/60153e3d6b8ce695a5ae547332a17721\"},\"headline\":\"2012 USA Basketball Team – Who Do You Cut?\",\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-18T23:43:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-27T22:30:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/\"},\"wordCount\":518,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Basketball\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/\",\"name\":\"2012 Team USA- Who Do You Cut?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2012-01-18T23:43:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-27T22:30:32+00:00\",\"description\":\"2012 Team USA- Who Do You Cut?\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"2012 USA Basketball Team – Who Do You Cut?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/\",\"name\":\"I-80 Sports Blog\",\"description\":\"Sports Content You Didn't Know You Wanted\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"I-80 Sports Blog\",\"alternateName\":\"Sports Content You Didn't Know You Wanted\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sports-blog-i-80-paul-eide-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sports-blog-i-80-paul-eide-1.png\",\"width\":838,\"height\":617,\"caption\":\"I-80 Sports Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/i80sportsblog\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/I80SportsBlog\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/60153e3d6b8ce695a5ae547332a17721\",\"name\":\"Paul Eide\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/191a9bf9a42476715d20608b1b0d5a4774ca41e1083305b2b8d76d59972b94b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/191a9bf9a42476715d20608b1b0d5a4774ca41e1083305b2b8d76d59972b94b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Paul Eide\"},\"description\":\"I\u2019ve been a freelance journalist since 2000 and have had my work published via AskMen, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, Busted Coverage, and Autotrader. \u00a0 I own a marketing agency Wandering Eye and a notary business, Nebraska Notary. I\u2019ve done stand-up comedy, I'm a dad, former youth soccer club President, and former team statistician for the oldest indoor football team in the world, the Omaha Beef. I\u2019ve married six couples in 10 years and my Marriage to Still Married ratio is 6:6. I always say, it isn\u2019t so much about the \u201clove,\u201d as it is the tasteless jokes that became vows. \u00a0 I started the I-80 Sports Blog to have all the work I've published located in one place and to write about things I want to write about. I don't take anything too seriously and it is a real time saver.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/author\/paul\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"2012 Team USA- Who Do You Cut?","description":"2012 Team USA- Who Do You Cut?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"2012 Team USA- Who Do You Cut?","og_description":"2012 Team USA- Who Do You Cut?","og_url":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/","og_site_name":"I-80 Sports Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/i80sportsblog","article_published_time":"2012-01-18T23:43:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-01-27T22:30:32+00:00","author":"Paul Eide","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@I80SportsBlog","twitter_site":"@I80SportsBlog","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Paul Eide","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/"},"author":{"name":"Paul Eide","@id":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/60153e3d6b8ce695a5ae547332a17721"},"headline":"2012 USA Basketball Team – Who Do You Cut?","datePublished":"2012-01-18T23:43:53+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-27T22:30:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/"},"wordCount":518,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Basketball"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/","url":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/","name":"2012 Team USA- Who Do You Cut?","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2012-01-18T23:43:53+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-27T22:30:32+00:00","description":"2012 Team USA- Who Do You Cut?","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/2012-team-usa-who-do-you-cut\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"2012 USA Basketball Team – Who Do You Cut?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/","name":"I-80 Sports Blog","description":"Sports Content You Didn't Know You Wanted","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#organization","name":"I-80 Sports Blog","alternateName":"Sports Content You Didn't Know You Wanted","url":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sports-blog-i-80-paul-eide-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/04\/sports-blog-i-80-paul-eide-1.png","width":838,"height":617,"caption":"I-80 Sports Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/i80sportsblog","https:\/\/x.com\/I80SportsBlog"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/60153e3d6b8ce695a5ae547332a17721","name":"Paul Eide","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/191a9bf9a42476715d20608b1b0d5a4774ca41e1083305b2b8d76d59972b94b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/191a9bf9a42476715d20608b1b0d5a4774ca41e1083305b2b8d76d59972b94b2?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Paul Eide"},"description":"I\u2019ve been a freelance journalist since 2000 and have had my work published via AskMen, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, Busted Coverage, and Autotrader. \u00a0 I own a marketing agency Wandering Eye and a notary business, Nebraska Notary. I\u2019ve done stand-up comedy, I'm a dad, former youth soccer club President, and former team statistician for the oldest indoor football team in the world, the Omaha Beef. I\u2019ve married six couples in 10 years and my Marriage to Still Married ratio is 6:6. I always say, it isn\u2019t so much about the \u201clove,\u201d as it is the tasteless jokes that became vows. \u00a0 I started the I-80 Sports Blog to have all the work I've published located in one place and to write about things I want to write about. I don't take anything too seriously and it is a real time saver.","url":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/author\/paul\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1436"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30994,"href":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1436\/revisions\/30994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/i80sportsblog.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}