Despite injuries to Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard, Team USA will still be bringing plenty of talent to the London Olympics. If any more players suffer injuries or back out, however, things could get a bit hairy. With guys like Dwyane Wade not yet willing to give a 100 percent commitment, head coach Mike Krzyzewski and team chairman Jerry Colangelo have to be getting a bit concerned.
According to NBA.com’s David Aldridge, Wade is planning to let his body dictate whether or not he joins Team USA this summer.
“I told them, I said, listen, I’m just going to see how I feel,” Wade said last week. “This is about being healthy — I think, for all of us, going into the summer healthy — and taking it from there.”
While that does not mean Wade plans to sit the Olympics out, he’s taking a different tone from LeBron James, who seems like he fully intends to play. When asked about Wade’s indecisiveness, Colangelo seemed like he was caught off-guard.
“You could, today, probably come up with 10 or 11 that look pretty solid unless something happens,” he told Aldridge over the phone. “Wade’s one of those guys, but if he feels like he doesn’t have anything left or doesn’t think he can go, then we’ll make a decision as to who replaces him. We do have a lot of flexibility because we have guys who can play so many positions.”
Team USA remains loaded with talent and can still count on LeBron, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Russell Westbrook, and many others, but at the moment if feels like players who were once considered shoe-ins are either on the shelf or on the fence. If the trend continues, Coach K and company may have to dig a bit deeper than they initially expected.
Note: This post also appeared on Medal Detector
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Photo credit: Jerry Lai-US PRESSWIRE
