2010 Team USA - Global Community Cup

Today, team USA won their first exhibition game in Madrid, Spain 77-61 over Lithuania. Stephen Curry, who sprained his left ankle 3 days ago, played only 3 minutes ...

Lithuania

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Player	Min	FG	3Pt	FT	Reb	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	Pts
Mantas Kalnietis	26	3-6	1-3	0-0	3	3	2	1	0	3	7
Tomas Delininkaitis	16	1-2	1-1	2-3	5	0	2	1	1	3	5
Linas Kleiza	23	5-12	0-1	2-2	4	0	3	0	1	1	12
Jonas Maciulis	17	3-9	0-2	1-2	5	1	3	3	1	2	7
Robertas Javtokas	26	5-10	0-0	0-0	6	0	1	1	1	3	10
Paulius Jankunas	18	1-5	1-3	0-0	2	2	3	3	1	1	3
Martynas Pocius	17	2-6	0-1	3-4	4	1	1	0	1	1	7
Renaldas Seibutis	15	3-6	0-1	0-0	2	2	1	1	0	2	6
Simas Jasaitis	10	0-1	0-0	0-0	1	0	2	1	1	1	0
Martynas Gecevicius	7	1-3	0-1	0-0	0	0	0	1	0	0	2
Tadas Klimavicius	7	0-1	0-0	0-0	0	1	0	0	0	1	0
Arvydas Eitutavicius	7	0-0	0-0	0-0	0	0	2	0	0	1	0
M. Andriuskevicius	5	0-1	0-0	0-0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
M. Lukauskis	4	1-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2

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Totals

200

25-63

3-13

8-11

33

10

21

12

7

19

61

USA

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Player	Min	FG	3Pt	FT	Reb	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	Pts
Rajon Rondo	14	1-3	0-0	0-0	3	1	4	3	0	2	2
Chauncey Billups	22	2-6	2-4	1-4	3	0	4	0	0	2	7
Andre Iguodala	29	2-5	1-1	0-0	6	2	0	3	0	3	5
Kevin Durant	22	4-14	0-4	7-10	4	1	2	1	1	1	15
Tyson Chandler	20	0-0	0-0	0-0	5	1	2	0	1	2	0
Rudy Gay	18	6-12	0-1	2-2	3	0	0	2	2	3	14
Russell Westbrook	17	4-5	2-2	2-2	2	2	2	1	0	1	12
Lamar Odom	17	1-4	0-1	0-2	7	0	1	1	2	0	2
Eric Gordon	12	3-8	1-3	2-2	1	1	1	3	0	0	9
Derrick Rose	11	1-4	0-1	0-0	1	3	1	1	0	1	2
Danny Granger	11	1-3	0-1	0-0	4	0	2	0	0	1	2
Kevin Love	3	0-1	0-0	2-2	1	0	0	0	1	0	2
Stephen Curry	3	2-2	1-1	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	5

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Totals

200

27-67

7-19

16-24

40

11

19

15

7

16

77

source:usabasketball.com

Team USA will face host and defending world champion Spain tomorrow at 3 pm (EDT) before heading to Athens, Greece for their final exhibition game against Greece ...

2010-11 NBA Season Preview - Utah Jazz

The new look 2010-11 Utah Jazz

Starter / Bench:
PG - Deron Williams / Ronnie Price
SG - Raja Bell / C.J. Miles
SF - Andrei Kirilenko / Gordon Hayward
PF - Paul Millsap / Mehmet Okur
C - Al Jefferson / Kyrylo Fesenko

source: apimages.com

2009-10 regular season: 53-29 (tied for 4th in West)
2009-10 playoffs: Western Conference Semifinals

Players out: Carlos Boozer, Kyle Korver and Wesley Matthews
Players in: Al Jefferson, Raja Bell and Gordon Hayward

(They have replaced Carlos Boozer with Al Jefferson to keep themselves in the top 5 in the tough Western Coference ...)

My 2010-11 season prediction: 52-30 (5th in West)

Offseason Player Movement - Carmelo Anthony

This week, the basketball world has been hijacked by news and rumors about Carmelo Anthony. ESPN, CBS Sports, Sports Illustrated, Yahoo Sports and others are all reporting the "news" that Carmelo Anthony will not re-sign with the Denver Nuggets. The Nuggets, after watching the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Toronto Raptors lost their stars for nothing, are exploring trade options for their own star Carmelo Anthony. The only thing that is slowing down the process is that the Nuggets currently do not have a GM ...

Personally, I found it quite sick when I read about these so-called "news" this week. Carmelo Anthony made it clear last month that he will never ever re-sign with the Denver Nuggets. Even I have blogged here 2 weeks ago that Carmelo has already put his Denver home for sale. If he were to stay with the Nuggets, why is he selling his house? And why would he not sign the 3-year, $65 million contract extension if he knows he might only get half as much when he hits the open market next summer?

These so-called NBA insiders are known to throw out rumors the second they hear about them so that they get credit / paid for these "breaking news". But this time they didn't report the news when they first had it because they simply didn't believe it. They didn't believe Carmelo Anthony, who is a New York native, will give up money for the chance to play for the New York Knicks. Then a month later when they finally believe it, they are all reporting this one-month-old "news" as headline on the same day. This is just crazy ...

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This summer has not been kind to NBA teams as many players have decided to play overseas instead. I know this has been a trend for quite some time, but in the past 2 weeks alone we have already lost ...

Last season's NBA players:
Rob Kurz (CHI)
Oleksiy Pecherov (MIN)
Gabe Pruitt (NYK)
Kyle Weaver (OKC)
Robert Swift (OKC)
Taylor Griffin (PHO)
Pops Mensah-Bonsu (TOR)
Rasho Nesterovic (TOR)

This year's draft choices:
James White (DEN)
Jarvis Varnado (MIA)
Keith Gallon (MIL)
Nemanja Bjelica (MIN)
Dwayne Collins (PHO)
Scottie Reynolds (PHO)

And a lot of players are said to be considering playing overseas if they cannot secure a contract within the next 2 weeks ...

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This is just an update to the previous blog entry. The 2010 Team USA roster was trimmed down to 13 after cutting Jeff Green and JaVale McGee. And Stephen Curry might have hurt his chance of making the final-12 after spraining his left ankle in today's scrimmage as we are only 10 days away from the 2010 FIBA World Championship in Turkey ...

2010 Team USA - Global Community Cup

In Sunday's first exhibition game, Team USA beat France 86-55. If playing time was an indication of who will make the final cut, then we can expect both Jeff Green and JaVale McGee not making the Team USA final-12 roster ...

France

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Player	Min	FG	3Pt	FT	Reb	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	Pts
Nando De Colo	20	1-9	1-6	2-2	1	1	1	1	0	0	5
Nicolas Batum	31	5-11	1-5	0-0	4	0	5	4	0	1	11
Florent Pietrus	22	0-4	0-3	0-0	2	1	1	1	0	2	0
Boris Diaw	33	7-12	1-5	0-0	6	3	4	0	0	2	15
Ian Mahinmi	15	0-1	0-0	0-0	4	2	1	0	0	4	0
Yannick Bokolo	20	3-8	2-4	1-2	1	4	4	1	1	4	9
Mickael Gelabale	17	1-3	1-1	0-0	2	1	2	0	0	1	3
Ali Traore	16	2-4	0-0	2-4	1	0	1	1	2	2	6
Alain Koffi	12	1-2	0-0	0-0	3	0	1	1	0	1	2
Alexis Ajinca	9	1-6	0-0	0-0	5	1	0	0	1	0	2
Charles Kahudi	5	0-2	0-1	0-0	2	0	1	0	0	1	0
Fabien Causeur	1	1-1	0-0	0-0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2
Andrew Albicy				DNP
Edwin Jackson				DNP

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Totals

200

22-63

6-25

5-8

31

13

21

9

4

18

55

USA

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Player	Min	FG	3Pt	FT	Reb	Ast	TO	Stl	Blk	PF	Pts
Rajon Rondo	19	3-4	0-0	0-0	2	6	3	0	0	0	6
Chauncey Billups	15	5-9	3-6	4-4	4	0	0	0	0	0	17
Andre Iguodala	23	1-2	0-1	0-0	2	1	2	3	1	0	2
Kevin Durant	23	5-11	0-2	4-4	8	1	1	0	3	3	14
Tyson Chandler	14	2-2	0-0	0-0	3	0	0	0	1	2	4
Rudy Gay	20	7-12	1-1	4-6	1	0	0	2	0	1	19
Lamar Odom	18	4-5	0-1	0-0	7	1	0	1	1	2	8
Derrick Rose	15	1-4	0-0	0-0	3	3	3	1	0	0	2
Eric Gordon	14	3-5	2-4	0-0	1	0	1	1	0	2	8
Stephen Curry	12	2-7	0-2	0-0	0	1	1	2	0	0	4
Danny Granger	12	0-3	0-1	0-0	0	1	2	0	0	5	0
Kevin Love	8	0-1	0-0	0-0	1	1	1	2	0	0	0
Russell Westbrook	7	1-2	0-0	0-0	2	1	1	0	0	0	2
JaVale McGee				DNP
Jeff Green				DNP

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Totals

200

34-67

6-18

12-14

34

16

15

12

6

15

86

In Sunday's second exhibition game, China lost yet another game this time to Puerto Rico 92-76. China's Yi Jianlian, who will play for the Washington Wizards this upcoming season, made only 3 of 15 shots for 11 points and 6 rebounds in 31 minutes ...