U.S. won't face Spain, Greece, Argentina

[NJNJ]

Regardless of whether it is at full strength, Team USA will not have to face Spain, Greece or Argentina in the opening round of the World Championship next summer in Turkey.

 

On the eve of Tuesday's draw in Istanbul to determine the six four-team groups for basketball's equivalent of the World Cup, FIBA awarded No. 1 seeds to those top four teams to ensure competitive balance in assembling the groups. FIBA also decreed that no more than three European teams or two teams from the Americas region would be placed together in any first-round group.

 

In a pre-draw process that provides sort of an unofficial world ranking -- or at least a reading on the relevant geographical strength of the 24 teams -- the sport's international governing body divided the nations into six groups, with the United States, Spain, Argentina and Greece in Line 1.

 

Line 2 is Serbia, Slovenia, France and Turkey; Line 3 is Brazil, Canada, Puerto Rico and Australia; Line 4 is Croatia, Russia, Germany and Lithuania (the latter three having been chosen as wild cards last weekend); Line 5 is New Zealand, China, Iran and Angola; and Line 6 is Lebanon (the fourth wild card), Jordan, Ivory Coast and Tunisia.

 

Team USA will also learn Tuesday where it will play its opening-round games -- Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir or Kayseri -- a placement that could conceivably become one of the determining factors in whether certain top American players agree to participate. (Izmir is considered the most desirable location by some in the American federation).

 

Team director Jerry Colangelo has said he received verbal commitments last February from eight core members of the team -- Kobe Bryant, Dwight Howard, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Chris Bosh. But Wade has publicly wavered the strongest since then, and the upcoming free agency of James, Wade and Bosh (along with Rudy Gay, who was a standout at Team USA minicamp last summer) could have an impact whether they'll all remain on the team.

 

The American federation is currently planning a minicamp in Las Vegas in mid-July, and it is plausible that Colangelo would excuse any and all free agents from attending without jeopardizing their roster spots. All of the team's superstars are expected to have their future NBA plans in place by the second week of August, when Team USA will reduce its roster -- likely to 14 to 16 players -- and begin full-scale preparations for the World Championship, a tournament the United States has not won since 1994.

 

The tournament begins Aug. 28 and runs through Sept. 12 and features twice as many teams as the 12-team field at the Olympics. As a result, there is an extra knockout round after the format switches to single-elimination following the opening round.

 

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