LAS VEGAS — Before Anthony Davis’ fourth-quarter entrance into Thursday night’s Team USA demolition of the Dominican Republic, LeBron James grabbed him, said a few words hugged him and tried to pump him up.
When Davis drained a three and was fouled on the play for a four-point play, the USA Bench erupted right next top him, with the world’s best players jumping up and down screaming for the No. 1 pick.
It was their way of saying, “welcome to the team, kid.”
We knew how this would turn out last night but it became official on Friday morning. Blake Griffin has a torn meniscus and will have knee surgery in the coming weeks — he has officially withdrawn his name for consideration for the Olympics. Davis has been added to roster in his place.
“Blake is one of the best players in the league,” USA coach Mike Krzyzewski said Thursday night. “Anthony Davis at some time is going to be one of the best players in the league, but Blake is a proven commodity. And if we don’t have him that’s a big loss. He was playing really well for us.”
Davis played only in mop up duty when the USA was up by 40 points on Thursday, and that may be the case throughout. He’s the 12th guy on the bench. We are not going to see a lot of the brow in London.
“Davis is not a key person,” Coach K said of his role. “He played eight minutes tonight and was really good. But for us to be staying with Argentina and Brazil (two of the taller teams in the Olympics) it’s going to be these guys (pointing to Andre Iguodala, who played some four for the USA Thursday).”
Some people, particularly in the Sacramento area, have suggested this should move DeMarcus Cousins into consideration for that last spot on the team. Cousins has played well for the USA Select Team (after a rough first day) and has turned some heads.
And let’s be honest here — right now he is a better player than Davis. Maybe not in a few years, but he is today. He’s bigger, stronger, not with the range of Davis but Cousins can score inside and be a physical beast.
But it’s not happening. Mainly because Cousins was not on the originally submitted USA Roster or the secondary additions of James Harden and Davis (who were added late and that took arm twisting by USA Basketball president Jerry Colangelo). There has already been the start of drug testing and other steps for Olympic athletes, to get Cousins added to the roster might require an act of congress. Literally.
Colangelo doesn’t seem willing to go there for the 12th man on the roster.
“What (Cousins has) done is put himself into consideration moving forward…” Colangelo said. “Now we had our roster, and we were going to go with that roster.”
That means Davis is part of the team. The brow is on its way to a gold