Kyrie Irving Accepts U.S. Invitation for Rio Olympics

[RedBlackAttack]

Kyrie Irving accepts U.S. invitation, fill out roster for Rio
4:56 PM ET

Marc SteinESPN Senior Writer

Cleveland Cavaliers point guard Kyrie Irving has accepted an invitation to play for Team USA in this summer's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, league sources told ESPN on Saturday.

Sources told ESPN that Irving, after deliberating all week following the Cavaliers' championship run, has informed USA Basketball that he will be on the plane for Rio, completing the team's roster.

Irving, the MVP of the 2014 Basketball World Cup, averaged 19.6 points and 4.7 assists for the Cavaliers this season.

According to ESPN and multiple reports, the 12-man squad to be unveiled Monday afternoon in New York City features Irving, Klay Thompson, Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan at guard; Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Paul George, Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes at forward‎; and DeMarcus Cousins and DeAndre Jordan at center.

The Americans will be heavy favorites in Rio in a 12-team field to win their third successive gold medal under coach Mike Krzyzewski, who is ceding his post to Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs following these Games after a decade in charge.

The Vertical first reported Saturday that Barnes had accepted an invite to play for Team USA, joining Warriors teammates Thompson and Green.

Krzyzewski and his staff will hold a four-day training camp in Las Vegas from July 18 to July 21, and then the team will play five exhibition games, starting July 22 against Argentina and ending Aug. 1 against Nigeria. The Olympic basketball tournament will take place from Aug. 6 to Aug. 21 in Rio de Janeiro.

http://espn.go.com/olympics/story/_/id/16513542/kyrie-irving-cleveland-cavaliers-commits-rio-games-us

[Terahite]

damn how many scrubs from the warriors are they gonna put on this team?

[rzp]

That sucks. He should rest his legs and avoid injuries...

[RedBlackAttack]

Roster is starting to shape up...

PG: Kyrie Irving, Kyle Lowry
SG: Klay Thompson, Jimmy Butler, Demar Derozen
SF: Kevin Durant, Paul George, Harrison Barnes
PF: Carmelo Anthony, Draymond Green
C: DeMarcus Cousins, DeAndre Jordan

I can't imagine Durant or Melo not starting, so one will have to move down to PF. Lots of flexibility with this frontcourt, though, and a pretty damn solid 8-9 man rotation.

[Ben Simmons]

Roster is starting to shape up...

PG: Kyrie Irving, Kyle Lowry
SG: Klay Thompson, Jimmy Butler, Demar Derozen
SF: Kevin Durant, Paul George, Harrison Barnes
PF: Carmelo Anthony, Draymond Green
C: DeMarcus Cousins, DeAndre Jordan

I can't imagine Durant or Melo not starting, so one will have to move down to PF. Lots of flexibility with this frontcourt, though, and a pretty damn solid 8-9 man rotation.
Carmelo over Draymond?

[D-Wait]

That sucks. He should rest his legs and avoid injuries...

We have Kay Felder now. Kyrie can rest in the regular season :pimp:

[Real14]

Carmelo over Draymond?
Stop trolling.

[RedBlackAttack]

Carmelo over Draymond?
For the purposes of ego, yes... I think that will be the starting five. Melo isn't going to come off the bench, imo. Also remember that Melo is really freaking good in international play.

But, there are a lot of lineup variations that Coach K can toy with, like...

Kyrie, Klay, PG13, KD, Draymond

^^^That's a killer with a great mix of shooting, playmaking, shot-making and defense. I like the the idea of using George, Durant and Draymond all at the same time in your frontcourt, in particular. Toss Jimmy Butler and Melo in that mix too.

[Ben Simmons]

Stop trolling.
Im not. Draymond is a better fit. No need to have Melo in the starting lineup :confusedshrug:

Not that Draymond is a better player

[Achilleas]

barnes :lol :roll: :oldlol:

[FKAri]

That sucks. He should rest his legs and avoid injuries...
That's what the regular season is for

[Real14]

Im not. Draymond is a better fit. No need to have Melo in the starting lineup :confusedshrug:

Not that Draymond is a better player
This is Olympics man. Melo was one of the main reasons why they win the gold last time. Stop hating on the bro.

[D-Wait]

barnes :lol :roll: :oldlol:

It's funny after that Finals performance, but let's be real, most of the teams in the Olympics will let Barnes look like a star...

[KingPush]

This is Olympics man. Melo was one of the main reasons why they win the gold last time. Stop hating on the bro.
Yea, that was 4 years ago when Melo was a top 10 player

[Rocketswin2013]

That sucks. He should rest his legs and avoid injuries...
eh he's pretty young.

[Meticode]

Hopefully Irving stays healthy and gets his first gold along with his championship! :oldlol: He'll probably be the most popular player in the Olympics just because of his handles alone.

[moongaze]

This off season would have been the perfect chance for him to heal up, rest and work on his game on his own. This is such a bad decision and a waste.

[Ben Simmons]

This off season would have been the perfect chance for him to heal up, rest and work on his game on his own. This is such a bad decision and a waste.
Lebron went to the olympics and returned an mvp and best player in 08
Then went to the olympics again and returned an elite 3 point shooter in 2012

Competition is good for practice/working on your game. :confusedshrug:

[ArbitraryWater]

Im not. Draymond is a better fit. No need to have Melo in the starting lineup :confusedshrug:

Not that Draymond is a better player

I dont think anyone at this point has Melo over Draymond in a best players list.. Draymond is consensus top 10.. Melo isnt even mentioned top 15 by now.

[RedBlackAttack]

Lebron went to the olympics and returned an mvp and best player in 08
Then went to the olympics again and returned an elite 3 point shooter in 2012

Competition is good for practice/working on your game. :confusedshrug:
Also fair to point out that Kyrie's best individual regular season, statistically speaking and in number of games played, was the season after he won MVP in the FIBA Tournament (2014).

I hate to say it, but there is time to rest during the season. Especially now that we've got one in the bank, the Cavs can really start to treat the regular season like the Spurs do ... and they've never had any problems with their guys playing internationally.

[ArbitraryWater]

Also fair to point out that Kyrie's best individual regular season, statistically speaking and in number of games played, was the season after he won MVP in the FIBA Tournament (2014).

I hate to say it, but there is time to rest during the season. Especially now that we've got one in the bank, the Cavs can really start to treat the regular season like the Spurs do ... and they've never had any problems with their guys playing internationally.

they actually had.. Parker almost always came back shitty after playing internationally... and Manu has had down years after playing for Argentina as well.

I wish Kyrie would take some time to rest now.. but I understand not, its the Olympics.

[TAZORAC]

Roster is starting to shape up...

PG: Kyrie Irving, Kyle Lowry
SG: Klay Thompson, Jimmy Butler, Demar Derozen
SF: Kevin Durant, Paul George, Harrison Barnes
PF: Carmelo Anthony, Draymond Green
C: DeMarcus Cousins, DeAndre Jordan

I can't imagine Durant or Melo not starting, so one will have to move down to PF. Lots of flexibility with this frontcourt, though, and a pretty damn solid 8-9 man rotation.

Anthony will probably pull out...I didn't know Jordan was even apart of the program. The WARRIORS players may need rest. Durant might pull as well, since its free agent year.

Nice try but I don't agree with your list.

Jabari Parker and Cousins are only locks.

[TAZORAC]

Hopefully Irving stays healthy and gets his first gold along with his championship! :oldlol: He'll probably be the most popular player in the Olympics just because of his handles alone.

He got GOLD in 2014...summer games are summer games. He's going to catch Zika virus.

[RedBlackAttack]

Anthony will probably pull out...I didn't know Jordan was even apart of the program. The WARRIORS players may need rest. Durant might pull as well, since its free agent year.

Nice try but I don't agree with your list.

Jabari Parker and Cousins are only locks.
Uh, did you read the article I posted? That wasn't my opinion of what the team will look like... it's the list given in the article:


According to ESPN and multiple reports, the 12-man squad to be unveiled Monday afternoon in New York City features Irving, Klay Thompson, Jimmy Butler, Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan at guard; Kevin Durant, Carmelo Anthony, Paul George, Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes at forward‎; and DeMarcus Cousins and DeAndre Jordan at center.

:confusedshrug:

[Meticode]

He got GOLD in 2014...summer games are summer games. He's going to catch Zika virus.
That was FIBA, not the Olympics.

[TAZORAC]

That was FIBA, not the Olympics.

Do they give out medals in FIBA?

[Meticode]

Do they give out medals in FIBA?
Is it an an Olympic gold medal?

Olympic Gold > FIBA Gold

[TAZORAC]

Uh, did you read the article I posted? That wasn't my opinion of what the team will look like... it's the list given in the article:



:confusedshrug:

Portlands PG is better then Lowry

[FireDavidKahn]

Better not go swimming...

https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/posts/2016/03/IMG_9819/2c9b035e1.jpg

Brazilians are truly some nasty and greasy people.:biggums:

[Nash]

Star player and #1 guy right there.

[KiiiiNG]

Good second option for Durant.

[Graviton]

Melo and Durant gonna be raining 3s just like last Olympics.

[TAZORAC]

Melo and Durant gonna be raining 3s just like last Olympics.

Melo might get carried away raining 3's, because he doesn't feel like running and doing too much work.

[RedBlackAttack]

Portlands PG is better then Lowry
Lillard took his name out of consideration.

[moongaze]

Lebron went to the olympics and returned an mvp and best player in 08
Then went to the olympics again and returned an elite 3 point shooter in 2012

Competition is good for practice/working on your game. :confusedshrug:

Lebron also wasn't coming off a serious knee injury and had a history of injuries

[bluechox2]

true MVP knows never to quit

[RedBlackAttack]

Lebron also wasn't coming off a serious knee injury and had a history of injuries
The "history of injuries" thing is a little over-played. A lot of those "injuries" were the Cavs quite publicly tanking and intentionally holding him out when, if he were on a winning team coming out of the draft as a teenager, he would have been playing.

The fractured kneecap is the first really serious injury that he has suffered and fractures heal completely, unlike ligament/cartilage damage (which he has never had).

There is a danger for injury any time these guys step out onto the court, whether it is practice in the offseason, preseason, regular season, playoffs or international play.

Kyrie has the chance to do something that not too many athletes get to experience... an NBA Championship and a gold medal in the same calendar year. It would be one thing if he already had an Olympic Gold.

This is his shot and he just turned 24... too good an opportunity to pass up, imo.

[LakersDaBEst]

Klay and Dray finally going to play with MvP level PG on big stage

[D-Wait]

Kyrie has the chance to do something that not too many athletes get to experience... an NBA Championship and a gold medal in the same calendar year. It would be one thing if he already had an Olympic Gold.

This is his shot and he just turned 24... too good an opportunity to pass up, imo.

This. It would be stupid not to participate. When does he get the chance to be the Olympics' starting PG ever again? Curry, Westbrook, Paul etc. are out.
It's Kyrie's time to shine now!

[FKAri]

As long as Durant's on that team, gold is guaranteed.

[D-Wait]

As long as Durant's on that team, gold is guaranteed.

Durant with his range is just not fair in international competition :lol

[bdreason]

This is actually big for team USA. The only other PG on the roster is Lowry.