As you've no doubt already heard (particularly if you are following us on Twitter — shameless plug in the lede!), Anthony Davis went down with a rather nasty ankle sprain in a workout in New Orleans on Sunday, leaving his availability for London in serious doubt. Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski broke the unfortunate news first.
Of course, this being 2012 and the Internet being, you know, the Internet, Woj's revelation set off a firestorm of polarized sermonizing about the impact (or lack thereof) of Davis' injury on Team USA's fortunes. Some felt the prospect of relying on the not-exactly-durable Tyson Chandler as the roster's only true center boded ill for the team moving forward. Others felt that Davis was mostly expendable, that LeBron James playing center in a small-ball lineup is a "dream scenario," and that everyone should just cool their pessimistic jets.
All valid points made by some of our brightest basketball minds. So, who's right? Well, as is so often the case online and in life, the answer likely lies somewhere between the two extremes.
Davis being unavailable obviously isn't ideal. I, for one, think he had a strong shot at making the final roster on the strength of his length and shot-blocking abilities. After all, as long as international rules still allow players to jump up and knock the ball off the rim, tall guys with freakishly long arms and good hops will continue to have a place on national team rosters everywhere — and "The Brow" could have filled that role nicely.
On the other hand, it's also unlikely that Davis would have been a prominent contributor outside of that niche. His offensive skills, while promising, are still raw and he would likely be virtually nonexistent on that end of the floor. And lest we forget, coach Mike Krzyzewski's incarnations of Team USA have always placed a premium on speed in transition and disruption on the perimeter, and he will certainly have the (very athletic) horses to continue that trend with some killer small-ball lineups that may or may not light the world on fire.
All in all, Davis' potential absence isn't the end of the world. Would it have been a nice luxury to have another shot-blocker around to spell Chandler? Sure. But it would always have been a luxury nonetheless. Life goes on and the Brow-less Americans still figure to be dominant, despite looking thinner up front than when the day started.
(Officially, Jerry Colangelo and Krzyzewski have both said that Davis remains under consideration for London, according to recent reports. He is one of six players being evaluated for the final three openings. Regardless, it seems unlikely that a prospective rookie could miss all of training camp and much of the exhibition schedule and still be in a position to make the roster and contribute substantially. Then again, if Coach K decides he really needs that extra shot-blocker...)
With the Davis news finally settled in everyone's brains and interested observers beginning to process the roster ramifications, the American Big Man Virus of 2012 struck again — with one swift phone call from his agent Jeff Schwartz, Lamar Odom removed himself from Olympic consideration.
Via Royce Young of CBS Sports:
"Jeff told me quite some time ago that he really wanted the opportunity and so we talked about it and we decided to give him an opportunity and then he was kind of in and out a couple of times," said Colangelo, who had agreed to give Odom, who was traded last week from Dallas to the Clippers, another chance after he had a disastrous season with the Mavericks and was on the outs as far as making the Olympic team. "I think Jeff was perplexed, too. So up until (Monday afternoon), he was a go. And now he’s out."And the hits just keep on coming.
To be frank, Odom has a disastrous year in Dallas. He's since been traded to the Clippers, and he's said all the right things about turning things around in 2012-2013. I felt like he had an opportunity to start that process off on the right foot by having a productive summer with Team USA, playing against elite competition day in and day out. He obviously felt differently.
This wouldn't be as much of a problem if pretty much every American professional basketball player over 6-foot-9 hadn't already been stricken with some odious malady or another — but somehow they have, leaving an increasingly gaping hole in Team USA's frontcourt.
Like Davis, Odom was never going to be a game-changer. Had he come to camp looking like his pre-2012 self, he would have filled in as a versatile power forward with the ability to do many of the things Chris Bosh would have done had he been available. That's a valuable role in the international game, but not one the United States can't win without.
Does Odom's decision put more pressure on Chandler, Kevin Love, and (almost assuredly, with all the injuries and withdrawals) Blake Griffin as the team's only legitimate bigs? Absolutely. But on the other hand, Krzyzewski can always trot out Chris Paul, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, and anyone with a pulse and Team USA will be more than fine against the vast majority of their Olympic competitors. So there's always that.
Sure, our national team may look more and more like a scrumptious glazed doughnut with each passing day, and that's legitimately concerning — but let's not hit the panic button just yet.
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