Here’s a puff piece on Steven Adams getting a tour of Pittsburgh.
June 8, 2012
Bad news for those hoping to see James Robinson at Greentree playing in the Pittsburgh summer league right away. Robinson has a rather good chance of being otherwise occupied. The USA Basketball U18 squad had its cut-down from 23 to 14 players. James Robinson made that cut.
The 14 finalists will continue to train through June 11 at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. The official 12-man 2012 USA Men’s U18 National Team will be selected prior to the team’s June 12 departure for the 2012 FIBA Americas U18 Championship, which will be played June 16-20 in Sao Sebastiáo do Paraiso, Brazil.
There is still one more cut-down from 14 to 12-men on the roster. So there is still a chance that Robinson will not make it. Robinson is one of five guards trying to make the squad. The roster lists 1 center, 8 forwards and 5 guards in the group of 14. I don’t want to say Robinson is a lock to make the squad, but he is the only true point guard remaining. Every other guard is listed as a shooting guard (or considered a combo). The head coach of the squad, Billy Donovan (Florida) is stressing versatility at the positions.
“The strength of this team is there is a lot of versatility; versatility at the forward spot; there’s a lot of guys that can play the small forward spot and move to the power forward; there’s some power forwards that can play center; there’s some guards that can move to the three or guards that can move to the point; so there’s a lot of versatility inside the team.”
Keep in mind, though, that Coach Jamie Dixon coached the USA U19 squad to a gold while using Ashton Gibbs as his primary point guard.
