Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 2:56 pm  |  39 responses

Bron, Wade Won’t Commit to Team USA?

‘Noncommittal’ doesn’t rhyme with ‘team,’ so naming the upcoming Team USA might get interesting: “So far LeBron James and Dwyane Wade have both wavered in their commitments to Team USA for next year’s World Championships in Turkey. Brandon Roy said a few days ago that he is leaving his options open. Dwight Howard is one of the few stars who has said, in no uncertain terms, he wants to play in the Olympics and if he’s asked to play in the World Championships, he will.”

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  • http://slamonline.com/ niQ

    Lol win a gold then retire from international play. awesome.

  • http://slamonline.com Russ Bengtson

    OMG they hate America.

  • http://slamonline.com Brad Long

    They haven’t even commited to their respective NBA franchises past this year. Why would we expect the Olympic team to be any different?

  • JD

    1. It doesn’t matter at all who doesn’t play for USA, a completely different team from the one in the olympics could still win the worlds
    2. Americans are way 2 patriotic

  • C’s 4 life

    i wonder if they realise how many pople would kill to be able to say no to team USA?

  • http://realcavsfans.com Anton

    They should just show up unannounced like a old school dynamic wrestling duo

  • http://www.twitter.com/Th3_R3al_Chris Young Chris MP3

    RT @BradLong They haven’t even commited to their respective NBA franchises past this year. Why would we expect the Olympic team to be any different?

  • http://www.slamonline.com Ryan Jones

    LeBron didn’t play for the Cavs summer league team this year, either. It’s like he doesn’t even care.

  • http://www.shoenut.blogspot.com ShoeNut

    I heard Bron has a movie to make next year that’s why he can’t play. That just shows where his priorities are.

  • black pinoy

    theyre just lookin out for themselves.. thats why the U.S. is in such a shit hole because of people like them.. be a little be more patriotic will you

  • http://slamonline.com 360vue

    Bron’s probably got financial obligations to be doing, whilst Flash is probably having a break after having to do another herculean effort to keep the Heat from being one of the worst teams in the L

  • http://slamonline.com Ben Osborne

    Great players have been skipping the World Championships for as long as I can remember.

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  • NJ4Life

    aren’t the next world championships the summer of 2010? If so, then obviously bron and wade don’t want to risk losing a huge contract to an injury during the summer.

  • Teddy-the-Bear

    For as long as he can remember, LeBron James always wanted to be an actor billionaire. To him, it was better than being president of the United States.
    What’s basketball?

  • ozward

    didn’t the gold medal in bejing automatically qualify america for the 2012 games?

    in which case does it matter who plays the world championships?

  • la huey

    Don’t need ‘em as long as Rose and Durant suit up.

  • Damir

    Make no mistake..Rose and Durant won’t be enough

  • Darrell Armstrong

    BIG UPS TO DWIGHT HOWARD!! a true AMERICAN! :)

  • giogolo

    Whats the bug fuss, you guys cant get off their d**ks y’all have to make sure they play every possible international game till their 50?

    Or you so badly want US to dominate that not including them means your assess will be handed to you by Spain?

    If US basketball is good as well as system wise, then they can with durant and rose. Remember Most international guys playing right now are in their early to mid 20′s.

    Fair game man. Fair contest.

  • Royal

    giogolo:You Liar!!!!!!!!

  • giogolo

    Royal: Truth Hurts. Reality Bites. = )
    Always.

  • http://www.twitter.com/NotebookNick thesubwayconnection

    LOL @ Farmer Jones.

  • Dutch Rob

    Co Sign Damir
    Look at the World Championship in 2002 and 2006.
    Rose D-Howard and Durant are great players and will be even better in the summer of 2010 but they need Bron and Wade to really be sure that they win it.

  • http://hawkules@live.com Hawkules

    @ShoeNut: I heard Bron has a movie to make next year that’s why he can’t play. That just shows where his priorities are.

    Let’s not bring up priorities with these young players because they knocked on Shaq his first 5-6 years in the L and well we see how that turned out. Bron and Wade will be fine. They’ve been playing non-stop B-ball for the last 6 years including Playoffs, World Games, Olympics and charity. So I think we can forgive them this once is they want to not play for the World next year.

  • http://Www.lkz.ch Darksaber

    What Giogolo said… And i enjoyed the rebuttal for royal… Niice

  • http://www.slamonline.com Ryan Jones

    And now is missing games ’cause he has swine flu. Zero dedication. I don’t know why any team would want to sign this clown.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Ryan Jones

    And now LeBron is missing preseason games because of swine flu. Zero dedication. I can’t imagine why anyone would want to sign this clown.

  • http://www.slamonline.com Wayno

    I hate it when people say no to representing thier country…a player no matter how big of a superstar should be honored to do so.

  • Orlando Woolridge

    Holy sh!t, I hope the people talking about priorities and not being patriotic enough are kidding!

  • john

    Im from Miami and admire Wade as a plyer but if he backs down Im going to lose all respect for him

  • http://idunkonthem.blogspot.com albie1kenobi

    Jones brought up a point i’ve been meaning to ask: isn’t the summer league only for “newbies”, i.e. players with certain amount of years in the league cannot participate? a serious question here.

  • http://astrokidz.blogspot.com T.J.

    I guess we have to pay them a couple hundred mil to get them to play for their own country. smh

  • bryan

    i dont think its right to judge a player for not playing for his country. america is supposed to be the land of the free,but yet people trash players for making their own decisions. the players have to do whats best for them and their careers,and sometimes thats to take a break from playing once in awhile. it all comes down to the old saying “learn to watch out for yourself,cause aint nobody else gonna do it for ya.”

  • skywalker

    it seems american international players dont feel nearly the same amount of honor for the country as an athlete from any other country who’d be selected for the national team

  • http://thatsbecauseheleftyallintherearviewutah fireman10101

    I personally don’t think it would matter if THEY(lebron and wade) doesn’t play. Its their decision, cuz as long as melo, paul, williams, rose, durant, howard and redd to name a few play. The US is gonna win anyways. They aint the best shooters anyways. Everyone likes to play zone defense, so they aint gonna help there no ways. That just gives us more room to bring in a blake griffin and another shooter. Its a free country so it really aint that big of a deal

  • lou

    World Championships aren’t the Olympics, what if they wanna spend time with there families? Would you work your job on your weekends for free? Obv there is a love for basketball, but if they get hurt during these games their teams and their careers suffer. Look at Ginoboli. Didn’t Tony Parker hurt himself? Also alot of the international plyers have an obligation to play for their country, think Yao, he would not be able to play in the NBA, if he didn’t. Once again fans think these players owe them something is sickening. Not to mention second class refs and allowed extra contact and less skilled players= increased chance of injury. Look at how the Australians play, all that extra ruff stuff by bums, they remind me of Bynum in the playoffs last year. USA is the land of the free people.

  • http://dfkjslf.com Jukai

    This is the World Championships… they’re a joke… this is for lesser competition to play so they look all good and tough and Spanny can talk about how good they are.

  • rog123

    Well, usa should be able to win with rose, durant, granger, iguodala, and oden.

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