Few spots open but U.S. basketball players say camp worth attending

LAS VEGAS (AP) — More than 20 players agreed to come to USA Basketball’s minicamp this week, and most of them will be home next summer when it’s time to play games.

The big names could come back then and reclaim their roster spots. Even so, the young players who committed to play this week say it will have been worth it.

“It’s just an opportunity that nobody’s going to not take,” said Portland center Greg Oden, finally getting to work out with the Americans after being injured the last three summers.

The minicamp opened Thursday and the Americans will practice again today before ending the week with an intrasquad exhibition game Saturday night.

The goal is to play well enough to get invited back next year to compete for a spot on the roster for the world championships.

“Whether there’s one spot open, all the way to four, five, six, whatever it is, we’re all fighting for it,” Minnesota forward Kevin Love said. “We all love the competition.”

The core players on the U.S. team that won the Olympic gold medal last summer in Beijing have told USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo they are interested in playing next year in Turkey and in the 2012 Olympics in London.

That could leave as few as four spots available for the 20 players that were on the floor Thursday, but Colangelo had no trouble finding guys who were interested in coming to practice at a Las Vegas high school.

“They know there’s not going to be 12 spots open, but they want to be in that pipeline, because the guys will not play forever,” Colangelo said earlier this week. “It’s hard to project how many spots we will have open. You just don’t know. You need to have your replacements ready to go.”

Colangelo and U.S. coach Mike Krzyzewski met with the players Wednesday night, telling them to play hard and show them who wanted to be a part of the program. That may not do many of the players good next summer, but will give them a head start toward competing in future events.

“You don’t know if six guys are coming, you don’t know if three guys are coming back or nine or 12 guys are coming back,” said Toronto coach Jay Triano, who is running the U.S. workouts this week. “There are going to be spots open and this isn’t about 2010 and 2012. These kids are young enough that 2014 and 2016 are possibilities for them.”