Minnesota Timberwolves' Kevin Love Named a Finalist for 2012 US Olympic Team
It's official.
Yesterday, USA Basketball named Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love a finalist for the U.S. Olympic team slated to play in London next summer. Love is one of 20 finalists.
This would not be Love's first experience with Team USA. The UCLA alum participated in the 2010 World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey, and the squad went 9-0, bringing home the gold medal.
Although 20 players find themselves on the finalist roster, it will eventually be whittled down to 12 names. Love considers the recognition a "tremendous honor" and commented following a team shootaround Monday morning:
"Hopefully, when the list is dwindled down, I'm still there. Hopefully, I'll continue to play better and hopefully they'll see something in me. But it's a tremendous honor. Anytime you get a chance to represent your country, wear USA across your chest, red white and blue, get out there sing the national anthem, compete for a gold medal, all of that... It's a big deal to me and allows me to be a little patriotic.
"
Because no official tryouts will take place for the team, players are basically judged off their performance in weekly NBA games. In that case, Love has yet to disappoint. The forward is averaging just under 26 points per game and—true to his reputation—cleans the boards night after night with an average of 14 rebounds per game.
U.S. Olympic basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo knows the level of talent of each of these 20 athletes, acknowledging the difficulty to narrow down. However, he's looking for the best lineup possible in search of a repeat Olympic gold medal (Team USA took first in 2008 in Beijing).
Following is the complete list of finalists:
| LaMarcus Aldridge | F/C | 6-11 | Trail Blazers/Texas |
| Carmelo Anthony | F | 6-8 | Knicks/Syracuse |
| Chauncey Billups | G | 6-3 | Clippers/Colorado |
| Chris Bosh | F | 6-10 | Heat/Georgia Tech |
| Kobe Bryant | G | 6-6 | PG |
| Tyson Chandler | C | 7-1 | Knicks/Dominguez H.S. (CA) |
| Kevin Durant | F | 6-9 | Thunder/Texas |
| Rudy Gay | F | 6-8 | Grizzlies/Connecticut |
| Eric Gordon | G | 6-3 | Hornets/Indiana |
| Blake Griffin | F | 6-10 | Clippers/Oklahoma |
| Dwight Howard | F/C | 6-11 | Magic/SW Atlanta Christian Acad. |
| Andre Iguodala | G/F | 6-6 | 76ers/Arizona |
| LeBron James | F | 6-8 | Heat/St. Vincent-St. Mary H.S. (OH) |
| Kevin Love | F | 6-10 | Timberwolves/UCLA |
| Lamar Odom | F | 6-10 | Mavericks/Rhode Island |
| Chris Paul | G | 6-0 | Clippers/Wake Forest |
| Derrick Rose | G | 6-3 | Bulls/Memphis |
| Dwyane Wade | G | 6-4 | Heat/Marquette |
| Russell Westbrook | G | 6-3 | Thunder/UCLA |
| Deron Williams | G | 6-3 | Nets/Illinois |
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games will be held July 27-Aug. 12 in London, England.
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