U.S. hoop team makes cuts

LAS VEGAS — LeBron James already knew he would be on the U.S. national team's 15-man traveling roster when coach Mike Krzyzewski announced it Tuesday.

Yet James still got a thrill from hearing he's definitely headed to Asia for next month's world championships.

Adam Morrison, Luke Ridnour and Shawn Marion — who has a minor knee injury — were not among the players selected for the roster by Krzyzewski and managing director Jerry Colangelo after a week-long training camp in Las Vegas. Led by James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony, the club will travel west in 10 days on a quest to put USA Basketball back on top of the world.

"I wasn't sweating, but it makes basketball a lot more fun when you're with a great team, and when you're around guys you know," James said as the players departed for a short break before resuming camp Monday. "Guys were great about coming in here and not having a personal agenda. We're just all here to make a team, and we've got to do it as quickly as possible."

Amare Stoudemire and Kirk Hinrich were the only moderately surprising inclusions on the 15-man roster, which will play warmup games in Las Vegas, China and Korea before opening the world championships in Japan next month.

The roster also includes Gilbert Arenas, Shane Battier, Chris Bosh, Bruce Bowen, Elton Brand, Dwight Howard, Antawn Jamison, Joe Johnson, Brad Miller and Chris Paul.

Though Morrison and Ridnour left town before the official announcement, there appeared to be no hard feelings about the process. Unlike some previous U.S. squads of NBA millionaires, this team seems uniformly eager to take on the world.

"Why not be a part of something that you can be proud of doing for the rest of your life?" asked Paul, who emerged as the Americans' probable starting point guard with a dynamite training camp. "We'd probably just be watching TV and playing pickup ball this summer."

After three more days of workouts, the club will play an exhibition game against Puerto Rico in Las Vegas before heading for Asia. Coach Krzyzewski and his staff must trim the roster to 12 players by Aug. 18 — one day before his club begins the world championships in Sapporo.

"This week was more about putting in the foundation for a system and building camaraderie," Krzyzewski said. "We accomplished that this week, and now we have to start doing some more basketball stuff so we look like we know what we're doing."