WIN a trip to the FIBA World Championship Finals weekend

LAS VEGAS (FIBA World Championship) - USA Basketball has announced a 15-man squad to continue preparing for the FIBA World Championship, cutting nine players from its preliminary roster.

The announcement was made by USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo and USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski in Las Vegas at the conclusion of a week-long training camp.

The official 12-man roster for the FIBA World Championship will be announced in the days before tip-off in Japan on August 19.

The players named in the 15-man party are: Carmelo Anthony (Denver Nuggets), Gilbert Arenas (Washington Wizards), Shane Battier (Houston Rockets), Chris Bosh (Toronto Raptors), Bruce Bowen (San Antonio Spurs), Elton Brand (Los Angeles Clippers), Kirk Hinrich (Chicago Bulls), Dwight Howard (Orlando Magic), LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers), Antawn Jamison (Washington Wizards), Joe Johnson (Atlanta Hawks), Brad Miller (Sacramento Kings), Chris Paul (New Orleans/ Oklahoma City Hornets), Amare Stoudemire (Phoenix Suns), and Dwyane Wade (Miami Heat).

Hinrich was only added to the squad days before the training camp because of an injury to Kobe Bryant, but has survived the first cuts where others did not..

"I think the main strength of this group is depth," Krzyzewski said. "There is ability throught the squad. Also it's very young, there are guys here who are 20, 22."

Reducing the squad was made easier for Krzyzewski by a string of withdrawals.

Of the players cut, Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers) and Shawn Marion (Phoenix Suns) are both suffering from knee injuries, while Paul Pierce (Boston Celtics), Michael Redd (Milwaukee Bucks) and JJ Redick (Orlando Magic) are also ailing.

It was already known that Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Laker) and Chauncey Billups (Detroit Pistons) would not go forward due to the recent birth of a child.

Krzyzewski admitted the withdrawals had made his job easier.

"If they hadn`t have happened, it certainly would have been to get down to 15 or 16 players, but these things take care of themselves," he said.

The other players to miss out were Adam Morrison (Charlotte Bobcats) and Luke Ridnour (Seattle SuperSonics).

"I spoke personally to them and they were outstanding," Krzyzewski added. "They were very appreciative and they will be on our roster again going forward."

The players in the 15 will now rest for the remainder of the week before gathering again on Monday to begin a more detailed training regime.

"I think everything in our first phase of training was set up well and what we wanted to do in this phase was to pick 15, 16 or even 14 players to go forward with," Krzyzewski said.

"We wanted to start developing a team, not only X's and O's, but where we know each other, where we have confidence in one another, where we like each other and I think that was accomplished."

Under Colangelo and Krzyzewski, there has been a major emphasis on promoting unity within Team USA.

Recent disappointing results have been blamed on disruption caused by individualism within the squad, but Krzyzewski said the attitudes of the players had been even better than he expected.

"All of my surprises during the first week of training have been good ones. I expected the players to work hard. They worked harder. I expected them to co-operate. They co-operated better. I expected them to listen and they listened better," he said.

"I expected them to show enthusiasm and they showed enthusiasm at a higher level. They showed a spirit of co-operation and I didn't realise the friendship they already have because I'm not around them, but a lot of these guys are really close friends and that helps with our team building."

After returning for training next week, the USA will play Puerto Rico in a challenge match on August 3 in Las Vegas. The party will then move to Guangzhou, China, where the team will play China on August 7 and Brazil on August 8.

The USA will then participate in the World Basketball Challenge 2006 from August 11-15 in Seoul, along with Italy, Korea, Lithuania, and Turkey.

PA Sport