Not only has Mason Plumlee survived the first round of Team USA cuts, but he looks like he has a strong chance of making the final World Cup roster.
USA Basketball announced Tuesday morning that Wizards guards John Wall and Bradley Beal, along with Hawks forward Paul Millsap, had been dropped from the potential pool of players to go to the FIBA World Cup in Spain this month.
Their removal, along with that of Pacers star Paul George following his horrific leg injury, leaves 16 players — including Plumlee — vying for the final 12 spots on the roster.
Judging by coach Mike Krzyzewski’s comments Tuesday, Plumlee has a good chance of landing one of them.
“[Plumlee] was a surprise in that he wasn’t in the original team, but he did such a good job with the select group and we needed another player to make it 20 so it was easier to practice that way,” said Krzyzewski, the coach of the national team and Plumlee’s college coach at Duke, on a conference call with reporters.
“Mason made a mark during the week, and in the second half of the scrimmage he did very well, so he’s in consideration, no question.”
Plumlee became the biggest surprise of the team’s Las Vegas training camp last week. After initially being brought there to be on the U.S. Select Team, he was elevated to the senior team after one day of practice following the decisions of LaMarcus Aldridge, Blake Griffin and Kevin Love to pull out of participating this summer.
By all accounts, Plumlee was impressive in practice all week, and actually outplayed Kings center DeMarcus Cousins in their head-to-head matchup in Friday’s scrimmage.
Cousins and Pistons center Andre Drummond are Plumlee’s competition for the role of backing up Pelicans big man Anthony Davis.
“We needed to bring all of our big guys forward, and take a better look at the big guys,” Krzyzewski said.
In addition to Plumlee, Cousins, Drummond and Davis, the rest of the pool of players includes guards Derrick Rose, Stephen Curry, Kyrie Irving, Damian Lillard, James Harden, Klay Thompson and DeMar DeRozan and forwards Kevin Durant, Chandler Parsons, Gordon Hayward, Kyle Korver and Kenneth Faried.
The final roster doesn’t have to be submitted until Aug. 29 — the day before the U.S. begins play in the World Cup.
The current roster is likely to last through the team’s exhibition games in Chicago against Brazil on Aug. 16 and its games against Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic at the Garden on Aug. 20 and 22.