{"id":88377,"date":"2024-07-31T22:30:38","date_gmt":"2024-08-01T02:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=88377"},"modified":"2024-08-01T05:38:18","modified_gmt":"2024-08-01T09:38:18","slug":"paris-olympics-paul-george-outs-himself-team-usa-snub","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/31\/paris-olympics-paul-george-outs-himself-team-usa-snub\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris Olympics: Surprise Player Outs Himself As Team USA Snub"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>With North America\u2019s status as the mecca of basketball, Team USA\u2019s men\u2019s basketball team always draws a lot of attention. Even when they\u2019re trotting out C-list stars, people come out to see them shine. This interest and prestige hasn\u2019t been lost on anyone, from fans to players.<\/p>\n<p>This year, with USA Basketball looking to re-assert its dominance, All-Stars displayed a renewed interest in the Olympics. It started with early commitments from players like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/curryst01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Stephen Curry<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jamesle01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">LeBron James<\/a>. Eventually, Team USA revealed a star-studded 12-man roster that looked formidable on paper.<\/p>\n<p>At least one player had been left off though, with Philadelphia 76ers\u2019 newcomer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/georgpa01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paul George<\/a> revealing that he was approached about joining the team.<\/p>\n<h2>Paul George Outs Himself As Team USA Snub<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cYeah, they came to me, right,\u201d George tells <em>7PM In Brooklyn<\/em> co-host Carmelo Anthony. \u201c(Golden State Warriors and USA Basketball head coach) Steve Kerr, after we played the Warriors in L.A., came to me like, \u2018You got any interest in being on Team USA?\u2019<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Yeah, I want to play.\u2019 So, I&#8217;m thinking I&#8217;m in. I think I&#8217;m a part of that group.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Paul George thought he was in for the USA Olympic team but he\u2019s not sour about it \ud83d\ude02\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uvuDcEiS2KQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m seeing it on (Instagram); they get the jersey, they get the jersey,\u201d George laughs. \u201cI&#8217;m like, &#8216;Where&#8217;s my post? When are they going to hit me?&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cSo I understood it. Obviously, I ain&#8217;t going to be sour about it\u2026 At the same time, it was like, d***, I was looking forward to representing the USA and being a part of that team.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt just so happened I ran into (USA Basketball director) Grant Hill, I think during the playoffs in Dallas,\u201d the 14-year veteran continues, relaying that Hill told him \u201cYeah man, didn&#8217;t happen this year.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Why Didn\u2019t He Get Picked?<\/h3>\n<p>A nine-time All-Star and four-time All-Defensive selection, George averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.5 steals per game last season. He also made 41.3 percent of his 3s. With his accolades, talent level, and positional versatility, he seems like exactly the type of player Team USA wanted from a skill standpoint. However, George may have also wanted a consistent or featured role.<\/p>\n<p>Like Boston Celtics wing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brownja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaylen Brown<\/a>, this could have been at the heart of Hill\u2019s decision <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/28\/paris-olympics-jaylen-brown-fires-back-grant-hill-controversy\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">to turn him down<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>To be frank though, when one watches rising star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/edwaran01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anthony Edwards<\/a> play hero ball with Team USA, it\u2019s difficult to see how George (or Brown for that matter) weren\u2019t picked. Edwards is incredibly popular on and off the court. Yet, he\u2019s only 22 years old and hasn\u2019t accomplished nearly as much. He\u2019s also headstrong, a quality that can be endearing or frustrating depending on the situation.<\/p>\n<p>Looking at the role <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bookede01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Devin Booker<\/a> is playing also brings Hill\u2019s roster-building into question. Focusing on his on-ball defense and off-ball shooting, he\u2019s actually playing more like George than himself.<\/p>\n<h3>Is Grant Hill Meeting Expectations?<\/h3>\n<p>With Team USA now 2-0 in the Paris Olympics, they\u2019re on their way to the quarterfinals. That being said, it\u2019s hard to complain too much about what Hill should or should not have done. Nonetheless, from their exhibitions in Las Vegas to the tournament in France, USA Basketball has looked anything but indomitable.<\/p>\n<p>For a roster that was being compared to the 1992 Dream Team, that\u2019s less than ideal.<\/p>\n<p>Consequently, it\u2019s fair to criticize and question the team that was assembled.<\/p>\n<p>Should Edwards (or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/whitede01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Derrick White<\/a>) have been selected instead of Brown? Should Booker have gotten the nod instead of George? Even the question of whether <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/embiijo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joel Embiid<\/a> \u2014who was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/21\/paris-olympics-do-joel-embiid-team-usa-france-cameroon-comments-add-up\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">set to play for France<\/a> \u2014should\u2019ve been chased by Team USA rather than lithe American shot-blockers like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/claxtni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nic Claxton<\/a> (Brooklyn Nets), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/a\/allenja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jarrett Allen<\/a> (Cleveland Cavaliers), or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/holmgch01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Chet Holmgren<\/a> (Oklahoma City Thunder) is worth asking. Holmgren, who can stretch the floor, would\u2019ve been a particularly interesting addition.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With North America\u2019s status as the mecca of basketball, Team USA\u2019s men\u2019s basketball team always draws a lot of attention. Even when they\u2019re trotting out C-list stars, people come out to see them shine. This interest and prestige hasn\u2019t been lost on anyone, from fans to players. This year, with USA Basketball looking to re-assert [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":88386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60,1608,27,62,3],"tags":[2122,1052,50,2081],"class_list":["post-88377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olympics","category-basketball","category-clippers","category-nba","category-news","tag-grant-hill","tag-olympics","tag-paul-george","tag-team-usa"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88377","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88377"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88377\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88377"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88377"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88377"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}