U.S.A. Men's Basketball Finalizes 12-Man Roster

Photo Credit: telegraph.co.uk

With the Olympics drawing near, the United States has finally named their 12-man roster for the upcoming tournament. Here's a closer look at the squad looking to give the U.S. back-to-back gold medals:

The Thunder are the only NBA team to have three players selected as two thirds of the Miami Heat's "Big Three" - Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh - are skipping the tournament to recover from injuries. The L.A. Clippers and the New York Knicks both have two members on the team while Philadelphia, the Lakers, Brooklyn (that's right, they're not the New Jersey Nets any more), Miami and Minnesota all have one representative.

Some other interesting things to note:

*Tyson Chandler is the only center on the U.S. roster.

*Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Love and Tyson Chandler were all members of Team USA's 2010 FIBA World Championship team that won gold in Turkey. Durant was the tournament's third leading scorer (22.8 ppg) and MVP for a USA team that went 9-0.

*LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony are the only U.S. players playing on their third Olympic team. James was 19 and Anthony 20 when the U.S. took bronze in 2004 after losing first round games to Puerto Rico and Lithuania, and then getting knocked out in the semifinals by Luis Scola, Manu Ginobili and Argentina.

*The U.S. outscored its opponents 850-627 in eight games at the Olympics in 2008. Dwyane Wade was the American's leading scorer in 2008 averaging 16.1 points per game.

*The U.S. is expected to face its biggest challenge in Spain, the 2008 silver medalists. Spain's roster boasts the Gasol brothers Pau and Marc, Oklahoma City's Serge Ibaka, and a backcourt that includes Ricky Rubio, Rudy Fernandez and Jose Calderon.