USA - Rondo commits to Team USA

BOSTON (2010 FIBA World Championship) - Boston Celtics superstar point guard Rajon Rondo has told USA Basketball he will play for the national team this summer.
 
The commitment is a significant one for the Americans, who over the weekend lost injured Olympic playmakers Deron Williams of Utah and Chris Paul of New Orleans.
 
The 24-year-old Rondo averaged 13.7 points, 9.8 assists and 4.4 rebounds per game for Boston this season and helped them reach the NBA Finals.
 
Not initially a part of the USA Basketball national team squad for 2010-12, Rondo later said he did want to be included yet wouldn't be able to play this summer because of family commitments.
 
USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo spoke to Rondo on Saturday.
 
"We got confirmation (Saturday night) that Rondo will come,'' Colangelo said to nba.fanhouse.com.
 
"We're very pleased to have Rondo with us. He's very enthusiastic. We feel very comfortable with where we're at."
 
Robin Lopez of Phoenix has also been invited to the national team training camp in Las Vegas which tips off next week.
 
Lopez's twin brother, New Jersey Nets center Brook Lopez, was already in the national team squad.
 
As for Paul and Williams, Colangelo said: "Chris isn't physically ready to play and Deron is going to spend some time with his family and he wasn't totally healthy, Colangelo said.
 
No teams will be under the illusion that the United States will have a weakened team in Turkey.
 
If anything, the presence of players like Rondo and Kevin Durant will underline the strength in the national team squad and the Americans may still be the favorites to win the gold.
 
The difficulty for Colangelo and national coach Mike Krzyzewski will be which players to include in the London Olympics squad if the USA side that travels to Turkey does win the title and does not have to go through qualifying next summer at the FIBA Americas Championship.
 
All of the concentration now is on Turkey and the FIBA World Championship - a tournament the USA have not won since 1994.
 
"I just talked to (Krzyzewski) and we're excited to get it going," Colangelo said.
 
"We've got a lot of new guys and the competition is going to be wide open."
 
In the Preliminary Round in Turkey, Team USA will play in Istanbul against Slovenia, Brazil, Croatia, Iran and Tunisia.
 
FIBA