U.S. Basketball Team Bonding In Vegas

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LAS VEGAS (AP) - Brotherhood, chemistry and camaraderie. Those three words have been used repeatedly during the U.S. basketball teams first four days of practice.

Its those things that will help bring together the final 12-man roster for the squad that will compete in the FIBA World Championships in Spain.

A lot of guys make it to the NBA and thats a fraternity, Golden State guard Stephen Curry said after practice Thursday at UNLVs Mendenhall Center. But this is a selective fraternity guys that have been able to wear a USA jersey and play competitive international basketball.

Brotherhood is a good term.

Curry, who won a gold medal with the team that went 9-0 in the 2010 World Championships, will likely have his passport stamped, along with fellow returners Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose. Add in James Harden and Anthony Davis, who both joined the team that won the 2012 Olympics, and coach Mike Krzyzewski has the core he needs to build around.

Krzyzewski has said all week that this years team is not about choosing from a group of individual NBA All-Stars, but rather finding the right personalities that will blend and complement the core hes had intermittently the past four years.

We may even have in our minds who the 12 guys are, every day you evaluate, Krzyzewski said. But itd be crazy to make a decision like that right now.

Krzyzewski said his first priority is filling the big-man void created by the recent withdrawals of Kevin Love, Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Aldridge.

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U.S. Basketball Team Bonding In Vegas