Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski and his staff named the final Team USA Olympic Basketball squad today. It is a rather star studded lineup (quite a bit more so than 2004 - bleh) that on paper you would think would just completely take over the Olympics this year. Who’s on the final squad?

• Center - Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic
• Guard - Kobe Bryant of the Los Angeles Lakers
• Guard - Jason Kidd of the Dallas Mavericks
• Guard - Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets
• Guard - Michael Redd of the Milwaukee Bucks
• Guard - Deron Williams of the Utah Jazz
• Guard - Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat
• Forward - Carlos Boozer of the Utah Jazz
• Forward - Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets
• Forward - Tayshaun Prince of the Detroit Pistons
• Forward - Lebron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers
• Forward - Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors

The starting lineup is going to be Howard at center, Kidd at point, Bryant at shooting guard, and Carmelo and Lebron at forward. That’s one hell of a lineup, obviously.

The real question, however, will be how this team reacts to international basketball. Are they made up of the right parts? There is a considerable lack of size in this lineup with only three big men - Krzyzewski chose to go with the versatility of a guy like Tayshaun Prince over the size of a few other candidates, and you have to wonder if that is wise.

Why? Well, take a look at the NBA finals. That was basically Europe vs. America given the amount of Euro-trash on the Lakers roster. In that situation, America won soundly - mostly because the Celtics had behemoths in the lineup (Perkins, KG, a host of others off the bench) to completely take possession of the paint and annihilate Pau Gasol defensively, exposing how soft European players are (Note to readers in Europe, don’t get your man-purses in a bunch, its true. European players like to play in space and don’t like clogging the lane and initiating contact. In the NBA that makes them a liability).

The big physical presence of the Celtics players absolutely dominated their matchups, and completely took over the rebound game. As we all know, second chance points due to offensive rebounds are a huge part of the game, as is defensive rebounds, because they cut off your opponent’s scoring chance and gives you one in turn. Rebounds are one of the most fundamental basketball skills, but also one of the most overlooked.

Granted, there is enough size to get by on the American roster for the Olympics. Certainly no European player will have an answer for Dwight Howard. But I wonder if coach Krzyzewski (do you seriously have any idea how long it takes me to type that frigging name?) really has a handle on what style of basketball needs to be played when we get into the international “trapazoid paint” arena. Good ‘ol USA is going to need to play aggressive basketball with some big men to intimidate the European centers and power forwards, and only time will tell if they have enough of it on the team to do it.

Then again, what do I know - we’re talking about a team with Kidd, Kobe, Lebron, Carmelo and Howard on the floor at the same time. America could win by 40 every game. Who knows.