12-28-2019, 05:45 AM
With no idea where he will be playing in the NBA next season, Kevin Love has withdrawn from this summers Team USA basketball roster. Love is in limbo while the Minnesota Timberwolves field offers for their three-time All-Star, a process that was complicated and likely lengthened when Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Andrew Wiggins signed his contract this week. Love is the latest All-Star to pull out of Team USA, which begins its training camp in Las Vegas next week to prepare for the FIBA World Cup in Spain. In recent weeks the Americans have lost Blake Griffin, LaMarcus Aldridge and NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard. They have 18 players remaining and will choose 12 for the World Cup of Basketball roster. Love, who won gold medals at the 2012 Olympics and 2010 world championship and was one of the first players to commit to play this summer, told USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo that he would be unavailable for training camp that starts Monday. "He wants to play but its a little bit of a sign of the times when you look at the league in terms of contracts, rumoured trades," Colangelo told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "All of those circumstances puts players Im a funny position." The Cavaliers have been in pursuit of Love since before the draft. Their chances of landing Love, who can opt out of his contract next summer and has told the Timberwolves he wants to play for a contender, increased exponentially when LeBron James chose to return to play in Cleveland. The Timberwolves have demanded Wiggins, the No. 1 overall draft pick, in a package in return for Love and the Cavaliers have gradually softened on their position to include the dynamic 19-year-old wing player in trade talks. Under NBA rules, Wiggins cannot be traded until 30 days after he signed his contract with the Cavaliers. That length of time allows other teams to make offers for Love as well, but also makes it too risky for Love to participate with Team USA. An injury could derail any trade possibilities, so Love had to take the difficult step of informing Colangelo on Friday night that he would not be able to participate. It had to be a tough call for Love to make. He has long held playing for Team USA as one of the highest honours possible and has referred to his experience of winning gold in London as the pinnacle of his young career. While other big stars like James were stepping away from the team to get some rest this summer, Love took pride last year in joining with Kevin Durant to be among the first elite players to recommit to the World Cup team. "I think he truly is remorseful," Colangelo said. Love was a vital piece to the London team, giving the Americans a rebounding presence and a much-needed big man to stretch the floor. But Colangelo said the team would be able to get by without him, pointing to an experienced roster and rising star Anthony Davis, who was on the Olympic team but played only sparingly. "Its not like theres a barrel full of power forwards that can rebound and shoot the ball like Kevin Love," Colangelo said. But in international competition, where teams generally play smaller than they do in the NBA, players such as Indianas Paul George and Dallas Mavericks forward Chandler Parsons could help fill the void. DeMarcus Cousins and Andre Drummond are other big men that should give the Americans a presence in the paint. "Someone is going to have an opportunity to step up," Colangelo said. "Were kind of anxious to get started to look at this." ___ AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney contributed to this report. Flames Jerseys 2021 . The 29-year-old German, the 2011 overall World Cup champion, says she has decided "to end my career now. 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However just before midnight, stewards ruled that Ricciardos car had "exceeded consistently the maximum allowed fuel flow" and that the team refused an instruction from the races technical delegate Charlie Whiting to change the fuel-flow sensor before the race and a further request during the race to reduce the fuel flow.BOSTON - After going to overtime in four straight games, the Boston Bruins needed much less time to take care of the New Jersey Devils.Milan Lucic scored a pair of goals, and backup Niklas Svedberg earned his second NHL shutout behind three periods of stifling Boston defence as the Bruins beat the Devils 3-0 on Thursday night.We were skating well and we were playing with a lot of urgency and a lot of jump right from the start, Boston captain Zdeno Chara said. I thought we controlled the play and made some solid, strong plays. We got a lead like we wanted and put a lot of shots on the net and created a lot of offensive zone time for us.Boston spent so much time at the other end of the ice that Svedberg faced only 14 shots. Boston held New Jersey to three in the opening period and four in the second, three coming on a late power play that did nothing to spark the Devils.David Krejci and Torey Krug assisted on Lucics power-play goal with 1:12 left in the first as Chara provided a screen. Carl Soderberg added an unassisted goal 8:31 into the second for the only scoring until Lucic tapped in an empty-netter with 12 seconds remaining.Patrice Bergeron, who scored the winner Wednesday in Bostons overtime victory at Pittsburgh, passed the puck to Lucic as they skated in alone on the empty net.Were trying to build from the momentum that we created from last night, Bergeron said. I thought that right away we had a strong game. We limited their chances and their shots on net and I thought we had a lot of good looks andd good chances.ddddddddddddergeron and Chris Kelly assisted on the final goal. It was the 700th career game for both.Cory Schneider, who grew up outside of Boston and played at Boston College, made 41 saves and kept the Devils within range despite their lack of offence.We got outworked for one thing for a period of time there, Devils general manager Lou Lamoriello said. We just couldnt get anything done. You have to get shots. We didnt get shots.Svedberg made his first start since a 6-2 loss at Columbus on Dec. 27, and didnt get much of a challenge.New Jersey followed its three-shot first period by stumbling through the second. The Devils had just one shot in the period until Michael Ryder was stopped by Svedberg while being taken down by Daniel Paille with 5:17 left. New Jersey went on its only power play of the game, but continued to struggle offensively.Schneider was sharp early in the third and stopped Soderberg twice from the slot to keep the Devils within two goals. Boston had 11 shots in the first eight minutes of the period.I think 40-plus saves speaks for itself, Lamoriello said. Hes been playing extremely well, and tonight was no different.NOTES: New Jersey LW Mike Cammalleri also played in his 700th NHL game. ... Boston LW Loui Eriksson was out with an upper-body injury. He missed his first game of the season. ... The Bruins 43 shots were two shy of their season high recorded in a 5-2 win over Detroit on Dec. 29. That was Bostons last game not to go into overtime before Thursday. ' ' '