Doping:
DeMarcus Cousins considers the thought, and one of the NBA’s most recognizable scowls quickly turns into a bright smile.
Without saying a word, it’s clear he agrees: For the first time under coach Mike Krzyzewski, the U.S. Olympic basketball team has a genuine offensive weapon in the middle.
The Americans might even have the best center in the world.
Cousins had 14 points and 15 rebounds in just 16 minutes of the Americans’ exhibition opener, a 111-74 victory over Argentina on Friday night in Las Vegas. The 6-foot-11 Sacramento Kings star can score inside and out, and gives the U.S. a dimension it hasn’t had while winning the past two gold medals.
“DeMarcus is going to be a force in Rio,” teammate Klay Thompson said.
Next up for Cousins and the Americans is their second exhibition game, against China today in Los Angeles.
The center spot has almost been an afterthought on recent U.S. teams, which much preferred playing small to pounding the ball inside and used centers Tyson Chandler and Dwight Howard mainly for defense.
“There’s been a lot of great bigs to come through this program, so I’m blessed to be in this situation,” Cousins said. “I’m not really in it to say who’s the best at what position, I’m just here to help the team win. So we’ve got one goal in mind, which is the gold, and that’s the only thing I’m focused on right now.”
Cousins’ six seasons with the Kings have been marked by losing on the court and constant changes off it. Cousins hasn’t hid his unhappiness. Now he’ll spend a month around a winning team.
“It can only help him,” USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said. “I think all the players who play for us are better people for it. They become better players.”
The United States is sending 292 women to the Rio Games — the most women who have competed at an Olympics for a single country. The U.S. Olympic Committee announced its 555-person team Saturday for the Aug. 5-21 Games in Brazil.
Team USA:
The International Olympic Committee’s 15-member executive board is to meet today to consider whether to ban Russia entirely from the Rio Games because of systematic, state-sponsored cheating uncovered at the 2014 Sochi Games. Russian track and field athletes already have been banned by the IAAF, the sport’s governing body, and to ban an entire nation would be unprecedented. The IOC could also let other individual federations decide.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev wrote an open letter to IOC President Thomas Bach on Friday to plead against a blanket ban. Bach has spoken often about the difference between collective and individual punishment. “It is obvious,” he said a week ago, “that you cannot punish a badminton player for infringement of rules or manipulation by an official or a lab director in the Winter Games.”