Team USA Basketball Director Jerry Colangelo was obviously displeased with Blake Griffin's sudden withdrawal from his commitment to represent his country in the FIBA World Championship. Still, he has no choice but to move on.

From USA Today: "I'm disappointed he's not going to be with us. It's unfortunate (because) it's been two competitions in a row (that Griffin has missed), but it sounds like a broken record because it happened recently with someone else."

He reiterates that it was a complete surprise:

"We didn't have any indication that there was even a possibility of a change in plans (from Griffin). Colangelo was told of Griffin's decision in the early afternoon on Thursday.

This is not the first time it's happened so Colangelo knows that the important thing is to move on. Of course, the USA still has the biggest talent pool in the world.

Colangelo continues: "There's a reason for having a national team roster, and having a list of talented athletes who are on the national team roster, because there are so many variables. It just opens up an opportunity for somebody else. I'm very open minded, so it could be someone who comes in from the (Team USA) Select team. Who knows? We want to present the best team we possibly can. But there's no additional player from outside this group that we're going to add at this point."

It should also be noted that another NBA top power forward, LaMarcus Aldridge, withdrew from participation earlier.

Team USA recently completed the "Select" team-a group of young players that will serve as the scrimmage mates of the actual roster. They may be forced to pull out a talent from the Select team to the actual National team.

USA Today analyzes the players available:

"The lone(sic) remaining power forwards who are expected to participate from the Team USA roster are Anthony Davis (New Orleans Pelicans), Kenneth Faried (Denver Nuggets), and Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves). There are talented forwards on the Select team that will compete against Team USA in Las Vegas, however, including Mason Plumlee (Brooklyn Nets), Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors), rookie Doug McDermott (Chicago Bulls) and Tobias Harris (Orlando Magic)."

The question of Derrick Rose was also brought up: "I haven't heard anything relative to Derrick other than he's going to be there."

While there is no dearth of point guards, Rose's presence could serve as a rallying point for the team, aside from the fact that Rose is one of the few players on the roster who has played for Team USA before.