Team USA Basketball scheduled exhibition games against Latin American countries this week, and a last minute decision to sit out Derrick Rose for the game against the Dominican Republic set off some alarms.

This edition of Team USA has had its share of intrigues and even outright bad luck with the injury of Paul George. It's hard to blame Derrick Rose's legion of fans if they are hanging on the edge of their seats. Derrick Rose being pulled out of the starting five at the last minute sends all the wrong signals.

ESPN Chicago clarifies the issue, so everyone can heave a sigh of relief:

"One source familiar with Team USA's plans told ESPN.com that Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski decided to hold Rose out of the Dominican Republic game to make more minutes available for players vying for one of the squad's last few roster spots as final cuts approach."

The final roster is not yet set. It will be announced before this weekend so Coach K is giving the players on the bubble one final chance to make their case.

Coach K announced this on the "Mike and Mike" ESPN radio show:

"We're gonna give him a couple days off because he's been going so hard,"

Team USA director Jerry Colangelo concurred:  "This was a good time for him to get rest. He still thinks he needs a little bit of rest."

"For him right now, you have to just weigh all the sensitivities involved ... the physical part, the mental part. He did play 24 minutes (Saturday) and he hadn't played that (many minutes) in a long time. If we have time where he can have some down time, mentally it's good for him."

Derrick Rose admitted that he does need some rest: "Just trying to protect myself, just knowing that this is a long, long schedule and this is the most basketball I'll be playing in two years. I want to be out there, but at the same time, my health is the No. 1 issue right now."