Jerry Colangelo warns Team USA dropouts: I'll remember this for Olympics

Jerry Colangelo is going to think twice about who he invites to Team USA's Olympic squad.

Thursday's loss to Serbia guaranteed Team USA can finish no higher than seventh at the FIBA World Cup. However, the country ultimately qualified for the 2020 Olympic Games by finishing as one of the top two teams from the Americas, along with Argentina.

The path to qualification wasn't easy, though, as many NBA stars elected to withdraw from Team USA consideration. That left Colangelo, USA Basketball's managing director, and head coach Gregg Popovich with less talent to choose from on short notice.

Colangelo said those withdrawals will weigh on his mind as they prepare the squad for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

"I can only say, you can't help but notice and remember who you thought you were going to war with and who didn't show up," he said, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. "I'm a firm believer that you deal with the cards you're dealt.

"All we could have done, and we did it, is get the commitments from a lot of players. So with that kind of a hand you feel reasonably confident that you're going to be able to put a very good representative team on the court. No one would have anticipated the pull-outs that we had."

After Wednesday's loss against France, which eliminated the U.S. from medal contention, Popovich called it "disrespectful" to other teams in the tournament to continue to discuss the number of stars who chose not to represent Team USA.

However, if those players want to represent their country in Tokyo, Colangelo thinks they should make the first move.

"Going forward for USA Basketball, we're going to need the cooperation of teams, agents, and then there has to be communication with players one-on-one to solidify those commitments," Colangelo said. "I am going to be anxious to see how many players reach out early to indicate that they wish and want and desire to play.

"But I'll make this statement: It's as much about maybe who we don't want as much as who we want."