Summers for top NBA players seem to get busier and busier, and one reason is because of international competition. 

Team USA will not attempt to qualify for the 2016 Olympics until next year's FIBA World Cup of Basketball (formerly the FIBA World Championships). However, this summer, 27 of the NBA's best young players will be in Las Vegas for a long weekend to help determine the roster for the World Cup and 2016 Olympics. 

According to Mike Tokito of the Oregonian, that list includes Rookie of the Year Damian Lillard, Kyrie Irving and Paul George.

The roster for the mini-camp:

Ryan Anderson, New Orleans
Harrison Barnes, Golden State
Bradley Beal, Washington
Mike Conley, Memphis
DeMarcus Cousins, Sacramento
Anthony Davis, New Orleans
DeMar DeRozan, Toronto
Andre Drummond, Detroit
Kenneth Faried, Denver
Derrick Favors, Utah
Paul George, Indiana
Taj Gibson, Chicago
Gordon Hayward, Utah
Jrue Holiday, Philadelphia
Kyrie Irving, Cleveland
DeAndre Jordan, Los Angeles Clippers
Ty Lawson, Denver
Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio
Damian Lillard, Portland
Greg Monroe, Detroit Pistons
Chandler Parsons, Houston
Larry Sanders, Milwaukee
Klay Thompson, Golden State
Dion Waiters, Cleveland
Kemba Walker, Charlotte
John Wall, Washington
Tyler Zeller, Cleveland

There are probaby three lock of locks on this team: Irving, George and Anthony Davis for next year's squad. You cannot say for sure whether Ty Lawson or John Wall will be there because there are so many good guards that it is hard to get a read on who, outside of Irving is going to get the invite to Spain in 2014.

You also have guys like Steph Curry, who are already in the Team USA pool. Another question is whether guys like Kevin Durant and Kevin Love will be willing to play in the World Cup or if, like in 2010, we see a completely new roster from the previous Olympics.

The Team USA Mini-Camp runs from July 22-25 in Las Vegas.

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You have to hand it to Chris Hansen: the man will not rest until the NBA has returned to Seattle.

He moved closer to getting some rest with a report that surfaced on Wednesday explaining how Hansen and fellow principal investor Steve Ballmer have apparently engaged in "productive talks" with the league to bring an expansion NBA team to Seattle after the group's failure to purchase the Sacramento Kings.

Remember that whole fiasco?

Fans around the league were not sure whether to pull for Sacramento keeping the Kings or for Seattle for getting oh-so-close, but yet oh-so-far-away from seeing their hoop dreams become a reality, only to watch them implode into a nightmare with the Kings staying put.

But now it is Seattle’s turn to rejoice, a celebration that would easily come with an expansion team. That has always been Hansen’s aim and it does not look like the hedge-funder has any plans of letting up.

The Spura and Heat will get things going again tonight in Game 4 of the 2013 NBA Finals in San Antonio as San Antonio will look to take a strangle hold of the series in the Finals.

The Spurs are 2-1 right now and how they got that 2-1 lead in Game 3 was a night no Spurs fan will ever forget.

Led by Danny Green and gary Neal, the Spurs set a Finals record with 16 three-pointers. Green and Neal became the first two teammates to each make 6-plus three-pointers in an NBA Finals game.

Relive that magical game when the three-pointer was raining down on the Heat in Game 2.

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 Nets to hire Jason Kidd
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The Nets spent a long day interviewing Pacers assistant Brian Shaw. They listend to what Shaw had to offer and the ideas he had for the future of the Nets. They listened.

Shaw was once again a bridesmaid and not the bride as another interview fell short for Shaw and he was passed over in his quest to become a head coach.

The Nets have gone with recently retired Jason Kidd as their new head coach. The Nets called a news conference for Thursday afternoon to officially introduce Kidd back to the Nets franchise as its new head coach. A big splash page on the Nets' Web site welcomes Kidd "back where he belongs."

This is a tremendous opportunity to be named head coach of the Brooklyn Nets, and it's a role I have been studying for over the course of my playing days," said Kidd. "Championship teams are built on being prepared, playing unselfishly and being held accountable, and that's how I expect to coach this basketball team. I am truly excited about this next phase of my basketball career."

Kidd had his best years in New Jersey with the Nets, finishing second in MVP voting in 2002 and leading the Nets to back-to-back Finals in 2002 and 2003. He was for a long time the best point guard in the NBA.

Kidd is expected to assemble a more experienced staff that should include his former coach in New Jersey and former Pistons head coach Lawrence Frank. Kidd has reportedly been spending much of his time since his interview assembling this staff. Hopefully it can fill in the gaps of his inexperience as a coach.

For Brian Shaw though?

This is another tough loss as the long-time assistant coach, once thought as Phil Jackson's chosen successor, still cannot get a head coaching job. He is supposedly the frontrunner for the Clippers job now.

Steve Nash struggled through injuries this past season, playing in only 50 of the Lakers' 82 games during the regular season, and two of their four playoff games. He suffered through hip, hamstring and other injuries that required epidural shots to get him onto the court. 

But that is not going to stop Nash from taking part in his summer passion.

The 39-year-old point guard is holding his sixth annual Showdown in Chinatown in New York on June 26. The event draws NBA and international soccer stars to the pitch in Lower Manhattan for an 8-on-8 game to raise money for Nash's foundation. And this year, Nash has added a second event in Los Angeles on July 14th.

Despite the injury issues, Nash said in a conference call today that he will be out there.

"I absolutely plan on playing in both. I'm still rehabbing right now, but with only a few weeks left I should be good to go and playing in both."

Let's be clear about these events. They are not arduous, World Cup types of matches. The only guys expending a lot of energy out there are the few writers who join in. The NBA guys are mostly having a lot of fun out there. 

But there is bound to be a segment of Laker Nation that will not be happy hearing Nash, who is owed $19 million over the next two years, is out there playing soccer two months removed from pain-relieving injections in the middle of being swept by the Spurs. And even if you are just fooling around and kicking the ball around, the swinging of the leg is something the hip is heavily involved in. 

So it is understandable that some might question the wisdom of playing soccer after everything Nash has been through.  But I would say it is a safe bet that his rehab has been more intense than anything he will be doing out there on the pitch. 

For more info on Nash's showdown events, visit his website.

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In the midst of the Spurs' 3-point onslaught in last night's Game Three victory over the Heat comes some troubling news from the San Antonio locker room.

Tony Parker left the game in the middle of the third quarter with an undisclosed hamstring injury. While he returned to the bench and to the game, Parker still said he felt some discomfort. He was scheduled to have an MRI this morning (don't expect Gregg Popovich to release much information from those results).

However, Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports reports Parker was fearing the worst that he could miss Game Four on Thursday.

I'm trying to stay positive. Hopefully … I think it was just tight, a little cramp, a little bit of everything and I'll be fine. I'll wake up tomorrow and I'll be fine, that's my hope. I'll just try to stay positive.

Parker scored six points and dished out eight assists in 27 minutes of last night's Game Three before leaving with the injury. Fortunately San Antonio was up so much that the team did not really need much from him -- or Tim Duncan or Manu Ginobili for that matter.

Going forward in this series, however, the Spurs will need Tony Parker to exert his will on the game and take advantage of the matchup at point guard. Parker has been critical for the Spurs already in two wins this series even though he did not complete Game Three thanks to that injury.

Tuesday's game was Parker's first with single digit scoring this postseason. San Antonio always has found a way to rally. Going the rest of this series -- or even one game -- without Parker might be asking a bit too much.

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After the three-day adidas Eurocamp wrapped in Treviso, Italy on Monday, a number of NBA general managers, executives, coaches and scouts left with high hopes about Lucas “Bebe” Nogueira (7-feet, 213 pounds, center), Raul Neto  (6-foot-1, 186 pounds, point guard) and Augusto Lima (6-foot-9, 206 pounds, power forward).

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said about Aquille Carr -- the 5-foot-6 point guard who is gunning to be the next Brandon Jennings, who jumped from high school to overseas and then to the NBA after one season in Europe.

The headline from Tuesday’s Washington Post said it all:

Aquille Carr struggles at adidas Eurocamp

In the report, Brandon Parker details how Carr's quest to play professionally overseas got off to a rough start and Carr lacked preparation as he struggled through the international showcase.

But while that may have been Carr’s poor fortune in Treviso, there is a very good chance the whole experience could be a blessing in disguise if Carr views this as an opportunity to grow as he gathers a taste of playing at an international level and his camp does their homework about what best fits Carr as he makes the move to play at the next level overseas.

“Aquille is a resilient and resourceful young man. Eurocamp was his first step toward transitioning from a high school phenom to being a professional and we will assess his Eurocamp experience when he returns to the States, said Princeton Day Coach Van Whitfield, whom coached Carr in highs school.

“Aquille is blessed to have outstanding representation and I have every confidence that Aquille will work to ensure that he is equipped to maximize his unique talent to realize a professional career.”

Hopefully reality will hit home for Carr as he and the people around him wisely game plan for next steps in Carr playing abroad.

Game Two was the kind of game good teams have nightmares about. The defense and principals of a team break down and it leads to an onslaught of highlights and talk that makes a player and a team doubt itself. Especially when the stakes are so high. The only thing a team can do to fight all this off is to respond the next time out.

San Antonio HAD to respond the next time out and prove the Heat were not this juggernaut the media sometimes make them out to be and would get the simple waltz to a second straight title. This was still their series and they still had home-court advantage.

Now it is Miami's turn to have nightmares and scratch their heads a bit more. What San Antonio did to Miami in Game Three was much more clinical and much more devastating it seemed than Game Two. Questions abound now heading into Game Four.

The Spurs made an NBA Finals record 16 3-pointers (on 32 attempts!) and gave no mercy or end to the shooting onslaught as the Heat struggled even to get into the basics of their offense. A 113-77 win for San Antonio resulted to the delight of a raucous AT&T Center.

Erik Spoelstra said it best after the game. He, nor anyone who watched, could recognize this Heat team.

 NBA Finals Game 3: Miami Heat vs. San Antonio Spurs
9 p.m./ABC -- Series Tied 1-1

The stats and trends entering a Game Three are being pretty well publicized at this point. In the 13 times since moving to a 2-3-2 format, the team that has won Game Three when the series is tied 1-1 has gone on to win the championship a whopping 12 times.

Saying Game Three is important, is historically only an understatement.

San Antonio and Miami learned a lot about each other from the first two games. You could see it in the way the Heat were able to adjust to the Spurs in Game Two and then eventually in the second half when they pulled away. The chess match has turned to Gregg Popovich and the Spurs as they try to counter and bounce back.

One thing was abundantly clear though: the key players have to step up and do their jobs if their team stand any chance at winning in this series. Sure, Mario Chalmers or Danny Green or Kawhi Leonard could come up with a big game, but this series comes down to what the big trios do.

In Game One, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh combined to score 48 points on 20-for-47 shooting (42.6 percent). The Spurs got 54 points on 21-for-48 shooting (43.8 percent) in Game One from Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili.

Game Two? The Heat's trio posted 35 points on 18-for-40 shooting (45.0 percent) compared to the Spurs' trio with 27 points on 7-for-33 shooting (21.2 percent).

These players are not the be-all, end-all for victory. These guys need some of the role players to step up and make plays. But eventually the game comes down to these key players who are likely to use the most possessions. They all must shoot better and score more to secure a championship for their team.

During the last few weeks, several teams filled their vacant coaching positions and entered a new phase of their franchise's futures.

There was longtime Spurs assistant Mike Budenholzer accepting the post in Atlanta. Warriors assistant coach Michael Malone jumped to the Kings to head the new era in Sacramento. Larry Drew left Atlanta to take on the charge in Milwaukee. Even Masai Ujiri left Denver to take on the challenge in Toronto.

The NBA is seeing plenty of turnover as the Finals are getting set to start and the NBA Draft comes up after that. The 2014 season is right around the corner.

For the guys taking over new teams and, sometimes, getting their first shot at manning a team, they will have to solve the very same problems that have plagued their predecessors. In reality, their tenures will be about solving the problems their predecessors could not solve. There will not be a whole ton of turnover in many of these situations or, if there is, the same problem plaguing the franchise.

What problems await Mike Budenholzer in Atlanta, Larry Drew in Milwaukee, Steve Clifford in Charlotte and Michael Malone in Sacramento? Let's examine: