What team doesn’t have room for a 6’4″ guard who can handle, penetrate and shoot with range?

Team USA, apparently.

After putting on the most efficient display during the Team USA Blue-White game (outside of center Tyson Chandler), Memphis Grizzlies guard O.J. Mayo was trimmed from the Mens’ National Team roster on Wednesday.

Check out this stat line from the game:

• Points:  18
• FG-FGA:  7-12
• 3FG-3FGA:  3-6
• Rebounds:  7 
• Assists:  2
• Steals:  1
• Turnovers:  0

Let’s further analyze how this line compared to his counterparts in the game.

Points – Mayo scored the second-most points on his team.  He was outscored by his NBA teammate Rudy Gay, although Gay committed a game-high seven turnovers.  On the White team, only Kevin Durant (28 points) put up more points than Mayo. 

Rudy made the cut, but O.J. didn't.

Field Goal / Three-Point Percentage – O.J. connected on more than half of his shots, and hit exactly half of his attempts from deep.  Both squads combined to shoot 24-51 (47%) on three-pointers, so Mayo was right on target with the group.

Rebounds – Mayo’s seven boards were tied for the third-highest total in the contest.  Jeff Green and Chandler, both legitimately taller than Mayo, had eight and nine rebounds, respectively.

Ball Control- While the former USC Trojan contributed a mere two assists, he did an exemplary job in handling the rock and making the right passes.  Most impressively, in this sloppy, up-and-down game, Mayo did not commit a turnover in over 25 minutes of action.  The only other players with over 20 minutes of floor time without a turnover were Derrick Rose and Chauncey Billups.

But the stas can only say some much, right?

Right.

What they don’t describe is the way that Mayo played the game with the right mix of moving the ball, shooting when he had space, and putting the ball on the deck when he didn’t.  He made the game look simple and competed on each possession.  He didn’t assume that this game was one for the highlight reels.  Mayo went to work as if it was a game that he was getting paid to play…as if he were going about his business in the Fedex Forum.

Who knows why the ax was dropped on him.  But one thing was certainly clear….

It wasn’t related to anything that he did on the court on Saturday night in Las Vegas.

T Lamont is the owner, administrator and author of all content for Ball or Nuthin\'. Feel free to contact T Lamont with a question or comment at ballornuthin@gmail.com.  All created Ball or Nuthin' content is the sole property of T Lamont. Read more from this author