The US men's basketball World Championship team named 15 players that were selected as finalists on Tuesday, with Shawn Marion, Adam Morrison and Luke Ridnour left off the roster.

Amare Stoudemire and Kirk Hinrich were the only moderately surprising inclusions on the 15-man roster, which will play five warmup games in Las Vegas, China and South Korea before opening the World Championship in Japan on August 19.

Marion was left off because of a minor knee injury.

Stoudemire earned a spot with a remarkable comeback from surgery on both knees during last season with Phoenix. He looked strong and mobile during training camp despite struggling during summer-league play a few weeks ago.

The 15-man roster includes: Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets; Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison of the Washington Wizards; the Houston Rockets' Shane Battier; Chris Bosh of the Toronto Raptors; Bruce Bowen of the San Antonio Spurs; the Clippers' Elton Brand; Kirk Hinrich of the Chicago Bulls; Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic; the Cleveland Cavaliers' LeBron James; Joe Johnson of the Atlanta Hawks; Brad Miller of the Sacramento Kings; Chris Paul of the New Orleans/Oklahoma City Hornets; the Phoenix Suns' Amare Stoudemire and Dwyane Wade of the NBA champion Miami Heat.

The official 12-man roster that will compete in the FIBA World Championship must be submitted to FIBA at the technical meeting that normally is held the day prior to the start of the competition.

(Xinhua News Agency July 26, 2006)