This high-five is deserved for Brian Butch after making it through the first round of cuts for Team USA’s roster at the 2011 Pan-Am games.

Team USA’s training camp roster for the upcoming Pan-Am games consisted of 21 players signed to play in the NBA Development League this season. Six of those players have been cut, however, with another three needing to be released prior to the team’s first game against the Dominican Republic on Oct. 26.

The six players cut were Dayton rookie Chris Wright, Curtis Withers and Anthony Goods (both property of the Dakota Wizards), Walker Russell Jr. from the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, Sioux Falls Skyforce swingman Anthony Mason Jr. and Matt Rogers of the Texas Legends.

None of those cuts are necessarily surprising, but there are a couple of players remaining on the roster that I expected wouldn’t last as long as a few of the players above. As Coach Nate Tibbetts said in the press release announcing the cuts, however, the players needed to show up in shape to make it work.

"Coming in you never know what kind of shape the guys are going to be in and I thought they were in good shape," Tibbetts said. "The guys competed at a high level and it is tough making cuts, but we felt comfortable getting down to our 15."

This looks more like a "where are they now?" line up than a USA team

http://www.ridiculousupside.com/2011/10/17/2495116/pan-am-roster-for-team-usa-sees-six-cuts-but-three-more-are-needed