I had the chance to go catch Team USA’s final exhibition on American soil before they head off to Turkey for the 2010 FIBA World Championship starting on August 28. As expected, the US boys rolled over the French in Madison Square Garden, winning 86-55, although they didn’t look particularly good on offense or defense early and were deadlocked with France at 16-16 after one quarter.

It was just an exhibition, but it still offered a little insight into what we might be might see from Team USA in Turkey. Here’s a few thoughts from Madison Square Garden.

• The team started off sloppy early in the first quarter, at one point turning the ball over on two consecutive possessions, mishandling easy passes in semi-transition. Unforced errors like that shouldn’t be happening with Rajon Rondo and Chauncey Billups on the floor (although it was more KD and Iggy’s fault, respectively, in these two specific instances). As for the starters, I think what we saw today will likely be the same group we see starting the first game in Turkey: Rajon, Chauncey, Iggy, Durant and Tyson Chandler. Chauncey’s vet savvy and shooting make him a good fit at the two, Durant and Tyson are locks, and Iggy/Gay seems like essentially a coin-flip as both bring some much-need athleticism/slashing to the wing, but Iggy does play a little more D, so I would take him. Rajon/Rose could go either way, too, I suppose, but Rajon has the experience, and that seems like the go-to tiebreaker for USA coaches.

• Speaking of Rondo … On Saturday, Rajon mentioned that he had not yet gotten the chance to return a phone call to chat with his new teammate Shaq, but when asked if he’s looking forward to running the break with the big fella, he said “hopefully he can keep up with me … I’ll wait for him.” He also expressed that playing for Team USA was a change since, compared to guys like Steph Curry, Eric Gordon and Jeff Green, he’s “like a veteran,” he said. “On my team, I’m the young guy so it’s a different look.”

• The play of the day went to one of those young’ns. Steph Curry forced a nice steal around half court by playing pesky D then was able to tip toe the sideline to keep it inbounds, immediately whipping a behind-the-back dribble to get by two defenders and pushing it up the floor. He was far from done, however, freezing a defender in transition around the elbow with a sharp crossover and getting all the way to the cup. Rather than take a contested layup, he dumped it off to Rudy Gay for a power dunk. The sequence was MSG-approved and marked one of the many dunks that sent the near-capacity-eventually (started about half full and then filled up most of the way) crowd into a frenzy.

• Rondo had a pretty nice play of his own, however, Rondo-ing his way by a France defender for a sweeping, easy lay-in. It was impressive, sure, but at this point I almost expect one of those per game. Unconfirmed reports lead me to believe that the French kids watching at home are calling the play “Le Rondo’d.”

• Rudy Gay wasn’t gonna let the little guys have all the fun and added to the highlight reel with back-to-back breakaway dunks early in the fourth. The first, a Harold Miner-esque, leaning reverse two-hander, gets a 9 out of 10 from me, while the second, more of a 270-degree, spinning one handed reverse, deserves a solid 8 out of 10 on the in-game dunk-o-meter. Iggy added a nice power windmill dunk of his own on a first-half breakaway. I was well aware of MSG’s affinity for dunks, but it seems that patriotic dunks are that much sweeter.

• Eric Gordon barely saw the floor early (93 seconds in the first half ), but got some run in the second (about 12 minutes) as, presumably, Coach K and company wanted one final look at the kid. He hit two treys and added one other bucket, but my gut tells me he’ll be the last man cut from Team USA. Steph Curry just seemed to be a little more ingrained in the rotation from the two games I saw this weekend, bringing the ball up on occasion and spacing the floor with his shooting. And if it’s just shooting they care about keeping, Danny Granger also did this yesterday — although I never actually thought Granger had a chance of getting cut anyway unless his finger was actually injured. (It’s not. He’s fine.)

• Nando De Colo of France (a player who the Spurs own the rights to and RC Buford, according to Jeff Garcia of Project Spurs, has called the best point guard currently playing in France) hit a nice trey right in front of the press box during the first half. He easily has the best name of anyone who was in Madison Square on Sunday.

Le Fin.

The NBA Draft is a chaotic mess of bodies all roaming around with various agendas. Some guys are about to have their lifelong dreams come true. Others are just punching the clock, serving as handlers and security. Many are in the media, actively seeking out quotes, banging out stories before their deadlines and frantically trying to carve out fresh angles to cover an event that couldn’t be more over-covered.

Then there is me.

Throughout the night, I was mainly the doofus walking around looking for nothing in particular — and finding plenty of it.

Between the handlers escorting the players through velvet-roped pathways like VIP cattle, a less-than-stellar wireless connection and a personal approach to the evening best described as “wandering around til I see something interesting,” it was pretty quickly apparent that I was not going to be breaking any Watergate-level stories tonight.

Still, it’s funny what you do pick up.

Here are a few notables.

• John Wall started off the backroom press conference night fittingly with a remark in response to being asked how it feels to know that four of his teammates will also get drafted. “Tonight is a night all of us can reach our dream.” He was talking about “all of us” guys from Kentucky. But it certainly applies to everyone who was picked. That’s the highlight of the night. Watching all these guys kids walking around in giant, expensive suits, smiling like it’s the last day of school. Because, you see, for them, it is.

• Evan Turner has a comical voice. Of the Jim Henson variety. Nice suit though.

• I managed to stake out a prime little alcove from which to paparazzi stalk Epke Udoh as he walked by en route to the media showcase that all the players endure after they’re picked. See, first comes the stuff you see on TV, with the one-on-one on-air interview for ESPN. Then they are escorted back down a loooong corridor through MSG to the NBA media room. Then they go the general media room. Then it’s off to the Craig Sager one-on-one interview. And then comes the special, double-secret probation photoshoot/interview area in which I was not allowed. But as Epke made his was back down the corridor to begin the behind-the-scenes horse-and-pony show, he was flying compared to other guys I had watched. He was racing like he was late. Like me trying to catch the subway on the way to work every morning. While standing there with a few reporter comrades, I was all “I think they’ll wait for you, man” — to which some MSG security guard responded “he’s not hurrying to get to the media — that’s a guy that’s gotta get to the bathroom.” Now, this guy had no connection to Ekpe whatsoever and thus no inside information into the situation, but I would like to think he was spot on.

• Paul George went to my Pacers at pick #10, so I followed him around for a while and asked him a question about how he can help bring some consistency to the Pacers perimeter. He gave a typical answer about working hard this summer but added that he “can pretty much do a lot of things on the court” and that he definitely doesn’t “want to come into a…team that’s on the verge of winning and be a slacker.” He also showed some personality after someone asked him whether he feels any pressure to perform since a lot of Hoosiers wanted the Pacers to pick local hero Gordon Hayward. “Yeah, Gordon Hayward is a good friend of mine…” he said, before being interrupted by the reporter, who noted that “…but he was gone.” “Luckily,” said George, sounding like one of the few people on the planet who legitimately wanted to play for the Indiana Pacers. “I definitely want to do good for the fans and I want to pan out to what they want me to be.” Perhaps more importantly, the guy appears to be a very good dresser. Definitely a best-dressed of the night candidate, which was aided by his cool, I’m-really-enjoying-this demeanor. He even looked excited to talk to Craig Sager.

• While hanging out around the back just chatting with Hardwood Paroxysm legend Holly Mackenzie, John Wall randomly resurfaced amongst us peons, only to be ushered by a few staffers over to a corner where a laptop was set up. He put in some earbuds, sat down in a chair and started talking to someone video-conference style. Turns out it was Big Tigger from BET’s the Basement, who was interviewing Wall for some reason for some outlet. Those of us with cameras and recorders crowded around him like moths to a buglight. He did the John Wall Dance at one point. Video (hopefully) to come.

• Cole Aldrich’s press conference was pretty comical. He had already reportedly been traded to Oklahoma City but it obviously wasn’t official and he was chilling under the lights answering questions about his future in a New Orleans Hornets hat. “[Monty Williams] is going to be a great coach … It’s going to be another great coach to play for.” Only … he never will. He was later asked about playing alongside Jayhawk brethren Nick Collison in OKC. “Oh yeah. He comes back every once in awhile and we go down and play … So just with him on Oklahoma City — or with Julian [Wright] still on the Hornets, it’s going to be a fun next few years.”

There was probably more. I sort of hunkered down in the press room for the second round. The part where the Knicks took Landry Fields was pretty fun. I’ll go through my notes, FlipCam and photos tomorrow, though, and drop a little more “insider” knowledge for you if anything turns up.

* Epilogue: It’s worth noting that I don’t watch NCAA basketball and have almost no idea who any of these players are.

After Kobe went for 40 last night, there was a lot of discussion, both by the players and coaches in the post-game press conferences, and by Chris Webber among other talking studio heads that the Suns need to consider running two guys at Mamba to keep him from going off again. From the sounds of things, Alvin Gentry, at least immediately after the game, was of the mind that they simply ran into “greatness being great” and that there wouldn’t be a major, strategical change imminent for Game 2.

In my mind, however, at least the occasional doubling should take place. Jared Dudley spoke about how he loves to trap last time he joined the Sports Guy on the BS Report, and when you’re facing someone as unbelievably talented and smart as Kobe, you almost have to keep him guessing by running a double at him at least on a few possessions during the game. It’s the same reason you don’t sick any of Jason Richardson, Grant Hill or Jared Dudley on him full time. Give Mamba the same look time and time again, and the only thing you’ll look is stupid.

Tonight, Boston will have to make a similar decision.

But, Jared, those of you who read the byline on this post may ask, why would the Celtics consider doing anything but playing Dwight straight up since they so utterly contained him in Game 1? To such a question, I would have little to say. If it aint broke, don’t fix it, right? Perk is one of the best low-post defenders in the game and, if the Cs aren’t doubling, they will have a better chance of contesting all the threes that Orlando will be taking. Sure, the Magic shot terribly from the perimeter in Game 1. And sure, the Boston D had plenty to do with that. But they also missed a lot of open shots. And I would not expect the team that just set the all-time record for most made treys in a season to have such another poor outing from deep. Not at home anyway.

So you need to play Dwight one-on-one and cover the shooters.

Not so fast, says Kevin Arnovitz. He broke down Boston’s Game 1 defense on Dwight in the video below, and in talking to David Thorpe, came up with some reasons that Doc might want to consider mixing up the looks they run at Superman.