Chauncey Billups has pulled out of the Olympics citing a personal family issue. From Ric Bucher at ESPN.com:
"It's a matter of what you want to do and what you need to do," said Billups, who declined to be more specific about the family matter prompting his withdrawal from the team. "Winning a gold medal is the one thing that I haven't accomplished, and I was looking forward to standing up on that big stage. That's what I really wanted. But I was taught family comes first, above anything else."
[...] Billups was concerned that his family issue might either distract him in Beijing or force him to return to the United States before or during competition. While the squad has not been officially announced, he was confident he would've been selected and, with competition to make the roster fierce, didn't want to take a spot if he couldn't be fully committed to the cause.
Whatever it is, I wish Billups and his family the best.
Tayshaun Prince is also on the bubble, which seems odd to me. On a roster full of superstars, he actually saw a good deal of playing time last summer, and he seems like the perfect no-ego glue guy Team USA has sorely lacked in recent years.
(Not that I'm complaining -- as much of an honor as it is to represent your country, playing competitive ball all summer isn't exactly what a guy who's advanced to the Conference Finals every year of his career needs to be doing to re-charge his batteries.)