There are more than a million reasons for the NBA lockout to end, not least of which is the following question: do you really want the NBA D-League to be the most competitive basketball in America?

But the 1,287,493rd reason to end the lockout came yesterday within a Chris Sheridan column.

Sheridan discussed who might play for the United States during the 2012 London Olympics. After reading the first ten players who Sheridan considers mortal locks to make the roster, I suddenly realized, “Holy box of crackerjacks. Sheridan hasn’t included Derrick Rose, the defending NBA MVP.” Then I looked at the ten locks (Dwight Howard, Kevin Durant, Chris Bosh, Blake Griffin, Lebron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Carmelo Anthony), thought about the situation rationally, realized that Bosh and Griffin were around for size, and thought, “Jumping bag of Kit-Kats, maybe Rose doesn’t deserve to be a mortal lock.”

In the remainder of the column Sheridan advised that after his ten mortal locks, the USA should select at least one center to keep pace with Spain, which added Serge Ibaka to an already potent frontcourt. That would leave Rose to compete for the 12th roster spot, about which Sheridan writes, “If you want a third point guard, 2010 Team USA members Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose are your guys (in fact, it’ll be interesting to see whether either of them can beat out Paul and/or Williams at training camp next summer in Las Vegas).”

I’m not here to call Sheridan correct in his belief that Rose should be firmly on the roster bubble, nor to confirm his suspicion that Rose is a candidate for third point guard. I’m not here to call Sheridan wrong, either. All I’m saying is that if you can have a legitimate conversation about the United States Olympic roster and advocate leaving the defending NBA MVP off the roster entirely, NBA talent is off the charts.

End the lockout. Sooner rather than later.

Please.