In the past few weeks, many NBA players received invitations to join Team USA’s training camp in Las Vegas, where the Americans will prepare for the upcoming FIBA World Cup in China. However, head coach Gregg Popovich and managing director Jerry Colangelo faced a lot of withdrawals. Even with all those withdrawals, Colangelo is not worried about Team USA’s chances at the World Cup.
“Honestly, I don’t have any angst,” Colangelo said.
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It's been a wildly unpredictable process, but the 2-time defending World Cup champs are set to start training camp practice under new coach Gregg Popovich.
"We're going to have some fun." — USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo » https://t.co/lGs3r3qene pic.twitter.com/0ypumSnzLP
— ABS-CBN Sports (@abscbnsports) August 5, 2019
Team USA sent more than 50 invitations, and now, they have 15 players to compete for 12 spots, while there are also 14 players who will play for the select team. It wouldn’t be surprising to see one or two players from the select team to be invited to travel to China, though. Sacramento Kings’ De’Aaron Fox and Brooklyn Nets’ Joe Harris are among those who could get a chance to play for Team USA as Popovich is a bit of short of guards.
The fluxing of the USA Basketball roster continues: De’Aaron Fox and Joe Harris, both brought to Vegas as select-team members, will practice with the national team when camp opens Monday.
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) August 5, 2019
It’ll probably be a young side going to China. At the moment, six of the 15 players on the national team are 24 or younger. “We’re going to have some fun,” Colangelo said.
Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo arrived in Las Vegas on Sunday and stated that he didn’t hesitate when the call from USA Basketball came in. “I was like, ‘Who would say no to this chance?'” Adebayo said.
The process of building a roster for the World Cup began last year with 35 players being added to the selection pool for the WC and next year’s Olympics in Tokyo. Thirty players already withdrew from World Cup consideration for various reasons — injury rehabilitation, pending fatherhood, preparing for the upcoming NBA season, and filming a movie.
“The focus has to be on who’s here — not who’s not here,” Colangelo said. “A number of the young players in this group have a chance, a real chance, some of them to make this team, some of them to make an impact in the World Cup.”
