Featuring 14 players owning USA Basketball experience, 17 athletes have been selected to the 2021 USA Basketball Select Team that will train with the USA Basketball Men’s National Team during its Las Vegas training camp.
The Select Team features a roster of 13 young standout NBA players and four veteran players with international and USA Basketball experience.Members of the USA Select Team will train daily with the USA National Team from July 6-9 at UNLV’s Mendenhall Center.
Named to the 2021 USA Basketball Select Team were: Saddiq Bey (Detroit Piston); Miles Bridges (Charlotte Hornets); Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves; Darius Garland(Cleveland Cavaliers); Tyrese Haliburton (Sacramento Kings); Tyler Herro (Miami Heat); John Jenkins (Bilbao Basket, Italy); Keldon Johnson (San Antonio Spurs); Josh Magette (Darüşşafaka Tekfen, Turkey/Alabama-Huntsville); Dakota Mathias (Philadelphia 76ers); Immanuel Quickly (New York Knicks); Naz Reid (Minnesota Timberwolves); Cam Reynolds (Houston Rockets); Isaiah Stewart (Detroit Pistons); Obi Toppin (New York Knicks); P.J. Washington (Charlotte Hornets); and Patrick Williams (Chicago Bulls).
Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra will serve as head coach of the 2021 USA Select Team, and serving as assistant coaches will be Gonzaga University head coach Mark Few, who served as an assistant coach with the 2019 USA Select Team and head coach of the 2015 U.S. Pan American Games Team, as well as Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Jamahl Mosley, who served as an assistant coach at the 2018 USA National Team minicamp.
“This USA Select Team continues the legacy established by previous Select teams of helping prepare our USA National Team for the Tokyo Olympic Games,” saidJerry Colangelo , USA Basketball Men’s National Team managing director. “With all the uncertainty of how many of our Olympic Team members will be available for the USA training camp because of the overlap with the NBA Finals, we chose a USA Select Team consisting of many of the top young NBA players and four players who not only owninternational experience, but who played recently for USA Basketball in important national team qualifying competitions.If we need to add players to fill out our roster for any of our exhibition games, we feel this USA Select Team has an excellent variety of skilled players to choose from.”
The roster, which features 12 players who just completed either their first or second NBA season, includes six members of the 2021 NBA All-Rookie first and second teams. Bey, Edwards and Haliburton were 2021 All-NBA Rookie first team selections, while Quickley, Stewart and Williams garnered All-Rookie second team honors. Additionally, Herro and Washington were second team All-Rookie selections in 2020.
Jenkins, Magette, Mathias and Reynolds, the four oldest members of the team, all bring recent USA Basketball playing experience as members of either the USA World Cup Qualifying or USA AmeriCup Qualifying teams. Jenkins played during the November 2019 World Cup Qualifying window and the November 2020 AmeriCup Qualifying window and helped the USA to a combined 4-0 record. Reynolds was a member of the USA World Cup Qualifying team for the November 2018 and February 2019 teams and helped the Americas to a 4-0 record. Magette played for the USA in the AmeriCup Qualifying in the February 2020 and November 2020 windows, while Mathias was a member of the February 2021 USA AmeriCup Qualifying Team that finished 2-0 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Garland (2018), Herro (2018), Johnson (2018) and Stewart (2019) were all selected for USA Junior National Select Teams that participated in the Nike Hoop Summit.
Haliburton was a member of the 2019 USA U19 World Cup team that captured the gold medal; Jenkins was part of the 2011 USA World University Games Team; Quickley was part of bronze medalist 2017 USA U19 World Cup and the gold medalist 2016 U17 World Cup teams; Stewart played on the gold medalist 2018 U17 World Cup Team; Washington was a member of the bronze medalist 2017 U19 World Cup Team, the gold medalist 2016 USA U18 Championship Team and was on the 2015 USA 3×3 U18 World Cup Team. Additionally, Edwards, Garland, Herro, Johnson, Quickley, Reid, Stewart and Washington were all part of USA Basketball’s Junior National Team program, and Bridges was part of the 2016 U18 Championship Team trials.
The Cleveland Cavaliers(21-38) continued their playoff push on Friday night in Charlotte(29-30) against the Hornets, a team they had beaten twice this season, and for most of the game, it appeared the Cavaliers could do it again. Cleveland led 55-48 at halftime but was outscored in the third quarter by seven, and the game was tied at 78 entering the fourth.
Charlotte’s Terry Rozier scored 11 of his 25 points in the fourth; Miles Bridges hit two dagger corner jump shots and scored seven of his 25 points in the fourth, and P.J. Washington also scored seven of his 25 in the final quarter as the Hornets avoided the season series sweep by the Cavs and won 108-102 at Spectrum Center.
Cleveland was led by Collin Sexton’s 28 points and Darius Garland’s 27.
“Give them credit; they made plays down the stretch,” Cavaliers head coach J.B. Bickerstaff, who returned after missing Wednesday’s game due to personal reasons, said after the game. “Bridges hit big shots, Washington hit big shots. We weren’t able to get enough stops down the stretch.”
Turnovers were an issue for the Cavaliers on Friday night. Cleveland committed six of their 16 turnovers in the third quarter, and they got beat up on the glass. Charlotte had 15 offensive rebounds and 18 second-chance points.
“I think the offensive rebounds hurt us for sure,” Bickerstaff said. “We gave up 15 offensive rebounds, and they won the turnover battle, so if you are given them extra possessions on the offensive boards, and you’re not taken care of the ball, that makes it difficult.”
Charlotte’s Bismack Biyombo was huge on the glass. He finished with 11 rebounds, including nine on the offensive glass. According to Jarrett Allen, that’s on him.
“I have to do a better job,” Allen said. “That falls on me. On my matchup, he got way too many offensive rebounds, which turned to extra possessions for the Charlotte Hornets, which led to extra threes on their end, so just put that side on me.”
With the loss on Friday night, Cleveland falls to five games behind the 10th-seeded Wizards, who the Cavaliers will play in D.C. on Sunday night. Washington has won seven straight and playing their best basketball of the season. There are 13 games left, so if Cleveland wants to make the playoffs, which is a long shot at this point, they have to beat Washington on Sunday night.
