Milwaukee Bucks center Larry Sanders was officially invited to USA Basketball's minicamp Wednesday as one of 27 players participating in the camp held July 22-25 in Las Vegas.
The invitation to compete for a spot on the national team is just another notch on the belt of Sanders, who broke out for the Bucks last season. Sanders finished second in the NBA in blocks per game at 2.8, while averaging 9.8 points and 9.5 rebounds per game.
"It's a tremendous honor to be able to workout and tryout for this team," Sanders told Bucks.com. "Just to be there, to be in that atmosphere around those players and coaches will be a great experience."
The minicamp roster is made up of young players and rising stars, as superstars like LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul won't participate. Headlining the list of 27 players are Pacers forward Paul George, Kings center DeMarcus Cousins, 76ers guard Jrue Holiday, Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving, Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard and Wizards guard John Wall.
Sanders joins Cousins, Detroit's Andre Drummond and Greg Monroe, Cleveland's Tyler Zeller and DeAndre Jordan of the Clippers as centers coming to the camp.
"The group of players we have assembled for the mini-camp are extremely talented and very versatile," USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said in a statement. "This is an important opportunity for each one of them because we will be evaluating which players will continue to be involved in future USA National Team training camps and teams.
"Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, Kevin Love, Rudy Gay, Eric Gordon, Danny Granger, and Andre Iguodala were all guys who played in our 2009 minicamp and went on to play for the 2010 USA World Championship and 2012 U.S. Olympic teams that won gold. I'm sure it will not be much different this time around and some of the players involved in this mini-camp will be members of upcoming USA National teams."
The minicamp will conclude with an intrasquad scrimmage at the Thomas and Mack Center on July 25. Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski is back as the head coach of the national team, while Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau and Pelicans coach Monty Williams will serve as his assistants.
"This is an exciting group of versatile and very talented players," Krzyzewski said in a statement. "This group has a really good blend of experience, both with USA Basketball and in the NBA. The mini-camp will feature a lot of younger players who are emerging in the NBA and will give us our first opportunity to see them at this elite level. I'm really anxious to get to work with them.
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