Getting inside Team USA at Real Training Camp

It's time for the next generation of USA Basketball to get to work. And fans can get an inside view of it when NBA TV goes inside the gym with a special edition of Real Training Camp from 3-5 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 20.

That will be the first day of Team USA training camp at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, with 21 stars beginning their quest to earn a spot on the roster for the 2010 World Championship in Istanbul, Turkey.

NBA TV's Rick Kamla, Dennis Scott and Mike Fratello will be there on the campus of UNLV, interviewing players and coaches, who also will be mic'd up for practice.

Real Training Camp has gone inside NBA practices for the past four years, but never with as much full access to a gym filled with such talent. The 21-main roster is headlined by the NBA's scoring champ, Kevin Durant.

At the age of 18, Durant almost made the Team USA roster for the FIBA Americas Championship in 2007. Now, at 21, he will be one of the team's leaders as Team USA looks to regain the world title without any members of the 2008 Olympic team.

USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo and Men's Senior National Team head coach Mike Krzyzewski brought Olympic gold home from Beijing two years ago, but still missing on their collective resume is gold at the World Championship. The U.S. hasn't won the Worlds since 1994. In 2006, the first year of Colangelo's new plan for Team USA, the team won bronze after falling to Greece in the semifinal.

In addition to Durant, seven other players with All-Star credentials will be in the gym in Las Vegas: Chauncey Billups, Danny Granger, David Lee, Rajon Rondo, Derrick Rose, Amar'e Stoudemire and Gerald Wallace. Two-time NBA champion Lamar Odom is also on the 21-man roster, which will need to be reduced to 12 by the opening of the World Championship on Aug. 28.

The competition at point guard promises to be fierce, with Billups, Rondo, Rose, Tyreke Evans and Russell Westbrook competing for two or three spots on the roster.

Krzyzewski and his staff will conduct a five-day camp in Las Vegas, concluding with an exhibition game at the Thomas & Mack Center on Saturday, July 24. After a two-week break, the squad will resume training in New York on Aug. 9, featuring an exhibition game against France on Aug. 15 at Madison Square Garden.

From New York, the team will travel to Madrid and Athens for more training before the World Championship begins. The tournament runs from Aug. 28 through the gold medal game on Sept. 12.

John Schuhmann is a staff writer for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here and follow him on twitter.

The views on this page do not necessarily reflect the views of the NBA, its clubs or Turner Broadcasting.