Grizzlies duo worthy of opportunity to represent USA
After helping guide their team to 40-wins and a 16-game improvement during the 2009-10 season Memphis Grizzlies players Rudy Gay and O.J. Mayo have been recognized for their outstanding contributions with a chance to fulfill a basketball dream they have held on to since childhood. Both are included in a group of 22 NBA stars that are participating in the 2010-12 USA Men’s National Team training camp which begins Tuesday, July 20 and will run through Saturday, July 24 taking place at the University of Nevada Las Vegas’ campus.
Gay, who averaged 19.6 ppg last season and became a fixture for the Grizzlies future after signing a long-term deal earlier this month, will look to continue the momentum with team USA that he started last summer. Gay scored a game-high 27 points while shooting an impressive 11-of-12 from the field for the White team in the Blue Team’s 100-81 win during the 2009 USA Basketball Showcase game.
“It was great to have USA on my chest last year” Gay said. “It was a great experience for me and to play with some of the other guys. They definitely taught me new things about how I do things in my career.”
This week, the training camp will feature several new faces including 2009-10 Rookie-of-the-Year Tyreke Evans, Boston Celtics point-guard Rajon Rando, Charlotte Bobcats swing-man Gerald Wallace, Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry and David Lee, Indiana Pacers forward Danny Granger, Phoenix Suns center Robin Lopez, and late addition Washington Wizards center Javale McGee.
Those newcomers will join the Grizzlies tandem of Gay and Mayo as well as other returning members from a year ago that include Chicago’s Derrick Rose, Los Angeles Clippers guard Eric Gordon, Minnesota’s Kevin Love, New Jersey’s Brook Lopez, Oklahoma City Thunder trio Kevin Durant, Jeff Green and Russell Westbrook and Philadelphia’s Andre Iguodala.
The 6-4 Mayo, who was in Las Vegas last week participating in the Grizzlies first two summer league contests adjusting to the point-guard position, scored 13 points and dished out four assists in the same 2009 Showcase game. While averaging 18.0 ppg over the course of his early two-year NBA career, he also has yet to miss a game playing and starting in all 164.
“I think a lot of the guys really look forward to coming out, competing and trying to making the world team,” Mayo said. “I think it’s an honor to just be invited first off. Second, if you get to join the team, at this time in 2010, with the way that everything is going around the world, it’s definitely an honor to represent the USA across the seas.”
Both Gay and Mayo commented that with this being their second year participating in the mini-camp that their nerves won’t be as high as they were a year ago. “I think this will probably give me a little edge on guys because I’ve pretty much played in game-speed at the summer league,” Mayo said last week. “Hopefully I can carry that over and put together a good week.”
The 2010-12 National Team coaching staff is the same dynamic one that led the United States back to Gold during the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Duke University head coach Mike Krzyewski will lead the team. He’s assisted by Syracuse University Hall of Fame coach Jim Boeheim, New York Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Nate McMillan. Mayo remarked that he would cherish the chance to be able to play for Krzyewski, who just captured his fourth NCAA title with the Blue Devils this past April.
“He’s definitely one of the greatest coaches ever,” Mayo said. “He did a terrific job with the Redeem Team and he’s coming back to give it another shot with the young guys. If anything, I think he won’t have a problem with guys playing hard for him.”
Memphis’ is one of three teams to have multiple delegates this week in Vegas accompanying Oklahoma City’s trio of Durant, Green and Westbrook as well as the Golden State Warriors duo of Curry and Lee.
Even though right now, the primary goal is to become a member of the 2010 World Championship team, Gay commented that the ultimate goal is to earn a spot on the 2012 Olympic roster. When asked how special it would be to be a member of the National Team that would participate in those 2012 Olympic Games which will take place in London Gay responded, “I haven’t thought that far ahead. But that’s why you do it. You look at the (2010) World Cup that just ended and it kind of makes you want to play for your country. It really makes you see how passionate people are. I’ve got that passion and I think I can bring that to the team.”
With hopes of fulfilling their dreams and representing their country, it is natural for Gay and Mayo to recollect the players whom they looked up to in their childhood and also wore the stars and stripes. When doing so, the debate of who the greatest USA National team of all-time is sure to come up, with the argument squarely focusing on the 1992 Dream Team and the 2008 Redeem Team.
The duo stated that you can’t even compare the two. Gay flashed back to when he was a kid at a family reunion in the summer and didn’t want to leave the television set because the Dream Team was playing
“You can’t compare those two teams,” Gay said. “History is history. Both of them won the gold but they won’t be able to play against each other because that would be lop-sided. There is no way you’ll ever really know. All that matters is that the USA left with the gold.”
“It’s kind of hard to compare because that (1992) team with (Charles) Barkley, (Patrick) Ewing and that whole crew kind of established something great,” Mayo added. “But anytime, you see guys with gold medals around their neck it’s just a great memorable moment because it’s the whole word competing. Not just the NBA or the CBA or anything. It’s the whole world competing to be the best of the best.”
The duo looks to be successful during the mini-camp and hopes that their performances in Las Vegas will appoint them a chance to participate in the 2010 World Championships that will occur from Aug. 28-Sept. 12 in Ankara, Istanbul, Izmir and Kayseri, Turkey. It will be extremely competitive, as the 22 players will all be fighting to make a final roster that only has 12 spots available. Gay and Mayo both hope to make the roster and if selected will help the United States attempt to win there first world championship since 1994 when Gay was only eight years old and Mayo only seven.
“It’s an elimination week and I guess the best man wins out,” Mayo said. “It’s definitely an honor to be invited but an even better honor if we could go and represent the USA in Turkey,” Mayo said. “As a little boy, watching the first and second Dream Team and then watching what the third Dream Team here did with LeBron (James) and D-Wade and everyone I think it’s just an honor to be a part of anything that represents our country and when it’s basketball, what you love to do, it’s an even double honor to go across seas and represent.”
The 2010 National Team training camp will include daily practice sessions on July 20 that will run through Friday, July 23 from noon to 3 p.m. (PDT) at UNLV’s Cox Pavilion. The 2010 USA Basketball Showcase (Blue/White intra-squad game) will ensue on Saturday at 7 p.m. (PDT) at the Thomas and Mack Center on UNLV’s campus.
