Jrue Holiday Added To USA Basketball Select Team

USA Basketball announced today that 76er point guard Jrue Holiday has been added to the 2012 Men’s Select Team, a team of promising, young players who will practice against the Men’s National Team during their preparation for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. Joining Holiday are some of the league’s top young athletes, including Kyrie Irving, Jeremy Lin, Paul George, and DeMarcus Cousins. 

“In naming Jrue to our Select Team, we’ve added an athletic guard who can get to the rim and is someone who is also a good three-point shooter. Both those skills will be invaluable in helping prepare our National Team for this summer,” said Jerry Colangelo, USA Basketball chairman.

Holiday started each of the 65 games in which he appeared last season, averaging 13.5 points (on 43.2% from the field and 38.0% from beyond the arc), 3.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.6 steals. In his 13 postseason games in 2012, Holiday averaged 15.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists, and 1.5 steals.

This isn’t Holiday’s first experience with USA Basketball, though. He served as a member of the 2008 USA Junior National Select Team, tallying 13 points and five assists in a 98-78 victory over the World Select Team at the Nike Hoop Summit. The year prior, he was a member of the USA Basketball Youth Development Festival Blue Team, winning a silver medal with them in 2007.

Holiday will follow in the footsteps of former-Select Team members Lamarcus Aldridge, Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, Derrick Rose, Russell Westbrook, and teammate Andre Iguodala, all of whom were members in 2008. 

Practices begin this Friday, July 6, in Las Vegas and end five days later, on the 11^th.