USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo believes Denver Nuggets big man Paul Millsap has everything that the national team needs as they prepare for the FIBA World Cup in China.
A four-time All-Star, Millsap was recently added to Team USA’s training camp pool ahead of the basketball world cup which is set to take place from August 31 to September 15.
While his addition came as a surprise given the abundance of big man in the team, Colangelo explained that Millsap's experience, size and strength are some characteristics that Team USA could use for the international competition.
“First of all he's a terrific competitor, let's just start with that. And when you look at the need for matchups for some of the teams that we think are going to be very strong in this competition, we need veterans who know how to play, who have the size and strength and experience to compete. So he [Paul Millsap] fit that description to a T and he deserves to be on this list,” Colangelo explained, per Harrison Wind of BSN Denver.
Indeed, Millsap provides veteran depth, as well as the knack for making the right play. Not to mention stout defense across a variety of perimeter positions.
The current training camp pool is 20 players, but that number will be whittled down to 12 before the competition begins.
Millsap faces stiff competition, especially with premier NBA big men such as Anthony Davis, Andre Drummond, Brook Lopez, Kevin Love and Myles Turner also vying for spots on the final Team USA roster.
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