Courtesy of LehighSports.com
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Former Lehigh men’s basketball standout and current Portland Trail Blazers’ star C.J. McCollum has been named to the USA Men’s Select Team, as announced on Tuesday. The select team consists of 25 individuals, who will train with the 2016 USA Men’s Basketball National Team during its training camp in Las Vegas, Nevada from July 18-21.
The national team will be training in advance of the Olympics set for August in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
“Being chosen for the Select Team is an honor and it is an important step in becoming involved in USA Basketball’s National Team program in the future,” said Jerry Colangelo USA Basketball National Team managing director. “Current national team players like Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Klay Thompson, Kevin Love, Russell Westbrook, as well as many other outstanding players, got their USA National Team start through a Select Team.”
The select team is full of young stars, current NBA players and college standouts who are set to be selected in the upcoming NBA Draft. Some other players named to the team, along with McCollum, are Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns) and Jahlil Okafor (Philadelphia 76ers), who were named to the 2015-16 NBA All-Rookie first team, along with five others who earned second team honors.
McCollum was named the Kia NBA Most Improved Player this season, averaging a career-high 20.8 points per game during the regular season, a 14-point increase from the previous year. The improvement was the largest increase for an NBA Player since the 1989-90 season. Along with points per game, McCollum also set career highs in average assists (4.3) and rebounds (3.2). The Canton, Ohio native scored in double figures in 79 of his 80 regular season games this season. McCollum finished the regular season ranked in the top 10 in the NBA in three-pointers made (197) and three-point percentage (41.7) to help lead the Blazers to the fifth seed in the Western Conference. Together, McCollum and Blazers’ point guard Damian Lillard were the second-highest scoring backcourt (45.9 points per game) in the NBA.
A young Portland team surprised the league in 2015-16, due in large part to McCollum’s play, advancing to the Western Conference Semifinals where it lost in five games to the Golden State Warriors in a highly-competitive series.
A 2013 Lehigh graduate and a four-year starter for the Mountain Hawks, McCollum was the Patriot League Rookie of the Year and a two-time Patriot League Player of the Year. He is best known for his performance in the 2012 NCAA Tournament when he posted 30 points, six assists and six rebounds in Lehigh’s upset of the No. 2 seeded Duke Blue Devils. McCollum stands as the Patriot League’s all-time leading scorer with 2,361 career points.
Selected for the 2016 USA Basketball Select squad were:
Malcolm Brogdon (University of Virginia)
Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns)
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Detroit Pistons)
Willie Cauley-Stein (Sacramento Kings)
Kris Dunn (Providence College)
Aaron Gordon (Orlando Magic)
Jerami Grant (Philadelphia 76ers)
Gary Harris (Denver Nuggets)
Rodney Hood (Utah Jazz)
Brandon Ingram (Duke University)
Brice Johnson (University of North Carolina)
Stanley Johnson (Detroit Pistons)
Zach LaVine (Minnesota Timberwolves)
C.J. McCollum (Portland Trail Blazers)
Doug McDermott (Chicago Bulls)
Emmanuel Mudiay (Denver Nuggets)
Jahlil Okafor (Philadelphia 76ers)
Jabari Parker (Milwaukee Bucks)
Julius Randle (Los Angeles Lakers)
D’Angelo Russell (Los Angeles Lakers)
Marcus Smart (Boston Celtics)
Myles Turner (Indiana Pacers)
Denzel Valentine (Michigan State University)
Justise Winslow (Miami Heat)
Cody Zeller (Charlotte Hornets)
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