USA – Granger in the mix for Team USA

INDIANA (National Team) - Danny Granger has been rewarded for his excellent form with the Indiana Pacers by being invited to try out for the United States national team.

The 6ft 9in forward averaged almost 26 points per game this season for Indiana and Pacers president Larry Bird, a member of the United States’ Dream Team at the 1992 Barcelona Games, lobbied for his star to have a chance to represent America.

While talking in January about his hope that Granger would become an All-Star – which he did for the first time - Bird also addressed the issue of the national team.

"I want Danny to make the All-Star team, but I'd rather see him represent our country in the next Olympics,” Bird said.

"That's what I want to see, and that's when you know you made it, because those are all the best players in the world."

The 2010 FIBA World Championship will be in Turkey next year and USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo is hard at work looking at the potential make-up of the squad.

The USA will hold a training camp this summer with a view to mixing in new faces with holdovers from the gold-medal winning team at the Beijing Olympics.

The United States qualified automatically for Turkey by winning last year’s Olympic title.

“You want to win an NBA championship, of course,” Granger said, “but I think to play in the Olympics is something really special. It comes around just once every four years, and it's a special opportunity."

USA Basketball have yet to release the list of players that will attend this summer’s workouts.

Portland's Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden are among those expected to participate in this summer’s Team USA tryouts.

FIBA