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When the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team heads to Tokyo for the 2020 Summer Games, Zach LaVine will be the lone member of the Chicago Bulls to compete on the squad. But before the Olympic team leaves the country in pursuit of another gold medal, it will go up against another member of the Bulls.
On Thursday afternoon, USA Basketball announced its 17-player roster for the Select Team, and Bulls rookie Patrick Williams was among those listed.
The Select Team will be coached by Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra. Select Team members train alongside the Olympic team at USA Basketball’s Las Vegas training camp in preparation for the Olympic Games. Training camp will begin on July 6.
“This USA Select Team continues the legacy established by previous Select teams of helping prepare our USA National Team for the Tokyo Olympic Games,” said Jerry Colangelo, the managing director for the USA Basketball men’s national team, in a press release. “With all the uncertainty of how many of our Olympic Team members will be available for the USA training camp because of the overlap with the NBA Finals, we chose a USA Select Team consisting of many of the top young NBA players and four players who not only own international experience, but who played recently for USA Basketball in important national team qualifying competitions. If we need to add players to fill out our roster for any of our exhibition games, we feel this USA Select Team has an excellent variety of skilled players to choose from.”
Williams’ selection is telling of the talent and potential he has to offer as one of the U.S.’s best basketball players. It will give him a chance to go up against bigger NBA names like Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Jayson Tatum — valuable training as he prepares for his second NBA season and further develops his game.
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Williams’ Offseason Training
Following the end of the Bulls’ season, Patrick Williams said he would compete in NBA Summer League. So he will be in Las Vegas again in August when Summer League takes place at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion.
During his end-of-season media availability session, Williams acknowledged how “big” this offseason will be for him.
“This is my first season so everything was pretty much new,” Williams said, as reported by NBC Sports Chicago. “Now that I have the gist of what the NBA is about, to have that in my mind and that experience going into the summer, is going to be huge for me and for this team.”
When Zach LaVine spoke to the media at the end of the Bulls’ season, he mentioned inviting Williams and Coby White to train with him this offseason.
“You’re away from your guys, and everybody needs time away, but once you start ramping back up, these will be the dudes you’ll be in battle with,” LaVine said, as reported by Rookie Wire. “I want to help them just like other players helped me.”
So it’s expected that, following the Olympics, LaVine and Williams will meet up again to continue working on their games together — along with White.
Bulls veteran Thaddeus Young has been vocal about Williams’ potential and need to be better. It’s something he brought up to The Athletic’s Darnell Mayberry at the season’s conclusion.
“He’s shown us and the Bulls fans so much in this first year of what he can be to the point where his standards should be set even higher next year,” Young said. “He should want to be a top two or three guy on this team next year and understand he can be a top two or three guy on this team.”
With more of a complete offseason and the opportunities Williams will have, he could make serious strides heading into his second season.
Bulls’ History on the USA Select Team
Williams is far from the first Bull to be named to the Select Team.
This year’s Olympic Games will be the first one that LaVine competes in. But in preparation for the 2016 Rio Olympics, LaVine was on the Select Team, training alongside the men’s national team at the time.
That same 2016 Select Team also included Doug McDermott — who, at the time, had just completed his second season with the Bulls.
Former Bulls and current Knicks players Taj Gibson and Derrick Rose have history with the Select Team, being named to the 2012 and 2008 rosters, respectively. Rose trained alongside the Olympic team following his rookie season — just as Williams is set to do.
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