There really is no off-season for NBA fans. At any point-in-time throughout the year, from June (whenever the Finals end) all the way to September, there is something going on that is NBA related to help cope with the absence of games. In June it’s the NBA Draft, in July it’s free agency and the Summer League. In August & September its international basketball, including the USA Basketball team. With the Summer Olympics next year in Brazil, the Men’s team will be holding a camp this August to address new players that could be valuable to the team.
According to Marc Stein of ESPN:
With no competition this summer USA Basketball’s annual intrasquad scrimmage will be more of an All-Star Game after two non-contact workouts
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) July 15, 2015
Also: Sources say Jimmy Butler/Mike Conley/Draymond Green/Harrison Barnes/Tobias Harris/Victor Oladipo/ Trey Burke have all scored invites — Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) July 15, 2015
All of those players, especially Jimmy Butler, Draymond Green or Mike Conley, have proven that they could lead teams in the NBA to victories. Draymond helped the Warriors to an NBA title. All the little things that can keep USA as the best in the world in basketball for years to come. The question or concern that I want to bring up about this ‘all-star game’ type of scrimmage is that, personally, I don’t want to see another Paul George incident. I don’t think Paul George wants to see another Paul George. It wouldn’t be good for USA basketball to have to go through that again, and they should take every precaution to ensure that doesn’t happen. Despite that, this should be fun, and it should consume our minds, while we wait for the NBA season to creep around the corner. Who else can’t wait for October 31st?
