WATCH: Aaron Gordon works out at Team USA Select Team camp
Aaron Gordon recently completed U.S. Select Team training. There are few media reports of how he did, but some video has emerged for us to get a glimpse.
Team USA is one week away from beginning its Olympics quest for a third straight gold medal. The team has begun its romp through Olympic teams on its show case tour — Venezuela is next on Friday night in Chicago. The U.S. is expected to win the gold medal easily once again.
It is a program though. A constantly replenishing group of players that work their way up through the program — from the youth teams to the Select Team to the national team. There are lots of opportunities for young players to prove themselves and eventually get their graduation to the big team for a World Cup or the Olympics.
Aaron Gordon is no stranger to the U.S. team. He was a leading player on the gold-medal winning U.S. team at the 2013 U19 World Cup. He and Elfrid Payton were both starters on that team that won the gold.
It was somewhat surprising that Gordon was one of the young players called to the Select Team this summer to help Team USA prepare for the Olympics. These are the first steps to making it to the senior team.
It was hard to find out much about how Gordon was doing. Most of the focus from the media was on the senior team preparing for Rio. And deservedly so.
In the brief moments caught on Real Training Camp, it was hard to tell much of what was going on. Especially for the Select Team players. There was precious little information coming out about the Select Team. Precious little information for fans to devour.
Keith Smith of RealGM provided this little nugget:
And then there were snippets of video of Gordon and the select team emerging. Glimpses of Gordon and the work he has done this summer to improve — especially as a perimeter player — emerged in small bites.
These videos do not show much. They do not show Gordon playing very much. Just glimpses of what he was doing for the Select Team.
Perhaps his shot looks a bit more fluid. He still looks like he can rebound well in traffic and slink his way around the basket and finish at the rim. Other than that? No ones seems to know exactly how Gordon performed or who he may have impressed or in what ways he improved.
Gordon is expected to make a big leap this year, of course. He will likely move to small forward and play more minutes there than he has ever done before. He averaged 9.2 points per game 6.5 rebounds per game last season.
But after the All-Star Break, he posted 12.0 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per game as his role began to expand and he started more games. Gordon began to take some steps and look like a NBA player.
This summer was a big one for him for that reason. Especially since his first year was hampered by a foot injury suffered early in the season and his second year was slowed by a summer jaw injury. This year represented his first fully healthy summer where he could build and reinforce skills heading to camp.
Coach Frank Vogel told Gordon and has repeated publicly he envisions Gordon playing the three and something of a point forward.
Next: OMD Podcast: CARMELO Ratings and the Orlando Magic
Gordon has at least gotten through the summer healthy . And it certainly seems like he has improved. Just by how much, the public may not know until October.