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Marcus Smart will get an opportunity to play against the best of the best in the NBA before the season even begins since he was amongst the 13 invitees to the USA Basketball Select Team, according to Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski.
The rookie from Oklahoma State will join Team USA's training camp in Las Vegas on July 28, where he will get a chance to practice against star guards like Stephen Curry, Derrick Rose, Damian Lillard, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving.
As Team USA begins preparing for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, Smart is receiving an incredible opportunity to get the upper hand on other rookies who aren't lucky enough to have this experience.
Besides the fact that Smart is a talented and deserving rookie, he has won gold medals the past two years on USA Basketball's Under-18 and Under-19 teams, which certainly gave him an edge over some of the other players selected in June's 2014 NBA Draft.
Joining Smart will be fellow rookie Doug McDermott, as well as Victor Oladipo, Mason Plumlee, Miles Plumlee, Tim Hardaway Jr., and Tobias Harris. For the full list of names, click here.
We're talking about practice, but Marcus Smart will likely come out of this experience as a better and more mature player, which is a very good thing for the Boston Celtics.