Kelly Olynyk playing big for Team Canada

Steve Nash, who is serving as the general manager of the senior Canadian national team, also acts as the team's photographer and Instagrammed this pic before their game vs. Ukraine:

That's KO front and center.  It's been a busy summer for Olynyk and he deserves a little shut eye.  He's traveled to Vietnam for Jr. NBA, put in another good summer league showing, and is now representing country with the senior men's basketball team.  The Canadians did not qualify for this summer's FIBA World Cup and is instead on an 11-game barnstorming tour of Europe.  In back-to-back-to-back games, he's posted respectable 12/6, 18/8, and 10/2 lines for a team without Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett, Tristan Thompson, Tyler Ennis, or Nik Stauskas, he's shouldered much of the load.  The competition has certainly not been as stiff as the world championships or the NBA will be, but so much of basketball is confidence and with Kelly playing such a key role on this team coupled with his experience as one of the stand outs of summer league play, he should enter training camp with a little more mojo in his sophomore season.  There will be a lot of focus on whether or not Jared Sullinger can make the jump or if Marcus Smart can live up to the lottery pick hype.  KO will be able to fly under the radar a bit but I think he could make the most progress of the three.

Olynyk has arguably the most talent of any of the Celtics big men, but the biggest question mark is whether his skills will translate to the NBA game.  He came on strong at the end of last season and as he gets more reps this off season, he should be able to start training camp running.  There had been rumors that KO might have been included in a Kevin Love deal and Ainge added more depth in the front court by adding Tyler Zeller, but none of that has has seeming affected Olynyk's off season progress.  He looked more slim downed and bulked up in Orlando and had his ponytail game in full effect.

Kelly's talent is a blessing and a curse; he's not great at anything, but very good at everything.  He can either be a great role player who fills in the gaps for a team's alpha dogs or he can serve more as a facilitator and creator for his teammates.  It's all about attitude and I'm hoping all this time spent this summer as teams' #1 or #2 options will give him more confidence in two months.

And just in case you missed it, Kelly's been working on his range: