--The Nets traded away one past Olympian in Vince Carter. But they may have two others in their midst: point guard Devin Harris and center Brook Lopez. The two young keys to the Nets are among the 25 players invited to the USA Basketball National Team mini-camp in Las Vegas, July 22-25.
The minicamp is a prelude to picking out a roster that will represent the U.S. at the 2010 World Championships and at the 2012 Olympics. Both Harris and Lopez are familiar with USA Basketball. Harris played on the 2007 USA Basketball Select Team that trained with and scrimmaged against the 2007 USA FIBA Americas Team in Las Vegas. Lopez was a member of the USA Basketball Youth Development Festival in 2005. This past season, Harris, who made his first All-Star team, averaged career highs in points (21.3), rebounds (3.3), assists (6.9) and steals (1.6). Lopez was an All-Rookie First Team player after he averaged 13.0 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.84 blocks.
--Terrence Williams, the Nets' pick at No. 11 out of Louisville, feels he is well prepped for the pro game. For starters, he played at Louisville for four years and was put through pro sets and hard workouts by Rick Pitino who has a pro pedigree. And then at the end of the season, Williams spent seven weeks working with Gary Payton
"He coached in the NBA also so he runs his program like the NBA, even though we practiced for three hours," Williams said of Pitino.
And of his time with Payton, he was "doing everything, two-a-days. I'd get up, do a (two-hour) workout then go (two hours) shooting. Then do conditioning."
QUOTE TO NOTE: "This is not a salary dump. This is where it not only puts us in a terrific position salary-cap wise, you always want that unless you're a great, great team, but we get a terrific young player. So this is not a salary dump." -- Team president Rod Thorn on the trade of Vince Carter, who had $33.6 million guaranteed for the next two years.
