Bosh gets invite to U.S. Olympic team
Official announcement comes Sunday
Could also make world tourney roster
Mar. 2, 2006. 01:00 AM
DOUG SMITH
SPORTS REPORTER


Chris Bosh has further entrenched himself among the elite players in the NBA.

Bosh and 21 other players have been invited to a tryout camp in Las Vegas this summer from which teams will be chosen to represent the United States at the world championships in Japan in August and the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

"I know it's just pretty much the finalists, they still have to have another workout to see who makes the team," Bosh said last night.

The official announcement won't come until Sunday but numerous reports yesterday said Bosh was among the finalists and league sources confirmed his inclusion last night.

Bosh met with Jerry Colangelo, the de facto general manager of the American team, early this season in Phoenix and impressed him as much with his personality as with his basketball skills. And after a handful of American international teams have been chastised for runaway egos and other personality flaws, being a good guy is as much a key to selection as being a good player.

"You can be the best player in the world but if no one wants to deal with you, that kind of takes the fun out of being a good player," said Bosh. "Good people always attract each other and I'm just glad he thought I was a good person overall."

Raptor coach Sam Mitchell is unfazed that his team's best player may end up playing highly-competitive basketball for 10 months out of each of the next three years. Some high profile players have turned down an invitation because of the time commitment and their teams have been quite all right with that. Not so for Mitchell.

"He's going to be playing against other great players in the game and it can only help him and make him better," said Mitchell.

The fact he's not guaranteed a spot on the worlds team or the Olympic squad doesn't worry the 21-year-old Raptor.

"It's real competitive, nobody comes in and says, `I got a spot on the team, I'll see you at the world championships,''' Bosh said.