Andre Drummond among 19 players invited to USA Basketball National Team training camp

Andre Drummond is among the 19 players selected to participate in the USA Basketball National Team training camp in Las Vegas later this month. Camp starts on July 28 and ends with a public intrasquad scrimmage Aug 1. In the days after training camp, the rosters will be pared down to 12, with the remaining players eventually regrouping for exhibitions in Chicago, New York and Spain before the official start of the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, held Aug. 30 through Sept. 14 in Spain.

This is the second summer in a row that Drummond has trained with USA Basketball, having joined teammate Greg Monroe last year in Las Vegas in a group that featured 27 players. But despite his "veteran" status, Drummond remains the youngest player on the roster; he won't turn 21 years old until several days after the end of camp on Aug. 10.

Drummond's primary competition for a spot on the 2014 World Cup roster includes DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, Kenneth Faried, Blake Griffin and Kevin Love. It's unknown how many big men USA Basketball intends to keep, but it's worth pointing out that Cousins is the only other player listed as a center on the team's official roster.

The rest of the 2014 training camp roster includes: Bradley Beal, Stephen Curry, DeMar DeRozan, Kevin Durant, Paul George, James Harden, Gordon Hayward, Kyrie Irving, Kyle Korver, Damian Lillard, Chandler Parsons, Derrick Rose, and Klay Thompson.

This year's World Cup is a stepping stone to being invited to represent USA Basketball at the 2016 Olympics. Big men in consideration for that roster who aren't participating this summer include Tyson Chandler and Dwight Howard.

Additional information about USA Basketball's exhibition and World Cup schedule is below, courtesy of USA Basketball's official press release:

Following the Las Vegas camp, which concludes with the 2014 USA Basketball Showcase, a USA Blue versus USA White exhibition game on Aug. 1 at the Thomas & Mack Center, the selected team finalists will have a 12-day break. The U.S. team will reassemble in Chicago, Illinois, and train Aug. 14-15, then play an exhibition contest versus Brazil at the United Center on Aug. 16. The American squad will continue its World Cup preparations Aug. 17-22 in New York, New York, and play a pair of exhibition games at Madison Square Garden, the first on Aug. 20 against Dominican Republic, and the second versus Puerto Rico on Aug. 22. The USA will complete its pre-World Cup tour Aug. 24-26 on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain. Training Aug. 24-25, the U.S. will close out its exhibition tour on Aug. 26 facing Slovenia at Gran Canaria Arena.

The 2014 FIBA (International Basketball Federation) World Cup, featuring a total of 24 national teams, is scheduled to be held Aug. 30-Sept. 14 in Spain. The USA World Cup Team will play its preliminary round games in Bilbao, Spain, after being drawn into Group C along with teams from the Dominican Republic, New Zealand, Turkey and Ukraine.

The USA opens the 2014 World Cup preliminary round play on Aug. 30 against Finland, and then faces Turkey on Aug. 31 in a rematch of the 2010 FIBA World Championship gold medal game, a contest in which the USA claimed an 81-64 victory. Following a day off on Sept. 1, the USA resumes play Sept. 2 facing New Zealand. The U.S. will go against the Dominican Republic on Sept. 3, and will conclude its preliminary play on Sept. 4 facing Ukraine.

Each team at the 2014 World Cup will play the other teams in its preliminary group, and the top four finishing teams from each of the four preliminary round groups will then qualify for the round of 16. Winners of the round of 16 games will advance to the quarterfinals, while losers are eliminated. Winners of the quarterfinals games will advance to the medal round semifinals, while the quarterfinals losers are eliminated from the competition. Winners of the semifinals will advance to the Sept. 14 gold medal game, while semifinals losers will meet in the bronze medal game on Sept. 13. The games from the round of 16 to the semifinals will be played in Barcelona and Madrid, and the bronze and gold medal games will be held in Madrid.