Rockets' Jalen Green Learning 'Good Habits' With USA Select Team
Houston Rockets shooting guard Jalen Green is spending his summer as a member of the USA Select Team.
On Friday afternoon, Green took part in a scrimmage against the team that will represent the country at the FIBA World Cup this summer. The USA Select beat USA’s FIBA World Cup team in two consecutive 10-minute scrimmages at the Las Vegas training camp.
Before the upset victory, Green spoke with Derek Spallone about his summer and what it means to be on the Select Team.
"The Select Team is for the future," Green said. "I'm just happy to be here and compete against the guys. Hopefully, I'll set up a future to play with the USA team later down the road."
In his short time on the Select Team, Green revealed that he's already learned a lot.
"It's teaching me good habits," Green said. "Ever since day one, going into minicamps for the USA, all they teach is creating good habits and just doing the little things. That's something that stuck with me."
Green, who was born in California, chose to join the U.S. Select Team, despite his family being from the Philippines. However, Green explained that he will never forget his roots.
"I got the [Philippines] on my back and I take very much pride in that," Green said. "They show me a lot of love and support. I'm representing my family, but I'm representing the country too."
Green has represented the Philippines for two years in the NBA and has kept a few values along the way.
"I always say just be yourself," Green said. "There's going to be a lot of things that get in the way of your journey that can knock you from being yourself, but you just have to be yourself, continue to strive to be great and have goals that you want to achieve."
Heading into his third season with the Rockets, Green believes Houston is on the right trajectory.
"I'm excited," Green said. "We made some changes and we know what we have to do coming into the season. We know what the goal is, so we just really got to lock in, buy in and want to set higher standards than the last two years. I'm ready."
You can follow Hunter De Siver on Twitter @HunterDeSiver.
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