On July 18, San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills announced he would be representing his home country of Australia this summer in international play at the FIBA Oceania tournament in mid August. On Tuesday, I received word via Twitter from Mills' Australian/Spurs teammate Aron Baynes that he to will be joining Mills in representing the Boomers.
@aronbaynes are you playing in Oceania next month?
— Paul Garcia PS (@PaulGarciaPS) July 31, 2013
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@PaulGarciaPS sure am, headed down for camp this wknd! #aussiepride
— Aron Baynes (@aronbaynes) July 31, 2013
Even though Baynes didn't play much in the Spurs' playoff run or season outside of their first round series against the Los Angeles Lakers, he's still a player on roster who can be used in certain matchups, as General Manager R.C. Buford recently said in an interview with NBATV in reference to Baynes having the ability to defend Dwight Howard who will now play with the Houston Rockets.
In the four games he played in Summer League two weeks ago, Baynes averaged 12 points, 10.5 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, and shot 47% from the field in 26.3 minutes per game.
Oceania will take place from August 14-18 which should mean both Baynes and Mills will still have time to rest before training camp with the Spurs begins.
With 14 players on roster, Baynes and Mills makes the number 7 of 14 Spurs players who will be competing in FIBA play this summer as Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, and Nando De Colo will all be representing France, Marco Belinelli will be representing Italy at Eurobasket, and Cory Joseph will be representing Canada at the FIBA Americas.
That means half of the current roster will be taking part in international play in the next two months just before training camp begins.