Jeremy Lin Predictably Drops Out of Team USA's Select Team

Back in May, Jerry Colangelo and USA Basketball offered Jeremy Lin a token—and understandable—invite to play for Team USA's Select Team. It's all part of the process of tabbing promising prospects for consideration in a more official capacity, and considering the stretch that Lin had earlier this season, it made all the sense in the world to include him in the process.

But all along, free agency loomed over Lin's potential involvement in his national team, and all but ruled him out of his pro-bono participation in what essentially amounts to a warm-up squad. If Lin were somehow in consideration for the actual Olympic team, we may have seen him show up in Vegas this summer to participate in USA's camp.

But with only the promise of playing for the Select Team ahead of him, Lin naturally chose to withdraw his name from consideration in order to more fully focus on his free agency, per a release from USA Basketball.

Unfortunately for Lin, even participation with the Select Team isn't likely to foster enough goodwill to force him onto a roster with so many young, talented guards. Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Eric Gordon aren't going anywhere—not to mention fellow Select Teamers Kyrie Irving and John Wall.

Lin is stuck at USA Basketball's (and the NBA's, for that matter) glut position, and while he may have done a fantastic job in giving the Knicks new life midseason, that doesn't make him a superior talent or option to the others under Jerry Colangelo's consideration.