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Former Nevada Forward To Juggle Summer League And Polish National Team

The countdown to the Las Vegas Summer League is underway. Rosters are starting to take shape around the league. Travel plans are being made. Dreams of making the training camp cut are increasing. But summer league is not the only basketball on Olek Czyz mind these days.

By Wendell Maxey

It's already shaping up to be a busy summer for Olek Czyz both at the NBA and international level.

On Saturday, Czyz -- the 6-foot-7, 240 pound forward out of Nevada -- announced on his website and over Twitter that he will take part in the upcoming NBA Summer League with the Portland Trail Blazers, with games running from Friday, July 12, through Monday, July 22.

It's a reunion of sorts as Czyz took part in pre-draft workout with Portland last June before going undrafted and competing at summer league with the Chicago Bulls. But hitting up Las Vegas is just part of the offseason agenda for the 23-year old from Poland.

Last month Czyz was selected to be part of Polish Senior National Basketball Team and will compete at the 2013 Eurobasket in Slovenia in September. Czyz is no stranger to national team competition, after playing for the U-20 national team (two bronze medals) both in 2009 and 2010. After beginning his college basketball career at Duke, Czyz transferred to Nevada for his last two years of school and left a lasting impact on his tenure with the Wolf Pack. He was selected to the WAC All-Newcomer team as a Junior, before leading Nevada to a conference championship as a Senior and averaging 13.8 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.

A physical player in the post, Czyz went undrafted in the 2012 NBA Draft and despite workouts with the Blazers, Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls, he signed to play overseas with Virtus Roma in Italy.

This season Czyz averaged 5.6 points and 3.7 rebounds per game, while shooting 52% from the field and 54% from 3-pt. in 14.5 minutes per game -- a successful experience for a rookie competing in a high level league like SerieA, where Virtus Roma went 20-10 on the season and lost in the Finals to defending champs Montepaschi Siena.

Now Czyz hopes to find success at summer league with Portland.

For the Blazers, Meyers Leonard, Will Barton, Joel Freeland and Victor Claver are expected to make up part of Portland's summer league roster, with Elliot Williams also expressing interest in participating. The rest of the roster will start to take shape and be announced after the 2013 NBA Draft.