Suppose you were picking a team to represent the US at some competition (Olympics, maybe) and you had to pick only players younger than 30. Who's on your team?
Morant Fox Haliburton Mitchell Booker Edwards Bridges Brown Tatum Zion Adebayo Mobley Some tough omissions here, and admittedly not much size. Could easily put KAT or AD on in place of one of the guards if we wanted another big, or Randle, Grant or Kuzma if we need a combo forward. Young and Murray also deserve consideration at the guard spots.
I think you have to have AD - at least until March next year when he turns 30. After that, the "must haves" are Tatum, Booker, Zion and at PG, probably Haliburton. Adebayo, Mobley and Brown would be incredible defensively, though, and that would probably be the US strength over the rest of the world. Ja and Fox? More flash than substance. Fun to have when it's a cakewalk over the rest of the world, otherwise it's like when the US team had Iverson.
Also interesting to think about youngsters drafted in the past couple years. I put Mobley on there because of the dearth of bigs, but Scottie Barnes could make a case sooner rather than later, as could Cade Cunningham, and then Keegan Murray, Jaden Ivey, and (if he ever plays) maybe even Chet.
