Trae Young - Brunsen J Brown - J Suggs M Bridges - D Bane Herb J - J Isaac J Allen - Chet H
Trae has led top 2 NBA offenses as heliocentric shot creator. Him and Allen running screens with shooting makes sense, and Brown and Bridges can score too. Defense is strong around him.
Brunsen Chet and Bane is pretty solid offense for a second unit. The defense of the front court is top notch on 2nd unit. Toughness and defense on the wing.
I just quickly thought of the team I might be missing some more obvious choices. Ja Morant can be on the team too if useful in certain matchups or if extra shooter is needed (excuse the pun)
I don’t know if THIS team would be guaranteed to win gold, I think they’re good enough to do it, but I wouldn’t say it’s a sure thing. The team you listed isn’t necessarily the best for International ball, and it’s also not a true B team, which I do think would be guaranteed to win gold. So it would be adding Spida, Ja, Jimmy, Kawhi, PG, Zion, Fox, etc.
Players like Herb Jones, Mikal Bridges, and Desmond Bane would have a much better shot at making the team than someone like Fox or Young.
You need offense too. Trae young has carried some recent Hawks teams to elite finishes in NBA regular season. Got 2nd one year iirc in offensive rating. And he had 2nd highest offensive epm in the league behind Jokic.
The disrespect
This team is better than the World Cup team that lost multiple times and didn’t even medal last year. However, it’s not that much better than that team.
I would say they probably would be very slight favorites but not close to being locks, seeing last year’s World Cup team results.
Tbh that squad does not seem too different overall talent wise from the 2022 World Cup team that disappointed. No true SUPERSTAR and lack of veteran leadership. Too many young guys still wanting to get monkeys off their back.