What Would David Stern’s Under-23 Olympic Basketball Team Look Like in 2016?
The 2012 Summer Olympics will likely be the last time we see a basketball roster full of NBA players. All signs point to the implementation of an under-23 roster. [Note: Olympic soccer has a roster that limits each team to players under 23, with "three slots available for veterans 23 or older." For the sake of this argument, we'll stick to basketball players who are under 23 before the end of the Olympics.]
What 12 players might comprise the 2016 roster? I could only find one NBA player who will be under 23 by the time of the 2016 Olympics – Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, who doesn’t turn 23 until September. Andre Drummond, the Pistons’ 1st round pick in June, turns 23 on August 10 - just missing the cut (assuming the 2016 Olympics take place roughly at the same time as the 2012 games). The remainder of the team will be made up of incoming college freshman and current high school stars.
PG: Nathaniel Britt – UNC-bound point guard was a member of the U-18 team.
PG: Andrew Harrison – Highly-acclaimed point guard in the Class of 2013.
G: Aaron Harrison – It’d be a good thing to have twins on the team, right?
G/F: Shabazz Muhammad, UCLA – Assuming he lives up to the hype at UCLA – and improves his jumper – pencil him in the starting lineup.
SG: James Young – Class of 2013 lefty. Muhammad/Young would give the team two lefties to contend with; the 2012 team only has one (Harden).
G/F: Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Charlotte Bobcats – The “veteran” of the team.
F: Jabari Parker – Sports Illustrated Cover Boy!
SF: Kyle Anderson, UCLA – While everyone’s looking to score, he’ll be the unselfish one.
PF/C: Nerlens Noel, Kentucky – Freshman will be 22 and probably going on his 3rd NBA season.
PF/C: Jahlil Okafor – Member of the USA Under-17 team.
PF – Julius Randle – Highly coveted 6-foot-8, 240 pound junior in high school.
C – Isaiah Austin, Baylor – I struggled to find another big, and felt it was Austin or Arizona’s Kaleb Tarczweski. The alternative is going with another point guard.
Guys you might thought would be on the list:
Andrew Wiggins, the high school junior who is blowing up this summer … he’s Canadian.
Anthony Davis, the No. 1 pick in the 2012 draft turns 23 in March 2016, a few months before the Olympics.

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10 Responses to “What Would David Stern’s Under-23 Olympic Basketball Team Look Like in 2016?”
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July 20th, 2012 at 4:56 PM
Beatable
July 20th, 2012 at 5:01 PM
No matter who the team is, say goodbye to Gold Medals.
July 20th, 2012 at 5:04 PM
ddmcd1974′s favorite read.
I love that he closed out the Corey Williams post with this comment: “No more trolling please.” Methinks he does not understand the concept.
July 20th, 2012 at 5:09 PM
Looking at a U.S. roster of under-23s against a roster of any other country’s under-23s, I’m going with the U.S.
This is essentially what we had pre-1992: U.S. college kids going against what were essentially pro teams from the Eastern bloc, and the U.S. dominated. On an equal court, the U.S. will dominate again.
July 20th, 2012 at 5:21 PM
Oh my mistake – I didn’t know that it was all countries. Then I think it will be highly competitive. The US may win, but won’t dominate. If it was only the US holding to under 23, then I think they struggle to medal.
July 20th, 2012 at 5:25 PM
No doubt the young guys have a ton of skill. Will they mesh as a team in a short time? If not, we could see some ugly basketball.
If it becomes a glorified AAU all-star team, that might not be fun to watch. Other teams playing cohesive will have a great chance of winning against a selfish Team USA.
July 20th, 2012 at 5:27 PM
I love that he closed out the Corey Williams post with this comment: “No more trolling please.” Methinks he does not understand the concept.
He’s just made Sandusky never gave him hush-hush presents.
July 20th, 2012 at 7:04 PM
Julius Randle at PF is good, but dont forget about 6′ 8″ 250lb Jarnell Stokes from the UT Vols? He was born 1/7/1994 so will be under 23 for the 2016 games. Instead of finishing his HS senior year he graduated early and went straight from HS in December last year to playing and starting for the Vols in January. Averaged 9.6ppg, 7.4rpg and was all-SEC freshman.
This summer Randle lead the USA U18 team in scoring and rebounding, 14.2 & 6.6 while Stokes was 2nd on the team with 14.0 and 5.6.
July 21st, 2012 at 12:32 AM
I like this beergardenpro guy. Do you comment a lot on basketball threads? I am unfamiliar with your work until now
July 21st, 2012 at 12:07 PM
Having under 23 for soccer makes sense because soccer already has worldwide, prestigious events outside of the Olympics. What does basketball have? FIBA tournament? That is why they are going to stop guys over 23 from playing? Come on. Now I really will have no reason to watch the Olympics.