REGENSBURG (David Hein's Eye on the Future) - The United States team has been announced for the annual Nike Hoop Summit. One question about the squad is how much of a sneak preview it will be for the group that plays at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2017.

Having just entered March, we are still about four months away from the 16-team event to take place in Cairo from July 1-9. Heck, USA Basketball has yet to confirm their head coach for the event - recent rumors have Kentucky's John Calipari taking the reins from last summer's U18 USA coach Shaka Smart.

But the Nike Hoop Summit team - along with past USA squads at the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup - could give a hint at what team might be fighting for the Americans' third straight U19 title.

Many of the top players from the USA's 1998-born generation will not be available for the U19 global spectacle as they will be heading to the NBA Draft - which takes place 10 days before Cairo 2017 tips off. Among those names from the 1998 group are Markelle Fultz, Jayson Tatum, Harry Giles, Terrance Ferguson and Malik Monk.

In addition to the players heading to the NBA Draft, USA Basketball also will likely lose a player or two who want to head to their university ahead of time - for academic reasons or wanting to get a head start on working into the team's system. And of course there are injuries.

Taking all that into account, USA Basketball has begun to look more into the elite players from a year younger - or even two years - at recent FIBA U19 Basketball World Cups. Aaron Gordon, Jahlil Okafor and Justice Winslow all were younger players at Prague 2013 while the trio of Tatum, Giles and Ferguson were all two years younger at Crete 2015 among five bottom level players for the USA team.

Moving to this year's Hoop Summit team, USA Basketball named five 1998-born players and seven who were born in 1999. Michael Porter Jr. will undoubtedly be one of the top players to watch at the showcase in Portland as well in Cairo this summer. He is the number one ranked player in his high school class and will be attending the University of Washington.

Porter led the USA team in scoring at the FIBA U18 Americas Championship last summer while fellow 1998-born Mohamed Bamba was the second-leading rebounder. The other two players from that generation who played at the U18 continental event were Quade Green, who will be heading to Kentucky, and M.J. Walker. The fifth 1998-born player is Trevon Duval, who is ranked fourth in the high school class and participated three times in mini-camps with USA Basketball but did not make any of the teams.

The 1999 group features six players who won the title at the FIBA U17 World Championship 2016 including MVP Colin Sexton and fellow All-Star Five member Wendell Carter Jr.

Gary Trent Jr. was named the MVP at the FIBA U16 Americas Championship 2015, where the Americans had to come back from a early 20-point deficit to beat Canada in the Final. Troy Brown was second in efficiency per game for the United States at the FIBA U17 World Championship and Kevin Knox II averaged 11.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in a key role on the U17 team as well.

Jaren Jackson Jr. was also on the USA team in Zaragoza. And while Jarred Vanderbilt missed Zaragoza 2016, he was the fifth-leading scorer for USA at the U16 continental tournament while being second in rebounds and assists.

That group of 12 is being called upon by USA Basketball to once again beat the Hoop Summit’s World Select Team, which will likely be announced within the next two weeks. The United States has won two of the past three Hoop Summits and have a 13-6 record in the series. But the two teams have split the last six games.

Later this summer it seems very likely that a high number of those 12 players will then head to Cairo for the FIBA U19 Basketball World Cup 2017.

So the Nike Hoop Summit could be a sneak peak at what the USA's U19 team might look like this summer.

David Hein

FIBA

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