SAN JUAN (William Rosario's Somewhere in the Americas) - I'm in Argentina this week where the Group C of the DIRECTV Liga de las Americas is being played. In one of the few moments of downtime, I watched a TV show conducted by a colleague that looked at the next generation of the Argentinean national team. 

It made a sensible case about there being a real future for the country in players like Facundo Campazzo (23), Nicolas Laprovittola (24), Marcos Delia (22), Matias Bortolin (21), Nicolas Brussino (21) and Franco Giorgetti (22). And it is a right assessment.

If one is honest about it, on the face of it, the potential of this group may appear not to be close to that shown by the Golden Generation in its youth. But these are talented players that will make the team competitive for the foreseeable future.

This got me thinking: what about the other elite countries in the continent? Can they say the same thing?

Well, to take a closer look at it means to find different countries in different circumstances. 

There are those that can confidently say they have a next generation, there are those that are living their future and then there are those that need to start worrying.

Argentina is joined by Canada and Brazil as teams with something to look forward to in terms of young talent. I'm obviously leaving the USA out of it as they live on a planet of their own when it comes to development. But those other two come to it in very different climates.

Canada is doing a fantastic job at the national federation level. They have achieved a real connection (and national team pride conscience) with their talent and that’s a scary thought for the other countries in their path. Their possible lineup is made up of big names like Andrew Wiggins (19), Tristan Thompson (23), Cory Joseph (23), Tyler Ennis (20), Kelly Olynyk (23), Andrew Nicholson (25), Nik Stauskas (21) and Anthony Bennett (21), all of them young guys with huge upside in their game.

Canada Basketball gets them together to have training sessions during the off-season and I believe it will show when it comes to the one thing that people used to assume about facing the country's basketball national team: lack of passion. 

Teams like Brazil and Argentina are used to having an emotional advantage in their matchups against the Canadians, and Canada's national federation has started to turn that page. A big example of that is the fact that the team got together to play some exhibition games last summer and the stars suited up for those games, which weren't to prepare the team for any qualifier, continental championship or a World Cup. They just wanted to be with the team. That's unique.

Brazil is the opposite. It is a country that has a next generation in great part thanks to the accelerated growth of their national league and the international continuity of their club teams.

It is not uncommon to watch Liga de las Americas teams like Flamengo, Uniceub or Bauru to see incredible potential in almost in every position. You have big men like Cristiano Felicio (22) and Ronald Reis (23). Or point guards like Ricardo Fisher (23) or Pinheiro's Humberto (19). You even have excellent wing talent like Lucas Dias (19). And those are only league players. When one looks for Brazilian's abroad there are names like Lucas "Bebe" Nogueira (22), Bruno Caboclo (19) and Raulzinho Neto (22). 

Then you have a national team like Mexico that has the future as their present. To look at their current amazing two-year run is to see their dominance be the result of the physically imposing young players and their presence in the context of the Americas basketball reality at the moment.

The Gustavo Ayon (29) and Jorge Gutierrez (26)-led team is the culmination of the successful development of their generation. This is a team that is mostly composed of players in their late 20s that met the right coach at the right time. They are sure to have more elite competitive years in their future (that is of course if the politics don't tear everything apart in a very delicate aftermath in the firing of Sergio Valdeolmillos).

Venezuela, with less success than Mexico, also has the future as their present. Their core players, Greivis Vasquez (28), David Cubillan (27), Gregory Vargas (28), Nestor Colmenares (27) and Windy Graterol (28) are young and full of national pride. The team, South American champs last year, is poised to solidify themselves as elite in for this and the next cycle.

They are missing that one key piece in big man Gregory Echenique (24), that has not been able to play in the national team for the last couple of years, but will come back to compete for the "Vinotinto" in 2015.

And then, after Mexico and Venezuela, it starts to get sweaty. Looking at teams that have been elite competitors in the continental championships over the last decade, one wonders what will happen to traditional powerhouses like Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic.

The two of them share the fact that they don't have a solid and extended national league to where they can find the complementary pieces to the great up and comers.

The Dominican Republic for example has one of the most exciting prospects in basketball in big man Karl Towns, currently playing for Kentucky University. A seven footer that has the right mentors and the work ethic to go with it, Towns is the real deal and has played with the national team since he was 16 years old. But then, there's nobody else in the picture.

The country had a good performance at the FIBA Americas U18 Championship last year but with no real standouts. There were some good players that might benefit from a solid national league that helps their development, but the reality is that Dominicana does not have it.

Puerto Rico does not have it either. And they also had a good showing at the FIBA U17 World Championship, but when one looks closer at the reality of an island that is not keen on developing talent and that prefers already proven NBA Puerto Rican descendants, the future is bleak. JJ Barea and the generation that came up with him, Peter John Ramos, Ricky Sanchez, Guillermo Diaz and Angel Vassallo are already in their 30s and some of them are not in the national team program anymore. Where is the talent pool when there is no platform to develop that talent pool in?

All in all, it sets up a very interesting future for basketball in the Americas where it will be wide open in terms of teams competing for top continental spots. 

The USA will be the USA, but Canada will be there, along with Argentina, Brazil, Mexico and Venezuela. That's six elite teams. It could be better. 

There are still a couple of years to find some future stars that will pop up here and there for the other countries in order to make 2017 and the start of the new competition system really interesting.

William Rosario

FIBA

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