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USA U16 is having its minicamp. From 39 of the top prep players all over the country, the team officers made its cuts to 30, to 24 and now to the best 18. A final cut would reduce it to the elite 12 for the FIBA U16 Americas.
This team is going to be shipped to Mexico for the June 5-11 FIBA Americas where 8 teams will compete for qualification to the FIBA U17 World Cup next year. Let's wish our boys the best!
Personally, I prefer Justin Brownlee instead of Jordan Clarkson to play for Philippines as its naturalized player. This is more due to Brownlee being taller and more familiar of local players over Clarkson. Also, Clarkson went 0-3 on games against strong teams -- China, South Korea and Lebanon. Brownlee, meanwhile helped beat Lebanon. And though they lost vs Jordan, Brownlee kept the team in striking distance with 41 pts. Lastly, Brownlee helped the country get back the gold medal in the SEA games over a suddenly strong Cambodia host team.
My concern is Clarkson is NBA player, Brownlee is not. There may be marketing pressures from FIBA to put an NBA player over a non-NBA player. While that would help marketing wise, Clarkson would not be the best fit for Philippines. He plays the guard position in NBA and will be forced into an unnatural forward position due to so many guards already in the team. As a forward, Clarkson as proven against China, South Korea and Lebanon, will be outmuscled and be out of sorts with his tendency to leave his forward assignment and go back to being a guard/ball handler.
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