But the question is...why are top American players no longer developing into superstars?
If you picked a U25 All-American team five years ago, you'd have Harden, George, Kawhi, Davis, Cousins, Griffin, Lillard, Wall, Butler, Kemba, Green, Hayward, DeRozan, Klay...a real smorgasbord of superstar talent. The All-World team would have Kyrie, Rubio, Ibaka, Vucevic...maybe a 20-year-old Steven Adams...maybe Tristan and Delly...
So a starting 5 of Harden-George-Kawhi-Davis-Cousins against Kyrie-Rubio-Delly-Ibaka-Vucevic. Total joke...USA wins by 50.
But if you had to pick a U25 All-American team now, who would be on it? Towns, obviously, and Fox...Tatum's solid...Booker's a good scorer...Gordon, Kuzma, and Turner are decent...hell, throw Zion in there??
Meanwhile, the All-World team has Giannis, Jokic, Embiid, Simmons, Nurkic, Capela, Siakam, Doncic, and Ayton.
Now you're looking at Fox-Booker-Tatum-Towns-Turner against Doncic-Giannis-Siakam-Jokic-Embiid. Maybe a bit closer this time, but only barely...world by 30.
So what's changed, either in the NBA or in player development globally? I don't think this is just a statistical fluke...the change is too overwhelming.