It's a bit early for this sort of speculation, but it's still a lot of fun: who will be on the 2016 Olympic team?

Coach K and Jerry Colangelo have a ton of work to do, but there are also a ton of great candidates. There have been a lot of point guard candidates and a lot of bigger guys - think Steph Curry, Kyrie Irving and Russell Westbrook for the former and DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis and Blake Griffin for the latter), and of course LeBron James, should he choose to play.

It's been wonderful to watch the US reconquer world basketball and it's done it by emphasizing some very real advantages that no one else really has. Two of the biggest of these are athleticism and a sort of defense that no one else can come close to.

Which leads us to the best news so far for the National team: Kawhi Leonard has accepted an invitation.

Giving Coach K a defensive weapon like Leonard would be like giving General Patton a tank that could hit 80. Leonard has emerged as not just a superb defender who can guard multiple positions but possibly a guy who can change the game. You can't afford to lose track of him because he'll strip you and the game will go the other way fast.

As a side note, Leonard plays with a lot of energy, but we'd be willing to bet that he causes opponents to use even more.

Everyone else on this list is a quality player, but Leonard could really change things and we think that Mike Krzyzewski will find all sorts of ways to use him.