AROUND the NBA:

[michaeltex]

Not sure about the ages, but SEA/OKC picked Durant, Westbrook, Harden in consecutive drafts, and all became superstars.

IIRC, Durant (2007 #2) and Westbrook (2008 #4) were both starters and Harden (2009 #3) was first off the bench.

But OKC didn't want to pay starter level $$ to a non-starter, so they traded Harden to HOU in 2012. I often wonder what might have been if they kept the team together. There probably weren't enough basketballs to go around with all three on the court though.

KD was born in 1988, as was RW. KD only played one year at TX while RW played two at UCLA. Hardin was a year younger and played two years at AZ. So KD was drafted at 18 but turned 19 before the season started. RW was drafted at 19 and turned 20 that November, while Hardin was also drafted at 19, but turned 20 before training camp opened.

So the potential is there to have a couple of sub-20 core players to build around. A little luck later in the 1st round and maybe there's another solid role player to be had.

As mentioned elsewhere, this all presumes there is a vision and direction to talent acquisition, which in turn presumes the MBT is led by someone with a competent track record in team building.