James Harden and Anthony Davis are the only holdovers from the 2012 Olympics team that will play for the United States in the World Cup.

“Right now, I think I would look to Harden as that leader,” USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said as his team continues to prepare for the tournament in which the winner earns an automatic berth in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. “Harden is kind of a natural leader and he seems to be willing to accept that role. And you can just kind of feel it and sense. He’s the one.”

Harden's career trajectory changed dramatically after he was traded by the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Houston Rockets.

“It’s so many things these last couple of years that’s been thrown at me, from me being traded, to people talking, just everything,” Harden said. “I try to focus on myself and how can I be a better basketball player. It’s still basketball at the end of the day. I try to do it to the best of my ability and continue to work hard.”

Harden declared himself the best player in the world recently.

“I think everybody feels that way. Every NBA player. Even growing up, growing up youngins have dreams that they want to be the best basketball players in the world,” Harden said. “As a basketball player, or any athlete, you got to have confidence, you’ve got to have confidence the whole time. You just go out there and do your job and have confidence that your abilities are good enough. Whatever is thrown at me, I just try to take it for what it is and just have fun.”

The Philadelphia 76ers acquired a first round pick along with Luc Mbah a Moute and Alexey Shved in exchange for Thaddeus Young.

The 76ers will likely receive the pick, which originates from the Miami Heat, in 2015.

"There were several components [that were enticing] and one is the first-round pick held by Miami," Hinkie said in a conference call yesterday. "That's important. You don't see a lot of first-round picks changing hands these days. The players will be helpful, too. Luc Richard Mbah a Moute had a fantastic career at UCLA. Early in his NBA career, he was an everyday lockdown defender. He's a versatile guy who could guard multiple positions.

"Alexey Shved, been around for 2 years and played at a high level in big games, a guy that we had paid attention to for many years before he joined Minnesota. He can both handle the ball and play off the ball."

Mbah a Moute is also expected to help as a mentor to Joel Embiid.

"Luc's relationship with Joel can only help," said Hinkie. "We're definitely in the mode of player development and Joel's a big part of that."

During a promotional event, James Harden declared himself the best all-around player in the NBA.

"I'm the best all-around basketball player in the NBA," said Harden.

While Harden has become one of the NBA's best scorers and was an All-NBA First Team selection in 2014, he has received criticism for his lack of commitment on defense.

Bruno Caboclo has spent the summer in North America working on his game and body, along with his grasp of the English language.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have the most difficult schedule in the NBA in terms of having less rest than their opponents, according to data from Ed Kupfer.

The Thunder play just 10 games against teams with no rest days, while the Utah Jazz have nearly 30.

The Los Angeles Clippers rank second in difficulty based on opponents' rest.

The Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee Bucks and Toronto Raptors have the fewest games with less rest than their opponents.

Kevin Durant's withdrawl from USA Basketball appeared to be a confession, and the Oklahoma City Thunder star admitted he was mentally and physically exhausted.

No player has logged more combined regular season and playoff minutes over the past three seasons than Durant, who has played 10,924 minutes. LeBron James sits in second with 10,811, even with three straight trips to the NBA Finals in that window.

Over the past five seasons, Durant’s 15,064 minutes also pace all players and are 930 more than James, who is No. 2 on that list.

Thunder coach Scott Brooks said last October that he likes to keep Durant’s minutes between 38 and 40. The Thunder could be forced to look into monitoring Durant's minutes with more frequency.

“As we go forward there’s no question that’s something we want to look at and understand,” Thunder general manager Sam Presti said about Durant’s minutes at the end of the season. “Not only for the long term, but to also make sure we are getting the most out of the minutes that are played during one particular game or another…I can’t tell you what comes of it.”

The Boston Celtics were unable to make a major move this offseason, failing in their efforts to trade for Kevin Love.

Wyc Grousbeck alluded to "fireworks" back in March when describing the Celtics' offseason plans.

“I said we’d try for fireworks and we tried,” Grousbeck said. “I’m reasonably content that first of all we tried as hard as we could and second of all we added some good pieces. But we have maintained our draft picks and we’ve maintained more building in the future as opposing to firing all the bullets now.

“We’re going to have to go the more patient route.”

The Celtics lacked the necessary assets to trade for Love, but instead have acquired Marcus Smart, James Young, Tyler Zeller and Marcus Thornton this offseason.

“How happy do I look?” said Grousbeck. “We were all patient, everybody, the fans were patient in the early 2000s and we have to believe they know how to build in the NBA isn’t a quick flip of the switch. In almost all cases, it is years of preparation in this league.

“You gotta get the superstars, so you’ve got to build up the assets to get them and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

LeBron James is planning on spending the rest of his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers despite a contract that allows him tremendous flexibility.

“I don’t plan on going anywhere,” James said Friday night during the Welcome Home LeBron event at InfoCision Stadium. “I don’t have the energy to do it again.” 

James can become a free agent after either of the next two seasons.

“At the end of the day I’m a businessman as well,” James said, “and I know what’s going on in our league.”

James is also looking forward to playing with Kevin Love.

“I always told him he was going to be the reason we won the gold medal,” James said “He played a huge role for us. “I’m looking forward to it. Hopefully it happens and everything is done right from the league rules. It’s a great piece.”

The Toronto Raptors were hoping to select Tyler Ennis with the No. 20 overall pick, but he was selected by the Phoenix Suns at No. 18.

The Raptors could have gambled on waiting to select Bruno Caboclo at No. 37, but there was a chance of another team taking him. Both the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics were interested in Caboclo.

“In my room, there was no debate,” Masai Ujiri said. “Instead of going through the stress of trying to get him at No. 37, we decided to get the guy we really liked now.”

Caboclo showed flashes of his potential during Summer League and will be on the Raptors' roster next season. Ujiri is also not a fan of stashing players overseas.

“When a guy goes overseas you don’t get to monitor him as closely, to see if he is getting stronger, to see all of what he is doing,” Ujiri said. “Keeping him here, we can do that. When he needs playing time, send him to the D-League. He can play in NBA practices, he can go through a training camp and after the year we will wait to see where he is and what more he needs to develop.”