Steve Kerr will coach USA for the first time in the coming FIBA Basketball World Cup that will begin on August 25. When asked who he will rely on from the team's 12-player roster, he answered: Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges.

"I will definitely go into this with a vision of Jalen Brunson taking on a pretty big role, given the way he plays, his success at the FIBA level in past tournaments," Kerr said at the press conference on Friday.

Brunson joined the New York Knicks in the summer of 2022 and immediately became the team's most reliable scoring option in the past 2022-23 season. Having averaged 24 points, 6.2 assists and two triples at 41.6 percent per game in the regular season, he helped the team enter the playoffs as No. 5 in the Eastern Conference.

The Knicks have become a top defensive team since Tom Thibodeau took over as their head coach in July 2020. However, they were always held back by their poor offense, especially in the playoffs. Brunson's arrival became their solution to this problem. His skillful footwork and attacking skills facing the hoop enabled him to score 27.8 points and 5.6 assists per game in the postseason for a team that averaged 99.6 points, 18.2 assists, and 100.5 points, 19.2 assists in the two series they competed in.

"There's no question in my mind that Mikal Bridges is going to be a huge factor for us defensively," Kerr said. "As a coach, you go into these things and you say, 'Well, who is gonna guard Luka (Doncic), or who's gonna guard Giannis (Antetokounmpo)?' One of the reasons we built the roster the way we did is we have multiple options for these sorts of things."

Bridges was sent to the Brooklyn Nets by the Phoenix Suns in the middle of the 2022-23 season in the blockbuster deal of Kevin Durant. His role with the Suns was more about guarding the opponents' backcourt ace. Though the Nets gave him a bigger role on the offensive end, Bridges is still an elite wing defender who was selected into the All-Defensive First Team during the 2021-22 campaign.

None of USA's 12 players for the World Cup have appeared in the previous editions of the tournament or the Olympics. Many have argued that this may be the weakest Team USA in history, though they have said the same thing about previous rosters multiple times.

However, the presence of the reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year Jaren Jackson Jr. in the team's lineup should be a good reason for people to have faith in them. As a 2.11-meter-tall, athletic big man, he delivered three blocks per game for the Memphis Grizzlies last season. While building a no-fly zone in the paint, Jackson Jr. is also agile enough to switch out to guard perimeter players. That's exactly what modern basketball requires a big man to do.

"In FIBA, there's no defensive three-second violations," Kerr said. "So to have a shot blocker of Jaren's quality and a presence at the rim like him is almost a necessity if you want to win a gold medal. So we are going to rely on him for his presence at the rim, his force defensively, his ability to help from the weak side and cover up mistakes and back cuts, that sort of thing. And then on the offensive end, he's a guy who's a good pick-and-pop player. As he's shown over the years with Memphis, he can step out and make a 3 but also score inside, so he is really versatile."

Kerr and the Golden State Warriors were knocked out by the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Western Conference semifinals last season, In that series, Austin Reaves averaged 14.3 points, 3.7 assists and 2.3 triples at 45.2 per cent per game for the purple and gold. He didn't drop the best numbers, but he was the third-best-performing Laker in those six games.

"Austin is one of the rising young players in this league," Kerr said. "What you look for in FIBA is versatility. You want size defensively and the ability to switch and guard multiple positions, and then you want playmaking. You want guys who can make shots but also put the ball on the floor and are good passers."

USA are in Group C with Greece, New Zealand and Jordan. The four teams will compete with each other at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, the Philippines.