No matter what Jerry Colangelo, Mike Krzyzewski and his staff do on cutdown day, somebody’s going to get snubbed. It’s a pretty thankless task to whittle a 25-man roster down to 12 when the worst of them were at least first-round draft choices and college All-Americans and at best are future Hall of Fame locks.

But somebody’s got to go before USA Basketball hands in its 12-man roster for the FIBA Americas Olympics qualifying tournament that starts August 22. And competition is especially thick at the positions played by the two Pistons on the roster, Chauncey Billups and Tayshaun Prince. The roster is really down to 17 available bodies with summer injuries and excused absences doing some of the committee’s dirty work, but even that isn’t going to make the decisions appreciably easier.

Billups is one of at least six point guards on the roster and one of four currently available, but my guess is that beyond a handful of names – Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwight Howard – he’s about as safe as anyone else.

Prince’s status is a little less certain, mostly because two of those “locks” – James and Anthony – happen to play his position. Given the international game’s more spread-out nature, it’s pretty safe to assume the Americans will keep at least one more small forward and perhaps two. And it’s also possible that Anthony could play power forward at the international level. What the committee might seek to fill out the position group is someone with one overriding outstanding quality – Mike Miller’s 3-point shooting, for instance – rather than go for Prince’s sublime all-around skill set.

Let’s look at the point guard situation first. Based on what developed at the team’s minicamp in Las Vegas last weekend, Jason Kidd is probably No. 1 in the pecking order. He started ahead of Billups in the scrimmage, though both played roughly equal minutes and provided roughly equal production.

James gushed about Kidd afterward, calling it a “dream” to play with him and adding, “I don’t have that luxury on my team back in Cleveland.” Given the value of a content James to the future of USA Basketball, it isn’t very likely that Kidd’s name will be on the cut list – nor should it.

The other point guards on the roster are Gilbert Arenas, Chris Paul, Deron Williams and Luke Ridnour. Ridnour has no shot and Arenas and Paul are rehabbing injuries. It wouldn’t be at all unusual to keep all three of Kidd, Billups and Williams, but if it came to a choice of Billups or Williams it stands to reason that Billups’ greater experience, his 3-point shooting and his proven penchant for clutch play would prevail at the game’s most important position.

The decision on Prince is much more complex. Because James and Anthony are fixtures, whoever else you choose to keep at that position is going to be chosen because he offers something unique.

Shane Battier is in the running because he’s considered one of the game’s ultimate “glue” players – whatever you need him to do, he’ll provide. He’s a very good 3-point shooter, especially from the corners, an effective tool against the spate of international zones. And he’s a terrific individual and team defender whose forte is drawing charges.

Prince offers many of those same qualities, of course, and is even more versatile than Battier with a post-up offensive game and more of an ability to guard quicker players along the perimeter. But Krzyzewski coached Battier at Duke, remember, so it might be fair to assume Battier wins all ties.

But it probably isn’t as simple as one or the other. Given the importance of 3-point shooting with the shorter international arc, the coaching staff will want at least one elite sniper on the roster. If both Miller and Michael Redd are kept, the perimeter positions are suddenly very crowded.

And you could understand the case to be made for those players. But let’s also assume this much: The folks running USA Basketball were smart enough to invite Tayshaun Prince onto the roster last spring because they saw the qualities in him that lend themselves to winning basketball – and those qualities should be the ones than land him a spot on the final roster, as well.

He might not be an elite shooter, but he’s a very good one. He’s right there with the league’s best perimeter defenders. He’s an adept enough ballhandler to facilitate an offense. And then there’s a court savvy that’s prompted Joe Dumars to call him his smartest player. What value do you put on a guy who’ll automatically know in the middle of a chaotic play what role he should assume – who’ll understand spacing and immediately process the presence of the opposition’s better shooters and weigh risk and reward in a nanosecond?

For all the scouting and preparation that goes into basketball these days, there’s still a large element of improvisation to it that requires keen gut instincts. Tayshaun Prince has it so readily that it inspired Joe Dumars to phone his agent amid Prince’s predraft workout for the Pistons five years ago and guarantee him that if Prince were available Dumars was taking him.

They haven’t always been so perceptive in the conference room at USA Basketball under past administrations. But the fact they saw enough in Tayshaun Prince to invite him to the team this time suggests this bunch is a bit brighter.