OT: Andrew Wiggins expected on Canada's Pan Am hoops team

[Young_Buc]

Wiggins and Olynyk are going to be a pretty good 1/2 punch on offense.

A starting lineup of Cojo (leader, primary ball handler), Stauskas (spot up shooter, occasional slasher), Wiggins (playing the offense around him), Olynyk (PnP big), and Thompson (PnR big) fits perfectly together. I do hope Ennis gets the chance to back-up the point guard position, I think he's going to have a similar development curve to Cojo.

Other NBA players should include Bennett, Sacre, and Nicholson. They probably would need at least 3 Oversea players, so they should include English, Rautins and Anderson.

Yeah those 5 compliment each other very well from a skill standpoint. CoJo shouldn't be overlooked either. He's having a gret year putting up a 15 PER, and spent years learning from the best squad in basketball how to play good 'team' ball.

The only thing that starting 5 really lacks is defense, and size down low.

I think Joseph will be our best player this summer, he really looked good when Parker was out. Having his leadership is gonna be great.

He's just a kid, but I'd like to see Jamal Murray on the team. As for the entire roster, I'm going with:

Olynk/Sacre/Trey Lyles
Thompson/Bennett
Wiggins/Ejim
Cojo/Ennis/Murray
Nik/Heslip

[Matty]

Yeah those 5 compliment each other very well from a skill standpoint. CoJo shouldn't be overlooked either. He's having a gret year putting up a 15 PER, and spent years learning from the best squad in basketball how to play good 'team' ball.

The only thing that starting 5 really lacks is defense, and size down low.

I think Joseph will be our best player this summer, he really looked good when Parker was out. Having his leadership is gonna be great.

He's just a kid, but I'd like to see Jamal Murray on the team. As for the entire roster, I'm going with:

Olynk/Sacre/Trey Lyles
Thompson/Bennett
Wiggins/Ejim
Cojo/Ennis/Murray
Nik/Heslip

I don't see Trey Lyles on the roster if he gets drafted this summer. Rookies usually like to focus on prepping for their first NBA season .

There might be a chance we see Murray but I don't know if it's necessary to have him this summer. We're better off giving the NBA rookie guards some playing time (Ennis, Staukas) and getting them accustomed to the international game.

[frumble]

Matty,
Good point re Lyles. In any case, barring a lot of injuries/no-shows, he would be a long shot to make the team anyway (though it would be nice to have him in camp).


Young_Buc,
Re Murray, I think he will have a great future with the senior program, but he is too young to seriously challenge for a spot. I can think of at least a dozen guards who would be ahead of him right now:

Joseph
Ennis
Anderson
Pangos
Hanlan
Kabongo
Cadougan
English
Heslip
Rautins
Scrubb
Mullings
Rathan-Mayes

Will be interesting to see whether he re-classifies to class of 2015, and what position he ends up playing in college.
Between him, Washington, and Wigginton, we have some decent PG prospects in the pipeline.

[duppyy]

Was hoping Kevin Zabo was the PG of the future but he doesn't seem to be doing so well.

[Ell Curry]

Going forward, we're obviously strong at one wing spot with Wiggins.
I think Thompson will be a good, Amir style backup for both the 4 and 5 spots. Olynyk should be a solid 4 on the offensive end and Lyles and Bennett have potential.
Center is the biggest hole. Nobody jumps out, and guys like Valenciaunas, Nurkic, Len, Gasol, Noah, Gobert, and Vucevic could all hurt us there.
We really need Stauskas to work out as the shooter next to Wiggins, I think, because the other wing options are underwhelming. Hopefully Jamaal Murray can be the 3rd guy in that rotation.
Joseph is a solid point guard, and it'll be good to have a PG who actually plays D against guys like Dragic, Parker, Rubio, Schroeder and whoever the Americans choose. Pangos, Ennis or some other young PG should be an okay backup.

But yeah, we need a Center and a wing.

[Ell Curry]

I was surprised by Bachynski's mobility considering his size the couple of times I saw ASU play. He just signed with the Knicks D-league team. If he can get onto an NBA roster he might be a better fit than Sacre or an aging Anthony for a defensive 5 role behind Tristan Thompson.

[frumble]

Going forward, we're obviously strong at one wing spot with Wiggins.
I think Thompson will be a good, Amir style backup for both the 4 and 5 spots. Olynyk should be a solid 4 on the offensive end and Lyles and Bennett have potential.
Center is the biggest hole. Nobody jumps out, and guys like Valenciaunas, Nurkic, Len, Gasol, Noah, Gobert, and Vucevic could all hurt us there.
We really need Stauskas to work out as the shooter next to Wiggins, I think, because the other wing options are underwhelming. Hopefully Jamaal Murray can be the 3rd guy in that rotation.
Joseph is a solid point guard, and it'll be good to have a PG who actually plays D against guys like Dragic, Parker, Rubio, Schroeder and whoever the Americans choose. Pangos, Ennis or some other young PG should be an okay backup.

But yeah, we need a Center and a wing.

I think the biggest hole is wing. I am ok with TT and KO as the starting bigs, with someone like Powell as first off the bench. None of them are true Cs, but I think we can get by with that rotation (with Nicholson or Bennet and Sacre or Anthony as the other backups).

But at the 3 we are very thin. We are looking at someone like Jevohn Shepherd or Aaron Doornekamp as the back-up (or starter if Wiggins doesn't show).

I would like to see Dyshawn Pierre in camp. He might be ready to challenge for that spot.
Dillon Brooks is having a pretty good freshman year for Oregon and might be a viable option as well.
Would also be nice to see Kris Joseph return to the program, but I think that is a long shot.

Longer term. RJ Barrett is probably Canada's best prospect since Wiggins, but he is several years away.

[Ell Curry]

Justin Jackson is a top 30 recruit. Maybe he'll be the answer at SF in a few years.

[frumble]

From Wolstat a couple days ago:

Wiggins has not fully committed to playing for Canada this summer at either the Pan Am Games or the World Championship, hopefully the Wolves don’t force him to go to summer league in Las Vegas instead of leading his country.
http://www.torontosun.com/2015/02/24/at ... is-amazing

We are in big trouble if he doesn't play.