Team Canada in the 2025 Americup

[WaltFrazier]

Why aren't any of our NBA guys playing, since it's summer?

Because everyone on the national team is a +60Ms player and not gonna jeopardize that for a qualifying tournament

But Norm and Alvarado are playing?

[DreamTeam09]

Why aren't any of our NBA guys playing, since it's summer?

Because everyone on the national team is a +60Ms player and not gonna jeopardize that for a qualifying tournament

But Norm and Alvarado are playing?

Norm has no choice if he ever wants to make an Olympic team,
Alvarado isn't a 60m player.
Canada and America don't have to go all out for qualifying tournaments anymore nor should they either.
Them European cats are different tho,

[WaltFrazier]

Because everyone on the national team is a +60Ms player and not gonna jeopardize that for a qualifying tournament

But Norm and Alvarado are playing?

Norm has no choice if he ever wants to make an Olympic team,
Alvarado isn't a 60m player.
Canada and America don't have to go all out for qualifying tournaments anymore nor should they either.
Them European cats are different tho,

I wish we had that Euro mentality
I get why the Thunder guys, Murray, and the two Pacers wouldn't play. Guys who just played FIBA world and Olympics back to back.But I'd think Sharpe, maybe NAW could have stepped in for a chance to lead. Some other young guys I'm forgetting.

[MEDIC]

But Norm and Alvarado are playing?

Norm has no choice if he ever wants to make an Olympic team,
Alvarado isn't a 60m player.
Canada and America don't have to go all out for qualifying tournaments anymore nor should they either.
Them European cats are different tho,

I wish we had that Euro mentality
I get why the Thunder guys, Murray, and the two Pacers wouldn't play. Guys who just played FIBA world and Olympics back to back.But I'd think Sharpe, maybe NAW could have stepped in for a chance to lead. Some other young guys I'm forgetting.

Yeah, there were definitely some guys who could have benefitted. Sharpe, AJ Lawson, Omoruyi, Gurrier, Banton, Brissette, Prosper, Houstan.....and anyone who is Gleague/ fringe NBA.

Having said that......the competition hasn't been all that great leading up to the playoffs. They are destroying teams with an NBA rookie, a few Gleague/ fringe NBA players & some CEBL level players.

Mind you, competition will get better as they enter the playoff rounds.

[mathgeek]

This tournament is a total waste of time for the higher seeded teams. The AmeriCup doesn't help you qualify for the Olympics necessarily. It just helps you get a high seed and a favorable position in the World Cup. The 2027 World Cup the top 7 of 8 teams will qualify with the US getting an automatic birth since they're hosting it. Depending on who shows up Canada maybe a fringe contender and they are at best fighting for the 4 to 8 seed.

[Kobe Anunoby]

This tournament is a total waste of time for the higher seeded teams. The AmeriCup doesn't help you qualify for the Olympics necessarily. It just helps you get a high seed and a favorable position in the World Cup. The 2027 World Cup the top 7 of 8 teams will qualify with the US getting an automatic birth since they're hosting it. Depending on who shows up Canada maybe a fringe contender and they are at best fighting for the 4 to 8 seed.

Welcome to fiba basketball

[mihaic]

Canada up 54-25 vs Colombia, at half time.

[WaltFrazier]

Alvarado got hurt, thankfully sounds ok. https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/281781/Jose-Alvarado-Injured-During-AmeriCup-Game

[Kobe Anunoby]

Alvarado got hurt, thankfully sounds ok. https://basketball.realgm.com/wiretap/281781/Jose-Alvarado-Injured-During-AmeriCup-Game

Jose is a warrior, hope he’s ok. I think I seen lower back strain and neck contusion on an update. I really hope this doesn’t affect his participation in future fiba matches

[Kobe Anunoby]

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/basketball/canada-colombia-recap-fiba-americup-managua-1.7620931

Head coach Nathaniel Mitchell credited his team's discipline and ball movement.

"I'm really proud of our guys for their attention to detail," Mitchell said. "We stayed professional, played the right way and moved the ball. To have 25 assists on 33 made field goals shows how connected we were."

Canada will face Argentina in Saturday's semifinal at 8:10 p.m. ET.

"Argentina is a very well-coached and disciplined team," Mitchell said. "They've got strong guards, physical bigs, and they mix their defences well. Our job will be to disrupt their flow and be ready for the challenge. We have nothing but respect for them and look forward to the matchup."

[Kobe Anunoby]

52 38 USA leading Brazil at half…. US going to the final unless Brazil becomes possessed

[DreamTeam09]

52 38 USA leading Brazil at half…. US going to the final unless Brazil becomes possessed

Looks like Brazil went on a 54-25 run in the 2nd half, I guess they were possessed afterall

[Kobe Anunoby]

52 38 USA leading Brazil at half…. US going to the final unless Brazil becomes possessed

Looks like Brazil went on a 54-25 run in the 2nd half, I guess they were possessed afterall

One of the beautiful things about basketball…. Man I love this game

[DreamTeam09]

52 38 USA leading Brazil at half…. US going to the final unless Brazil becomes possessed

Looks like Brazil went on a 54-25 run in the 2nd half, I guess they were possessed afterall

One of the beautiful things about basketball…. Man I love this game

Looks like Canada gonna have to do something similar

[Kobe Anunoby]

Looks like Brazil went on a 54-25 run in the 2nd half, I guess they were possessed afterall

One of the beautiful things about basketball…. Man I love this game

Looks like Canada gonna have to do something similar

Getting off to a rough start. Would like to see George not force the issue and see some more team ball.

[Hair Canada]

Canada comes short of a medal, with a loss in the bronze medal game to the US.

Let's start with the obvious: A very disappointing result given what this team showed up to the QF game. They looked like the most talented team in the competition, so not even winning a medal is certainly a failure and quite disheartening. The loss to Argentina in the semis was especially annoying, because the Argentines are now very far from their golden days and brought a very mediocre team, missing their best players. This one is on the coaches and players and they should own it with no excuses and learn from it.

Still, there's some context to consider:

1. Tradition. Canada may have come to the game against Argentina as favorites based on the first 4 games of the tournament. But it's not a coincidence that Argentina has medaled in every tournament in this millenium (including several gold medals) while Canada had zero medals during this time. Nor that the Argentines won the last 12 meetings between the teams in this tournament. The South Americans have always taken this tournament much more seriously, including a much longer preparation time, and they are also much better at playing FIBA basketball (and team basketball), regardless of talent level. They day Canadians (and Americans) care about this tournament nearly to the same extent, maybe things will start to change.

2. Luck. We don't like to talk about this, because it always feels like an excuse and we believe teams should make their own luck (which is true to an extent). But after shooting it pretty well in the first four games, Canada dropped off a cliff in the last two, with a combined 17% from 3. Very hard to win basketball games like this. Some of this drop may be related to stronger defenses (certainly better than the likes of Colombia and Panama). But Canada also shot the ball fairly well vs. a good Puerto Rico team. Sometimes random shooting variability is a real thing and it doesn't all depend on the opposing defense. To add insult to injury, both Argentina and the US shot the ball exceptionally well in the games against us and these were not all open shots. Argentina finished the tournament shooting 32% from 3, including 15% in the final against Brazil. But against Canada Vildoza couldn't miss and they shot 43%. Similarly, the US was not a great shooting team, but shot 45% from 3 in the bronze medal game. Impossible to win in games where you have a nearly 30% differential in 3-point shooting.


What did we learn for the future?

The Good:

Kyshawn George. Let's start with the fact that he wanted to play for Canada and FIBA didn't prevent this from happening despite his early appearances with the younger Swiss national team. A big win for the program (and probably the best news from this tournament) and another case of the rich getting richer. Unfortunately, George had his worst game of the tournament in the semis against Argentina (followed by a mediocre performance in the bronze medal game). But over all, he had a positive tournament and rightfuly made the all tournament team. At only 21, with no international experience and only one year of pro basketball under his belt, George seemed like a really interesting prospect. He's big and has functional athleticism, very fluid, shot the ball well (46% from 3 on the tournament), and plays hard on both ends of the floor. The defensive potential is especially encouraging (lock down mentality and off-ball plays), but I also like the offensive sparks he's shown. Still a lot of work to do in terms of ball handling and decision making, but he's a guy I'd definitely like to see vying for a spot (and hopefully winning it) on the team in two years for the WC.

Fi Kabengele. Like George, I love what Fi brings on both ends of the floor. On D he's by no means a Wemby and his rim protection is somewhat limited. But he plays with tenacity, is a very good rebounder, puts a big body on opposing bigs, and doesn't take plays off. Exactly the kind of guy you want to go to war with against bruising European bigs from France, Serbia, and the likes. On offense, he was exceptioanlly solid. Not flashy, but rolls hard, finishes with tenacity, really efficient (71% shooting and didn't drop under 50% in any of the games), and doesn't try to do too much. The vision could improve, but overall I love him as the guy who comes off the bench behind Zach Edey. Should be a no brainer for the WC and the Olympics.

Guard play. TBH and Carr were very solid this tournament, espeically the latter, who was the only CA player who improved as the tournament went on. They did a good job running the offense (almost 10 assists per game between the two of them) while really limiting turnovers (just over 2 per game for both). And they also attacked the rim and scored quite efficiently. Neither of them is a likely member of of the team for the big tournaments, but since neither plays in the Euroleage, both could be counted on for the winter core and form a backcourt that is very solid though unspectacular, with crucial continuity and familiarity with the other players.

Team resilience. There's not many good things to take from the last two games against Argentina and the US. But I did like that the team didn't break and was able to come back to the game in the 4th quarter and make it at least somewhat competitive. Against Argentina we came back from a 25 points deficit to make it a 10-point loss. Vs. the US the deficit was already 17, but we fought till the end and a late run made it a "respectable" 5-point loss. Really not much a of a consolation, but still better than falling apart and giving up. These things can make a difference for what players take with them to future tournaments and could determine whether they even want to show up in the future.


The bad:

Leonard Miller. It wasn't all bad for Miller. Like George, he's young, playing FIBA basketball for the first time, and it was a win just to get him going in this tournament. He also showed some sparks in the early games (especially vs. Venezuela and Colombia) and his herky Jerky game can be efficient, especially against weaker competition. I do like his aggressive mindset when it's kept in check and the on-ball defense was not bad. But he also showed very poor decision making, questionable finishing against size, and the defense still comes and goes, with some glaring off-ball day dreaming, lackadisical effort, and missing key rotations. I wouldn't give up on him as a team member for bigger tournaments given the glaring hole Canada has at PF, but this tournament was at best a mixed bag and probably more of a negative.

Wing play. Beyond George (and Miller, who's kind of a combo forward), our wing play was really weak. Isaiah Mike came to this tournament as a Euroleague player with big expectations. He only played 10 minutes per game but didn't show he deserved mroe, with okay defense but really weak offense. David Muenkat seemed like an afterthought on this roster, but actually started most of the games and got quite a bit of run as a designated point of attack defender. His defense was okay, although he took the bait too often and had some silly fouls on jump shots. But his offense was nonexistent. Between the two of them, they shot 1 of 16 from 3 and 5 of 10 from the line and were the main reason that things didn't look good when George went to the bench. You hope this was just a bad tournament and both can still contribute to the winter core. Muenkat shot the ball well in CEBL (despite a bit of funky shooting mechanics) and Mike may have been playing with an injury. But it could also be that he's just not really a Euroleague-level player (he also hasn't shown much in his year with Partizan).

The shooters. I already wrote about it above. But a big part of Canada falling off a cliff in the last two games was that its designated shooters couldn't make a shot. George, Darling, and Wiltjer (in what was probably his encore with the national team) shot the ball very well in the first 4 games. But they went 2 of 16 from 3 in the games vs. Argentina and the US. They weren't able to get good shots (especially George), but even when they did they missed them. Add Mike and Muenkat from above, and the fact that TBH also wasn't shooting it very well, and you get an offensive collapse in the final stages.

[Bray88]

I would have liked to see a few more guys debut for the senior team at this tournament specifically guys who play smart tough basketball. In my mind Canada Basketball really needs to reach out to the following to expand the Winter core of players:

Emmanuel Miller
Tyrese Samuel
Koby McEwen
Keon Ambrose-Hylton
Oshae Brissett
Caleb Houstan
Simi Shittu
Sean Miller-Moore
Nick Ongenda
Lindell Wigginton
Noah Kirkwood
Aher Uguak
Adong Makuoi
Fardaws Aimaq

Heck why not even bring in some young guns onto the team for experience ie: Isaiah Hamilton, Isaiah Clarke, Nathan Yambayamba, Deng Ngor

[Kobe Anunoby]

I would have liked to see a few more guys debut for the senior team at this tournament specifically guys who play smart tough basketball. In my mind Canada Basketball really needs to reach out to the following to expand the Winter core of players:

Emmanuel Miller
Tyrese Samuel
Koby McEwen
Keon Ambrose-Hylton
Oshae Brissett
Caleb Houstan
Simi Shittu
Sean Miller-Moore
Nick Ongenda
Lindell Wigginton
Noah Kirkwood
Aher Uguak
Adong Makuoi
Fardaws Aimaq

Heck why not even bring in some young guns onto the team for experience ie: Isaiah Hamilton, Isaiah Clarke, Nathan Yambayamba, Deng Ngor

Would love to see winter commitments from guys like wigginton, brissett & Houston. Lindell & Oshae are fun guys to watch, and I think Houston would fit that international game well with some experience.