Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0

[WellYouKnow]

Training camp roster was released

http://www.basketball.ca/en/news-article/slug-4kv15a


Pangos is there

Justin Jackson is there too. Bit of a surprise

No Scrubb brothers

Tristan, Olynyk, Cory, Birch and Brooks are all there too

Not a bad roster at all if there's no withdraws

[WellYouKnow]

Really quick guess at the final roster, or what I would wanna see anyways

Bigs - TT, Olynyk, Birch, Ejim, Pierre

Guards/Wings - Cory, Pangos, Brooks, Jackson, Heslip, Best, and Bell-Haynes

[slothrop8]

USA fielding another sub par team despite 200 plus NBA players to call on.

https://sportando.basketball/m/en/national-teams/world-cup/287476/seven-nba-players-named-to-usa-mens-world-cup-qualifying-team-training-camp.html

Lithuania also announced their 12 man roster today and no NBA players.


More props to Rowan Barrett and our NBA talent that is expected to show.

That's a much stronger USA roster than what they have sent in earlier windows however - there are several guys who will open the season on NBA rosters rather than just get cups of coffee through the year. That roster likely would not have lost to Mexico for example like the previous group did - guys like Dwayne Bacon, Henry Ellenson, and Frank Mason are a higher calibre of player than what they've had for the earlier windows. They draw Uruguay and Panama this window and should blow both out quite badly which is somewhat good for us.

[mojo13]

Really quick guess at the final roster, or what I would wanna see anyways

Bigs - TT, Olynyk, Birch, Ejim, Pierre

Guards/Wings - Cory, Pangos, Brooks, Jackson, Heslip, Best, and Bell-Haynes

I'd take Kaza Keane in there as a true PG back-up over one of Jackson, Best or Bell-Hayes. I'd also consider Diressa over any of those three as well.


Justin Jackson would worry me, but I am not sure our SF options after Brooks. No idea if Jackson is fully healthy or even good enough to help at SF. He was drafted by the Magic purely on potential not what he has accomplished on the court. The Magic havn't been impressed enough to bother to sign him - a fairly rare occurrence even for a 2nd rounder. And he is destined to play in the G this year. It is very likely that Bell-Hayes, Diressa, Best or others are better players than Jackson right now. I hope they use the deep bench (9-12) on guys they are fairly sure will be playing in November.


Really like what we have up front - but we are a little thin at back up guard/wing, making Pangos's participation that much more important. I'd assume he and CoJo we see the floor together allot - hopefully starting together.

Oh help us if Pangos and Heslip are ever on the floor together (better have Birch behind them).

I'd expect something like:

TT
Olynyk
Brooks
Pangos
Cojo

Birch
Ejim
Pierre
Heslip
Keane

Best (for his D)
???

[aminiaturebuddha]

Really happy that Pangos is on the list. I think he'll be a very important player this time around, and it will also give him some experience playing with the NT at the senior level (I believe he's only played as a junior up until now), where I expect he'll be a serious contender for a roster spot, even on the A team that we send to the World Cup / Olympics.

Too bad Powell isn't there, but a front court of Olynyk, Birch, TT and Ejim should be enough to get the job done.

Overall this is a very strong team, about as good as could be expected, and should give us a good chance to win these September games, which will put the team in a very strong position to qualify for the World Cup. Can't wait for the games!

[Hair Canada]

I actually wouldn't be shocked if Joel Anthony gets a tribute last inclusion in front of his home audience. A frontline of TT, Olynik, Birch, and Ejim is strong enough to have this luxury, as the fifth big is unlikely to see significant minutes anyway.

In the backcourt, I would just say that Bell-Haynes is indeed a true PG, so the choice between him and Keane should be based on what they show in the training camp and maybe on the likelihood that they will be available in the next two windows.

In general, I expect almost all the minutes in the game against Brazil (Chile is supposed to be very weak, so that might not be an issue) to go to our top-7 or 8 guys (CoJo, Pangos, Brooks, Heslip, TT, Olynyk, Ejim, and Birch). No point in using a wide rotation for just one 40-minutes FIBA game. So the identity of the other 4 is much less consequential, although maybe another guard sees some minutes in some constellation.

And just as a side note, once again we're going to be the team with the most NBA guys on the roster outside of the US. So maybe our commitment issues are not as bad as advertised? I just love how committed Kelly, CoJo (!) and TT have been throughout the years.

[BilboBanginz]

Read on Twitter

[GoRaptors]

I actually wouldn't be shocked if Joel Anthony gets a tribute last inclusion in front of his home audience. A frontline of TT, Olynik, Birch, and Ejim is strong enough to have this luxury, as the fifth big is unlikely to see significant minutes anyway.

In the backcourt, I would just say that Bell-Haynes is indeed a true PG, so the choice between him and Keane should be based on what they show in the training camp and maybe on the likelihood that they will be available in the next two windows.

In general, I expect almost all the minutes in the game against Brazil (Chile is supposed to be very weak, so that might not be an issue) to go to our top-7 or 8 guys (CoJo, Pangos, Brooks, Heslip, TT, Olynyk, Ejim, and Birch). No point in using a wide rotation for just one 40-minutes FIBA game. So the identity of the other 4 is much less consequential, although maybe another guard sees some minutes in some constellation.

And just as a side note, once again we're going to be the team with the most NBA guys on the roster outside of the US. So maybe our commitment issues are not as bad as advertised? I just love how committed Kelly, CoJo (!) and TT have been throughout the years.

That is a good point about including Joel Anthony. It just would be less risky if the home game were against Chile instead of Brazil. The team would then be able substitute someone for Anthony in the away game against Brazil.

While I agree that using the 7 or 8 guys might be the best strategy against Brazil, the rest of the roster might still be given playing time out of respect for sacrificing their time to attend the training camp.

[TheFutureMM]

Saw the training camp roster - looks pretty good. As others have said, our big rotation should be fine and I'd actually argue that we got 2 of our best PGs in camp so we made out pretty well on that front. Our 11th and 12th guys rarely play in these 2 game series anyway.

I will miss Dwight though. All of his dunks courtesy of DowntoBuck:

Watch on YouTube

[Patman]

I'm excited for Pangos to finally suit up for the SMNT. He got great experience in Europe that should translate well.

[Gday_eh]

Great to see UBC and Le Mans legend, J.D. Jackson on the coaching staff, don't recall seeing his name in that role before.

Also Patrick Tatham is a name I hadn't seen in a while.

[frumble]

Good roster.

I think 10 of the spots are spoken for:

KO
TT
Birch
Ejim
Anthony (I agree that they will take him for tribute reasons)

Brooks
Jackson (I agree that at this point he is not better than some of the guys who will be cut, but I think Canada will take him anyway)

Joseph
Pangos (really happy to see him on the list)
Heslip

That leaves two guard/wing spots for:
Keane
Bell-Haynes
Pierre
Notice
Diressa
Best
Friesen

I hope Bell-Haynes gets one of those spots, but I would not be surprised at all if it is Keane and Diressa.


We are very solid up front. I hope they limit Anthony to garbage time, and only one of TT or Birch is ever in the game at same time.

Against Brazil, Brooks might see the most minutes of anyone.

Joseph and Pangos should start. Will be interesting to see how the others are used.


Any surprising absences, other than Powell?
Not really a surprise, but Lyles again missing is a bit of a concern. Has not played for Canada in five years.
I thought Hanlan might have a legit shot at decent minutes if he played.

[mojo13]

I think Bennett, Nicholson, the Scrubbs, and Hanlan are all a little surprise. Chris Boucher too I suppose.

Hanlan b/c he was at camp in July (but was injured). Maybe he is still hurt, maybe since he is without a contract he doesn't want to risk it.
Same story with Bennett and Boucher. Injuries? Don't want to risk anything at this late point? Maybe they are running the risk of getting cut and didnt want to deal with that.

The Scrubbs just b/c they have been so committed - but I totally get the issues at hand joining a new team and pulling away from a training camp that has already started and flying across the world. I still expect mid season participation from either or both.

[slothrop8]

We've got I think 3 CIS players on the camp list - including Diressa and Best who actually played for Rana at Ryerson. This is the Canada SMNT we're talking about here - I would say it's a near lock that at least 1 and maybe more of the CIS guys make the final roster.

[TrueNorth31]

Mike Grange on the fan talking about the National Team.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/590/prime-time-sports/wiggins-murray-sitting-canada-grateful-roster-mainstays/

Of all the guys on this beat Grange is the most informed ( Doug Smith is solid to as he grew up in Niagara Falls near Triano ) .

An interesting bit about Pangos, he had written into his contract with Barcelona that he would be available for this event.

As usual the bizarre focus of who isn't there dominates the discussion. For me it's like Canada in the annual World Hockey Championship in April, where less than 50% of the NHL players invited show up. Bobcat and Shannon can't seem to grasp this.

[Hair Canada]

We've had our fair share of critique here of Nash and his commitment to the national team as the GM. I think he earned it fair and square.

But as he's getting ready to enter the Basketball Hall of Fame tomorrow, I'm going back to him as a player, and I have to say that he's the player (Canadian or not) whom I loved the most watching. I'm not a Phoenix fan, but for a few good years in the 2000s, I would make every effort to watch any of their games. Cannot remember a more fun team to watch, almost entirely because of Steve.

How I wish he was 15-20 years younger and could play with the current generation of Canadians on the national team. Just imagine him playing alongside Olynyk or Powell, or setting up Murray/Heslip for another open 3.

[Mirotic12]

I’ll try to do more digging but my understanding is the Korean league pays pretty good and this likely was a better money choice for McIntosh. But the competition is likely worse. He likely could have gotten a job in a solid domestic league in Europe. Keep in mind Juston Edwards was bought by a Korean team from a Italian first division team his rookie season, mid season when he was playing really well for the Italian club.

Japan pays pretty good too and we have seen guys like Trasolini who really excelled in the Italian and French first division choose to play there instead.

And of course the Chinese CBA, I believe is the highest paying league outside of the NBA eclipsing the EL in many ways. At the very least they are paying really big money for guys who may not be getting big offers from the EL which has very specific players in mind. I don’t know if the Chinese teams budgets are bigger than the top EL clubs or if they are just paying big dollars to 1 or 2 stars when the EL is spreading it deeper. But I believe the CBA is regularly outbidding the EL for top NBA players. There are certainly bigger household names in the CBA now than the EL.

The top leagues in Japan and South Korea will pay some Americans between $500,000 to $1 million net a season. It's the same in the PBA (Philippines).

For comparison, the top salaries in,

Argentina and Brazil - around $500,000 net.

Australia's league - around $150,000 net.

CBA isn't paying anywhere near what EuroLeague pays. That's mostly nonsense from a few European journalists and some fans at Interbasket.

The biggest budgets in CBA are around $20 million, while the biggest budgets in EuroLeague are around $40-$45 million. The CBA is generally offering around $1.5 million to $2 million a season net to 1-2 Americans in the big teams (more like $1 million net a season in the smaller teams). In those cases, it's to players that can't make that amount in Europe, because they are not good enough to get that much. This group of players is usually made up of a few EuroLeague guys that are solid to good players at EuroLeague level, but nothing close to stars in EuroLeague (Aaron Jackson, Errick McCollum, Jeremy Pargo, Keith Langford types), and then some guys that would probably just be good EuroCup players (and maybe not even that good), which is the majority of those American players you see in the CBA stats leaders.......mixed in with totally washed up old NBA players (that can't really play anymore at any decent pro level), with finally, the very few players that could probably be an NBA rotation player, that could probably play in a bigger EuroLeague club...but simply wants more of a role, playing time, shots, money, etc. (Yi Jianlian, Jimmer, Marbury types).

As far as I know, Yi is the highest paid player in the CBA, at a round $5 million a season net, with no one else getting more than $2 to $2.5. For comparison, the highest paid players in EuroLeague are currently getting around $3 million net to $4 million net a season, with there always being a bunch of guys getting that, and now and then someone getting $5 million net. The amount of players in EuroLeague getting $2 million to $2.5 million net a season is probably at least double the amount getting that in the CBA.

So the CBA is only better paying for a very specific type of player (Americans that are decent players in Europe, and only for a limited amount of them). For example, CBA teams might have 1-2 players making over $1 million net a season, some of the bigger ones might have 3.....while the average EuroLeague salary is currently said to be around $550,000 net a season.

[mojo13]

First camp pics after four days in.

Read on Twitter

Looks like the Greys are the core group.
I see TT, KO, Birch, Ejim, Heslip, CoJo, Keane and Best which makes sense. Who is the guy bent over holding his knees in Pic 1? Jackson? Looks like it.

Missing from pics are Brooks and Pangos. I hope they are there and would clearly be Greys if pictured.



Edit: a couple more videos have come out and I’m not seeing brooks or Pangos anywhere. Fingers crossed.

[aminiaturebuddha]

First camp pics after four days in.

Read on Twitter

Who is the guy bent over holding his knees in Pic 1? Jackson? Looks like it.

Missing from pics are Brooks and Pangos. I hope they are there and would clearly be Greys if pictured.



Edit: a couple more videos have come out and I’m not seeing brooks or Pangos anywhere. Fingers crossed.

Yep, looks like Jackson to me too.

It wouldn't make much sense, though, that they would have announced Pangos and Brooks as being at camp so close to the starting date if they weren't certain to be participating. Maybe they had other commitments and had an understanding they could miss the first couple of days? I agree that it seems strange they aren't in any of the pics or videos.

[Hair Canada]

I agree with Buddha. Especially for Pangos, who also went through the trouble of putting a clause in his contract with Barcellona saying that he would be permitted to play with Canada in this window. Why go through all this trouble just to eventually not show up?