Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0

[young11a]

What a shock that USA once again just somehow managed to get the best group and schedule.........amazing how that happens in every single tournament, despite these things supposedly being equal and purely random.............so ridiculous.

Anyway, I've come to realize that Kevin Pangos is enormously overrated here. He's a good player, and could play in NBA, but seriously, he's nowhere near as good as people here seem to think he is.

They dont the China and Russia groups are absolutely terrible.

Do you think any country would rather be in USA group or those trash ones.

Tbh I dont the USA would care if they were in a group with Spain-France and lithiuania

[TrueNorth31]

There's also some smoke about Canada hiring an experienced high profile European coach with FIBA experience. Grange put out 2 names - Igor Kokoskov ( Serbia ) the head coach of Phoenix and Ettore Messina the long time Spurs assistant.

Kokosov took Slovenia with only 2 NBA players ( 19 year old Doncic and Goran Dragic ) and a motley supportive crew of Euro grinders to the Euro 2017 trophy. Imagine what he'd do with 8-9 NBA guys ? Still I can't see Phoenix letting him go so close to training camp.

Messina has quite a successful resume as well and is close I presume to Maurizio Gherardini ( former Raptors assistant G.M. and now GM of Euro Leagues Fenerbahce) who is on Canada Basketball's Council of Excellence.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ettore_Messina

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Igor_Koko%C5%A1kov

Both have experience dealing with NBA players and are proficient with the FIBA game which are 2 of the criteria named by Barrett ( One criteria he didn't mention is that they'd better come cheap as Canada Basketball can hardly afford a pot to piss in ). At first I was somewhat concerned about changing out the jockey mid-race, but these type of guys certainly bring a lot to the table. One concern I'm sure is would they be potentially available in June 2020 ?

[BilboBanginz]

Watch on YouTube

[TrueNorth31]

Watch on YouTube

Thanks Bilbo that was real good.

Sportsnet has another long read up - this time on SGA.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/shai-gilgeous-alexander-clippers-big-read/

[TrueNorth31]

Good story on Kabengele in the Athletic. It seems like he's surrounded himself with good people coming up.

https://theathletic.com/877631/2019/03/20/from-the-beginning-fsus-mfiondu-kabengele-proved-he-would-put-in-the-work-to-be-good/

[SharoneWright]

Good story on Kabengele in the Athletic. It seems like he's surrounded himself with good people coming up.

https://theathletic.com/877631/2019/03/20/from-the-beginning-fsus-mfiondu-kabengele-proved-he-would-put-in-the-work-to-be-good/

Nice game from him today...

[mojo13]

Bryce Drew fired from Vandy. So time to keep a close eye on Simi.
He said last week to The Tennessean that he was 50/50 about declaring for the draft.
This has to force his hand right? Or can he transfer without penalty?

He is clearly not ready for the NBA but you’d think he still has enough intriguing potential that he’d be drafted in the 2nd.

The G league and two way contracts seem tailor made for a situation like this. If he has to sit out a year to transfer why the heck would you? May as well take that year with unlimited practice with NBA coaches and playing in the G.

[aminiaturebuddha]

Bryce Drew fired from Vandy. So time to keep a close eye on Simi.
He said last week to The Tennessean that he was 50/50 about declaring for the draft.
This has to force his hand right? Or can he transfer without penalty?

He is clearly not ready for the NBA but you’d think he still has enough intriguing potential that he’d be drafted in the 2nd.

The G league and two way contracts seem tailor made for a situation like this. If he has to sit out a year to transfer why the heck would you? May as well take that year with unlimited practice with NBA coaches and playing in the G.

I imagine another contributing factor will be if Darius Garland declares for the draft, after not playing all year due to injury. It seems increasingly likely that he'll do that, which would mean that Simi would once again be coming back to a Vandy team without much in the way of additional talent (or losing a year to transfer).

I think you're right and Simi will go into the draft. He's not even close to being ready for the NBA yet, but his talent is undeniable, and as you say, hopefully he could develop in the right way if he ends up in the right situation with the right trainers and coaches in the G-League.

He's got a lot to work on, but I still have hope that he can develop into a solid pro player.

[mojo13]

Bryce Drew fired from Vandy. So time to keep a close eye on Simi.
He said last week to The Tennessean that he was 50/50 about declaring for the draft.
This has to force his hand right? Or can he transfer without penalty?

He is clearly not ready for the NBA but you’d think he still has enough intriguing potential that he’d be drafted in the 2nd.

The G league and two way contracts seem tailor made for a situation like this. If he has to sit out a year to transfer why the heck would you? May as well take that year with unlimited practice with NBA coaches and playing in the G.

I imagine another contributing factor will be if Darius Garland declares for the draft, after not playing all year due to injury. It seems increasingly likely that he'll do that, which would mean that Simi would once again be coming back to a Vandy team without much in the way of additional talent (or losing a year to transfer).

I think you're right and Simi will go into the draft. He's not even close to being ready for the NBA yet, but his talent is undeniable, and as you say, hopefully he could develop in the right way if he ends up in the right situation with the right trainers and coaches in the G-League.

He's got a lot to work on, but I still have hope that he can develop into a solid pro player.

Garland announced he is declaring for the draft back in January.


So we are very likely going to have Clarke, RJ, NAW, Dort (all likley 1st rounders) and now probably Simi in the draft. So what are your thoughts on Iggy - who seems the next highest rated prospect?
I'm still not sure on him - people seem to be all over the place with him. No idea if he declares and really uncertain if he is a 1st rounder if he does. Certainly a 2nd rounder this year though.

[aminiaturebuddha]

Garland announced he is declaring for the draft back in January.


So we are very likely going to have Clarke, RJ, NAW, Dort (all likley 1st rounders) and now probably Simi in the draft. So what are your thoughts on Iggy - who seems the next highest rated prospect?
I'm still not sure on him - people seem to be all over the place with him. No idea if he declares and really uncertain if he is a 1st rounder if he does. Certainly a 2nd rounder this year though.

Thanks mojo, I hadn't seen that Garland actually declared. I've just seen a bunch of people mentioning him in late-lottery talk and figured they were just assuming his intentions.

I really hope Iggy returns for another year. I like him, and he's proven himself to be more ready (particularly on the defensive end) than I thought he would be at this stage, but I still think he has a lot of work to do. I just think about his game, and the kinds of players he'd be playing with and against in the NBA, and I think if he comes out now he risks becoming pigeon-holed as strictly a catch-and-shoot jump shooter.

I'm not sure he'll get the chance to really develop his game fully unless he has some more time being a primary option, like he would be at Michigan again next year. His passing, for instance, particularly off the dribble, needs a lot of work in my opinion, to be NBA quality. And I'm not sure he'll get the reps doing that if he's in the NBA and just swinging the ball the moment he gets it, or launching open long distance shots.

[TrueNorth31]

Grange has another story up about the National team coaching situation.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/inside-canada-basketballs-mysterious-head-coaching-search/

It sure seems the catalyst for change came when Rana took over the coaching of the team in September on short notice. I imagine Triano was to coach that window, but had to cancel at the last moment because of his Charlotte lead assistant duties. I could see how this would make Canada Basketball not very happy. Rana took the reins and ran with it and by all accounts did a solid job.

I've heard Triano is fighting ferociously to keep his position. There's also some rumors that some mysterious financial backers ( well actually some are quite prominent ) have approached Canada Basketball about paying for a coach , albeit with many strings attached.

Whatever happens it's going to be somewhat divisive - let's hope the players are on board if a change is made.

[aminiaturebuddha]

Some interesting performances on opposite ends of the spectrum yesterday in the NCAA tournament.

Lu Dort had a horrible game, and really didn't impact the game at all in Arizona State's loss. Most of his points came once the game was already long out of reach, and while he had a couple of decent defensive plays, he wasn't doing much of anything else. If he declares for the draft, this was an awful way to end his short college career. I really think he could use another year being "the man" next year at Arizona St. to build his all around game and work on his consistency.

On the other hand, Marial Shayok had a fantastic final game to his college career (albeit in a losing cause). He was by far the best player for Iowa State all game long, and the only one who kept them in it throughout. He showed his ability in a number of areas - shooting, driving to the hoop, playing disruptive defence. After his MVP performance in the Big-12 tournament, and showing up on the big stage of the NCAA tournament, I'd be very surprised if some team doesn't make him a 2nd round pick in the draft this year. He seems like he'd be a perfect bench wing in the NBA.

[mojo13]

Add Kevin Pangos as another who has gone on record saying he hopes he makes the team this summer.

Read on Twitter

[UcanUwill]

Pangos having a very down year, but his first year in Kaunas wasnt all that amazing either, and then he formed into Zalgiris star. If you get that version of Pangos, he must be on a team.

[TrueNorth31]

Another Lithuanian back in the NBA.

Read on Twitter

You have to wonder if there's any interest in Andrew Nicholson?

Very similar stats to the Lithuanian, but Drew is more of a stretch 4.

https://basketball.realgm.com/international/league/40/Chinese-CBA/stats

It does look though that Nicholson's team is still in the playoffs.

[SharoneWright]

Brandon Clarke shining under the spotlight.. 30 pts on 13-16 already...

(Triano sucks)

[aminiaturebuddha]

Brandon Clarke shining under the spotlight.. 30 pts on 13-16 already...

(Triano sucks)

Yep, Clarke with probably the performance of the tournament so far, even better than Morant and Williamson. He finished with 36 pts, 8 rbds, 3 assts, 2 stls, 5 blks on 15-18 shooting. It broke Adam Morrison's Gonzaga tournament scoring record, and apparently it was only the 3rd time a player has had 35 points and 5 blocks in a tournament game, joining Shaq and David Robinson. Just a dominant performance. Ridiculous.

Pretty good day all around for Canada's future frontcourt, as Kabengele had 22 pts, 7 rbds, and 3 blks in Florida State's easy win over Ja Morant and Murray State. He really showed his whole game in this one - hitting threes, blocking shots and throwing down powerful dunks.

Exciting stuff for Canadian prospects!

[SharoneWright]

^
awesome night!

-as you say, in the front court. Nembhart and Iggy had some trouble.... but 2 real standout performances.

[mojo13]

So who else is now on my “Brandon Clarke is a Top 10 Pick Train”?

[aminiaturebuddha]

So who else is now on my “Brandon Clarke is a Top 10 Pick Train”?

I would think just about every NBA scout at this point. I would be absolutely shocked if he isn't at least a lottery pick by now.

By the way, crazy stat they mentioned in the game today - Clarke has more blocked shots than missed FGA this year. That's just insane.