Team Canada Basketball Thread V4.0

[SharoneWright]

My biggest (unlikely) hope before next year's Olympics,, is not a big ask.

I just really hope Coach Fernandez is communicating with Matt Painter about developing Edey's defensive game. I just did the roster again, and there's no way around it. With the size that other serious competitors are bringing, Zach is going to need to play 15 minutes a game. It's so ironic, because Edey excels at offence. But all we need from him is some sort of 7'4" defensive presence.

Everything else is in place.

(oh, and yeah, Sharpe is killing it)

[Chalky_White]

My biggest (unlikely) hope before next year's Olympics,, is not a big ask.

I just really hope Coach Fernandez is communicating with Matt Painter about developing Edey's defensive game. I just did the roster again, and there's no way around it. With the size that other serious competitors are bringing, Zach is going to need to play 15 minutes a game. It's so ironic, because Edey excels at offence. But all we need from him is some sort of 7'4" defensive presence.

Everything else is in place.

(oh, and yeah, Sharpe is killing it)

I think Edey willl be unavailable for the Olympics as he'll likely be drafted and his focus will be on Summer League and nailing down a roster spot. If he is available though and is taken to Paris, he'll likely be an emergency option like he was this summer. They can get away with Dwight Powell for his 25-30 mins and Olynyk backing him up for 10-15 mins. We saw them deal with Gobert adequately at the World Cup and can do the same against most teams. Obviously Embiid and Jokic would be challenging but I don't think Edey would necessarily be effective against them(who is?).
Will be interesting as to who they select for their 3rd big behind Powell and Olynyk. Go with a stretch 4 in Lyles who can also play some 5? Or bring back a guy like Kyle Alexander who is solid defensively but limited offensively.

[aminiaturebuddha]

So it looks like the next SMNT game will be an Americup qualifier against Nicaragua on Feb 23rd in St. Catherine's.

I wonder what kind of a roster they'll put together for that. The Americup seems to have lost a bit of its importance as it no longer functions as a qualifer for the World's. Nicaragua also shouldn't be a very tough opponent as they're currently ranked 16th in the Americas zone and 73rd overall.

Maybe this could be a chance to get some of the younger guys some experience. I'm curious if G-League guys will be made available for this. It seems like it would be a perfect chance to get some of them in the fold (or give them another game) with the Senior team - particularly guys like Leonard Miller, Charles Bediako, O-Max, AJ Lawson, etc.

I'd love for those 4 guys, in particular, to get a shot if they're released from their G-League/NBA teams. None of them are really getting minutes to speak of in the NBA, but Miller and Lawson have both had great starts to the G-League season.

[mojo13]

So it looks like the next SMNT game will be an Americup qualifier against Nicaragua on Feb 23rd in St. Catherine's.

I wonder what kind of a roster they'll put together for that. The Americup seems to have lost a bit of its importance as it no longer functions as a qualifer for the World's. Nicaragua also shouldn't be a very tough opponent as they're currently ranked 16th in the Americas zone and 73rd overall.

Maybe this could be a chance to get some of the younger guys some experience. I'm curious if G-League guys will be made available for this. It seems like it would be a perfect chance to get some of them in the fold (or give them another game) with the Senior team - particularly guys like Leonard Miller, Charles Bediako, O-Max, AJ Lawson, etc.

I'd love for those 4 guys, in particular, to get a shot if they're released from their G-League/NBA teams. None of them are really getting minutes to speak of in the NBA, but Miller and Lawson have both had great starts to the G-League season.

No contracted NBA player has ever played in these mid-season. Including all two-way contracted guys. I'm almost 100% certain you won't see any of those 4.

Maybe a Jackson Rowe or other G-League contract guys, but no one on an NBA roster.

I think the new names we should be looking for are going to be Euro-based guys. Guys like Mfiondu Kabengele, Simi Shittu, Isiaha Mike, Marcus Carr would be the more interesting "younger" guys who we havn't seen with the SMNT before.

Other than that, it will likely be some of the regulars. The Scrubbs, KKK, TBH, Chery, Young, Morgan, Best etc. and maybe some less recognizable names that have played before - Gray, Blair, Kennedy

[aminiaturebuddha]

So it looks like the next SMNT game will be an Americup qualifier against Nicaragua on Feb 23rd in St. Catherine's.

I wonder what kind of a roster they'll put together for that. The Americup seems to have lost a bit of its importance as it no longer functions as a qualifer for the World's. Nicaragua also shouldn't be a very tough opponent as they're currently ranked 16th in the Americas zone and 73rd overall.

Maybe this could be a chance to get some of the younger guys some experience. I'm curious if G-League guys will be made available for this. It seems like it would be a perfect chance to get some of them in the fold (or give them another game) with the Senior team - particularly guys like Leonard Miller, Charles Bediako, O-Max, AJ Lawson, etc.

I'd love for those 4 guys, in particular, to get a shot if they're released from their G-League/NBA teams. None of them are really getting minutes to speak of in the NBA, but Miller and Lawson have both had great starts to the G-League season.

No contracted NBA player has ever played in these mid-season. Including all two-way contracted guys. I'm almost 100% certain you won't see any of those 4.

Maybe a Jackson Rowe or other G-League contract guys, but no one on an NBA roster.

Yeah, I don't see why though. The insurance for two-way guys can't be that expensive - probably cheaper than some of the European guys in many cases (although who knows how they would judge future earnings for a two-way guy.

And it's not like the G-League teams aren't used to players shuffling in and out of the lineup, so a roster disruption argument wouldn't hold much water either.

I wonder if it's something that the Team Canada brass has had any discussions with the NBA about, because going forward, a big percentage of our fringe NBA players will likely be in the G-League. And travel would also be much easier for many of them than for players from middle tier European leagues because these qualifying games take place in the Americas. It just seems like a bit of a no-brainer to me.

[mojo13]

So it looks like the next SMNT game will be an Americup qualifier against Nicaragua on Feb 23rd in St. Catherine's.

I wonder what kind of a roster they'll put together for that. The Americup seems to have lost a bit of its importance as it no longer functions as a qualifer for the World's. Nicaragua also shouldn't be a very tough opponent as they're currently ranked 16th in the Americas zone and 73rd overall.

Maybe this could be a chance to get some of the younger guys some experience. I'm curious if G-League guys will be made available for this. It seems like it would be a perfect chance to get some of them in the fold (or give them another game) with the Senior team - particularly guys like Leonard Miller, Charles Bediako, O-Max, AJ Lawson, etc.

I'd love for those 4 guys, in particular, to get a shot if they're released from their G-League/NBA teams. None of them are really getting minutes to speak of in the NBA, but Miller and Lawson have both had great starts to the G-League season.

No contracted NBA player has ever played in these mid-season. Including all two-way contracted guys. I'm almost 100% certain you won't see any of those 4.

Maybe a Jackson Rowe or other G-League contract guys, but no one on an NBA roster.

Yeah, I don't see why though. The insurance for two-way guys can't be that expensive - probably cheaper than some of the European guys in many cases (although who knows how they would judge future earnings for a two-way guy.

And it's not like the G-League teams aren't used to players shuffling in and out of the lineup, so a roster disruption argument wouldn't hold much water either.

I wonder if it's something that the Team Canada brass has had any discussions with the NBA about, because going forward, a big percentage of our fringe NBA players will likely be in the G-League. And travel would also be much easier for many of them than for players from middle tier European leagues because these qualifying games take place in the Americas. It just seems like a bit of a no-brainer to me.

Might be CBA related. Some G-Leaguers have come and played for Canada midseason. Team USA uses a full squad of G-Leaguers for these.

But never any two-ways or regular contract players. My guess is that there is something in the the contracts that prohibits it.

[aminiaturebuddha]

No contracted NBA player has ever played in these mid-season. Including all two-way contracted guys. I'm almost 100% certain you won't see any of those 4.

Maybe a Jackson Rowe or other G-League contract guys, but no one on an NBA roster.

Yeah, I don't see why though. The insurance for two-way guys can't be that expensive - probably cheaper than some of the European guys in many cases (although who knows how they would judge future earnings for a two-way guy.

And it's not like the G-League teams aren't used to players shuffling in and out of the lineup, so a roster disruption argument wouldn't hold much water either.

I wonder if it's something that the Team Canada brass has had any discussions with the NBA about, because going forward, a big percentage of our fringe NBA players will likely be in the G-League. And travel would also be much easier for many of them than for players from middle tier European leagues because these qualifying games take place in the Americas. It just seems like a bit of a no-brainer to me.

Might be CBA related. Some G-Leaguers have come and played for Canada midseason. Team USA uses a full squad of G-Leaguers for these.

But never any two-ways or regular contract players. My guess is that there is something in the the contracts that prohibits it.

You're probably right, I just think it's a shame. Seems to me these would be perfect opportunities to get some of the younger guys some experience with the National Team. They're very unlikely to get that experience in the summer core games, at least for now. So 4 years from now if we wanted someone like Miller, Prosper or Bediako for the World Cup, it could be the first time they've ever played with the National Team, or the first time since juniors many years earlier.

[aminiaturebuddha]

Interesting game tonight at the Maui Invitational between the two guys who are probably the top 2 Canadians in the NCAA this year, Zach Edey and Ryan Nembhard.

Watching the game I couldn't help but think that it's a bit ironic that the same thing might keep them from becoming NBA players - size. But obviously for opposite reasons. Edey is so big that it likely affects his defensive mobility, whereas Nembhard is might be too small (his brother has a good 4 or 5 inches on him) and smaller guards that aren't elite shooters have a hard time in the NBA these days.

As for the game, they had opposite experiences there too. Nembhard started out great, really controlling the game and running the Gonzaga offence in the first half to get them out to a lead. Then he had a terrible second half. Purdue put some bigger defenders on him and he struggled with it at times, and he couldn't hit a shot to save his life. Had a bunch of step-back 3 attempts where the mechanics looked alright but the shots weren't close.

As for Edey, he started out rough, missing a lot of shots that he'd normally make, and seemed to be rushing things a bit. Then he just got better and better as the game went along, and from about the middle of the 1st half until the end just totally dominated. He was doing a bit better with defensive awareness and movement than I remember from last year (although he still can't really challenge a shot beyond the break and then recover quickly enough). I really wish his passing was a bit more advanced. He's become quite good at making his primary read and finding an open man, but he still doesn't really make those secondary reads for when defences shift after leaving the initial man open as they bring doubles.

[aminiaturebuddha]

It's early in the season, but aside from Edey, the most impressive Canadian NCAA player so far has to be Xaivian Lee, soph at Princeton.

In a game today he had 30 pts, 6 rbds, 4 asts which brings his season averages up to 18.8 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 3.3 apg all on 50% shooting overall and 45% on 3s.

Great stuff so far. Hopefully he keeps up this kind of play all year.

[WaltFrazier]

I'm sure people already know that Edey and Purdue are playing in a NCAA doubleheader in Toronto in a couple of weeks.
https://www.hoophall.com/events/hall-of-fame-series-toronto

[BilboBanginz]

Shaedon Sharpe 29/10/5 in a win vs. Cleveland.

Watch on YouTube

;t=35s

[WaltFrazier]

Shaedon Sharpe 29/10/5 in a win vs. Cleveland.

Watch on YouTube

;t=35s

He's gotta be on the Olympic team, I hope we go all NBA.

Every Kings game I see, Jordi is clearly the main assistant, talking to Mike Brown before huddles. Can't help but wonder if he'd have been our better choice with Raptors. He'll be a head coach soon

[Fairview4Life]

Shaedon Sharpe 29/10/5 in a win vs. Cleveland.

Watch on YouTube

;t=35s

He's gotta be on the Olympic team, I hope we go all NBA.

He's been fairly bad so far this season. Shooting way down, turnovers way up. Defense still non existent.

[mojo13]

Shaedon Sharpe 29/10/5 in a win vs. Cleveland.

Watch on YouTube

;t=35s

He's gotta be on the Olympic team, I hope we go all NBA.

He's been fairly bad so far this season. Shooting way down, turnovers way up. Defense still non existent.

But people love the highlight reels!
Only thing keeping Sharpe in the conversation for this summer is how bad Wiggins has been. I joke...(sort of) but Sharpe is struggling with efficiency and defense which is going to be very important to the summer team. I still think he isn't ready, but games like that show that it is only a matter of time.

Honestly, the way SGA, Brooks, NAW and Dort have been playing and the possibility of adding Murray (and maybe even Wiggins) there is just no role, minutes nor need for Sharpe. The main value is pulling him into the SMNT system and gaining some FIBA experience. NAW is just going to be way more important to the team next summer based on skillset and team identity than Sharpe could hope to be.

A big and a PG is what is needed to fill out this team.

We need to be looking at, and talking about, Trey Lyles, Andrew Nembhard, Cory Joseph, Khem Birch, Kyle Alexander or even Chris Boucher and Mfiondu Kabengele.


Growing rumors of Birch heading back to Europe. But solid nothing yet.
Kabengele has had a few monster games in Greece. Alexander has been playing really well in EuroCup action - shown some very strong defensive games.

Really wish Lyles or Boucher was in the mix.

[Hair Canada]

Several Canadian upperclassmen bigs have looked really good to start the season. Wrote about it here:

Read on Twitter

But a couple of non-bigs have also started the college season very well and some of them even have an outside chance to make the second round in the 2024 NBA draft if they continue in the same trajectory. I’ll mention five – one from each class. Obviously, with only about 10 games into the season, it’s still early to jump into conclusions, especially since conference games are just now starting and some of the games on the schedule were against weaker competition. But the college season is short and some tendencies are already starting to shape up.

Super Senior Emanuel Miller is the most obvious name here and probably the primary candidate from this group to join his younger brother on an NBA roster next year. If you haven’t yet seen his crazy game winner against Georgetown, check it out below. Miller finished the game with a new career high of 29 points. But even before this game, he’s been playing well. He’s scoring 16ppg with high efficiency from all ranges (55% from the field, 41% from 3, and 88% from the line). He has twice as many assists and steals per game as he had last year (which was until now his best season in both of these categories). And, as always, he’s been defending really well for the unbeaten Horned Frogs. If he can maintain this level of shooting, he might even have a chance to sneak into the late first round despite his age.

Watch on YouTube

Senior Jahmyl Telfort moved from a fairly weak mid-major team to Butler in the Big East, and so far it’s been looking good against decent competition. Telfort’s scoring production looks similar to that of last year, but the shooting has improved from all ranges and he’s also putting career highs in rebounds, assists, and steals, while really cutting down on his turnovers. He’s been Butler’s best player and given his size, strength (6’7, 230lbs), and decent athletic profile, he remains a potential NBA prospect.

Junior Ryan Nembhard is the one guy on this list who hasn’t made a significant jump this year. He’s putting career numbers in points, assists, and steals, but the uptake has been modest and he’s not been shooting the ball well (only 22% from 3 so far). Gonzaga is a good team, as always, and I think Ryan is going to improve as the season progresses, but right now he’s not in any draft conversations and will very likely remain in Spokane for at least one more year.

Sophomore Xaivian Lee has been arguably the best Canadian in college this year not named Zach Edey. Yes, he’s been playing in the Ivy League. But the 9:0 Princeton is actually a good team and Lee as a true sophomore (not yet 20) has been their best player, scoring 19.5ppg (up from 4.8 last year) on excellent shooting from all ranges (48.4%, 40.0%, and 86.8%). Lee has decent size (around 6’4) for a PG, though he’s certainly on the lighter side for a next-level guard. But he’s fearless, has sneaky athleticism and good speed, and perhaps most impressive, great hesi moves and change of pace. Now that the shooting has come along (still need to see that he can make them with consistency), he’s a pretty complete player, who’s also a good defender. The playmaking is also coming along nicely (3:1 assists to TO ratio, after 1:1 last year), though he can still make some additional steps there to become a more complete PG, which is clearly his next-level position. Regardless, within one year, Lee has turned from a complete unknown when he came out of Canadian high school to a name that scouts are starting to talk about in second round conversations (not yet there in any of the big mocks). We still need to see that he can keep up this level of play (especially the shooting), but his rate of improvement -- even from the very nice showing with Team Canada this summer to what he’s now showing in Princeton -- has been really impressive. He’s a hard worker and a sponge with excellent mentality so I'm optimistic.

Watch on YouTube

Freshman Vasean Allette took some time to adjust to college ball, as you might expect from a freashman who came back from a leg injury and didn’t play competitive basketball for almost a year. But after two 4-point showings in his first three games, he’s been very good in his last 5 games, shooting 14 points or more in each of these games, including career bests of 21 and 30 points in the last two. The 3-point shot has started to drop, he’s finding and exploiting defensive creases, and his confidence (never really an issue with him) has been growing by the game. He’s playing much better than anyone could have expected and I’m saying this as a fan of his game. Old Dominion is not very good and I’d be surprised if he’d be getting draft looks at this point, even if he continues to play well. But the future certainly looks bright, perhaps with a move to a power conference next year.

Read on Twitter

[Bray88]

So it looks like the next SMNT game will be an Americup qualifier against Nicaragua on Feb 23rd in St. Catherine's.

I wonder what kind of a roster they'll put together for that. The Americup seems to have lost a bit of its importance as it no longer functions as a qualifer for the World's. Nicaragua also shouldn't be a very tough opponent as they're currently ranked 16th in the Americas zone and 73rd overall.

Maybe this could be a chance to get some of the younger guys some experience. I'm curious if G-League guys will be made available for this. It seems like it would be a perfect chance to get some of them in the fold (or give them another game) with the Senior team - particularly guys like Leonard Miller, Charles Bediako, O-Max, AJ Lawson, etc.

I'd love for those 4 guys, in particular, to get a shot if they're released from their G-League/NBA teams. None of them are really getting minutes to speak of in the NBA, but Miller and Lawson have both had great starts to the G-League season.

No contracted NBA player has ever played in these mid-season. Including all two-way contracted guys. I'm almost 100% certain you won't see any of those 4.

Maybe a Jackson Rowe or other G-League contract guys, but no one on an NBA roster.

I think the new names we should be looking for are going to be Euro-based guys. Guys like Mfiondu Kabengele, Simi Shittu, Isiaha Mike, Marcus Carr would be the more interesting "younger" guys who we havn't seen with the SMNT before.

Other than that, it will likely be some of the regulars. The Scrubbs, KKK, TBH, Chery, Young, Morgan, Best etc. and maybe some less recognizable names that have played before - Gray, Blair, Kennedy

I'd love to see Lindell Wigginton involved with the Winter Core, he is consistently playing very well in Milwaukee's system, also Nate Darling should be given strong consideration for the Winter Core as well.

[Hair Canada]

Taking a Team Canada fan POV, I'm not loving the RJ trade in terms of what it means for him.

It's true that the fit in NY was not ideal next to Brunson and Randle. But I'm not sure the fit in Toronto is much better. The Raptors have been one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the league over the last two years, and they are actually now losing one of their better shooters. Siakam is not that different in play style from Randle. Barnes I like but also not someone who consistently spaces the floor for driving lanes, which is what RJ needs. To be fair, Barrett didn't show enough to be a player you build a team around to maximize his value rather than a complementary piece. Either way, Toronto doesn't seem like a great fit to maximize his strengths.

[mojo13]

We may want to start considering that RJ just isn’t very good? He is so inconsistent and inefficient it is maddening. I thought he turned the corner at the start of the season (looked great!) and then he did a 180 and is now looking horrible again.

Yes…still young and perhaps the change in scenery helps. But per the SMNT I’m certainly more of a backer of Dort and maybe even NAW before Barrett.

Unfortunately due to his lineage of I’m not sure the SMNT sees it that way (yet) and this has the potential to be an Achilles heel of the team this summer.

He shouldn’t be starting over Brooks (assuming SGA & Murray are there). Throw Dort, NAW into the mix (maybe Wiggins?) and Barrett should be more an 9th or 10th man? That may be a tough one for Jordi to manage.

[Hair Canada]

We may want to start considering that RJ just isn’t very good? He is so inconsistent and inefficient it is maddening. I thought he turned the corner at the start of the season (looked great!) and then he did a 180 and is now looking horrible again.

Yes…still young and perhaps the change in scenery helps. But per the SMNT I’m certainly more of a backer of Dort and maybe even NAW before Barrett.

Unfortunately due to his lineage of I’m not sure the SMNT sees it that way (yet) and this has the potential to be an Achilles heel of the team this summer.

He shouldn’t be starting over Brooks (assuming SGA & Murray are there). Throw Dort, NAW into the mix (maybe Wiggins?) and Barrett should be more an 9th or 10th man? That may be a tough one for Jordi to manage.

I'd say for me that's a bit of an overreaction. I agree that he can be frustrating ot watch. The shooting is unstable and the explosion without a run is lacking (also making him a mediocre defender despite decent effort). But there's an offensive talent here that only lags behind SGA and Murray (though by a large margin). Need only go look at what he's done this summer. Second best scorer on the team with decent shooting (37% from 3 and 53% from 2) and also second best rebounder. And he actually showed up very well in the last three games against Slovenia, Serbia, and the US, with 24 and 9, 23 and 3, and 23 and 7. For reference, Dort scored less than half the points on significantly worse shooting during the tournament.

If Murray's around, I can see a preference for Dort for defensive purposes in some lineups. But RJ is definitely still a starter for me and certainly not a 9th/10th man. Definitely not with how Wiggins has looked this year.

[mojo13]

We may want to start considering that RJ just isn’t very good? He is so inconsistent and inefficient it is maddening. I thought he turned the corner at the start of the season (looked great!) and then he did a 180 and is now looking horrible again.

Yes…still young and perhaps the change in scenery helps. But per the SMNT I’m certainly more of a backer of Dort and maybe even NAW before Barrett.

Unfortunately due to his lineage of I’m not sure the SMNT sees it that way (yet) and this has the potential to be an Achilles heel of the team this summer.

He shouldn’t be starting over Brooks (assuming SGA & Murray are there). Throw Dort, NAW into the mix (maybe Wiggins?) and Barrett should be more an 9th or 10th man? That may be a tough one for Jordi to manage.

I'd say for me that's a bit of an overreaction. I agree that he can be frustrating ot watch. The shooting is unstable and the explosion without a run is lacking (also making him a mediocre defender despite decent effort). But there's an offensive talent here that only lags behind SGA and Murray (though by a large margin). Need only go look at what he's done this summer. Second best scorer on the team with decent shooting (37% from 3 and 53% from 2) and also second best rebounder. And he actually showed up very well in the last three games against Slovenia, Serbia, and the US, with 24 and 9, 23 and 3, and 23 and 7. For reference, Dort scored less than half the points on significantly worse shooting during the tournament.

If Murray's around, I can see a preference for Dort for defensive purposes in some lineups. But RJ is definitely still a starter for me and certainly not a 9th/10th man. Definitely not with how Wiggins has looked this year.

My opinion on Rj’s SNMT summer is that his box scores are very misrepresenting of his actual play. Much of his points came late game when the game was out of hand or gimmies generated by teammates. I felt he made crucial boneheaded play after boneheaded play in more than a couple games. Forcing contested threes, driving into 2-3 bigs into the paint and coughing up a bad shot or just simple unforced turnovers. He was infuriating to watch at times yet admittedly he often come back down the floor and make a great play. I was cringing half the time when the ball was in his hands and he was trying to make something happen. Despite the attractive box scores he was my disappointment of the World Cup right alongside Olynyk.

After seeing Dort’s big jump in efficiency this season I’d take him over Barrett in almost any scenario.
Wiggins at least has a history of being a good player. With him and RJ both stinking it up right now, I’d role with Wiggins.