Team Canada Basketball Thread V3.0

[TheFutureMM]

Those cuts make the most sense. While I appreciate his consistent dedication to the team, Thomas Scrubb wasn't very good in any of the games he played in the warmups, and is kind of redundant with all of the wing depth Canada has, especially wing defenders which is what he's good at.

And one of the guards was going to get cut as well. I'm guessing it came down to Phil Scrubb vs. Chery and Phil might be a more reliable shooter, whereas Chery seems a bit redundant with Bell-Haynes.

Agreed - forgot which thread it was in but pre-Murray's decision, I figured there was 100% chance Tommy was getting cut. Just too many good wings for Canada.

Happy to see Phil Scrubb make the team as the 12th man.

This has to be the best team we've ever fielded, right? 2015 FIBA Americas might be the only team that comes close.

We should step off that 2015 FIBA Americas team as being that good. It really wasn't. It just seemed like a good team at the time.

It was led by:
Andrew Wiggins (1st yr) 15ppg
Nik Stuaskas (1st yr) 12 ppg
Kelly Olynyk (2nd yr) 12 ppg
Cory Joseph 10 ppg
Anthony Bennett (2nd year) 8 ppg

as starters and

Brady Heslip, Dwight Powell (1st year), Ejim, Heslip, Nicholson, P Scrubb as the main guys off the bench.

Not really a starter among them beisdes Wiggins.

What a young and inexperienced team in retrospect, leaning on a bunch of guys we thought were good at the time becuase they were high draft picks but actually were pretty stank (Stuaskas, Bennett etc.) Even Wiggins wasn't very good at that time.

The 2021 and 2022 teams were much better than 2015.

Agree to disagree about them being "not that good". 25 year old Olynyk is absolutely a "starter" (2nd year NBA but 4 year college player) - arguments could be made for Cory Joseph as well.

I think you are underselling this team overall. If you asked me who I would rather have today - 2015 Olynyk (25 years old) vs 2023 Olynyk (32 years old), I'm going 25.

I will admit, when I wrote that, I was thinking official event teams (FIBA America, FIBA World Cup) - as opposed to the last chance tourney team and the 2022 summer window. Agreed, both those teams were better than 2015 however I still think it wasn't bad.

[arbsn]

Australia final 12. Not alot of size especially with Landale out.

Read on Twitter

Patty Mills early threat for Tournament MVP.. Shai also up there.

[tms]

So as a complete FIBA novice, we'll make the Olympics if we finish "top two" among teams from the Americas (namely the US, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela)? Do I have that right?

[Elmago]

So as a complete FIBA novice, we'll make the Olympics if we finish "top two" among teams from the Americas (namely the US, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela)? Do I have that right?

Yes

[ItsDanger]

Dan Shulman will be doing the play by play remotely, while not as good as being there in person is better than alternatives.

[Boselecta]

So as a complete FIBA novice, we'll make the Olympics if we finish "top two" among teams from the Americas (namely the US, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela)? Do I have that right?

Yes

Does the US still have to qualify? I was thinking they would auto qualify since they won at the last Olympics.

[Elmago]

So as a complete FIBA novice, we'll make the Olympics if we finish "top two" among teams from the Americas (namely the US, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Brazil and Venezuela)? Do I have that right?

Yes

Does the US still have to qualify? I was thinking they would auto qualify since they won at the last Olympics.

Yes, only France has qualified as the host, so Europe gets an extra spot.

[frumble]

The Phillipines is playing the DR tough - tied at 42 at halftime.

[TheFutureMM]

The Phillipines is playing the DR tough - tied at 42 at halftime.

This would be massive for us if Phillipines could pull off the upset.

[TheFutureMM]

Kind of cool tidbit - looking up our FIBA America's roster for the tournament, all of our players have changed their wiki pictures to be them in Team Canada gear.

Not sure if that was a random, or Team Canada's doing but still such an awesome thing to see when you click on their pages.

[agkagk]

Whos going to defend elite 4’s and stretch 5’s.

We need wiggins to be our og at the four.

Theres a huge hole in this lineup. We probably have the second most talented roster and at the same time, our achilles heel is massive.

I really feel were primed to be upset by a team with 14 guys named who and a Porziņģis type (for example).

Brooks was second All-NBA defensive team last year and can certainly defend both the 3 and the 4, as he did many times at Memphis. Brissett is also a good committed defender at the 4 and can also cover stretch 5s. Wiggins is better than both offensively, but that's a different story. Olynyk not a great defender but can also keep up with stretch 5s (playing Wiggins at Center would be odd anyway). Barret can also cover smaller mobile 4s if needed, and even Dort can do that, though I think he's better utilized guarding other positions. All in all, this unit has quite a bit of defensive versatility. Lumbering bigs was the greater issue in the Victoria Olympics qualifiers and hopefully Edey can help with that.

Bottom line, Wiggins didn't want to play. We have a wonderful group without him. No need to obsess about his absense.

Defence defence defence!

Show of hands, whos happy to see that my concerns are so far proving to be untrue

Read on Twitter

?s=46&t=8dzU_TkUGB7thnfEsm4c_A

[greekman]

the team is great but missing wiggins, murray and sharpe there will always be the question 'what if'

[Dino-Might]

the team is great but missing wiggins, murray and sharpe there will always be the question 'what if'

No “what ifs” if they win the damn thing.

[TheRedRocket]

the team is great but missing wiggins, murray and sharpe there will always be the question 'what if'

If Canada qualifies for Olympics, who would they cut from this current roster to add them?

It would be sting these current guys if they don’t get priority over the ones who didn’t commit.

My wish is that Tristan joins this team. He’s going to be very helpful for the Olympics if they make it.

[aminiaturebuddha]

So Canada's win was great, obviously, but in terms of Olympic qualifying, they basically just kept themselves in the race. 2 of the Americas teams lost their first games (Mexico and Venezuela) but the US, DR, PR and Brazil all won.

If both make it, Canada and Brazil will be in the same second round group, but the same is true for the DR and PR. I would expect one of those teams to make it to the quarters out of their second round group alongside Serbia. The US will also almost certainly make it.

That'll likely mean 3 Americas teams in the quarters. Basically, I think we're going to need to make the semis to assure ourselves of an Olympic spot.

[NBJ13]

is this Canada's last chance to qualify for the Olympics?

[aminiaturebuddha]

the team is great but missing wiggins, murray and sharpe there will always be the question 'what if'

If Canada qualifies for Olympics, who would they cut from this current roster to add them?

It would be sting these current guys if they don’t get priority over the ones who didn’t commit.

My wish is that Tristan joins this team. He’s going to be very helpful for the Olympics if they make it.

I'd bet only Murray would be on the Olympics team, as he's the only one of those who is part of the committed core and showed up to the practices.

Tristan is done, definitely with Team Canada, and possibly with serious basketball. He didn't play a single regular season minute last year, and a grand total of 32 minutes over 6 games in the playoffs when the Lakers were looking for answers or in garbage time.

As for Wiggins and Sharpe, the Wiggins story has been discussed ad nauseam. And I'm not sure that Sharpe would actually earn a spot on the current team on merit (rather than potential) at this time, and certainly not over two other guys who aren't on the team in Mathurin and Nembhard.

[TheFutureMM]

So Canada's win was great, obviously, but in terms of Olympic qualifying, they basically just kept themselves in the race. 2 of the Americas teams lost their first games (Mexico and Venezuela) but the US, DR, PR and Brazil all won.

If both make it, Canada and Brazil will be in the same second round group, but the same is true for the DR and PR. I would expect one of those teams to make it to the quarters out of their second round group alongside Serbia. The US will also almost certainly make it.

That'll likely mean 3 Americas teams in the quarters. Basically, I think we're going to need to make the semis to assure ourselves of an Olympic spot.

I think we will have the pleasure of removing Brazil from the board in round 2 - which will be nice.

The real threat for us is going to be DR sneaking in past Italy. That game is going to be much watch.

[Elmago]

A feature on our coach by Windhorst https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/38259138/canada-jordi-fernandez-emergence-top-nba-head-coaching-candidate

[greekman]

the team is great but missing wiggins, murray and sharpe there will always be the question 'what if'

If Canada qualifies for Olympics, who would they cut from this current roster to add them?

It would be sting these current guys if they don’t get priority over the ones who didn’t commit.

My wish is that Tristan joins this team. He’s going to be very helpful for the Olympics if they make it.

I'd bet only Murray would be on the Olympics team, as he's the only one of those who is part of the committed core and showed up to the practices.

Tristan is done, definitely with Team Canada, and possibly with serious basketball. He didn't play a single regular season minute last year, and a grand total of 32 minutes over 6 games in the playoffs when the Lakers were looking for answers or in garbage time.

As for Wiggins and Sharpe, the Wiggins story has been discussed ad nauseam. And I'm not sure that Sharpe would actually earn a spot on the current team on merit (rather than potential) at this time, and certainly not over two other guys who aren't on the team in Mathurin and Nembhard.

if NAW is there Sharpe should be there too.