Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0

[Pooh_Jeter]

The crazy part is that in 4 years the best case team is likely leaving NBA players off the team and in 8 years that is basically a guarantee. If you were to make a best case scenario B team (kind of like Canada does for hockey) I feel like that team would fare pretty damn well too. The way the depth of this program has developed has been astounding. When you look at the NCAA ranks we aren't just looking at 1 or 2 lottery tickets who could be impact players down the road, there is NBA or high level Europe potential all over the place.

While we may have more NBA players in four or eight years than we do now, I don't think our chances for FIBA success would necessarily be any higher than.

A lot of our core guys (especially bigs) will likely be closer to their prime in 2020 than 2024.

E.g., Olynyk, Thompson, Powell, Ejim, and Joseph were all born in the spring/summer of 1991. They will be 29 in the summer of 2020 vs. 33 in summer 2024.

Birch, Bennett, Pangos, and P. Scrubb were all 92 or early 93s, so will be 27 or 28 in summer of 2020 vs. 31 or 32 for 2024 Olympics.

Fringe guys (in terms of participation or impact) like Stauskas, Heslip, Sacre< Landry, and Bachynski are around that age or older.

Maybe Wiggins and Lyles (1995s) would be better in 2024 than 2020, but that is probably not much better than 50/50, and given their participation track record, it may not be as relevant as the peaks of the guys listed above.

Maybe we will be better at guard/wing as the development of Barrett, SGA, Brooks, and Jackson and the emergence of one or more of Dort, Akot, NAW, Wigginton, Nembhard and Llewellyn is enough to overcome the likely decline of Joseph, Pangos, Scrubb, and Heslip, but I think our big situation is unlikely to be better in 2024 than it is in 2020. Even if Shi-ttu and/or Brissett develop as expected, I would take our 2020 bigs over our 2024 bigs.

I agree that there doesn't seem to be a plethora of high impact bigs coming down the pipeline, but I do think there are a bunch of potential hybrid wings who could easily play small ball 4 for us similar to what Ejim has been able to do. Also you would have to think Olynyk's game shouldn't see a massive decline due to his age.

As nice as it is to have Thompson, Powell and Birch, realistically only one of those guys can be on the court at a time. That makes it a bit easier to replace their potential production I think.

I honestly have 0 concern about our guard/wings going forward though. There is just way too much talent in the pipeline for me to be concerned. With just Murray, Barrett and Wiggins (despite all his faults) you have a hell of a core. Brooks and SGA only add to that as legit NBA rotation players (although we do have to have some patience with SGA). Beyond that you have multiple guys who fit basically every timeline for the program. Whether that is players currently in the NCAA or potential high ceiling kids who have shown out at various Junior events.

[frumble]

Re Lyles, we have had lots of guys whose participation has dropped off significantly as they moved from cadet/junior to senior, and they didn't leave Canada at age 7. So I am not sure that that necessarily explains Lyles's absence since 2013.

I am not holding out much hope that Lyles will participate in summer of 19, but same for Wiggins and Stauskas.

[frumble]

Spurs sign Olivier Hanlan to a camp deal. I expect he is earmarked for Austin and this is a way to get him some extra money to entice him to stick in the G another year.
THe Spurs are really active pulling guys up from Austin to give them a shot. So who knows - maybe Hanlan will eventually get a chance.

Hopefully this makes him available to canada in the next couple windows.

Thanks for the update. I know Hanlan hasn't been that impressive since leaving BC, but I still think he could be a viable option.

[TheFutureMM]

Re Lyles, we have had lots of guys whose participation has dropped off significantly as they moved from cadet/junior to senior, and they didn't leave Canada at age 7. So I am not sure that that necessarily explains Lyles's absence since 2013.

I am not holding out much hope that Lyles will participate in summer of 19, but same for Wiggins and Stauskas.

I would actually prefer Lyles not be on the team from a commitment stand-point (as opposed to talent) knowing full well he's arguably a top 2 big that we could field. We have had way too many people come out over the course of the last 4 years that it would be a shame if Lyles just showed up out of nowhere to take one of the 12 spots. I get why some people on this board would be for it - but I would feel better rewarding those that showed up (Olynyk, Thompson, Powell, Birch, Ejim, even Bennett) if they are able to commit.

Now on the other hand, and I know this makes me a hypocrite, I would probably use this tournament as a last ditch effort to try to get Wiggins back in the fold. To be fair, Wiggins did show up in 2015, so he has proven that he has/had an interest in this team at a senior level as opposed to Lyles who has had Senior opportunities but never showed up. Regardless, Wiggins at 20 was tearing up the FIBA America's. He just adds such a different dimension on offense as an athletic 6'8 wing even if he's not a stand-out defender/passer. I'm also not in the camp that he's a finished product - he may never live up to the hype but people on here would be lying if they think we would turn down a Rudy Gay-esque level player.

I would be OK with Nik trying out for the team but with Murray, RJ, Brooks, and SGA there are no guarantees he makes it. Which leads me to my next point...

My last two moves of my hypothetical GM reign would be to reserve spots 11 and 12 to guys who may not be the best players but showed up consistently in 2016/2017/2018. These would be for guys like Ejim (may make it on pure talent anyway), Heslip, Phil or Thomas Scrubb, Bennett, Nicholson, Anthony, Xavier Rathan-Mayes, Hanlan, Pierre, etc.

Then finally if you don't show up to training camp in 2019 and aren't or going through any of the following:

A) An NBA/European rookie
B) Going through a publicized injury
C) Without a contract

Then you should not be eligible for our 2020 Olympic team.

[Mirotic12]

I disagree with this. There are many successful national teams littered with guys with little if any ties to the country they play for.
Take Greece for example - 4 or 5 of their core players were born, raised, trained in the US. Some had never been to Greece before the national team found out they had a distant Greek great grandparent and ordered them a passport and an invitation to play for "their country" (Cue Mirotic to tell me how wrong I am). Greece is currently chasing Naz Long and recently claimed Tyler Dorsey. These guys don;t care about Greece - but it can become a big time financial incentive for them to play for Greece (that is something we can't offer Lyles)..

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

number of Greek Americans in Greece's national team:

bold players represent a "core player"

prior to 1973 none ever
1973 Steve Giatzoglou, Christos Kefalos - 2
1975 Steve Giatzoglou, Georgios Kastrinakis, Pavlos Diakoulas - 3
1979 Steve Giaztoglou, Georgios Kastrinakis - 2
1981 Nikos Galis, Georgios Kastrinakis - 2
1983 Nikos Galis - 1
1984 Nikos Galis - 1 (eliminated in Olympic qualification)
1986 Nikos Galis - 1
1987 Nikos Galis - 1 (EuroBasket gold)
1988 Nikos Galis - 1 (eliminated in Olympic qualification)
1989 Nikos Galis, David Stergakos, John Korfas - 3 (EuroBasket silver)
1990 Nikos Galis, David Stergakos - 2
1991 Nikos Galis - 1
1992 Nikos Galis - 1 (eliminated in Olympic qualification)
1993 zero
1994 zero
1995 zero
1996 zero (5th in Olympics)
1997 zero
1998 zero
1999 zero
2001 zero
2003 zero
2004 zero (5th in Olympics)
2005 zero (EuroBasket gold)
2006 zero (World Cup silver - beat USA)
2007 zero
2008 zero (5th in Olympics)
2009 Nick Calathes, Kosta Koufos - 2
2010 Nick Calathes - 1
2011 Nick Calathes, Kosta Koufos, Michael Bramos - 3
2012 Nick Calathes, Michael Bramos - 2 (eliminated in Olympic qualification)
2013 Michael Bramos - 1
2014 Nick Calathes - 1
2015 Nick Calathes, Kosta Koufos - 2
2016 Nick Calathes, Kosta Koufos - 2 (eliminated in Olympic qualification)
2017 Nick Calathes - 1
2018 Nick Calathes, Tyler Dorsey - 2

Greece has never in its history used 4-5 Greek Americans. It always had from between zero to 3.

And most definitely Greek national never had 4-5 "core players" that were Greek Americans. The only Greek American players that were "core players" are the ones in bold. They never had more than 1-2 core players of Greek Americans, and in the vast majority of history had zero or just one. Calathes wasn't even a "core player" until recently.

In fact, if you look at national team performance, Greece did far better in the years without any Greek Americans than they did in the recent years with guys like Calathes on the team. And the only Greek American that ever contributed anything at all to the team was Nikos Galis. None of the other Greek Americans helped the team do anything at all. It actually got noticeably worse since it added guys like Calathes and Koufos...

Greek national team major medals and Olympics teams:

1949 EuroBasket bronze - no Greek Americans
1952 Olympics - no Greek Americans
1987 EuroBasket gold - 1 Greek American
1989 EuroBasket silver - 3 Greek Americans (only 2 played in the rotation)
1996 Olympics - no Greek Americans
2004 Olympics - no Greek Americans
2005 EuroBasket gold - no Greek Americans
2006 World Cup silver and beat Team USA (no Greek Americans)
2008 Olympics - no Greek Americans

All the best years of the national team's history 1986 - 1998 (only Galis that was a core player), and 2003 to 2011 (zero core players)...

Greece top 10 finishes in World tournaments:

1986: 10th in World Cup - 1 Greek American
1990: 6th in World Cup - zero Greek Americans
1994: 4th in World Cup - zero Greek Americans
1996: 5th in Olympics - zero Greek Americans
1998: 4th in World Cup - zero Greek Americans
2004: 5th in Olympics - zero Greek Americans
2006: 2nd in World Cup (beat Team USA) - zero Greek Americans
2008: 5th in Olympics - zero Greek Americans
2014: 9th in World Cup - 1 Greek American

Against the best national teams of all time:

Greece beat Yugoslavia at its peak, with one Greek American. Greece beat Soviet Union twice at its peak, with one Greek American. Greece beat Spain's golden generation, with one Greek American role player. Greece beat Team USA NBA players (and it was the A team), with zero Greek Americans.

As for Dorsey, they didn't just get him....he played in Greece's youth program before he was in college. Also, he is no way a "core player". He was cut from the team in 2016 at training camp, and he was Greece's worst player so far in the 2018 world cup qualifiers. Maybe in the future he could be a core player, but no way in hell is he a core player now.

[Mirotic12]

I disagree with this. There are many successful national teams littered with guys with little if any ties to the country they play for.
Take Greece for example - 4 or 5 of their core players were born, raised, trained in the US. Some had never been to Greece before the national team found out they had a distant Greek great grandparent and ordered them a passport and an invitation to play for "their country" (Cue Mirotic to tell me how wrong I am). Greece is currently chasing Naz Long and recently claimed Tyler Dorsey. These guys don;t care about Greece - but it can become a big time financial incentive for them to play for Greece (that is something we can't offer Lyles).

Numerous Greek American pro players never get into the Greek national team, same with Greek Canadians. There are plenty of such players that were never used in Greece's national team because they were not good enough. Just recently guys like Dan Mavraides and Pat Calathes. Zach Auguste has also not made the team yet...Tyler Dorsey has not yet even made the senior A team (he has only made the training camp of the A team and the B qualifiers team).......Michael Bramos has been one of the best players in Italian League for awhile and has not even been invited to the team in recent years, etc.

Somone like Naz Long can't just "get a passport and make the team". He has to actually make the team and earn it. Something Dorsey and Zach Auguste have not been able to do yet. You make it sound like Greece begs them to play and then they are stars of the team automatically. Reality is they want to play in the team and request it (both actually requested it, and Dorsey himself made himself known to Greek federation and said he wanted to play in junior teams - they didn't even know who he was)...

and then neither have made the senior team at an actual tournament yet.....far from how you describe it.

Calathes was a role player for years, and not a good one, and recently is an important player, yet not a good one still. He's a much, much worse guard than what Greece had in previous years with guys like Dimitris Diamantidis, Theo Papaloukas, Vassilis Spanoulis, Nikos Zisis - all of them were much better than Calathes is. Koufos has hardly done jack squat of anything for Greece, his best so far is being their 2nd best center (Ioannis Bourousis is always much better than him) and a decent role player, and he takes off all kinds of tournaments. It's actually striking how much worse the national team got since Calathes and Koufos joined it, compared to when no Greek Americans were on the team.

Really, in Greek NT history....precisely one, just one of the major players was Greek American. Nikos Galis. One Greek American that was among the best Greek national team players in all of history. A colossal one whole player.

Team USA has that beat easily with guys like Mutombo, Olajuwon, Ewing, Duncan...hell they even naturalized Seikaly (who was developed in Greece)......and only one of them (Duncan) was even the equal of a Greek American, being from a US territory that has its own national team, the rest were all naturalized. So USA has had far more use of such players and help than Greece has.

Finally, there are very strict rules for Greek diaspora to be in the national team.

1. They have to be Greek natural born citizen at birth, which means a parent or grandparent must be registered as born in local Greek community.
2. They have to physically come to Greece in person, and register at that locality. They then have to go through all of the things like civil tests, background checks, government making sure they really are Greek descent, and then they have to go through a full waiting period - at least a year, and sometimes 2-3 years. Sasha Vezenkov waited about that long and he was born in Cyrpus and raised in Cyprus and Greece. Antetokounmpo brothers were born and raised in Greece and they waited several years after they filed papers.
3. You have to either speak Greek fluently, or be willing to learn it. Greek NT is conducted in Greek language so that's required. Koufos speaks it fluently and always did. Calathes has had to learn it, and Dorsey has had to study it since he went to college.

[mojo13]

That felt good and I’m a terrible person.


On a more relevant note...
Interesting quote from Dino Radja on why NBA & EuroLeague players are skipping the FIBA Qualifiers: “Many agents are advising their players not to compete for their national teams in order to protect themselves. That would never happen in our generation.”
https://www.eurohoops.net/en/national-teams/


More evidence that we can’t just gripe about Andrew Wiggins, Trey Lyles, Nik Stauskas, Jamal Murray, Dwight Powell and others not playing FIBA for Canada when we don’t know the real reasons. Clubs, agents, handlers, sponsors are all influencing behind the scene. Celebrate the guys that do play!

[agkagk]

So just for fun..what is Canada's top Roster/lineup? ..disregarding matchup
What is Canada's Dream Team..
off the top of my head:

Starters:

C: Tristan Thompson
PF: Kelly Olynk
SF: Andrew Wiggins
SG: Jamal Murray
PG: Corey Joseph

Backup:
C: Dwight Powell
PF: Trey Lyles
SF: RJ Barrett
SG: Dillon Brooks
PG: Kevin Pangos

Bench: Shai Gilgeous Alexander? Chris Boucher
Stauskas? Who am I missing that deserves to be on the dream team roster based on talent alone? Who would you choose?

Its mind boggling looking at all this talent we have...

wow looking at it mapped out like that -- we must have the 2nd most talented roster in the world -- and with guys like barrett and shai joining the program shortly, on paper, we should be a powerhouse in the near future.

That being said, I get what you guys are saying about the lack of veteran leadership.


in 2018, a healthy greek national team led by yiannis would probably control the canadian nationals from whistle to whistle; just based on all of their euro basket and champions league experience.

[NotMyKawhi]

So just for fun..what is Canada's top Roster/lineup? ..disregarding matchup
What is Canada's Dream Team..
off the top of my head:

Starters:

C: Tristan Thompson
PF: Kelly Olynk
SF: Andrew Wiggins
SG: Jamal Murray
PG: Corey Joseph

Backup:
C: Dwight Powell
PF: Trey Lyles
SF: RJ Barrett
SG: Dillon Brooks
PG: Kevin Pangos

Bench: Shai Gilgeous Alexander? Chris Boucher
Stauskas? Who am I missing that deserves to be on the dream team roster based on talent alone? Who would you choose?

Its mind boggling looking at all this talent we have...

wow looking at it mapped out like that -- we must have the 2nd most talented roster in the world -- and with guys like barrett and shai joining the program shortly, on paper, we should be a powerhouse in the near future.

That being said, I get what you guys are saying about the lack of veteran leadership.


in 2018, a healthy greek national team led by yiannis would probably control the canadian nationals from whistle to whistle; just based on all of their euro basket and champions league experience.

By the olympics I think Nembhard will take Pangos spot. I like his game...he's a better version of Tyler Ennis imo PG's are really important in College basketball, especially if they're smart and make good decisions. This is Nembhard game. Wouldn't be shocked if lead Florida deep in the tourny and to a lot of wins this year. Even tho they don't have much talent.

I also really like Simi..think he's a beast and has a killer mindset. He could get better. and we are kinda weak w bigs.

And Shai imo will prolly start by the Olympics, Cojo off the bench. I think our best starting line up by the olympics will be.

Shai
Murray
Wiggins
RJ
Olynick or TT

Not 1, not 2, not 3, not 4.....all the medals. And by 2028, Elijah Fisher wins us Gold. Come back to me in 10 years and bring up this post.

I'll invest $1000 into Bitcoin rn, it will be worth millions in ten years...I'll give it to you if we don't win gold

[mojo13]

So just for fun..what is Canada's top Roster/lineup? ..disregarding matchup
What is Canada's Dream Team..
off the top of my head:

Starters:

C: Tristan Thompson
PF: Kelly Olynk
SF: Andrew Wiggins
SG: Jamal Murray
PG: Corey Joseph

Backup:
C: Dwight Powell
PF: Trey Lyles
SF: RJ Barrett
SG: Dillon Brooks
PG: Kevin Pangos

Bench: Shai Gilgeous Alexander? Chris Boucher
Stauskas? Who am I missing that deserves to be on the dream team roster based on talent alone? Who would you choose?

Its mind boggling looking at all this talent we have...

wow looking at it mapped out like that -- we must have the 2nd most talented roster in the world -- and with guys like barrett and shai joining the program shortly, on paper, we should be a powerhouse in the near future.

That being said, I get what you guys are saying about the lack of veteran leadership.


in 2018, a healthy greek national team led by yiannis would probably control the canadian nationals from whistle to whistle; just based on all of their euro basket and champions league experience.

Greece and Giannis is not a good example to use. Greece has actually not been good with Giannis playing. So far he has not been anything near a great FIBA player - nothing like he is in the NBA. Greece has actually played better without him over the last few years. The FIBA game is different. It’s physically way rougher with way less spacing. FIBA has set the rules for years to try to contain American athletism. Shooting and ball movement is far important.
Shorter game time, smaller court, shorter three point line, no defensive three in the key, tighter traveling calls, moving screens and way more physicality allowed. This causes a packed paint where guys like Giannis (and Wiggins) have much less room to operate and get roughed up once in there. Nor can they take 3 or 4 steps when they gather their dribble as in the NBA.
Greece historically has been way more fluid, better passing, better shooting, a better team without Giannis. Or at least they haven’t yet figured out to play with him properly.

It is part of the reason I’d take Olynyk over Wiggins in a hot second if I was GM for Canada. Olynyk is wonderfully suited to FIBA ball. He really helps open up the paint for our guards.

Mirotic what do you say?

[Hair Canada]

The crazy part is that in 4 years the best case team is likely leaving NBA players off the team and in 8 years that is basically a guarantee. If you were to make a best case scenario B team (kind of like Canada does for hockey) I feel like that team would fare pretty damn well too. The way the depth of this program has developed has been astounding. When you look at the NCAA ranks we aren't just looking at 1 or 2 lottery tickets who could be impact players down the road, there is NBA or high level Europe potential all over the place.

While we may have more NBA players in four or eight years than we do now, I don't think our chances for FIBA success would necessarily be any higher than.

A lot of our core guys (especially bigs) will likely be closer to their prime in 2020 than 2024.

E.g., Olynyk, Thompson, Powell, Ejim, and Joseph were all born in the spring/summer of 1991. They will be 29 in the summer of 2020 vs. 33 in summer 2024.

Birch, Bennett, Pangos, and P. Scrubb were all 92 or early 93s, so will be 27 or 28 in summer of 2020 vs. 31 or 32 for 2024 Olympics.

Fringe guys (in terms of participation or impact) like Stauskas, Heslip, Sacre< Landry, and Bachynski are around that age or older.

Maybe Wiggins and Lyles (1995s) would be better in 2024 than 2020, but that is probably not much better than 50/50, and given their participation track record, it may not be as relevant as the peaks of the guys listed above.

Maybe we will be better at guard/wing as the development of Barrett, SGA, Brooks, and Jackson and the emergence of one or more of Dort, Akot, NAW, Wigginton, Nembhard and Llewellyn is enough to overcome the likely decline of Joseph, Pangos, Scrubb, and Heslip, but I think our big situation is unlikely to be better in 2024 than it is in 2020. Even if Shi-ttu and/or Brissett develop as expected, I would take our 2020 bigs over our 2024 bigs.

I agree that there doesn't seem to be a plethora of high impact bigs coming down the pipeline, but I do think there are a bunch of potential hybrid wings who could easily play small ball 4 for us similar to what Ejim has been able to do. Also you would have to think Olynyk's game shouldn't see a massive decline due to his age.

As nice as it is to have Thompson, Powell and Birch, realistically only one of those guys can be on the court at a time. That makes it a bit easier to replace their potential production I think.

I honestly have 0 concern about our guard/wings going forward though. There is just way too much talent in the pipeline for me to be concerned. With just Murray, Barrett and Wiggins (despite all his faults) you have a hell of a core. Brooks and SGA only add to that as legit NBA rotation players (although we do have to have some patience with SGA). Beyond that you have multiple guys who fit basically every timeline for the program. Whether that is players currently in the NCAA or potential high ceiling kids who have shown out at various Junior events.

As I've already said before, I tend to agree with Pooh. I think that what we stand to gain in the backcourt (RJ, Shai, and a better Murray, Brooks, maybe even Wiggins, and whoever else breaks out from the very talented class of 2018) will easily offset whatever decline we experience at the frontcourt.

I'm also not sure how much of a decline that will actually be. I agree that Olynyk, a player who doesn't rely on athleticism, might still be at or near his pick at age 33. If Lyles wants to play for team Canada, then he's another one that should be at his peak in 2024. Simi and Brissett you've mentioned and we can add Justin Jackson to the list.

Then there are players from the classes of 2019-2022, who will be at the ages of 22-24 by 2024. For many of them, it's still too early to tell how the final product will look like. But at the 5, there are prospects like the Bediako brothers, who are about 6'11 with a big wingspan (personally, not a big believer in them for the modern game, due to slow feet), Zach Edey (co 2021; 7'3), or even someone like Jaiden Webley (co 2022; 6'11; 260 pounds), who seems to possess some unique physical tools. As with all bigs, it's too early to say. But at least one of them could be a serviceable big by 2024. There are also older prospects, currently in the NCAA, like Kyle Alexander from Tenessee or Mfiondu Kabengele from Florida State, both borderline NBA prospects (similar perhaps to someone like Birch).

Then at the 4, there are also a couple of quite interesting prospects who could turn into decent NBA players (which is, at best what guys like TT, Powell, and Birch are) if they realize their full potential. Most are a bit undersized combo-forwards, but that's where the game is going to these days and athletic 6'7-6'9 forwards seem to be taking over the 4 position in the NBA. To mention just a few notable names: Iggy Brazdeikis, Eman Miller, Tyrese Samuel, Keon Ambrose, Josh Hemmings, Matthew-Alexander Moncrieffe, Moun Reaf, and Caleb Houstan.

In short, the depth is actually quite good and we might expect it to produce at least one or two players who should be able to do at least a decent job in the frontcourt and fill in the big but not giant shoes of the likes of TT and Powell if they are no longer good enough at 33.

[mojo13]

Some good news for Aaron Best as he signed in the German BBL (1st division) with Ludwigsburg. He will be teaming up with Owen Klassen and squaring off against many other Canadians (Heslip, Peter McNeilly, Bell Haynes etc.)
https://www.usbasket.com/Canada/news/549003/Ludwigsburg-tabs-Aaron-Best

Maybe a little bad news for Team Canada as being with the 905 seemed to be the best case scenario for availability. However the BBL guys seemed fairly available last Feb/Nov windows, so hopefully he can still play.

[TheFutureMM]

Some good news for Aaron Best as he signed in the German BBL (1st division) with Ludwigsburg. He will be teaming up with Owen Klassen and squaring off against many other Canadians (Heslip, Peter McNeilly, Bell Haynes etc.)
https://www.usbasket.com/Canada/news/549003/Ludwigsburg-tabs-Aaron-Best

Maybe a little bad news for Team Canada as being with the 905 seemed to be the best case scenario for availability. However the BBL guys seemed fairly available last Feb/Nov windows, so hopefully he can still play.

Mojo, any news on Doornekamp? He's one of our few EuroLeague guys and I feel like we've heard little to nothing about him in a while. As well, has he made an appearance since 2015, if even at training camp?

[mojo13]

Yeah... he hasn’t been involved for a few years now and I don’t know why.

He is actually not in the EuroLeague this year either. His club Valencia was in for one year last year as the highest placed ACB team from the year prior. Besides the three Spainish teams with permanent licenses, the highest placed ACB team can win their way in. Pangos’s old team Gran Canaria won their way in this year and Valencia is out. I’d put him on a similar club level as Ejim (Unics) or Phil Scrubb (Zenit) and WIltjer. That European pro level just below Pangos and Ennis.

Note that Kyle Landry’s club Buducnost won the Adriatric league and gained EuroLeague entry this season. Unfortunately they dropped him in an effort to upgrade their roster. He is currently unattached from what I know. .

It would be a pleasant surprise to see Doornekamp play in Dec/Feb. Not a remarkable player but a solid, gritty, veteran, 3&D forward and good enough to start for a low level EuroLeague club (and top tier ACB club).

[TrueNorth31]

Yeah... he hasn’t been involved for a few years now and I don’t know why.

He is actually not in the EuroLeague this year either. His club Valencia was in for one year last year as the highest placed ACB team from the year prior. Besides the three Spainish teams with permanent licenses, the highest placed ACB team can win their way in. Pangos’s old team Gran Canaria won their way in this year and Valencia is out. I’d put him on a similar club level as Ejim (Unics) or Phil Scrubb (Zenit) and WIltjer. That European pro level just below Pangos and Ennis.

Note that Kyle Landry’s club Buducnost won the Adriatric league and gained EuroLeague entry this season. Unfortunately they dropped him in an effort to upgrade their roster. He is currently unattached from what I know. .

It would be a pleasant surprise to see Doornekamp play in Dec/Feb. Not a remarkable player but a solid, gritty, veteran, 3&D forward and good enough to start for a low level EuroLeague club (and top tier ACB club).

Good summation. I believe Doornekamp has a couple of young children now and that makes it a little more difficult for him to trundle off all over the world to represent Canada I imagine. He'd be the type of guy I'd bring along on the South American window in November if it were possible. I still can't believe that FIBA lets Venezuela host games , as it's essentially a failed nation state with massive internal security issues.

Glad Best is making some real money as opposed to the D League. He's been a pleasant surprise and I think he'll be a very solid European pro. He's a good athlete ( D league dunk participant ) who can shoot the three and really get after it defensively ( I note he guarded Huertas on Brazil for long stretches- the guy that runs their offence )

Landry apparently made a whack of cash during his days in Russia and has a Russian wife and a couple of kids - so I think he can be picky about his next contract. It be nice if he got a job to stay in shape as he seems fairly committed to the program.

https://www.cbc.ca/sports/basketball/nba/canada-basketball-world-cup-qualifying-1.4825837

"Landry played last season in the Montenegrin Adriatic League, and also played six seasons in Russia where he met his wife Anya. The couple, who have two kids aged one and three, are living back in Landry's hometown of Calgary while he explores his playing options. He said regardless of whether he cracked the World Cup roster, he'll feel he's been a big part of the qualifying process.

"Oh, absolutely," Landry said. "They put the stats up for all the world championship qualifiers, and my name's going to be there. I played a couple of games, and I helped us however much to get there, even if it's not in the games but the practices, you're getting the guys ready and making sure they're all in shape and know what the other team's doing and it's just really cool to be part of that."

[TrueNorth31]

There's been an Anthony Bennett sighting;

"Anthony Bennett's agents have offered the free agent power forward to Italian teams Reggio Emilia and Virtus Bologna, a source told Sportando."

https://sportando.basketball/en/italy/serie-a/289385/anthony-bennett-offered-to-reggio-emilia-virtus-bologna.html

If he could ever get himself into shape this would be a good level for him. Play in a real league, with coaches who hold you accountable on defence and want you to score - or your down the road , would be good for him.

I'm just not sure someone who's made almost $17 million U.S. in his young , uneven career is going to be that dedicated playing for 200,000-300,000/year net.

He certainly showed in the G League he could shoot the 3 ball, it's the other aspects of his game ( i.e. defensive rotations) that need lots of work.

[GoRaptors]

The Canadian women's team had a big comeback victory against France to finish 3-0 in group play at the women's world championship. The team advances directly to the quarterfinals.

[TheFutureMM]

The Canadian women's team had a big comeback victory against France to finish 3-0 in group play at the women's world championship. The team advances directly to the quarterfinals.

I've been following their games - can't say I've watched one (the one on Saturday was one really early and I was working today) but I have wanted to.

Pretty cool how they managed to beat France and stay on the other side of the bracket from the States. Only downside is that Spain were upset in their bracket and now our likely to play us in the Quarters, with the winner likely to play Australia in the semis. Canada has a tough road ahead but it is refreshing to avoid the States for once and have a legit shot at a medal.

[mojo13]

Spurs sign Olivier Hanlan to a camp deal. I expect he is earmarked for Austin and this is a way to get him some extra money to entice him to stick in the G another year.
THe Spurs are really active pulling guys up from Austin to give them a shot. So who knows - maybe Hanlan will eventually get a chance.

Hopefully this makes him available to canada in the next couple windows.

Thanks for the update. I know Hanlan hasn't been that impressive since leaving BC, but I still think he could be a viable option.

Dang... that was quick. Oliver Hanlan waived by the Spurs already to make room for Nick Johnson at camp. Hopefully he got some money out of that. Of note he is a full free agent as the Spurs lose his NBA rights by waiving him.

[Mirotic12]

Greece and Giannis is not a good example to use. Greece has actually not been good with Giannis playing. So far he has not been anything near a great FIBA player - nothing like he is in the NBA. Greece has actually played better without him over the last few years. The FIBA game is different. It’s physically way rougher with way less spacing. FIBA has set the rules for years to try to contain American athletism. Shooting and ball movement is far important.
Shorter game time, smaller court, shorter three point line, no defensive three in the key, tighter traveling calls, moving screens and way more physicality allowed. This causes a packed paint where guys like Giannis (and Wiggins) have much less room to operate and get roughed up once in there. Nor can they take 3 or 4 steps when they gather their dribble as in the NBA.
Greece historically has been way more fluid, better passing, better shooting, a better team without Giannis. Or at least they haven’t yet figured out to play with him properly.

It is part of the reason I’d take Olynyk over Wiggins in a hot second if I was GM for Canada. Olynyk is wonderfully suited to FIBA ball. He really helps open up the paint for our guards.

Mirotic what do you say?

That's pretty much correct. Just some minor details changed a bit...

FIBA changed its traveling rules last year. Under the new rule, you can now take 3 steps upon receiving the ball in stride, and you no longer have to dribble the ball before your first foot hits the floor from a standstill..so it's still much more strict than NBA is, but a lot more open on it than it used to be.

Also, on the moving screens...that's not allowed anymore in FIBA play. Moving screens were made illegal by FIBA awhile ago. I can't remember when exactly, but it's been at least a couple years.

As for the FIBA rules being designed to minimize NBA players of Team USA...that's a myth that NBA fans created. It's not true at all. FIBA had those same basic rules in place decades before any NBA players played in tournaments, and in fact even had its basis in rules before the NBA did.

FIBA's rules, also NCAA rules, which are closer to FIBA were there before NBA. NBA was the one that made the rules different, not the other way around. Actually, the whole world uses the FIBA rules, except NBA and NCAA (which is fairly close to FIBA rules), with one exception being they play a 48 minute game in China (but FIBA rules besides that).

FIBA never made any rules changes to limit NBA players. They had the rules there in the 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and so on. So they definitely were not made with a specific purpose of limiting NBA players.

Yeah... he hasn’t been involved for a few years now and I don’t know why.

He is actually not in the EuroLeague this year either. His club Valencia was in for one year last year as the highest placed ACB team from the year prior. Besides the three Spainish teams with permanent licenses, the highest placed ACB team can win their way in. Pangos’s old team Gran Canaria won their way in this year and Valencia is out. I’d put him on a similar club level as Ejim (Unics) or Phil Scrubb (Zenit) and WIltjer. That European pro level just below Pangos and Ennis.

Note that Kyle Landry’s club Buducnost won the Adriatric league and gained EuroLeague entry this season. Unfortunately they dropped him in an effort to upgrade their roster. He is currently unattached from what I know. .

It would be a pleasant surprise to see Doornekamp play in Dec/Feb. Not a remarkable player but a solid, gritty, veteran, 3&D forward and good enough to start for a low level EuroLeague club (and top tier ACB club).

You could add Canadian players in BCL also. There is some debate/dispute about where EuroCup and BCL stand in Europe, but having watched both a lot last season I can say there is really no difference in the level. EuroCup and BCL (at the regular season stage) are pretty much at an equal level. In fact, the team that won BCL last year (AEK), I think would have also won EuroCup. Neither league is as good as EuroLeague, but they are both better than Spanish league for example.