State of the Union. Team Canada Basketball. (FIBA Americas Aug.31-Sep.15)

[mappiah19]

Canada should call Rick Adelman or Jerry Sloan to coach this team.

[Reg00]

Do we have a turnover count yet? So many stupid ones. 5 in a row, badly timed ally-op passes.

How about offensive rebounds given up? So many second chance opportunities.

I slept but I am still angry.

[Indiana Jones]

Dave Smart is a problem.

Doornekamp and Scrubb don't make this team without Smart as the Assistant Coach.

Dave Smart is using Team Canada to showcase his own players, and it's all for recruiting purposes. That and his enormous ego.

Scrubb is a good player, and he had his moments, but there is no way I cut Hanlan for this guy. Doornekamp is by far our worst player. He was absolutely terrible for us in the Pan-Am Games, and he continued to be just horrible in Mexico. But somehow, he's still a major rotation player getting more minutes than NBA guys. And, to top it all off, your slowest, least athletic player is somehow pegged as your best defender, and therefore gets crunch time minutes at the most important phase of the most important game of the tournament.

Dave Smart is responsible for a lot of this collapse. And it hurts all the more thinking it was entirely for the purpose of making sure his program got a big chunk of credit for Canada's success.

BACKFIRE!!!

Spoiler:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TwUM8okMTM[/youtube]

[IlMagonellaMela]

5 of theses 8 experienced Euro teams will be at the Olympic qualifying tournament next year: Spain, France, Serbia,Greece,Lithuania, Italy, Croatia, Slovenia. The chances of a top 3 finish are slim.

Slovenia is out

[theonlyeastcoastrapsfan]

Way to let down your country.

[Reg00]

Dave Smart is a problem.

Doornekamp and Scrubb don't make this team without Smart as the Assistant Coach.

Dave Smart is using Team Canada to showcase his own players, and it's all for recruiting purposes. That and his enormous ego.

Scrubb is a good player, and he had his moments, but there is no way I cut Hanlan for this guy. Doornekamp is by far our worst player. He was absolutely terrible for us in the Pan-Am Games, and he continued to be just horrible in Mexico. But somehow, he's still a major rotation player getting more minutes than NBA guys. And, to top it all off, your slowest, least athletic player is somehow pegged as your best defender, and therefore gets crunch time minutes at the most important phase of the most important game of the tournament.

Dave Smart is responsible for a lot of this collapse. And it hurts all the more thinking it was entirely for the purpose of making sure his program got a big chunk of credit for Canada's success.

BACKFIRE!!!

Spoiler:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TwUM8okMTM[/youtube]

No. Would Hanlan have fixed himself the things that happened last night? If Hanlan was on the team would they have beaten teams by 40 rather then the 20 they were doing before last night?

We can't blame two guys for the choke job.

[Indiana Jones]

Dave Smart is a problem.

Doornekamp and Scrubb don't make this team without Smart as the Assistant Coach.

Dave Smart is using Team Canada to showcase his own players, and it's all for recruiting purposes. That and his enormous ego.

Scrubb is a good player, and he had his moments, but there is no way I cut Hanlan for this guy. Doornekamp is by far our worst player. He was absolutely terrible for us in the Pan-Am Games, and he continued to be just horrible in Mexico. But somehow, he's still a major rotation player getting more minutes than NBA guys. And, to top it all off, your slowest, least athletic player is somehow pegged as your best defender, and therefore gets crunch time minutes at the most important phase of the most important game of the tournament.

Dave Smart is responsible for a lot of this collapse. And it hurts all the more thinking it was entirely for the purpose of making sure his program got a big chunk of credit for Canada's success.

BACKFIRE!!!

Spoiler:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TwUM8okMTM[/youtube]

No. Would Hanlan have fixed himself the things that happened last night? If Hanlan was on the team would they have beaten teams by 40 rather then the 20 they were doing before last night?

We can't blame two guys for the choke job.

I don't. I blame four. Those two, as well as Smart and Triano.

[Indiana Jones]

Dave Smart is a problem.

Doornekamp and Scrubb don't make this team without Smart as the Assistant Coach.

Dave Smart is using Team Canada to showcase his own players, and it's all for recruiting purposes. That and his enormous ego.

Scrubb is a good player, and he had his moments, but there is no way I cut Hanlan for this guy. Doornekamp is by far our worst player. He was absolutely terrible for us in the Pan-Am Games, and he continued to be just horrible in Mexico. But somehow, he's still a major rotation player getting more minutes than NBA guys. And, to top it all off, your slowest, least athletic player is somehow pegged as your best defender, and therefore gets crunch time minutes at the most important phase of the most important game of the tournament.

Dave Smart is responsible for a lot of this collapse. And it hurts all the more thinking it was entirely for the purpose of making sure his program got a big chunk of credit for Canada's success.

BACKFIRE!!!

Spoiler:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TwUM8okMTM[/youtube]

No. Would Hanlan have fixed himself the things that happened last night? If Hanlan was on the team would they have beaten teams by 40 rather then the 20 they were doing before last night?

We can't blame two guys for the choke job.

I don't. I blame four. Those two, as well as Smart and Triano.

In all seriousness though, I don't blame the players. Scrubb has talent. But I do blame the coaches for putting guys in difficult situations. And especially, I don't see any way to justify sitting your best guys in crunch time. No excuses.

[Reg00]

Dave Smart is a problem.

Doornekamp and Scrubb don't make this team without Smart as the Assistant Coach.

Dave Smart is using Team Canada to showcase his own players, and it's all for recruiting purposes. That and his enormous ego.

Scrubb is a good player, and he had his moments, but there is no way I cut Hanlan for this guy. Doornekamp is by far our worst player. He was absolutely terrible for us in the Pan-Am Games, and he continued to be just horrible in Mexico. But somehow, he's still a major rotation player getting more minutes than NBA guys. And, to top it all off, your slowest, least athletic player is somehow pegged as your best defender, and therefore gets crunch time minutes at the most important phase of the most important game of the tournament.

Dave Smart is responsible for a lot of this collapse. And it hurts all the more thinking it was entirely for the purpose of making sure his program got a big chunk of credit for Canada's success.

BACKFIRE!!!

Spoiler:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-TwUM8okMTM[/youtube]

No. Would Hanlan have fixed himself the things that happened last night? If Hanlan was on the team would they have beaten teams by 40 rather then the 20 they were doing before last night?

We can't blame two guys for the choke job.

I don't. I blame four. Those two, as well as Smart and Triano.

In all seriousness though, I don't blame the players. Scrubb has talent. But I do blame the coaches for putting guys in difficult situations. And especially, I don't see any way to justify sitting your best guys in crunch time. No excuses.

I agree on some of this. I don't agree with the basic premise of your point(that Scrubb shouldn't be on the team, smart is to blame, it's no one else's fault) but I DO agree that I would have liked to lose with our best players on the court rather than all this second guessing that Triano went through. AB and NS were two of the top guys, and they get yanked.

Very frustrating.

[gbball]

After watching him in the Pan Am games, I can't help but think Jamal Murray would have made the difference in a close game like this. Sadly, Andrew Wiggins' handle isn't strong enough for him to bring the ball up and create something ala Lebron, Durant, etc. Also, not sure that he displays that type of mentality consistently.

I think Murray is the future of Canada's team. He seems to have a sense of the moment in big games like this one, and he a much more skilled and balanced player than anyone else on the team.

[Left Side Drive]

Fact that Canada can't even beat Venezuela means I don't see them beating any of the Euro teams that eventually end up in their group in the qualifying tournament. Good progress this year though.

Tokyo 2020

[Reg00]

Fact that Canada can't even beat Venezuela means I don't see them beating any of the Euro teams that eventually end up in their group in the qualifying tournament. Good progress this year though.

Tokyo 2020

That's defeatist. They crushed that team in the tournament, they collectively had a breakdown. They clearly showed that have the talent.

[J-Roc]

Way to let down your country.

It's all right, most weren't paying attention. And if anyone finds out watching the news, it'll just feel like another Canadian moment. Another Hinterland Who's Who for the archives.

[MEDIC]

It was one bad game.

It was just very ill timed.

Canada's best players didn't show up. It has nothing to do with the coaching staff. This team was very well prepared.

[chuckerz]

I think the run and gun sytem got into their heads. You can't run and gun if the other team does full court press. It leads to stupid turnovers. Especially if you dont have the right playmakers on the team. They were just lobbing the bal into the air while trying to run the fast break and taking quick shots. All of which led to tunrovers and missed oppurtunities. Olynyk running down the court and dribbling the ball is just one of the bad examples. They should have slowed the game down. Do they think they're team USA?

[chuckerz]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_FIBA_World_Olympic_Qualifying_Tournament_for_Men

On the other hand. So far if the top three teams advance in this tournament, it looks like Canada should be cruising again based on the teamsthat have already qualified for the qualifying tournament. We'll see about the European teams that still need to qualify.

[Patman]

I don't think Triano will be replaced and obviously I have no clue what interest people would have in the job if it were open, but the one obvious name that pops into my head is Mike D'Antoni. He has a connection with Steve Nash and he does have some experience with the international game given his time with Team USA. He played professionally in Italy as well.

It seems like there is no interest from the NBA for his return and while certainly he has his faults (particularly defensively) you can't deny that he was an innovator offensively. You would have to think given the shooting and athleticism this team possesses he would have a field day coaching up Team Canada offensively.

I agree. Then have Rana on the staff for D and Canadian content.

[Dirk]

From a talent stand point, Canada is good enough to compete with the Euro teams that will be at the tournament. But from an experience/mental stand point, it looks grim, it's hard to be positive about the outcome when they can't finish off Venezuela. Steamrolling teams after the opening loss, including vs hosts and then this. It's amazing to look at the Argentina team with two old dogs leading them to narrow victories on top of narrow victories and then you see the epic choking by Canada in the one game they had to win, up 7 less than 3 min to go. Now Canada has to pray for luck in the draw, Greece, Spain, Italy, Lithuania and Croatia are the probable teams from Europe in the qualification tournaments, Spain and Greece are the two that Canada won't have a much of a chance against.

[Patman]

I know there's already a FIBA America's thread, but I think this topic is specific enough that it can be it's own thread.

So who would you take? Assuming that everyone is available and you have the pick of of litter. And of course, there are some players who could make jumps this year (XRM, Lyles, Brooks, etc.). But if I had to pick right now, this is my squad.

Joseph
Ennis
Murray
Heslip
Pangos
Stauskas
Wiggins
Ejim
Bennett
Nicholson
Olynyk
Thompson

IMO it's imperative we take 6 guards, especially with the depth of talent we have. I'm taking Heslip over Scrubb since we'll need his shooting more than Scrubb's ballhandling, as Ennis an Murray can handle the ball.

Our backup SF is the weakest, but I'd rather have Ejim/Stauskas platoon the backup spot rather than taking Doornekamp.

I'm sacrificing depth up front, but if we're a man down, we can play Wiggins some at the 4 like the way USA uses SF's there.

[slothrop8]

Just a brutal loss. I feel sick - will be a while shaking that one off.