Team Canada Basketball Thread V3.0

[TrueNorth31]

More details on the Victoria Tournament bubble.

https://www.timescolonist.com/beta/sports/victoria-among-four-canadian-cities-to-host-quarantine-bubbles-for-olympic-athletes-1.24333225

It seems quite strict .Not really a lot a lot of fun and games for the athletes. No strolling along the inner harbour front, sipping tea at the Empress or eating at Pagliacci's for these guys I guess.

[TrueNorth31]

Greece and Serbia on now;

Watch on YouTube

[mojo13]

Nick Calathes joined the Greek team.

They pick up a possible starting PG.

[Mirotic12]

Greece will supposedly name their 12 man team on Monday. Evidently, Vassilis Spanoulis might be out of the team, due to his calf injury. They will apparently discuss whether they want him to play, since he will play injured.

Georgios Papagiannis also might be out with an abdomen injury.

It sounds about 50/50 on whether those two would play.

Nick Calathes, and Spanoulis (if he plays) will not have any practices. Calathes needs rest, and Spanoulis because of his calf. Pitino said he is concerned because neither one of them would have had enough prep time to learn the sets, system, plays.

Pitino's original offense was apparently designed around Spanoulis first and then Georgios Printezis second, and he had to change it completely because of their injuries. So because of that, there might be "chemistry issues", since Calathes and Spanoulis won't have any practices before the tournament.

Pitino doesn't seem to like the travel and schedule. He didn't seem to like the very early flight time Friday (5:45 am local time), the very long total travel time (15 hours), and the having to take a ferry thing.......

[Kenter16]

Greece will supposedly name their 12 man team on Monday. Evidently, Vassilis Spanoulis might be out of the team, due to his calf injury. They will apparently discuss whether they want him to play, since he will play injured.

Georgios Papagiannis also might be out with an abdomen injury.

It sounds about 50/50 on whether those two would play.

Nick Calathes, and Spanoulis (if he plays) will not have any practices. Calathes needs rest, and Spanoulis because of his calf. Pitino said he is concerned because neither one of them would have had enough prep time to learn the sets, system, plays.

Pitino's original offense was apparently designed around Spanoulis first and then Georgios Printezis second, and he had to change it completely because of their injuries. So because of that, there might be "chemistry issues", since Calathes and Spanoulis won't have any practices before the tournament.

Pitino doesn't seem to like the travel and schedule. He didn't seem to like the very early flight time and the very long travel length, and the having to take a ferry thing.......

Travel issues are always a concern when Canada goes to play anywhere. I am happy to return the favour.

Sounds like Greece won't be the threat we thought they would be a year ago. Looking at Turkey and the Czech's as the biggest threats. It's likely we have to beat both to get into the Olympics.

[Mirotic12]

Travel issues are always a concern when Canada goes to play anywhere. I am happy to return the favour.

Sounds like Greece won't be the threat we thought they would be a year ago. Looking at Turkey and the Czech's as the biggest threats. It's likely we have to beat both to get into the Olympics.

Czech Republic has a nice team, and Greece has lots of missing players and injury issues, but even then no, Czech Republic is not a bigger threat to Canada. Whatever team Greece ends up with, it will definitely have more talent than the Czech team.

Of course anything can happen in these types of tournaments, and even a team like Uruguay is certainly a threat in single games. But Greece is still going to have more depth and offensive firepower than Czech Republic will.

[BilboBanginz]

I watched most of the two G-League combine games yesterday on Twitch. Some good games by the Canadians in attendance.

Marcus Carr: 21 Pts (8/15 FGs - 4/7 from three), 5 Asts in 21 minutes

AJ Lawson: 11 Pts, 9 Rbs in 24 minutes - His only FGs were two threes but he got to the line a lot (5/7 FTs).

Eugene Omoruyi: 4 Pts (1/6 FGs), 7 Rbs, 2 Asts, 3 Stls in 21 minutes - Did not play will offensively but was great defensively and looked like the hardest working guy on the court.

Dalano Banton: 0 Pts (0/5 FGs), 8 Rbs, 4 Asts in 19 minutes - Did not play very well. Made a lot of mistakes on offense. Probably a 4 year college guy.

Several guys from this camp will be invited to the NBA Combine. I think Marcus Carr may be one of them.

[BilboBanginz]

Is today the day we finally find out who is at camp?? (probably not).

[Petrovic]

Is today the day we finally find out who is at camp?? (probably not).

https://www.basketball.ca/news/19-athletes-participating-in-senior-mens-national-team-camp-ahead-of-fiba-olympic-qualifying-tournament

[arbsn]

Is today the day we finally find out who is at camp?? (probably not).

https://www.basketball.ca/news/19-athletes-participating-in-senior-mens-national-team-camp-ahead-of-fiba-olympic-qualifying-tournament

Of course Doornekamp is going to make the team….

[Mattd97]

Is today the day we finally find out who is at camp?? (probably not).

https://www.basketball.ca/news/19-athletes-participating-in-senior-mens-national-team-camp-ahead-of-fiba-olympic-qualifying-tournament

Of course Doornekamp is going to make the team….

All we can hope for is that he's not brought in for game (full cycle+) deciding possessions

[frumble]

Assuming no other changes, I think we are looking at:

Joseph
TBH
Dort
NAW
Mulder or Nembhard

Wiggins
Barrett

Ejim
Lyles
Nicholson
Powell
Bennett or Doornekamp or Klassen

[TheFutureMM]

Assuming no other changes, I think we are looking at:

Joseph
TBH
Dort
NAW
Mulder or Nembhard

Wiggins
Barrett

Ejim
Lyles
Nicholson
Powell
Bennett or Doornekamp or Klassen

I can't believe we went from likely having 2 of Birch, Thompson, and Olynyk to none. Credit to Nicholson who has been answering the call ever since I started following this team back in 2011. I also can't believe how old Doornekamp is now - he's 35! Credit to him for also showing up.

[BilboBanginz]

Is today the deadline for teams to submit rosters?

[mojo13]

Is today the deadline for teams to submit rosters?

I don't think the final 12 needs to be submitted until 24 hours before the first game. Not totally certain though.

I assume they take an extended roster to Victoria due to Covid (+2 or +4?) and could even dip into it mid tournament if there are any covid issues. I read somewhere they were giving added flexibility to rosters due to Covid this time around.

[Stromile12]

Safe to assume that murray going down impacted other players decisions

[mojo13]

Alright so what do we have here? Something like:

Guards: Joseph/NAW/Trae Bell Haynes/ Mulder (Nembhard)

Wings: Barrett, Wiggins, Dort, Ejim (Doornekamp)

Bigs: Lyles, Powell, Nicholson, Bennett (Klassen)

Hopefully the final three don't matter much and Nurse is focused on the top 8 or 9.


Still the best talent in the tournament (by far) and the most talented group Canada has ever assembled? (only 2018 WC Summer Window Qualifier team could rival it).

Strength is obviously in the the Wings with Barrett, Wiggins, Dort and then the guards with CoJo, NAW, Mulder.

In this short prep time defense and transition offense will likely be the calling cards. I bet the half court sets look really ugly with allot of bad one v one play. I imagine Barrett, NAW and Wiggins beating there perimter defenders only to get crushed in the paint and often unable to pass out of it. The three point shooting seems ok at best. Barrett ended well - but is still a little unproven. CoJo, NAW, Wiggins and especially Dort are pretty streaky. Mulder seems the only real deep threat to count on but he'd be a deep rotation piece no?

I am very curious to see what kind of havoc Dort and CoJo can create on opposing guards. NAW might be the most dynamic of the guards and should have a meaningful role, but is young and with CoJo one of the most experienced FIBA players on the team, CoJo's going to need to be the lead guard.

The bigs are seemingly the weakness here, but that might be because of what could have been if the just a couple more showed up (Olynyk/Birch). But still - Lyles/Powell/Nicholson are probably the best trio of bigs in the tournament. Each has severe limitations and not much rim protection, defense between or even rebounding among the three, but Powell is an elite rim running big and one of the best in the world at finishing PnRs. This can be a great weapon if Nurse can unlock it. Nicholson has been lighting it up in China for years - (but it is China!) shooting well into the 40% range from three on very heavy volume. I think he is an upgrade over Kyle Wiltjer at least. Offense is not the worry with Nicholson, but he is a black hole and not a great defender (better than Wiltjer).
Lyles is a mystery man - he has had good stretches in the NBA (this season was not one of them) and has shown to be a decent shooting and rebounding big when given minutes. No idea what kind of shape he is in having not played since the ASB. We might get a little beaten up in the paint - but the big guards and wings should help. Hopefully that doesn't kill our transition game though as Barrett, Dort or Wiggins might need to stay home to help secure rebounds.

The other issue is who leads the team? CoJo is the senior guy, but not the most talented and not who I want taking crunch time shots. Wiggins is clearly the beta type but an excellent one at that. Barrett is the lead dog type but he is only 21. But it seems like Barrett is going to be the guy right?

Overall an interesting mix of young dynamic talent (Barrett, NAW, Dort, Wiggins) and some vets to steady the boat (CoJo, Powell, Ejim, Nicholson)

The talent is there, but with this terribly short prep time, it could not be enough.


what do you guys think?




Turkey just secured Ilyasova and Kormaz and will have there best team since the 2010 WCs where they won silver.

[Mattd97]

I was just wondering about wiljter before you said that. Wonder if he'd make it as we are very short on shooting. A Birch for defence wouldve been huge.
Hopefully Powell and our wings can work a good 2 man team with his elite screening.
Worried that despite our terrific perimeter D that a team could get hot and our defence won't matter as much if they're bombing away and we can't keep up


Pretty funny that iggy and Naz might actually make this team. Though gotta say I don't see Naz on any of these Greek posts

[TrueNorth31]

Latest press conference;

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[ItsDanger]

Didn't know Mathurin was there. He's a legit lottery player for 2022 draft. Wonder if he makes the team, strictly a SF I think, his 3 pt shot is NBA level already.