Team Canada Basketball Thread

[slothrop8]

Birch added as well.

Huge gets in position of big need.

Birch as well? Excellent. Now I'm back to being interested again.

[frumble]

Birch added as well.

Huge gets in position of big need.

Birch as well? Excellent. Now I'm back to being interested again.

Yeah, per Lewenberg, Birch is in camp and has been added to the player pool.

Now looking the majority of C/F minutes going to:

Birch
Bennett
Ejim
Pierre

With three of the others making the roster in support roles:
Kendall, Bhullar, T. Scrubb, Klassen, and Hinz.

[mojo13]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/JLew1050/status/743125048706404352[/tweet]

That's huge. Scoff if you must - but Anthony Bennett could easily lead this team in scoring and rebounding as presently comprised. Joseph may end up scoring more - but Bennett immediately become our best front court player. Exciting news.

Too sad to scoff.

If this keeps Hinz and/or T. Scrubb off the roster I am all for it.

Can we start a frontline of Ejim, Pierre, and Bennett?

Possible...can Ejim play the three and we run Birch out there? He had a really good year in Turkey and we will need his rebounding and rim protection.
Still an undersized team but could be pretty fast and athletic.

Solid reports of Bennett impressing staff at both the Nets and Knicks FA camps.

[tout court]

I guess my info was right lol

If you've got a brown envelope with leaked information, now is the time to send it to a trusted media source.

Maybe Canada Basketball is subject to Freedom of Information Act requests? Unless Barrett, Nash, etc did a Hilary and installed their own servers, someone knows where the dead bodies are buried so to speak. But someone needs to write a definitive history of Canada Basketball and how this BS happens to occur over and over and over again.

Because in 2016 there is no way that Tom Scrubb and Tyson Hinz should be in consideration for roster positions for an international tournament of this magnitude. Takes me back to the god damn dark days of J.D. Jackson, Titus Channer, Andy Kwiatkowski, and Eric Hinrichsen playing in international tournaments. Tremendous CIS players in their own right and worthy of respect for being Moser award winners, but it was bad then on the international scene, and it is bad now with their present-day equivalents.

[super_balls]

Birch added as well.

Huge gets in position of big need.

Birch as well? Excellent. Now I'm back to being interested again.

I've liked Birch a lot. He's like a poor man's Prime Larry Sanders.

[slothrop8]

Birch added as well.

Huge gets in position of big need.

Birch as well? Excellent. Now I'm back to being interested again.

I've liked Birch a lot. He's like a poor man's Prime Larry Sanders.

I've never understood why Birch hasn't gotten an NBA look.

[super_balls]

I've never understood why Birch hasn't gotten an NBA look.

I agree, it could be due to size but he should get a look soon.

[mojo13]

Birch as well? Excellent. Now I'm back to being interested again.

I've liked Birch a lot. He's like a poor man's Prime Larry Sanders.

I've never understood why Birch hasn't gotten an NBA look.

He has been looked at plenty just no one has bit (yet). he is obviously small for his position and there are less roles in the NBA for guys like him. Very small 5 or a 4 who cant shoot? Can he guard the 5s in the NBA? Historically he had virtually no offensive outside of 3-5 feet. He was great in turkey because he was just so much more athletic, quicker than his counterparts in the Turkish league. He ran circles around them.

He has slowly been expanding his offensive game last year in the D and this year in Europe. If he can build just a little offensive game besides rolls and putbacks he will get harder looks.

Larry Sanders, Biyombo? Birch can find a place.

[frumble]

I think this is about the team we expected a couple weeks ago.

Olynyk's injury and Thompson's status were known. Stauskas, Pangos, and Wiggins not showing was expected (or at least strongly suspected).

The only surprising absence is Hanlan, but given the Staff's preference for Scrubb, that doesn't matter that much.
I guess Doornekamp's absence a surprise too.

A return to the program of K. Joseph or Rautins would have been nice, but wasn't realistic.

So this is where we thought we would be (except for Brooks' injury).

[tout court]

I think this is about the team we expected a couple weeks ago.

Olynyk's injury and Thompson's status were known. Stauskas, Pangos, and Wiggins not showing was expected (or at least strongly suspected).

The only surprising absence is Hanlan, but given the Staff's preference for Scrubb, that doesn't matter that much.
I guess Doornekamp's absence a surprise too.

A return to the program of K. Joseph or Rautins would have been nice, but wasn't realistic.

So this is where we thought we would be (except for Brooks' injury).

But that is exactly the point I was trying to make in my previous post, why is it unrealistic that Rautins or K. Joseph might return? What went down?

And this still doesn't explain Lyles' absence. With him there would be a decent rotation of bigs--especially if TT were to join. Also, despite his seemingly awful season, I can't believe Hanlan is persona non grata with this squad.

I appreciate Lewenberg being in attendance, but ask a god damn tough question on occasion. Ruffle a feather. What are they going to do, cut off his access? And what is the point of getting scoops if you can't report them, just sitting on a bunch of gossip then.

Any chance Matt Bonner is finally naturalized? We are one big away from not being completely embarrassed. And maybe a wing too ...

[frumble]

I think this is about the team we expected a couple weeks ago.

Olynyk's injury and Thompson's status were known. Stauskas, Pangos, and Wiggins not showing was expected (or at least strongly suspected).

The only surprising absence is Hanlan, but given the Staff's preference for Scrubb, that doesn't matter that much.
I guess Doornekamp's absence a surprise too.

A return to the program of K. Joseph or Rautins would have been nice, but wasn't realistic.

So this is where we thought we would be (except for Brooks' injury).

But that is exactly the point I was trying to make in my previous post, why is it unrealistic that Rautins or K. Joseph might return? What went down?

And this still doesn't explain Lyles' absence. With him there would be a decent rotation of bigs--especially if TT were to join. Also, despite his seemingly awful season, I can't believe Hanlan is persona non grata with this squad.

I appreciate Lewenberg being in attendance, but ask a god damn tough question on occasion. Ruffle a feather. What are they going to do, cut off his access? And what is the point of getting scoops if you can't report them, just sitting on a bunch of gossip then.

Any chance Matt Bonner is finally naturalized? We are one big away from not being completely embarrassed. And maybe a wing too ...

I don't know what went down between Kris Joseph and the program that summer he left suddenly (ostensibly to play in China, where he never ended up playing). His numbers in Europe since then have been underwhelming, but, yeah, given that T. Scrubb is possibly the back up 3, we could use him. We could even use Shepherd or Doornekamp.

But I also see why these guys wouldn't show - they are often cast aside the moment a higher tier guy decides to show.

I forgot about Lyles. Yes, we could have used him this summer. Not sure if he is going to end up playing summer league again, or if Jazz pressure him not to play.

In an interview a few months ago Hanlan was talking about looking forward to playing for Canada this summer. Not sure what happened.

Yes, I completely agree that media coverage of the program is woefully lacking. No one reports on them, let along asks the tough questions. If I want coverage of the NBA finals, I am going to get it from US sources, not Wolstat, Lewenberg, Grange, etc. Those guys should be filling the niche of providing Canadian program coverage.

Yannopoulos seems to be the only guy willing to criticize the lack of participation (he notes that Wiggins is having a basketball camp at Kansas a few days after the qualifier. I wonder how that aligns with his dedication to the upcoming season having his total focus).

Yannopoulos also tweets that Basketball Canada "must do a better job cultivating relationships with the NBA pro's and their people."

The question is how?

[pantalones]

PG: Ennis
SG: Cojo
SF: Ejim
PF: Bennett
C: Birch

I guess, I'd go with this starting lineup, pretty athletic if nothing else.

[pantalones]

What about Dalembert? Leo's not affiliated with the program anymore.

[aminiaturebuddha]

PG: Ennis
SG: Cojo
SF: Ejim
PF: Bennett
C: Birch

I guess, I'd go with this starting lineup, pretty athletic if nothing else.

Well, that's much better than the lineup I thought I'd woken up to this morning with T. Scrubb and Anthony starting. It's still going to be damn tough to beat either Turkey or France (and the other games aren't gimmes either) and qualify, but at least now we've got a fighting chance in a short tournament.

We just need Bennett, Cojo and Heslip to bring the offence, Birch to provide interior defence, Ejim and Pierre to be 3 and D monsters, and Ennis to get dribble penetration and run the show. Not impossible, just very, very unlikely.

[mojo13]

Good Vice article on Stauskas.
https://sports.vice.com/ca/article/nik-stauskas-has-the-will-now-he-needs-to-find-a-way

This will be the most important summer of his young career. Next season is the final year of his rookie deal, and he still has much to prove. His coach in Philadelphia, Brett Brown, says Stauskas needs to come back stronger and tougher. "There's a cocky side that I want to see from him," Brown says. "A physical side that I want to see from him. We want to grow him to be a two-way player, this league is about two-way players." Stauskas' future, Brown says, will be based on his body and his physicality. Whether he can get hit and keep moving forward.

[frumble]

Canada dropped its U17 exhibition opener to France today. 86-85 in OT.


Re the SMNT, Lewenberg tweeted that Triano said the team would be cut to 12(ish) players today, but that they could still add.

[mojo13]

Canada dropped its U17 exhibition opener to France today. 86-85 in OT.


Re the SMNT, Lewenberg tweeted that Triano said the team would be cut to 12(ish) players today, but that they could still add.

I assume Barrett wasnt there..but Shi-ttu was?


Also Khem Birch signed with Olympiacos today of the Euroleague for about 900K Euros (net and all expenses paid) for 2 years. That is about equivalent to $1M US per year gross. I think he will be the back-up C behind Patric Young and replacing Othello Hunter who left for Real Madrid.

[frumble]

Canada dropped its U17 exhibition opener to France today. 86-85 in OT.

I assume Barrett wasnt there..but Shi-ttu was?

I don't know. I saw some footage on Facebook, but could only make out Djuricic, Nembhard, Akot, and Brazdeikis.

The camera work was pretty bad, and I only watched a couple minutes, so certainly possible that Shi-ttu was there.

Hopefully Basketball Canada has an article or at least a tweet up soon.

[Mirotic12]

He has been looked at plenty just no one has bit (yet). he is obviously small for his position and there are less roles in the NBA for guys like him. Very small 5 or a 4 who cant shoot? Can he guard the 5s in the NBA? Historically he had virtually no offensive outside of 3-5 feet. He was great in turkey because he was just so much more athletic, quicker than his counterparts in the Turkish league. He ran circles around them.

He has slowly been expanding his offensive game last year in the D and this year in Europe. If he can build just a little offensive game besides rolls and putbacks he will get harder looks.

Larry Sanders, Biyombo? Birch can find a place.

Actually, in good Euroopean leagues the vast majority of teams have small ball centers that are extremely athletic and very fast. That's how almost all the good European leagues play. Small, very quick, and very, very athletic centers are extremely commonplace in Europe.

Classic big and slow centers are generally much more frowned upon in European leagues than they are in the NBA. With most coaches in Europe not even wanting any on their team, and with even the best classic centers in Europe usually struggling to find teams to sign them. That's why so many 7 footers leave Europe and go to the NBA, because the modern European style of game does not usually include true big men.

Also Khem Birch signed with Olympiacos today of the Euroleague for about 900K Euros (net and all expenses paid) for 2 years. That is about equivalent to $1M US per year gross. I think he will be the back-up C behind Patric Young and replacing Othello Hunter who left for Real Madrid.

I think the reason why Birch was put in Canada's NT equation is because he just signed a 2 year contract with Olympiacos.

He's also getting a lot more money than that from Olympiacos. The net income amount (how European teams report the salary) is $1.239 million, and for NBA terms (gross amount, how the NBA reports salaries) the pay is $2.058 million.

Birch will reportedly alternate between being Olympiacos' 2nd and 3rd center, depending on match ups. But that's OK, that means he would get playing time. Because Olympiacos uses an 11 man rotation overall, and they use a 3 center rotation.

[Pooh_Jeter]

Don't sleep on Levon Kendall, he played very well for Canada when he has had the opportunity. Haven't seen him recently due to the personal troubles he had, but IMO he is an absolute lock on the team given the dearth of options Canada has up front.

Birch, Bennett, Kendall and Ejim is a pretty solid 4 man rotation up front. It would be nice to have Anthony as the 5th man to provide some defense/rebounding as needed, but worse case scenario I think Bhullar is a decent option as a 5th option. Certainly you don't want to be playing him big minutes, but for 5-10 minutes here and there you could do worse.

I thought XRM was on some of the preliminary rosters, what happened to him? Seems like he could have had a pretty solid shot at making the roster if he was here. Chris Egi hasn't done much at Harvard, but he was highly recruited and had a lot of success with the Junior National Team. With Bennett and Birch in the fold now I suppose it isn't an issue, but I would think he would have been an interesting option if those guys were question marks.

I have to wonder how much the insurance costs have played a role in the turn out. It's not as though the basketball program is flush with money. It would be disappointing if that was a factor in the roster selection at all.