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Team Canada Basketball Thread

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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3461 » by frumble » Fri Nov 10, 2017 5:24 pm

TooBad wrote:
Looks like Bennett is healthy so he should be able to play for Canada (still pretty athletic for someone his size).


Yeah, he played 24 minutes last night and had 14 points and 9 rebounds.

Given our lack of viable big options, he might be our most critical player for the November games.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3462 » by RaptorsLife » Fri Nov 10, 2017 5:36 pm

Rj barrett deciding today
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3463 » by mojo13 » Fri Nov 10, 2017 6:21 pm

Nothing new from what I can find. Very frustrating.

Per Matt's comments I do have some sympathy for Canada Basketball, but it seems other comparable countries (ARG, BRA and most notable Euro countries) are not having a problem naming player pools and communicating it and communication their preparation efforts. Is our comparable bar for national team organization and structure the Virgin Islands, Columbia, Dominican Republic etc?
It just comes across as being disorganized or not applying the appropriate resources to organize this effort or marshal the troops. The banner across Michelle O'Keefe's Twitter page is a huge "EQUALITY". I know nothing about her, but when I see something like that it hits me in the gut that the entire ethos with Basketball Canada is to put as much money, effort and attention into the girls u16 program as the Senior Men's Team. That is not a recipe for success when dealing with professional male basketball players. The SMNT is the crown jewel of Canadian Basketball - the program that can garner national media attention on a consistent basis and it just comes across as disorganized and bush-league.

They have had over a year to work on this and gain commitment and support for the national team program. Who of our eligible players doesn't know if they have permission from their club to leave at this point? Some of our competitors are starting to practice this weekend. Yes, their advantage is most of their guys are domestic anyways - but still the Bahamas seems better organized than Canada.

Basketball Canada is tweeting away the last couple days about RJ's "decision" - is that really what matters? They really doing that on live TV? Really? Yet - nothing about the SMNT. I am probably just ranting at this point....


Brazil down to 14
http://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2019/americas-qualifiers/news/petrovic-cuts-brazils-preliminary-squad-for-americas-qualifiers-to-14-players

Argentina down to 13 (Scola included)
http://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2019/americas-qualifiers/news/scola-headlines-argentinas-new-13-player-preliminary-list-for-americas-qualifiers

Uraguay down to 14
http://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2019/americas-qualifiers/Uruguay#|tab=roster

Chile down to 14
http://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2019/americas-qualifiers/Chile#|tab=roster
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3464 » by mojo13 » Fri Nov 10, 2017 6:22 pm

Mirotic12 wrote:
aminiaturebuddha wrote:You're right, they're absolutely not wrong, which was an obvious drawback to the system from the first moment it was announced (and disproportionately bad for Canada). You would think that FIBA would want to design a system that would ensure that the best teams are able to play at its premier events.

I still don't understand why Canada Basketball didn't argue more strongly against the change a couple of years ago (but then again, that would presume a level of passion that, as you guys have noted, seems to be entirely missing from everywhere except on this board). And seeing all of the problems that European federations are having now, I just don't know why the hell everyone didn't see these potential problems two years ago when the change was first being discussed.


It's very obvious that FIBA only cares about money, and not the sport. EuroLeague is actually fighting for the sport. FIBA is doing this solely for the enormous increases in revenue that it will generate.

That's also why the national federations in Europe are so 100% in agreement with FIBA on this.

The old format was better for basketball, but much worse for revenues. This new format is bad for basketball, but will greatly increase the revenues of FIBA, the regional FIBA zones, and the national federations. I know with the European national federations, that they are giddy over this new change, because it will greatly increase their revenues.

The whole thing is solely about money, as far as FIBA and the national federations are concerned.



All true. FIBA is already announcing sell outs at some of the Asian qualifier games.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3465 » by mojo13 » Fri Nov 10, 2017 6:32 pm

frumble wrote:
TooBad wrote:
Looks like Bennett is healthy so he should be able to play for Canada (still pretty athletic for someone his size).


Yeah, he played 24 minutes last night and had 14 points and 9 rebounds.

Given our lack of viable big options, he might be our most critical player for the November games.



Yes - he had 6 offensive boards too. I've been looking at the G league box scores and it looks like XRM, Hanlan and Birch are dominating and each (with Bennett) would be a difference maker on the SMNT for the Qualifiers. Boucher is still hurt and has yet to play.

Long, Mulder, Best, Armadi seem all be so-so at best and depth guys who probably wouldn't give us much. And I'd much rather see some Euro/Asian pros instead (Srcubbs, Helsip, Ejim, Pierre).
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3466 » by aminiaturebuddha » Fri Nov 10, 2017 7:50 pm

While we're pulling our hair out waiting for any sign that Basketball Canada is taking these qualifiers seriously, and everyone else is waiting with bated breath to see where RJ Barrett will go next year, the NCAA season starts today and it's our first chance to see a number of Canada's great upcoming prospects at the next level.

Almost every team plays today, which means we'll get first impressions early. First up (amongst the Canadians), Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Virginia Tech at 6:00 pm EST.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3467 » by frumble » Fri Nov 10, 2017 8:15 pm

aminiaturebuddha wrote:While we're pulling our hair out waiting for any sign that Basketball Canada is taking these qualifiers seriously, and everyone else is waiting with bated breath to see where RJ Barrett will go next year, the NCAA season starts today and it's our first chance to see a number of Canada's great upcoming prospects at the next level.

Almost every team plays today, which means we'll get first impressions early. First up (amongst the Canadians), Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Virginia Tech at 6:00 pm EST.


I am very curious to see see how the Canadian freshmen do. In addition to NAW, other notables playing today:

7:00 SGA (Utah Valley at Kentucky)
7:00 Howard Washington and Oshae Brissett (Cornell at Syracuse)
7:00 Danilo Djuricic (MIT at Harvard)
7:00 Christian David (Kennesaw State at Butler)
8:00 Emmanuel Akot (Northern Arizona at Arizona)
9:00 Marcus Carr (Pitt at Navy)
9:00 Lindell Wigginton (Iowa State at Missouri)
12:00 Abu Kigab (Coppin State at Oregon)
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3468 » by mojo13 » Fri Nov 10, 2017 8:16 pm

Lavar Ball would never announce intent late on a Friday afternoon (on a semi-holiday no less). Another example how future wannebe sports agent Barrett Sr. and his cronies are a bunch of f-ing amateurs.

Oh look at me...I am just bitter and angry now....
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3469 » by frumble » Fri Nov 10, 2017 8:42 pm

mojo13 wrote:Lavar Ball would never announce intent late on a Friday afternoon (on a semi-holiday no less). Another example how future wannebe sports agent Barrett Sr. and his cronies are a bunch of f-ing amateurs.

Oh look at me...I am just bitter and angry now....


What bugs me is that it seems so many more Canadians know about Barrett's announcement today than know that we have a qualifying game in two weeks.

People I know who follow NBA closely but barely follow NCAA and don't care at all about national team, are all aware of Barrett announcement.

Will TSN (or Sportsnet) be broadcasting any of the qualifying games? Will they be running a preview show? Will they even have highlights on Sportscentre? Running score on ticker at bottom of screen on the 24th? Will they devote 1% of the attention they heap on the World Juniors to the SMNT? Will they devote 1/10 of the attention they put on Canada's soccer qualifying efforts to Canada's basketball qualifying efforts?

And how much of this is the fault of Basketball Canada?
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3470 » by Pooh_Jeter » Fri Nov 10, 2017 9:19 pm

I would say the blame largely rests in the hands of Basketball Canada, but certainly the sports media/broadcasters could do a much better job promoting basketball in general.

Canada Soccer has basically had no sustained success at the Senior or Junior levels since what, the late 80's? Despite this, I look at their corporate partnerships and overall visibility as a program compared to Canada Basketball and it isn't close IMO. It isn't as though the entire soccer framework in this country is some well oiled machine, they are constantly under scrutiny and has seen plenty of turnover. That being said, I think the program as a whole is in a positive place and certainly if there are qualifiers or friendlies being played I know they will be on TV and I know there will be at least some cursory coverage. They have done a better job parlaying the increased visibility of soccer thanks to the MLS than Basketball Canada has done with 20+ years of the NBA.

The most notable person under the Soccer Canada umbrella is probably Jason De Vos (former player for National Team) while you have Nash, Ujiri, Parrish, Gherardini, Grunwald and Barrett "involved" with Basketball Canada. This probably illustrates part of the problem. It's better to actually have boots on the ground working to make the program more visible rather than a bunch of figureheads. Half those guys I mentioned aren't even Canadian and have 0 skin in the game in terms of promoting Canada Basketball.

At every level of competition Canadians are becoming increasingly prominent yet broadcasters are not taking notice. Canadians love rooting for their fellow compatriots in any type competition. It's not like we are talking about some random sport with no established fan base in this country either. There is 0 reason between the 75 TSN and Sportsnet channels (and NBA TV Canada) that we can't see a consistent stream of Senior/Junior level competitions being broadcast as well as NCAA/NBA games that feature prominent Canadian players. There are basketball writers in the country who can easily provide even minimal coverage to these games as well.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3471 » by mojo13 » Fri Nov 10, 2017 10:42 pm

for any Twitter users - Steve Nash is doing a live Twitter broadcast at @2DadsUnited at 5pm PT / 8pm ET today taking questions from Twitter users.
It is supposedly a "Sports Show" but they end up talking soccer most of the time. Maybe a few more of the denizens here can jump on and pepper him non-stop (respectfully) about Team Canada basketball. You can do it live or at least as questions in their Twitter replies. I will try to.


And RJ is supposed to be going live on TSN at 6pm ET.
Oregon is my guess/preference.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3472 » by Yallbecrazy » Fri Nov 10, 2017 11:19 pm

DOOOOOK
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3473 » by aminiaturebuddha » Fri Nov 10, 2017 11:22 pm

Well damn. Duke is the one of the three that I least wanted him to go to. I was really pulling for Oregon. Oh well.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3474 » by TheFutureMM » Fri Nov 10, 2017 11:52 pm

frumble wrote:
aminiaturebuddha wrote:While we're pulling our hair out waiting for any sign that Basketball Canada is taking these qualifiers seriously, and everyone else is waiting with bated breath to see where RJ Barrett will go next year, the NCAA season starts today and it's our first chance to see a number of Canada's great upcoming prospects at the next level.

Almost every team plays today, which means we'll get first impressions early. First up (amongst the Canadians), Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Virginia Tech at 6:00 pm EST.


I am very curious to see see how the Canadian freshmen do. In addition to NAW, other notables playing today:

7:00 SGA (Utah Valley at Kentucky)
7:00 Howard Washington and Oshae Brissett (Cornell at Syracuse)
7:00 Danilo Djuricic (MIT at Harvard)
7:00 Christian David (Kennesaw State at Butler)
8:00 Emmanuel Akot (Northern Arizona at Arizona)
9:00 Marcus Carr (Pitt at Navy)
9:00 Lindell Wigginton (Iowa State at Missouri)
12:00 Abu Kigab (Coppin State at Oregon)


I'll be tuning in for the Iowa State game to watch Missouri, Michael Porter Jr, and Kassius Robertson (Canadian transfer) as well as the Oregon game afterwards - should be a fun night.

aminiaturebuddha wrote:Well damn. Duke is the one of the three that I least wanted him to go to. I was really pulling for Oregon. Oh well.


I think all of us were but let's be honest - Duke or Kentucky was pretty much a guarantee. There is a certain pedigree that they have that Oregon just doesn't at this stage. I'm not even mad as an Oregon fan.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3475 » by aminiaturebuddha » Sat Nov 11, 2017 12:04 am

Shai Alexander starting for Kentucky. Interesting. I know he had apparently impressed Calipari throughout training camp and exhibition games, but I didn't realize he would be starting over some of the other big names on the Wildcats.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3476 » by frumble » Sat Nov 11, 2017 3:37 am

The Alexander cousins with good debuts.

NAW with 24 pts, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists in 24 minutes for Vitginia Tech. 9/14 from the field.

SGA with 13 pts, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals in 36 minutes for Kentucky. 5/9 from the field. The 36 minutes especially impressive.

Wigginton and Iowa State struggling against Missouri. Down by 18 midway through the 2nd.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3477 » by TooBad » Sat Nov 11, 2017 3:46 am

aminiaturebuddha wrote:Well damn. Duke is the one of the three that I least wanted him to go to. I was really pulling for Oregon. Oh well.



Same...I F*cking hate Duke. Maybe RJ will end up being an NBA villain.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3478 » by TheFutureMM » Sat Nov 11, 2017 4:02 am

frumble wrote:The Alexander cousins with good debits.

NAW with 24 pts, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists in 24 minutes for Vitginia Tech. 9/14 from the field.

SGA with 13 pts, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals in 36 minutes for Kentucky. 5/9 from the field. The 36 minutes especially impressive.

Wigginton and Iowa State struggling against Missouri. Down by 18 midway through the 2nd.


I just watched the entire Mizzou and Iowa State game. Wigginton got a ton of minutes but looked really raw which isn't all that surprising - he is still has the same issues he's shown on the National team. Has a great first step and bounce but doesn't know how to finish over length and doesn't make the best decisions once he's committed to driving. Made a couple of jump shots though which is promising.

Hopefully he spends a lot of time at Iowa State refining his game - he has a lot of potential.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3479 » by aminiaturebuddha » Sat Nov 11, 2017 6:19 am

frumble wrote:
SGA with 13 pts, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals in 36 minutes for Kentucky. 5/9 from the field. The 36 minutes especially impressive.



I watched the whole Kentucky game, and I realize that this is extremely premature analysis based upon one game, but here goes:

He's very calm and controlled with the ball (probably why Calipari trusts him to play 36 minutes), and his defence was excellent for most of the game. The run that Kentucky went on to get back in the game at the beginning of the 2nd half was mostly due to SGA causing havoc on the defensive end and then making smart outlet passes for fast break opportunities.

That said, I really don't see him as a one-and-done player. He really lacks explosion in his first step. He had a hard time getting the jump on players from Utah Valley, I can only imagine the struggles he would have in the NBA. He also seems much more agile and coordinated on the defensive end than the offensive end - interesting as most young players seem to be the opposite.

Overall, he'll be a very good point guard, but I don't see enough of any one or two things that he excels at that would suggest to me that he'd be ready for the NBA in a year's time. Maybe he'll develop quickly, but I just don't see it yet based upon what I saw in this game where he actually played fairly well.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread (FIBA Americas Aug 25 - Sep 3) 

Post#3480 » by TheFutureMM » Sat Nov 11, 2017 2:14 pm

aminiaturebuddha wrote:
frumble wrote:
SGA with 13 pts, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals in 36 minutes for Kentucky. 5/9 from the field. The 36 minutes especially impressive.



I watched the whole Kentucky game, and I realize that this is extremely premature analysis based upon one game, but here goes:

He's very calm and controlled with the ball (probably why Calipari trusts him to play 36 minutes), and his defence was excellent for most of the game. The run that Kentucky went on to get back in the game at the beginning of the 2nd half was mostly due to SGA causing havoc on the defensive end and then making smart outlet passes for fast break opportunities.

That said, I really don't see him as a one-and-done player. He really lacks explosion in his first step. He had a hard time getting the jump on players from Utah Valley, I can only imagine the struggles he would have in the NBA. He also seems much more agile and coordinated on the defensive end than the offensive end - interesting as most young players seem to be the opposite.

Overall, he'll be a very good point guard, but I don't see enough of any one or two things that he excels at that would suggest to me that he'd be ready for the NBA in a year's time. Maybe he'll develop quickly, but I just don't see it yet based upon what I saw in this game where he actually played fairly well.


You nailed it. A lot of what you are saying is the exact same criticism that I had of him going into this season. We have to look at these guys as if they would be eligible for the National Team in roughly two years and I don't know if any of these Freshman could beat out Pangos, Scrubb, XRM, or Hanlan let alone our NBA players. Maybe in two years but I doubt it.

The encouraging thing that I saw last night is a lot of our guys are getting minutes.

Both Alexanders, Brissett, and Akot all played at least 24 minutes. As well, Justin Jackson played 30 minutes and had 14 rebounds but missed every single 3-pointer he took last night - ouch. He's going to have to make those to have any shot at the NBA.

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