Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0

[SharoneWright]

Signs of life-

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[Dr Comeback]

Yep, a very good step towards qualification for Canada. Hopefully this will help convince some of the more important players to suit up. It'll be a big commitment next summer, with the qualification games, and then if they move on, the Olympics a month later (not really enough time for much in between), so the less travel the better.

Even if we can get 4 or 5 of the NBA guys for the qualifiers I think we'd have a good chance of moving on. Something along the lines of Olynyk, Birch, Clark, Brooks and Joseph would be a very good start, even without bigger names like Murray, SGA or Wiggins.

And Team Canada should make it clear that participation in the qualifiers will be a strong factor in who goes to the Olympics if we qualify. For instance, if all of our bigs are interested, and it comes down to TT, Olynyk, Powell, Birch, Lyles, Clark, Boucher, Ejim and Kabengele, the 4 or 5 Olympics roster slots go to those who play on the qualifier team.

Personally I think this is a "burn the boats" situation.

IMO anyone who doesn't participate should be disqualified from any further Team Canada participation period. If you aren't going to play now, when will you ever play?


at the VERY LEAST anyone who doesn't play should not be considered for the olympic team.

[SpaceCenter]

Alexander-walker finally had his break out game tonight 27 pts.

[frumble]

Updated WAR numbers from fivethirtyeight

Thompson +1.6
Wiggins +1.0
Brooks +0.6
Olynyk +0.5
Clarke +0.4

Murray +0.4
Powell +0.3
SGA +0.3
Lyles +0.2
Barrett +0.1

NAW -0.0
Joseph -0.3

Re Wiggins, fivethirtyeight article re his good start to the season:

https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/weve-been-waiting-for-this-andrew-wiggins/

...

One of the key ingredients in Wiggins’s resurgence has been a dramatic uptick in scoring efficiency despite a concurrent increase in usage rate, which doesn’t usually happen. A year after letting his true shooting percentage dip below 50 percent for the first time in his career, Wiggins is now up to a career-high 56.3 mark, to go with a usage of 28.3 percent — 3.9 points higher than last year — as well. He has connected for career-best shooting percentages on both 2-pointers (53.2) and 3-pointers (36.1), despite being assisted on the lowest share of made baskets in his career to date, per data from Cleaning the Glass.

This mix of volume and efficiency is rare. Wiggins is one of only 17 players this season with a true shooting percentage of at least 56 percent and a usage rate of at least 28 percent — joining an elite offensive list with names like James Harden, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard on it. And it bears mentioning that, at 6.3 percent, Wiggins also has the lowest turnover rate of anybody on that list.

...

But of course, as we’ve written about before, there’s always a catch with Wiggins. Even in a breakout season, his offensive PREDATOR ranks only 53rd among players with at least 150 minutes played, putting Wiggins at roughly the same level as Will Barton and Buddy Hield. Why? Despite the improved scoring, his shot selection inherently limits his ceiling, and even with an improved assist rate, he still doesn’t pass enough (or draw enough fouls) to enhance his offensive value much otherwise. And then there’s defense, where Wiggins still ranks as decidedly subpar. According to defensive PREDATOR, he sits 188th out of 252 players with at least 150 minutes this season — and again, that’s after filtering out the inherent bad luck in things like his -11.4 on-versus-off defensive plus/minus per 100 possessions.

[aminiaturebuddha]

Does anyone know why Wiggins has been out the last two games (corresponding with two bad losses for Minny)? Apparently it's for "personal reasons" but I haven't heard any more than that. It would be a shame for him to lose the momentum of these great first few weeks of the season he's been having.

[Hair Canada]

Does anyone know why Wiggins has been out the last two games (corresponding with two bad losses for Minny)? Apparently it's for "personal reasons" but I haven't heard any more than that. It would be a shame for him to lose the momentum of these great first few weeks of the season he's been having.

Death of his grandmother. Should probably be back next game.

[aminiaturebuddha]

Marial Shayok was named G-League player of the week for the first week of its season.

I know it's just G-League, but these are some impressive numbers: 35.0 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 3.7 apg.

Nice to see him get off to a good start. I'm not sure that there's going to be any room for him in Philly this year, but hopefully he'll have a good season and impress people so that he can maybe work his way onto an NBA roster next year.

[Patman]

Yep, a very good step towards qualification for Canada. Hopefully this will help convince some of the more important players to suit up. It'll be a big commitment next summer, with the qualification games, and then if they move on, the Olympics a month later (not really enough time for much in between), so the less travel the better.

Even if we can get 4 or 5 of the NBA guys for the qualifiers I think we'd have a good chance of moving on. Something along the lines of Olynyk, Birch, Clark, Brooks and Joseph would be a very good start, even without bigger names like Murray, SGA or Wiggins.

And Team Canada should make it clear that participation in the qualifiers will be a strong factor in who goes to the Olympics if we qualify. For instance, if all of our bigs are interested, and it comes down to TT, Olynyk, Powell, Birch, Lyles, Clark, Boucher, Ejim and Kabengele, the 4 or 5 Olympics roster slots go to those who play on the qualifier team.

Personally I think this is a "burn the boats" situation.

IMO anyone who doesn't participate should be disqualified from any further Team Canada participation period. If you aren't going to play now, when will you ever play?


at the VERY LEAST anyone who doesn't play should not be considered for the olympic team.

I think we’ll get more participation for the qualifiers than the Olympics actually. Playing at home vs. travelling to Asia.

I’m almost sure there are going to be players on the Olympic squad (if we make it) that don’t play in the qualifiers.

[Patman]

The other hosts are Croatia, Lithuania, and Serbia. That’s great news that we won’t have to play those teams.

[mojo13]

Marial Shayok was named G-League player of the week for the first week of its season.

I know it's just G-League, but these are some impressive numbers: 35.0 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 3.7 apg.

Nice to see him get off to a good start. I'm not sure that there's going to be any room for him in Philly this year, but hopefully he'll have a good season and impress people so that he can maybe work his way onto an NBA roster next year.

I think he is in line for a call up. Sixer fans seems to be calling for it. They have been struggling with bench scoring all season and Shayok may be able to help.

He is a two way so he is probably going to get some time.

[aminiaturebuddha]

Marial Shayok was named G-League player of the week for the first week of its season.

I know it's just G-League, but these are some impressive numbers: 35.0 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 3.7 apg.

Nice to see him get off to a good start. I'm not sure that there's going to be any room for him in Philly this year, but hopefully he'll have a good season and impress people so that he can maybe work his way onto an NBA roster next year.

I think he is in line for a call up. Sixer fans seems to be calling for it. They have been struggling with bench scoring all season and Shayok may be able to help.

He is a two way so he is probably going to get some time.

I hope you're right, I'm just not sure whose wing minutes he's going to take. Korkmaz has actually been playing really well, and everyone seems really high on Thybulle as a future All-Defensive Team type player, even though his shooting has been terrible, not to mention that they still give bench minutes to James Ennis. But maybe they'll just swap Shayok and Thybulle for a few games and see if Matisse can work on his offence in the G-League and give Marial a shot.

[frumble]

Naz Long getting some time with the Pacers. 12 points in 25 minutes last night.

Brazdeikis back in the G and scored 36 last night (on 16/28 shooting).

On Sunday Clarke was 8/8 and his shooting % is now up to 65% (including 8/16 from 3). That is 2nd highest in the league.

[mojo13]

Naz Long getting some time with the Pacers. 12 points in 25 minutes last night.

Brazdeikis back in the G and scored 36 last night (on 16/28 shooting).

On Sunday Clarke was 8/8 and his shooting % is now up to 65% (including 8/16 from 3). That is 2nd highest in the league.

50/40/90 club? No rookie has ever done that.

F that! Clarke is in the 60/50/90 club.

Incredible.

I thought this player comparison with 23 year old Blake Griffin (3rd season) is pretty interesting. Especially the per 36 and per 100 possessions.
https://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.fcgi?request=1&sum=0&player_id1_hint=Brandon+Clarke&player_id1_select=Brandon+Clarke&y1=2020&player_id1=clarkbr01&idx=players&player_id2_hint=Blake+Griffin&player_id2_select=Blake+Griffin&y2=2013&player_id2=griffbl01&idx=players

In many ways he looks better than 3rd year Griffin. Efficiency, has a three pointer, hits FTs, plays defense etc. Where is the hype machine? Clarke may be a star in the making.

EDIT: Oops he missed a couple FT last night and is down to 86%.

[BilboBanginz]

Nate Darling is currently 5th in NCAA D1 PPG at 26.4 PPG (71 TS%), and his team is 6-0, albeit against pretty weak competition.

[mojo13]

Nate Darling is currently 5th in NCAA D1 PPG at 26.4 PPG (71 TS%), and his team is 6-0, albeit against pretty weak competition.

Any fire with the this smoke? That is some pretty elite shooting and at 6'5 he is not that small. It seems his scoring acumen is not just limited to 3s as he is efficiently scoring all over the court. He is 58% from three on 8 attempts per game.

Hair - if he keeps up anything close to this scorching pace is there an NBA player in there?

With the slow start by Nembhard and ok start with Lawson we need one more to believe in!

[casoldi]

Nate Darling is currently 5th in NCAA D1 PPG at 26.4 PPG (71 TS%), and his team is 6-0, albeit against pretty weak competition.

Any fire with the this smoke? That is some pretty elite shooting and at 6'5 he is not that small. It seems his scoring acumen is not just limited to 3s as he is efficiently scoring all over the court. He is 58% from three on 8 attempts per game.

Hair - if he keeps up anything close to this scorching pace is there an NBA player in there?

With the slow start by Nembhard and ok start with Lawson we need one more to believe in!

I would also keep an eye on Isiaha Mike on SMU.

17.8 points on 55%fg, 47.4%3fg and 90%ft at 6'8".

SMU is also 4-0

Sent from my SM-G955W using Tapatalk

[Hair Canada]

Love what our Darling Nate is doing so far. I haven't had a chance to watch him. I wrote before the season he might be quite good this year but didn't expect him to be that good.

BUT, it's only six games and against weak competition. I expect the stats will regress toward the average with the season and the question is how much. There's always room in the NBA for great shooters, even if that's pretty much all they can do (provided that they're not unplayable defensively). But being a great shooter in college does not automatically make you even a good NBA shooter. Darling is an okay, but not a great athlete. Also didn't have a great handle or passing in the past (not sure how much he improved on that). So I think he'll need to maintain something close to what he's showing now in terms of shooting to have a crack at the draft this year. Alternatively, he can move to a top-dog college next year and if he can show this consistently against better competition he might make it.

Certainly rooting for him. Given that Wigginton doesn't really seem to be NBA-material, it would be great to have another NS prospect.

[Kenter16]

“For sure,” Boucher said earlier this week of possibly playing in the OQT. “If I get the invite, I’ll be there.”

Sounds like Boucher is in for next summer.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/nba/chris-bouchers-emergence-positive-sign-raptors-canada-basketball/sn-amp/


Pretty positive stuff coming from the Canadian guys that are commenting on the OQT.

[Johnny Bball]

I sat beside a high level guy who explained the entire situation to me yesterday. Canada Basketball is not flush with cash by any means. They need to insure a massive amount of money to get guys to play. They cannot play without that and they cannot get this done. Guys not playing comes down to nothing more than a financial equation that can't be solved yet (and the amount was astronomical) It's not that they aren't patriotic or don't want to play.

And there are former players and execs that donate large sums of money that you don't know they do (they prefer to keep it quiet) and it's some of the guys that have been crucified in this thread.

[BilboBanginz]

Elijah Fisher mini-doc

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