Team Canada Basketball Thread V3.0

[DreamTeam09]

Best prospect since wiggins

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Nowhere on this list. Wiggins would have been #1.
http://www.espn.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/playerrankings/_/class/2025/view/super60/sort/rank/order/true

that's only players who play in America

This kids nice, but he's no where near the level of Murray Shai or RJ. He won't even be a 1 n done prospect. Great bounce tho and a good kid, he definitely has a chance

[mojo13]

Nowhere on this list. Wiggins would have been #1.
http://www.espn.com/college-sports/basketball/recruiting/playerrankings/_/class/2025/view/super60/sort/rank/order/true

that's only players who play in America

This kids nice, but he's no where near the level of Murray Shai or RJ. He won't even be a 1 n done prospect. Great bounce tho and a good kid, he definitely has a chance

Well...On3 came out with their 2025 Class ranking yesterday and there is Efeosa at #6.
Still a long way to go but Murray and SGA were never ranked near that high this early. Murray topped out at 9/10 with Rivals/247 in his senior year. SGA was in his the 30s his senior year.

He could always go the way of Elijah Fisher and drop precipitously, but right now at least one ranking sight is saying he is a much better prospect (at this age) than SGA and Murray were considered.

[mojo13]

Up three spots to 15.

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This is important.

Canada (ranked 23 at the time) was a Pot 6 team in the 2019 draw that got us the Group of Death.

At 15 I'm pretty certain Canada is now at least Pot 4 (teams seeded 13-16). With a shot at Pot 3 (teams seeded 9-12). Still uncertain as a couple teams ranked ahead may not qualify (Poland is already out. The Czech are in trouble, and it has not been announced how they will seed the host(s).

Pot 4 enters Pools with the Pot 1 teams (those seeded 1-4) and also Pot 5 & 8. Pot 3 goes with #5-8 seeded teams (Pot 2) along with Pot 6 & 7.

This essentially means Canada would only have one team seeded in the Top 8 joining their Pool. If anyone wants to doom and gloom you'd need to look for teams ranked below Canada that would scare you (Latvia? Finland?).

Also the 55 point jump was much bigger than I expected and gives us much more room from Venezuela. Perhaps enough to weather two loses - but not sure.

[Backcountry]

Shout out to the Canadian women, who are into the semi-finals of the Women's World Cup. They beat Puerto Rico yesterday (today in Australia?) to set up a Friday game against the undefeated Americans, whose closest game was their quarter-final against Serbia where they won by 33. It's going to be tough to beat the Yanks, but it's a winner-take-all game so you never know.

The game is on Sportsnet, at 3:00AM Eastern Friday morning.

[Backcountry]

Shout out to the Canadian women, who are into the semi-finals of the Women's World Cup. They beat Puerto Rico yesterday (today in Australia?) to set up a Friday game against the undefeated Americans, whose closest game was their quarter-final against Serbia where they won by 33. It's going to be tough to beat the Yanks, but it's a winner-take-all game so you never know.

The game is on Sportsnet, at 3:00AM Eastern Friday morning.

And oof, the Americans came out gangbusters, blew the Canadian women away 83-43. Bronze medal game vs Australia is tonight at 11:00 on SN1. Chance for the first WC medal since 1986.

[Mirotic12]

According to European media, Naz Mitrou-Long will finally be finalized as a Greek citizen, possibly by next summer. It has taken 7 years already for him to be approved for Greek citizenship.......

He will be an unnaturalized citizen, and will count as a birth right Greek citizen, since his mother was born in Greece.

However, he will be counted by FIBA as a naturalized player, since he was not issued a Greek passport before turning 16. Greece has been using Tyler Dorsey, who counts the same as Mitrou-Long (birth right citizen, since his mother was born in Greece, but not issued a passport before 16), as the one allowed naturalized player.

Supposedly, Mitrou-Long has already joined Greece's national program. So that means that Mitrou-Long would replace Dorsey in the national team, which makes sense, because Dorsey can do nothing on offense, except shoot 3 pointers, and he's a horrific defender. He's a very limited player.

So, if Mitrou-Long's citizenship is in fact finalized by next summer, maybe he would be on Greece's World Cup team. If they do want to replace Dorsey with him, there wouldn't be any other competition for the one "naturalized" spot on the team, since Greece's federation only allows players on the national team that qualify for birth right citizenship.

The only diaspora Greek players I can think of right now, are Dorsey, Mitrou-Long, Zach Auguste, and George Papas. Auguste isn't good enough to make Greece's national team. He's one of the best centers in the EuroCup / FIBA Champions League level, but he's a scrub for the EuroLeague level. And Papas is just a pro rookie. Right now, he's the 13th man on Greek EuroLeague club Olympiacos.

So, basically, to sum it all up, it seems like Mitrou-Long will definitely not ever play for Canada.

[mojo13]

According to European media, Naz Mitrou-Long will finally be finalized as a Greek citizen, possibly by next summer. It has taken 7 years already for him to be approved for Greek citizenship.......

He will be an unnaturalized citizen, and will count as a birth right Greek citizen, since his mother was born in Greece.

However, he will be counted by FIBA as a naturalized player, since he was not issued a Greek passport before turning 16. Greece has been using Tyler Dorsey, who counts the same as Mitrou-Long (birth right citizen, since his mother was born in Greece, but not issued a passport before 16), as the one allowed naturalized player.

Supposedly, Mitrou-Long has already joined Greece's national program. So that means that Mitrou-Long would replace Dorsey in the national team, which makes sense, because Dorsey can do nothing on offense, expect shoot 3 pointers, and he's a horrific defender. He's a very limited player.

So, if Mitrou-Long's citizenship is in fact finalized by next summer, maybe he would be on Greece's World Cup team. If they do want to replace Dorsey with him, there wouldn't be any other competition for the one "naturalized" spot on the team, since Greece's federation only allows players on the national team that qualify for birth right citizenship.

The only diaspora Greek players I can think of right now, are Dorsey, Mitrou-Long, Zach Auguste, and George Papas. Auguste isn't good enough to make Greece's national team. He's one of the best centers in the EuroCup / FIBA Champions League level, but he's a scrub for the EuroLeague level. And Papas is just a pro rookie. Right now, he's the 13th man on Greek EuroLeague club Olympiacos.

So, basically, to sum it all up, it seems like Mitrou-Long will definitely not ever play for Canada.

We've assumed that shipped sailed for Canada a long time ago. It is much more lucrative for Long to get his Greek passport and play for Greece now that his future is in Europe (same with Brazdeikis). Both are pretty far down the list of players that would make a full turnout Team Canada (if that ever happened) anyways. They'd be nice for the WC Qualfier games, but we never seem to get the release for EuroLeague players (or really need them).


You really think Long would replace Dorsey if both were avaialabe for the World Cup?
I suspect Long will play soon as Doresy likley becomes much less available as he heads back to the USA to make another run at the NBA. Certainly they are trying to get Long to fill in for the WC Qualfiers if possible. Canada is becoming quite the exporter of basketball talent to impoverished European nations.

But Doresy seemed the only consistant offense besides Giannis in Eurobasket (Sloukas was decent too). Greece would be so quick to toss him aside for a (so far) unproven Long? You once wrote here how inconsequential of a player Naz Long was - I guess you've changed your mind.


And don't forget Calathes as a dispora player...who, since he acquired his Greek passport at 19, would be naturalized under FIBA current rules, but since he was playing for Greece before FIBA updated their naturlization rules he was grandfather in.

No wonder the Greek coach has to coach in English. It was funny listening to that in timeouts during EuroBasket. For all the stink Greeks like to make about other countries naturalizing players - they are among the worst offensders per FIBA rules.

And with Zach Auguste, are you sure he is not good enough to make the Greece team (you'd know better) or is it because he is also naturalized per FIBA (another one!) and couldn't play for Greece if Dorsey (or Long played).

[Mirotic12]

We've assumed that shipped sailed for Canada a long time ago. It is much more lucrative for Long to get his Greek passport and play for Greece now that his future is in Europe (same with Brazdeikis). Both are pretty far down the list of players that would make a full turnout Team Canada (if that ever happened) anyways. They'd be nice for the WC Qualfier games, but we never seem to get the release for EuroLeague players (or really need them).


You really think Long would replace Dorsey if both were avaialabe for the World Cup?
I suspect Long will play soon as Doresy likley becomes much less avaialbe as he heads back to the USA to make another run at the NBA. Certainly they are trying to get Long to fill in for the WC Qualfiers if possible. Canada is becoming quite the exporter of basketball talent to impoverished European nations.

But Doresy seemed the only consistant offense besides Giannis in Eurobasket (Sloukas was decent too). Greece would be so quick to toss him aside for a (so far) unproven Long? You once wrote here how inconsequential of a player Naz Long was - I guess you've changed your mind.


And don't forget Calathes as a dispora player...who would be naturalized under FIBA current rules, but since he was playing for Greece before FIBA updated their rules he is grandfather in.

No wonder the Greek coach has to coach in English. It was funny listening to that in timeouts during EuroBasket. For all the stink Greeks like to make about other countries naturalizing players - they are among the worst offensders per FIBA rules.

And with Zach Auguste, maybe he is not good enough to make Greece (you'd know better) but I'm pretty sure he is naturalized too (per FIBA) and couldn't play anyways for Greece if Dorsey (or Long played).

Long wouldn't be available for the World Cup qualifiers.

There were clarifications on Koufos and Calathes. They don't count as naturalized players because they were registered by their families as Greeks at time of birth. They therefore qualified as having been citizens before age 16.

With that being said, let's play Devil's Advocate, and assume that maybe they did count as "naturalized". It doesn't matter, because they both are pretty useless players.

The only reason Calathes has stayed in the team is because of the politics involved from the Panathinaikos club (they ran the Greek federation up until a year ago). But now he has been away from that club for a long time, and they no longer control the federation. The current coach of the national team does however have a strong connection to Panathinaikos, and is also a friend of Calathes. But even that in for Calathes is getting really thin. Simply because, he plays absolutely terrible in every single FIBA tournament. Only now, it's to the level of being a joke.

Nick Calathes is completely washed up, and he's never had a good FIBA tournament, even when he was younger. And he's a disaster playing with Giannis, because they are both such awful shooters. At some point, all of the political reasons that kept him in the national team have definitely run out, if they have not already.

Kosta Koufos - it doesn't matter with him either, because he's such a terrible player. He is signed right now with London in the EuroCup, but I see no chance for him to be in the national team. He spent two years in EuroLeague, playing with CSKA and Olympiacos....he was absolutely ridiculously bad. He was the 3rd string center for both teams, but he wasn't even good enough to be the 3rd string center. Both teams cut him, due to poor play, for not even being up to the level of being a 3rd string center. That's how bad he was. So for him to make Greece's national team, there would have to be a whole bunch of injuries at the center spot.

Zach Auguste was a scrub in EuroLeague with Panathinaikos. In two seasons, he never managed to be more than a 3rd string center. He was also horrible whenever he played with Greece's national team. He got cut from the Greek training camp before EuroBasket '17. In the prep games, he looked awful. He's one of the worst defenders you could ever imagine at the center spot. I would say that he has no shot at making any Greek national team, unless like Koufos, there were a whole bunch of injuries at the center spot.

Tyler Dorsey - Why wouldn't Greece replace him with Mitrou-Long? Have you ever seen Dorsey play? He can't do anything except shoot 3s. Nothing else. He's supposed to be a combo guard.....yet he can't pass, he can't dribble, he can't run pick and roll, he can't run an offense, he can't create for others, he can't create for himself, he isn't a scorer except for shooting jumpers.....

He has had 3 seasons in EuroLeague with Maccabi and Olympiacos, and has totally proven that he's a below average (at best scenario) EuroLeague player. Best scenario as in, he's a below average player IF he's making 3s. If he is missing outside shots, then he's a complete scrub and actually a huge minus to any team he is on (0 offense and 0 defense).

Olympiacos put him at 2 guard, and put him in the Spanoulis sets.....and he was completely incapable of scoring or assisting. He ended up as just a shooter, and since his skills are so lacking for a guard, they had to use him as 3. His defense is also atrocious. He can't guard anyone.

He's had several stints with Greece's national team, and shown he can do nothing but shoot 3s. EuroBasket '22 was his big chance to do something, as the coach gave him the green light to fire any shot he wanted, whenever he wanted, and he was playing at the same time with Giannis. The defense sagging on Giannis opened up tons of open shots and lanes for Dorsey, and he still was a huge bust. He had 2 games where he hit shots, and couldn't after that. He was a useless player on offense, and horrendously bad on defense.

Just to put this into proper context, the players Dorsey in essence replaced in Greece's team (Nikos Zisis / Vassilis Spanoulis) -

Zisis used to average like 10 a game, when the defense never left him open, and he would get trapped whenever he had the ball. Spanoulis was averaging like 15-20 a game, when he was double and triple teamed by basically every single opponent, and often they had 1-2 spy defenders added to that. Dorsey......he averaged 14 being left unguarded for most of the tournament.........and on top of that, Zisis and Spanoulis ran the offense and created basically all of the team's offense and scoring and assists. Dorsey cannot play make and cannot run an offense. He's light years of a worse and less talented player than the guys he replaced.

Giannoulis Larentzakis, Greece's other 2 guard, is much better than Dorsey, and even all the announcers at EuroBasket were saying it. The coach finally also figured it out by the end of the tournament too. Dorsey got a lot of hype from Greek media and the federation, because he had a big tournament with Greece at the under-19 world cup. Because of that, he was placed into some kind of imaginary pedestal that he never belonged on.

But after he played with Olympiacos and at EuroBasket, everyone now knows how very limited he is as an offensive player, and how bad he is at defense. He's only a good 3 point shooter, that's it. He offers zero of anything else, and he's a completely useless player if his shot is not falling. If Mitrou-Long is not significantly better than Dorsey as a player, then coach Messina has lost his mind to have signed him to a big contract.

All Greece needs is a good shooter at 2 guard, that can also actually play basketball and defend, to split the 40 minutes of playing time along with Larentzakis, and they are good at that position. Dorsey isn't good enough to fill that role. Hell, even Michael Bramos, that spent almost his whole career in EuroCup, was a way better player for Greece than Dorsey was, in the same role. I mean like, way better.

Mitrou-Long doesn't have to be some great player to replace Dorsey and take such a role. He doesn't have to even be a good EuroLeague player. Mitrou-Long hasn't even played a minute in EuroLeague yet, and it honestly doesn't even matter. Dorsey is a scrub.

[mojo13]

Thought it worth taking a look at the contract status of the Core 14 players in light of next summer's World Cup.

As we know it is rare for free agents (RFA or UFA) to play for the SMNT but it does happen. Usually when players are older or they are end of the roster players. The WC begins in late August so most Free Agents hopefully will be sorted out well before the WC starts but some may linger. But this should be much less a problem than the Olmypic Qualfiers of 2022 which were held in early July just as the Free Agency period began.


Shai Gilgeous Alexander GTD
Jamal Murray GTD
Cory Joseph UFA
Lu Dort GTD
Nickeil Alexander Walker RFA
RJ Barrett GTD
Dillon Brooks UFA
Oshae Brissett UFA
Kelly Olynyk Partial GTD ($3M of $12M)*
Dwight Powell UFA
Khem Birch GTD

* 6/28/23 exercise date

Non-NBA Players
Melvin Ejim ? I think he'll be on a team option.
Zach Edey ?
Kevin Pangos GTD

Others of Note
Andrew Wiggins UFA
Chris Boucher GTD
Brandon Clarke RFA
Trey Lyles UFA


Some of these guys could get extended mid-season, but there are many that are question marks next summer (6 of the 11 NBA players). Luckily the best players (except Olynyk) are all on long term guarnteed deals. Hopefully KO is old enough and banked enough money to still play even if he is waived and becomes a FA.

[BilboBanginz]

Nate Darling has signed with the Clippers. Most likely just so they can retain his G-League rights, but they do have an open two-way.

[BilboBanginz]

Don't think it means much but at the end of this interview Fred says that he's working on getting his Canadian citizenship.

Watch on YouTube

[Boselecta]

Don't think it means much but at the end of this interview Fred says that he's working on getting his Canadian citizenship.

Watch on YouTube

I've always wondered how does the naturalized process work. Why have we never offered citizenship to some American raptors players that have no shot at making the US team? Like how Greece is taking guys from us.

[TheFutureMM]

Don't think it means much but at the end of this interview Fred says that he's working on getting his Canadian citizenship.

Watch on YouTube

I've always wondered how does the naturalized process work. Why have we never offered citizenship to some American raptors players that have no shot at making the US team? Like how Greece is taking guys from us.

Canada's immigration process is pretty rigid and I imagine we aren't making exceptions for athletes to join our national teams (though with their net-worth, english competency, profession - they are probably very eligible).

FVV would be a massive pick-up for our National Team if he ever did get his citizenship. He would fit in perfectly.

Side-bar, I always thought it was kind of interesting that when the Raptors started to get kind of good, that both Lowry and Derozan made the 2014 & 2016 US National teams. Now I realize they both don't have Canadian citizenship, but it would have been interesting if that was a preventative measure haha.

[mojo13]

Don't think it means much but at the end of this interview Fred says that he's working on getting his Canadian citizenship.

Watch on YouTube

I've always wondered how does the naturalized process work. Why have we never offered citizenship to some American raptors players that have no shot at making the US team? Like how Greece is taking guys from us.

Canada's immigration process is pretty rigid and I imagine we aren't making exceptions for athletes to join our national teams (though with their net-worth, english competency, profession - they are probably very eligible).

FVV would be a massive pick-up for our National Team if he ever did get his citizenship. He would fit in perfectly.

Side-bar, I always thought it was kind of interesting that when the Raptors started to get kind of good, that both Lowry and Derozan made the 2014 & 2016 US National teams. Now I realize they both don't have Canadian citizenship, but it would have been interesting if that was a preventative measure haha.

Correct. Canada is pretty tight on citizenship like many new world immigrant destination countires are (USA, NZ, Australia etc).

For Canada, to apply for citizenship one has to reside within Canada for 3 of the last 5 years (or more specifically 1095 of the last 1,825 days). Canada doesn't really make exceptions to that for athletes or really anyone (I'll speculate that there are some special circumstances). This makes it tough for NBA players as they would need to be with the Raptors long term (probably 5 years+) and likely spend much of their summer here (remember they lose days every time they travel to the USA to play or train). Fred and Siakum perhaps could qualfy, but I don't know what they do in their summers (seems iffy at best).

Net emigrant nations like Old World Europe handles citizenship very differently. It seems if you had a grandparent (or even great grandparent) born in such a country you automatically have a birthright to citizenship (no need to ever set foot in the country). USA/Canada do this to a degree, but it must be the parent born in Canada (Wiltjer is an example). But many European (and other) countries also loosely hand out citizenship to sports mercenaries who have little to no tie to the country. Some seemingly have no residency requirement or marriage requirment either.

When Canada Basketball tried to get Matt Bonner for the SMNT (Canadain wife), I believe it got hung up on him not having 3 of the last 5 years residency in Canada.

I really don't expect Canada ever gets a naturalized player anytme soon (like Siakum or VanVleet). Unless it becomes a player like Wiltjer (born in another country to a Canadian) who has a birthright but didn't apply for Canadian citizenship until after age 16.

[DoctaJ]

Anyone planning on making the Edmonton games? I got two tickets for both but likely won't make the Thursday game. Hoping weather is decent enough to make the Sunday at the least.

If anyone wants to be my backup for two tickets, send me a DM. I'd let them go at cost or less depending on (lack of) demand.

[Boselecta]

I've always wondered how does the naturalized process work. Why have we never offered citizenship to some American raptors players that have no shot at making the US team? Like how Greece is taking guys from us.

Canada's immigration process is pretty rigid and I imagine we aren't making exceptions for athletes to join our national teams (though with their net-worth, english competency, profession - they are probably very eligible).

FVV would be a massive pick-up for our National Team if he ever did get his citizenship. He would fit in perfectly.

Side-bar, I always thought it was kind of interesting that when the Raptors started to get kind of good, that both Lowry and Derozan made the 2014 & 2016 US National teams. Now I realize they both don't have Canadian citizenship, but it would have been interesting if that was a preventative measure haha.

Correct. Canada is pretty tight on citizenship like many new world immigrant destination countires are (USA, NZ, Australia etc).

For Canada, to apply for citizenship one has to reside within Canada for 3 of the last 5 years (or more specifically 1095 of the last 1,825 days). Canada doesn't really make exceptions to that for athletes or really anyone (I'll speculate that there are some special circumstances). This makes it tough for NBA players as they would need to be with the Raptors long term (probably 5 years+) and likely spend much of their summer here (remember they lose days every time they travel to the USA to play or train). Fred and Siakum perhaps could qualfy, but I don't know what they do in their summers (seems iffy at best).

Net emigrant nations like Old World Europe handles citizenship very differently. It seems if you had a grandparent (or even great grandparent) born in such a country you automatically have a birthright to citizenship (no need to ever set foot in the country). USA/Canada do this to a degree, but it must be the parent born in Canada (Wiltjer is an example). But many European (and other) countries also loosely hand out citizenship to sports mercenaries who have little to no tie to the country. Some seemingly have no residency requirement or marriage requirment either.

When Canada Basketball tried to get Matt Bonner for the SMNT (Canadain wife), I believe it got hung up on him not having 3 of the last 5 years residency in Canada.

I really don't expect Canada ever gets a naturalized player anytme soon (like Siakum or VanVleet). Unless it becomes a player like Wiltjer (born in another country to a Canadian) who has a birthright but didn't apply for Canadian citizenship until after age 16.

Thanks for that in-depth breakdown didn't realize the Canadian immigration system was that strict with citizenship. I figured a guy like FVV who has played multiple years in Canada for pretty much "Canada's NBA team" and his net-worth would give him a shot at citizenship if he wanted. But the 1,095 of the last 1,825 days is wild I think this kills the chance of any naturalized player. I highly doubt these guys are in Canada during the summer most likely traveling or with family in the states.

[mojo13]

Actually digging into this further there seems to be a little used exemption for athletes to bpass the residency requirements, and was used in 2012 for a Chinese Ping Pong player.

Read the part on Section 5(4) of the Canadian Citizenship Act, which allows for "athletes who have to travel around the world, and therefore do not meet the specific requirements for Canadian citizenship".
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/feds-urged-to-fast-track-olympic-athlete-s-citizenship-letter-reveals-1.995247


Still....someone would really need to want and to make it happen...

[mojo13]

Some interesting pre-season performances from the youngsters over the last few days.

Euguene Omoruyi with multiple great games and looking like a found gem that could carve out a role in OKC.
Bennedict Mathurin garnering some early ROY watch performances.
Shaedon Sharpe showing some insanely athletic highlights and good all around games when given minutes.
Even Andrew Nembhard looked great last night and showed a glimpse that he could quickly claim a rotation spot in Indiana.
Dalano Banton looking a clear rotation guy.
Caleb Houstan not looking terrible.
Kabenegele looked decent and with an injury to Williams in Boston he may start the year in Boston getting minutes as a back up
Only preseason and it all could be meaningless but some really encouraging signs.


On the flip side - not seeing too much of Primo (hurt), Lawson, Wigginton (did have 16 pts in 9 min game).

Mulder too, who was signed to a two way by the Heat the other day and then waived today. Looks like a ploy to get him to their G-League team and get him some cash to stick around.

[Hair Canada]

Some interesting pre-season performances from the youngsters over the last few days.

Euguene Omoruyi with multiple great games and looking like a found gem that could carve out a role in OKC.
Bennedict Mathurin garnering some early ROY watch performances.
Shaedon Sharpe showing some insanely athletic highlights and good all around games when given minutes.
Even Andrew Nembhard looked great last night and showed a glimpse that he could quickly claim a rotation spot in Indiana.
Dalano Banton looking a clear rotation guy.
Caleb Houstan not looking terrible.
Kabenegele looked decent and with an injury to Williams in Boston he may start the year in Boston getting minutes as a back up
Only preseason and it all could be meaningless but some really encouraging signs.


On the flip side - not seeing too much of Primo (hurt), Lawson, Wigginton (did have 16 pts in 9 min game).

Mulder too, who was signed to a two way by the Heat the other day and then waived today. Looks like a ploy to get him to their G-League team and get him some cash to stick around.

A good overview. I'd add NAW to the flip side. In his 3 preseason games, he didn't play too much, missed all of his 10 shots, and had as many TOs as assists. I think there's a real chance that Utah decides to cut him (I think not, if only because he's still considered a prospect and showed well enough for Team Canada in Fiba this summer. But it's an option). Things are really not looking good for him even in a tanking team.

Mathurin really looks great and seems to have taken another jump this summer. But let's wait till the real season. Nembhard did not look out of place at all and it seems like he could be a reliable backup PG for Indiana.

Sharpe showed his huge upside and his smoothness, but I don't think he'll be a steady rotation player this year. Partly because he's still far off in some aspects but also because for now he doesn't bring extra gear on defense (like Payton or Hart) and Portland doesn't really seem to need his offensive advantages that badly with Lillard and Simons in the mix. Really too bad he didn't end up on a Detroit, Houston, San Antonio, Indiana, or OKC kind of team.

[BilboBanginz]

It's roster cutting day and a few of our beloved Canucks are on the bubble. Unfortunately, AJ Lawson was cut today to make room for Luke Garza.

Others to look out for:

Lindell Wigginton [Bucks] - Bucks have 15 guaranteed players so his only real hope is to take one of two-ways from one of the other two-way players. He's also competing with Marques Bolden who was pretty good in preseason.

Mfiondu Kabengele [Celtics] - Currently on a two-way. He's probably safe due to the Celtics lack of size, and no other non-guaranteed players really stood out in preseason to snag his spot from him.

Eugene Omoruyi [Thunder] - He's also on a two-way but played very well in preseason so it's highly likely the Thunder keep him around.

Nickeil Alexander-Walker [Jazz] - Considering the Jazz roster crunch I wouldn't be surprised to see NAW cut. He's a 1st round pick from the previous GM so Ainge may not have any particular attachment to him. They need to cut two players and it's likely between him, Leandro Bolmaro, and Udoka Azubuike.

Some other Canadians like Noah Kirkwood [Nets] Nate Darling [Clippers] and Simi Shittu [Magic] were signed and quickly waived by the noted squads so that they could obtain their G-League rights.

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