TEAM CANADA AT THE 2025 U16 FIBA AMERICAS

[Hair Canada]

The main problem of this team is that there's not a single player you can trust with the ball in their hands to avoid silly TOs. The two leading PGs, St. Louis and Mitakaro with 5 and 4.5 TOs per game respectively. Fisher with 4 and Hamilton with 3. As a team, they have 24 TOs per game so far. This is what brought the PR back to it. That and 20 offensive rebounds despite Canada's clear height advantage. If they can't clean these two areas up and bring them to at least acceptable levels, the US is gonna eat them alive again.

[bozothepope]

Hamilton injured his ankle a couple of times during the game; hopefully he’s able to play in the rest of the games. He kept coming back in which was promising, though I noticed his defensive effort wasn’t the best at times. Maybe fatigue related too. Still looked like a star again tho.

[bozothepope]

Can v Mex. Hamilton has 21 at halftime. Some ridiculous shotmaking.

[TheLP]

Hasn't been the tournament we probably all hoped to see from Gohier BUT he's also still a 14 year old child new to this body

I like that he can move like an athlete and not just a tall kid that got thrown into the sport because tall. I hope he can get involved with the right coaches who can help teach him how to use his size to his advantage and improve his coordination/hands.

[Smalltown]

Seen a few of these kids in action as they're a year up from my son. What's crazy to me is how much the overall depth of Canadian basketball has gotten.

[Zeno]

I’ve always thought in these tournaments if you beat a team in the group stage and then face them again in a knockout stage, you should start the 2nd game up the point differential of the first meeting.

[bozothepope]

Nice to see the team step up after Hamilton left the game to get the W vs VEN. I’m doubtful Hamilton will play in the gold medal game. Too bad because I was looking forward to seeing how his skills measured up vs the Americans.

Do we think Hamilton is another top 10 prospect in his class like Wiggins, RJ, Sharpe, etc were? How highly ranked do we think he is?

[MTsearch]

I thought that Isaiah Hamilton’s injury would spell doom for Canada. I was happily proven wrong.

I would credit the win to two things – Canada’s three point shooting, something which often lets them down in these tournaments – and defensive intensity, particularly in the fourth quarter.

The first half was Kenyon St. Louis, who hit his four 3’s in that half, including a buzzer beater to give Canada a 6 point lead at the break. In the second half Liam Mitakaro finally hit from outside and 3’s from a few other players helped build the lead.

The fourth quarter could have been a disaster, as it took Canada almost 10 minutes to score their second basket of the quarter. In spite of a raft of turnovers and bad shooting though, Venezuela didn’t make up much ground. Credit for this has to go to Canada’s defensive intensity and on ball pressure.

What allowed this, in my view, was keeping Jeremy Grohier on the bench. At this point his lack of mobility and inability to effectively use his length on both the offensive and defensive ends of the court is often detrimental. (as is the propensity of almost all players to cough up the ball) It will be interesting to see how this changes as he matures, gets more coaching, gains experience and competes against players his own age.

This will be an interesting cohort to watch (Hamilton is entertaining all by himself) moving into the future.

[Hair Canada]

SUMMARY OF THE TOURNAMNET

Another slow start to the tournament, followed by gradual improvement, and another silver medal in a game that wasn’t really competitive at any point but was not nearly as embarrassing as the gold medal game two years ago.

And one Isaiah Hamilton who made the whole thing much more exciting.

Here’s a short summary, starting with the players who exceeded my early expectations.


OVERPERFORMERS

Isaiah Hamilton (15.5yo; 6’6 SF)

What a fun ride. I already considered Hamilton as the most talented guy in this class since last year’s nationals, simply based on the outwardly athleticism and the smoothness of his game. But this was a real coming out party for him. The most talented Canadian guy we’ve seen at this age since Shaedon Sharpe and the two actually have quite a bit in common, particulalry in how easy the game comes to them. In fact, Hamilton showed more (and at a younger age) than Sharpe did in the same setting 6 years ago. The athletic profile is similar, but Hamilton is a bit bigger and might still be growing. And the self-confidence and production are also ahead of what Sharpe showed at a similar age (Hamilton is perhaps more similar to RJ Barrett on that front).

In 4 healthy games, Hamilton scored 26 points per game (about a point per minute), shooting almost 40% from 3 on almost 8 attempts per game. He also got to the line often and added 7 rebounds, 4 steals, and a block per game. But more than anything, he just looked like a top-10 worldwide talent in this class, perhaps even more (the US does have a few very nice lengthy forwards in this class as well).

It's not all sunshine and rainbows though, as you might expect at this age. The shot selection was not always the best, even if he’s able to make some ridiculous contested ones. Tunnel vision was also an issue and playmaking has ways to go (only 1.5 assists per game). The handle is also still quite loose, despite some promising highlights, and together with questinable decision making it led to too many turnovers. And there wasn’t much in-between game to speak of. He either got to the rim or shot 3-pointers, often looking a bit lost off the dribble in tight spaces. Finally, the defense was very inconsistent. 4 steals per game demonstrate a lot of potential on that end, and when he was locked in, he showed great instincts. But the effort level really wavered, as he was often taking plays off and letting physically inferior rivals score on him without much contest. This is another area where he reminds me of a younger Shaedon Sharpe. Hopefully, it’s just an age thing, because Sharpe carried his somewhat lackadaisical defensive approach all the way to the NBA and his defense still remains subpar.

Regardless of the hiccups, the bottom line with Hamilton is tantalizing. The ceiling is not just that of an NBA player but an NBA All-Star –- a 3-level primary scorer with elite burst even when compared to the best in the world. There’s a long way for him to get there and nothing is guaranteed, but it’s sure fun to once again have a Canadian blue chip to follow through high school and college and root for.


Isaiah Clarke (15.8yo; 6’7PF)

Clarke is not nearly as talented as Hamilton, but he was my second favorite player on this team, as well as its most consistent and valuable player. In less than 18 minutes per game (only 7th on the team in minutes; I thought he should have played more), he scored 10.5 points with very high efficiency (75% true shooting!) and grabbed 5.5 rebounds, while also playing excellent committed defense, crashing the boards, and providing some offensive presence in the paint for a team that sorely lacked it.

Clarke doesn’t have nearly the same upside as the other Isaiah above, as he’s more of an interior presence at this point, while not being big, strong, or explosive enough to continue doing it at the higher levels (though he’s actually a very good athlete). But I see great potential for him to make the transition to a full time wing, with some work on his handle and shooting. I think there’s actually quite a bit of potential with the shooting, as 89% from the line (on almost 5 shots per game) show.

There’s obviously lots of work to make this happen, and it might not work, but if he can make the transition successfully, he’s a high-major college talent and perhaps even more.

TBC

[Hair Canada]

UNDERPERFORMERS

Yesterday I talked about the guys that overperformed in this tournament (the two Isaiah’s) and today I want to touch quickly on a couple of guys who underperformed, at least relative to my pre-tournament expectations. Before diving in, just a clarification that this is not to pass judgment. They are all very young and at least some of them showed sparks. So I wouldn't write off any of them based on one tournament, especially those who played better when I watched them in other settings (e.g., Liam Mitakaro). This is more to note areas for improvement, which I hope they can achieve in the coming years.

The 3 PGs

I’m putting Mitakaro, St. Louis, and Badejo in the same boat here mainly because all three showed some similar weaknesses in areas where I hoped they’d be better. First some stats:

Mitakaro: 11.0 points, 26% from 3, 31% from the field, 3.0 assists, 3.2 TOs

St. Louis: 10.8 points, 16% from 3, 34% from the field, 4.7 assists, 4.2 TOs

Badejo: 8.3 points, 23% from 3, 42% from the field, 1.2 assists, 1.8 TOs

All three had some good games and positive moments. But overall, I came out disappointed with the shooting and the playmaking. The shooting might be less of an issue. I think all three are better shooters than what they showed here and kids this age often underperform in this department at this age (although not all of them). The playmaking was more of a concern for me. All three had trouble with their handle, leading to coughing it up against pressure, and all three also made many bad calls in passing the ball. Together between them they had more turnovers than assists and none met my expectations. Mitakaro was perhaps the most disappointing for me, not because he was worse than the other two, but mainly because I was highest on him before the tournament. I still hope he can turn the corner, but he didn’t have a great showing.

PG is a hard position for young players. But if you take a guy like Ryan Nembhard, 6 years ago in the U16 he had almost a 4:1 an assist to TO ratio (and also shot 36% from 3). The fact that all three were very far from that is not encouraging.

Badejo, who’s a year younger, should probably get more slack. He’s a terrific athlete, an excellent defender, and showed some promising sparks getting to the rim and finishing well. I just struggle to see him as a PG right now, and at 6’1, with questionable shooting (only 53% from the line), it’s hard to be a full time SG at the higher levels even with a great athletic profile.

I was lower than some on Jordan Fisher before the tournament, but was still a bit disappointed. Like his brother at that age, he has a developed body, and he plays hard with a lot of aggressiveness and spirit, including on D (almost two blocks per game is impressive for a 6’5 guy). But I saw no real signs of perimeter shooting (zero 3s and 40% from the line) and the touch around the rim was also not great. He was able to create some good looks for himself, but missed them quite often and also turned the ball over too much. I’m just not sure what kind of a player he is in the long term, as the ceiling doesn’t even seem as high as Elijah’s.

Jeremy Gohier showed that he has a very long way to go to make a positive impact on basketball games at this level. This is particularly true on the defensive end, where he was almost always a step behind. I was honestly hoping for a bit more. But maybe I shouldn't have from a 14.5yo big. I still think he has the highest ceiling of this group and plenty of time to grow into his body (he's probably not even done growing in height), improve his instincts and processing speed, and learn to play harder throughout the game. He’s still much ahead of Rioux (and Edey) at the same age and his ceiling remains high, even if nothing is guaranteed. In fact, I still think that beyond Hamilton, Gohier is the most likely of this group to eventually get to the NBA, even if the way there looks long and winding right now. Hopefully, he can get some better training and play at a higher level next year, learning to use his tools better, improve his feel for the game, and learn to work harder, with the knowledge that he has a long way to go and nothing’s going to be just given to him because he’s this tall.

Finally, I also had some higher hopes from Jacob Walker. I think there’s quite a bit of talent there and he’s only 15.5, but he wasn’t good in the minutes he got. More than anything, 1.7 TOs in just 9 minutes per game for a forward who’s not asked to handle the ball is really bad. In many of these he was just trying to do too much and looked overwhelmed by the aggressiveness of rival players. He’ll learn and improve, but I was hoping to see a bit more from him as well.