State of the Union. Team Canada Basketball. (FIBA Americas Aug.31-Sep.15)

[Undefeated]

Teki transferring

[CrookedJ]

Is there anything official yet for roster commitment for the Pan Am Games or for the FIBA Qualifying. I certainly see that the trend is that our best dudes are playing in the Pan Am, but are probably playing in the FIBA tourney. Just trying to find specifics ....

[frumble]

All the other powerhouse teams in FIBA have always had one thing over us: consistent attendance from their top players. The teams we lose to have usually played with each other for years.

I think this was addressed a few pages ago. Participation among the top Euro and Latin American teams has not been any higher than it has been for Canada.

Teki transferring

That was quick. Missouri can't seem to hang on to its Canadians.

Any rumours as to where he will end up?

Is there anything official yet for roster commitment for the Pan Am Games or for the FIBA Qualifying. I certainly see that the trend is that our best dudes are playing in the Pan Am, but are probably playing in the FIBA tourney. Just trying to find specifics ....

Re PanAms, there are 15 guys in camp.

Anderson
Cadougan
Murray

Mullings
English
D. Joseph

Brooks
Ejim
Doornekamp

T. Scrubb
Ashaolu
Bennett

Wiltjer
Nicholson
Bhullar

The three cuts are supposed to be made this Friday.


Re FIBAs, nothing official, but suggestions that Olynyk, Nicholson, Bennett, Wiggins, Powell and Stauskas will be there.
C. Joseph said he would like to, but needs to sort some things out.
Nothing re TT in last few weeks.
I haven't seen anything re Sacre.
Ennis out with injury.

[aminiaturebuddha]

Re PanAms, there are 15 guys in camp.

Anderson
Cadougan
Murray

Mullings
English
D. Joseph

Brooks
Ejim
Doornekamp

T. Scrubb
Ashaolu
Bennett

Ashaolu
Nicholson
Bhullar

Just one quick correction on your list. You seem to have Ashaolu twice accidentally and are missing Wiltjer.

[frumble]

Thanks. I just made the fix.

[bozothepope]

C. Joseph said he would like to, but needs to sort some things out.

What exactly does Cory need to sort out? I remember him saying this too and was confused. His contract is signed. What's the problem?

[mojo13]

C. Joseph said he would like to, but needs to sort some things out.

What exactly does Cory need to sort out? I remember him saying this too and was confused. His contract is signed. What's the problem?

Most likely insurance. It is a new employment contract with different terms and structure that likely needs a whole new insurance policy. Insuring a $30M professional basketball contract is a whole different specialized world from you or I getting a $500K life insurance policy.

Anyways...The Boomers announced their FIBA Oceania roster as follows: David Andersen, Cameron Bairstow, Andrew Bogut, Ryan Broekhoff, Matthew Dellavedova, Dante Exum, Adam Gibson, Chris Goulding, Nate Jawai, Damian Martin, Brock Motum and Brad Newley.
Notables they are missing include Patty Mills, Joe Ingles and Aaron Baynes.

So thoughts? Better pool of players or worse than Canada? Australia I think has better prospects coming up in the junior ranks.

I'd love to see Canada and Oz play with full strength teams. They probably top us now, but a year or two from now would be a coin toss.

[frumble]

Stauskas was interviewed on the Fan today.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/590/

Not particularly informative (more time on Michigan football and Sauce Castillo nickname than on basketball), and they never directly asked him if he would be playing at FIBAs, but the implication was that he will be. He said something like "From what I've heard, the team we put together for FIBA Americas should be pretty solid. Hopefully we can perform the way we think we can and qualify for the Olympics."

He was in Mississauga for the interview. I thought there was talk he was going to suit up for a Sixers summer league game or two? I guess not.

[mojo13]

Stauskas was interviewed on the Fan today.

http://www.sportsnet.ca/590/

Not particularly informative (more time on Michigan football and Sauce Castillo nickname than on basketball), and they never directly asked him if he would be playing at FIBAs, but the implication was that he will be. He said something like "From what I've heard, the team we put together for FIBA Americas should be pretty solid. Hopefully we can perform the way we think we can and qualify for the Olympics."

He was in Mississauga for the interview. I thought there was talk he was going to suit up for a Sixers summer league game or two? I guess not.

I saw last week on the Sixers board that it was confirmed he would not participate in any summer league games. He supposedly rolled his ankle a couple weeks ago training (nothing serious) that he was still not fully recovered from. I believe is was previously in Vegas with the team though.

[frumble]

I saw last week on the Sixers board that it was confirmed he would not participate in any summer league games. He supposedly rolled his ankle a couple weeks ago training (nothing serious) that he was still not fully recovered from. I believe is was previously in Vegas with the team though.

Thanks. I missed that.


Heslip left the T-wolves summer league team and a couple Minnesota boards are saying it is because he is joining the PanAm team.

If its true, I guess its probably at the expense of Mullings and D. Joseph. Might hurt Brooks' chances as well.

[frumble]

Darren Wolfson, of KSTP (a Minnesota TV station), says Heslip left team for PanAms because he wasn't getting as much playing time as he had expected.

https://twitter.com/DWolfsonKSTP/status/621377673625890817

Given how well he shot in summer league 2014, in D-league, and in Europe, I can see why he expected to get more playing time. I thought he had an outside shot at cracking an NBA roster this season.

[aminiaturebuddha]

Anyways...The Boomers announced their FIBA Oceania roster as follows: David Andersen, Cameron Bairstow, Andrew Bogut, Ryan Broekhoff, Matthew Dellavedova, Dante Exum, Adam Gibson, Chris Goulding, Nate Jawai, Damian Martin, Brock Motum and Brad Newley.
Notables they are missing include Patty Mills, Joe Ingles and Aaron Baynes.

So thoughts? Better pool of players or worse than Canada? Australia I think has better prospects coming up in the junior ranks.

I'd love to see Canada and Oz play with full strength teams. They probably top us now, but a year or two from now would be a coin toss.

Brad Newley! Completely forgot about that guy.

It's a pretty good looking team. I'd say right now if all of our guys are there and so are theirs we're pretty close to even. You're right in that Australia seems to have more top end prospects at the moment, especially with Simmons and Maker, although while Simmons seems like a sure thing, I believe Maker still has some work to do to prove that he'll be a useful player at the higher levels.

It looks like we have more depth, although that could just be a result of familiarity and that fact that with easier access to the US high school and college system, more of our guys have appeared on scouting lists and in AAU games.

Still, should be a fun "rivalry" over the next few years. Hopefully we find a way to schedule games against them, being in different regions will limit our chances outside of Olympics and World Cups (and Commonwealth Games, I guess, although those teams will resemble the Pan Am "B" team approach).

[thunderforce]

What is with the games in Toronto , they have been going on for a week and no basketball yet ? Does all the basketball start and finnish in a couple days or what .

[frumble]

What is with the games in Toronto , they have been going on for a week and no basketball yet ? Does all the basketball start and finnish in a couple days or what .

The women's games are starting today (Canada plays Venezuela tonight).

The men start Tuesday.

For both, it is a short tournament, 3 round robin games, semis, and then finals. No off days, so whole thing done in five days.


Re Australia vs. Canada, I think it is very close, both in terms of this summer and full rosters.

I would give Australia the slight edge in guards, even without Mills playing. In other words, I like Dellavedova and Exum as a starting backcourt a little better than Joseph and Stauskas.

I think we are better at SF with Wiggins, but Newley and Broekhoff are solid. I think both are better than our non-Wiggins options (e.g., Shepherd and Doornekamp).

I like our bigs a little better now, but if Simmons develops that could change.

[webc5]

Pretty stupid, better to start the tournament early and give the players days off in between.

[thunderforce]

What is with the games in Toronto , they have been going on for a week and no basketball yet ? Does all the basketball start and finnish in a couple days or what .

The women's games are starting today (Canada plays Venezuela tonight).

The men start Tuesday.

For both, it is a short tournament, 3 round robin games, semis, and then finals. No off days, so whole thing done in five days.


Re Australia vs. Canada, I think it is very close, both in terms of this summer and full rosters.

I would give Australia the slight edge in guards, even without Mills playing. In other words, I like Dellavedova and Exum as a starting backcourt a little better than Joseph and Stauskas.

I think we are better at SF with Wiggins, but Newley and Broekhoff are solid. I think both are better than our non-Wiggins options (e.g., Shepherd and Doornekamp).

I like our bigs a little better now, but if Simmons develops that could change.

Yea that is crazy no wonder some stars skip this one .

[mojo13]

Anyone see an announcement on the PanAm roster?
On the PanAm website it seems to list a 12 man Canadian roster:
http://results.toronto2015.org/IRS/en/basketball/athlete-profile-n929-canada.htm

Anderson
Murry
Ejim
Nicholson
English
Pierre
Cadougan
Heslip
Doornekamp
Ashaolu
Wiltjer
Bennett

No Brooks, Bhullar, D. Joseph, or Mullins. No real center so somewhat surprised Fezzik isn't on the team. Maybe Triano is on the position-less bball bandwagon and rolling with ballhandler, wing, swing, big roles.

[aminiaturebuddha]

I haven't seen an official announcement. There's nothing on the Basketball Canada website (although I find they're not the best at updating info quickly). But there's also nothing at any of the other usual suspect Canadian b-ball websites like North Pole Hoops.

It would be strange for them not to take Bhullar, and I think that list is a little suspect as we'd already heard that Pierre was pulling out.

[Mattd97]

I haven't seen an official announcement. There's nothing on the Basketball Canada website (although I find they're not the best at updating info quickly). But there's also nothing at any of the other usual suspect Canadian b-ball websites like North Pole Hoops.

It would be strange for them not to take Bhullar, and I think that list is a little suspect as we'd already heard that Pierre was pulling out.

why would that be strange?

[mojo13]

True...but we also heard Pierre was out from one less than reliable source (a Wolstat tweet). The fact that Heslip (a late add) is on the list makes me think it could be legit. Has anyone confirmed Pierre is out?

I agree with Matt too - I don't think much of Bhullar. I tend to think he was around the Kings for mostly non-basketball reasons.

I did think they may have wanted his size just in case. Maybe looking at the competition they won't see much size and feel fine with out.