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

[Dirk]

My fav Scola move. Schooling that little girl from the Celtics.

http://i.imgur.com/z20rSZu.webm

[Patman]

Lol. This team had so much hype going into the tourney. FIBA ball is no joke, fellas.

The only saving grace is this feels like the story of the 2002 Men's Hockey Team. A lot of hype going into the tourney, and then gets embarrassed in the first game.

I hope they'll learn from this experience. If not, they'll be watching the Olympics from home.

[teamLeiweke]

Scola: 35 pts 13 rebs

Joseph: 12 pts 7 ast

CoJo 8 and 7 on 3/9 shooting.

[VeOlOeV]

The ignorance of some posters on this board about international ball is jokes, just because these guys aren't in the NBA doesn't mean they are all scrubs. Canada hasn't done anything in international basketball as of yet and has a long ways to go before they are considered a top basketball country. That being said I fully expect them to make the olympics and expect big things in the future, if anything this loss should only help motivate the team further.

Also Scola been doing this for over a decade, kills any international tourney he plays in

[aw8]

Cujo got paid, but i still think this otherwise is gonna be very bad for him and us. I think the expectation and contract outsize his ability.

Still a better contract than the one Carroll got.

Raptors forever the joke of the league, I bet that we are actually going to give Tristan his "No Less Than MAX" contract.

[RoseBeforeHoes]

can someone put a percentage on the odds of making the olympics after this loss. Is it still really high?

[Undefeated]

can someone put a percentage on the odds of making the olympics after this loss. Is it still really high?

Round robin play means nothing almost

[ash_k]

PJ Carlisimo would be a good option!

[teamLeiweke]

I'm gonna hate on CoryJo next season.

Funny but probably true.

[Mr.Raptorsingh]

PJ Carlisimo would be a good option!

I'm more of a Tomaso Sterner guy myself.

[Patman]

These guys thought they were the **** after winning the **** Tuto Marchand lol.

[raptor jesus]

Triano oversaw one of the worst defences in the history of the NBA. Granted, the personnel he had - and has now - at his disposal is lacking on that end, especially up front, but still... this worries me.

A loss at this point might be a good thing, though.

[mojo13]

The forum yahoos sure have come out of the woodwork. Is everyone in their teens on this message board? Relax a little guys...
The goofs ripping on these players should think for a second before whining.

Argentina is the 3rd ranked team in the world for a reason. The sun may be setting on them, but they can still play great ball. Scola is arguably one of the top 2 or 3 non-USA players in FIBA ball over the last decade. Nowitski may be the only other who comes close (when he plays). Scola regularly has gone into "God-mode" on all sorts of teams not named Canada. No country can really stop him.

We have depth, athleticism and youth which will be an advantage if we face Argentina again. They are old, but skilled and smart....hopefully they flatline or decline over the intense format of this tournament and Canada gets better and better with each game. Our main weakness is inexperience and we are getting that every game. There is lots of room to improve here with Canada. It was a tough draw meeting a team of the caliber of Argentina in the first game - but certainly a good learning experience.

We have a good team here that should get better with each game.

[MFS]

That Scola statline what? Lol

[15Vinsanity15]

How sad is it that today's NBA is so soft, that international play is too tough. Kobe was right saying that the NBA use to be the toughest basketball league in the world, sad to say that can't be said anymore. Today's players are all buddy buddy in the NBA, having fun and joking around with each other.

What happened to the assassins mentality on the court?, the gary paytons, Kobe Bryant's, Shaquille Oneals, Jordan etc etc. These dude's once the tip off happened, were looking to kill you.

[tms]

geez Team Canada is young. wha, is everyone rookie-contract age? i dunno who i'd rather have (English or ANthony or Dalembert lol) but still ... strange roster comp... almost like theyr tanking

[Scott Hall]

I'm not surprised at all Basketball Canada keeps on infuriating me from top to bottom. One of these days the embarrassment will end. It's just amazing how the national team has almost the exact same flaws as the Raptors.


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[Undefeated]

We have depth, athleticism and youth which will be an advantage if we face Argentina again. They are old, but skilled and smart....hopefully they flatline or decline over the intense format of this tournament and Canada gets better and better with each game. Our main weakness is inexperience and we are getting that every game. There is lots of room to improve here with Canada. It was a tough draw meeting a team of the caliber of Argentina in the first game - but certainly a good learning experience.

We have a good team here that should get better with each game.

Yep, and you can definitely see the inexperience by Canada not running their sets at all and forcing shots early in the clock when Argentina went on that run after they couldn't get a single stop. That's a symptom most young/inexperienced teams tend to demonstrate regardless of level of play feeling the need to score to get them back into the game. In contrast, Argentina just continued to run their continuity offense even when they were down early in the game. This is a weakness I think they can easily overcome with a film session tonight.

[Frankie23]

"Future powerhouse" got schooled by the "Past Powerhouse".

As for Argentina getting old, this team has only Scola and Nocioni from the "old guard"..
There are 7 players under 25:
Campazzo (24), Laprovitola (25), Deck (20), Brussino (22), Delia (23), Garino (22) and Galizzi (22).

Of course the transition is not as talented as the old generation (Ginobili, Scola, Oberto, Nocioni, Delfino, etc). Talent wise against Canada there's no comparison, but many talented teams have struggled in FIBA's tournaments..

[frumble]

A disappointing loss, but not the end of the world. We have 7 more round robin games to go, 6 of which will count (the Cuba result will likely be dropped). This was probably our toughest round robin opponent. While none of the remaining games will be easy, going 4-2 is very do-able. That would leave us at 4-3 and in the semis.

Doornekamp did not play in the second half. Wiggins came out when it was tied 56-56. We then saw Stauskas at SF for about three minutes (with Heslip at the 2), and then Ejim at SF for about three minutes. I believe this is the first time Ejim has played SF for Canada.

If the staff does not have confidence to use Doornekamp in the second half of close games, we may see more of Stauskas and/or Ejim at SF going forward.


Joseph picking up two fouls so early and having to sit for so long seemed to take us out of our rhythm. The offense was fine, but the defense seemed to suffer from that point. Maybe it was coincidental.


All the bigs played at least 6 minutes. I don't think any of them stood out defensively. On the offensive end I thought Bennett was the best, 6-9 from the field, which includes the desperation 3 at the buzzer. But his 2 missed FTs in the 4th hurt.

The bigs had far too many turnovers. 10 total (3 for Olynyk, 2 each for Bennett, Nicholson, and Powell, and 1 for Sacre).

Here are the plus/minus numbers for the game:

Sacre +4
Bennett +3
Olynyk 0
Joseph 0
Doornekamp -1
Wiggins -3
Nicholson -3
Stauskas -4
Ejim -5
Scrubb -7
Powell -9
Heslip -10