Team Canada Basketball Thread

[kilpin]

Serbia got the easiest draw, meanwhile Turin groups are the most interesting. Gilas dream sailed right after it was announced France is in their draw. Canada needs to go big or go hope, because France is arguably the best team in the whole thing.

Is it even guaranteed France will have all their NBA guys? TP/Diaw might not be there if Spurs go on a deep run in the playoffs and will need time to recover, and Batum will be a FA and I'm not sure if he wants to risk any injuries before signing a new deal.

I think Noah will be a FA too.

[Macho]

Group A is going to be lit, Porzingis vs Marjanovic. Serbia should advance pretty easily though,

France is getting old but they have the experience so it will be tough for Canada to knock them off. Hopefully what happened in Mexico made Canada stronger.

[frumble]

The yahoo Canada article on the FIBA qualifier draw mentions in passing that
"Canada’s squad this summer should include Thompson as well as fellow NBA stars Andrew Wiggins, Kelly Olynyk, and Cory Joseph."

https://ca.sports.yahoo.com/blogs/eh-game/canada-headed-to-philippines-for-olympic-qualifying-tournament-180346424.html

I am not sure if this is based on anything concrete or is just speculation.


And in other participation news, in discussing his friendship with Pangos, Hanlan says:

There’s always love between me and Kevin you know. We will most likely bump into each other hopefully soon enough. Definitely on Summer with national team. He is a great guy and to be honest… I am not surprised at all that he is doing so well in Spain.

http://www.eurohoops.net/featured/176467/olivier-hanlan-coached-by-saras-the-best-thing-it-could-happen

[CoachD]

Dillon Brooks is having a very good season for Oregon. Most likely he is not a future NBA player, but should be a solid Euro pro, and could help the National team, given the weakness at SF. Boucher is also looking very good (top ten in the Pac in rebounds and first in blocks).

Good discussion re the core going forward. I would only add that as much as Lyles has improved the last few weeks, I am not quite ready to place him significantly ahead of Powell.

I've heard scouts say that DIllon has a shot at making the league if he continues to develop at his current pace

[mojo13]

Lots of questions with France.
Diaw and Parker are old and may go deep in the playoffs.
Noah, Batum, Fournier, seraphim, mahinmi are all UFAs or RFAs.

Ilyasova is a UFA.

Sacre is a UFA. Bennett is a RFA and so is Nicholson (maybe a UFA)

I doubt the UFAs will be contracted in time. Not sure how RFAs work.

We may get Bennett and or Sacre if they think they are done in the NBA and see this as a chance to impress euro or China clubs.

[frumble]

Lots of questions with France.
Diaw and Parker are old and may go deep in the playoffs.
Noah, Batum, Fournier, seraphim, mahinmi are all UFAs or RFAs.

Ilyasova is a UFA.

Sacre is a UFA. Bennett is a RFA and so is Nicholson (maybe a UFA)

I doubt the UFAs will be contracted in time. Not sure how RFAs work.

We may get Bennett and or Sacre if they think they are done in the NBA and see this as a chance to impress euro or China clubs.

So of their nine rotation guys from last summer, four are well into their 30s (Parker, Diaw, Gelabale, and Pietrus), and another two will be FAs (Batum UFA and Fournier RFA) at the end of the season? And their top guy who didn't play last summer (Noah) will also be a UFA?

If most of those guys are missing they will be very reliant on guys like Gobert, Lauvergne, and de Colo? Still a very good team, but not beyond the realm of possibility that we could knock them off.

[kilpin]

ok thanks. So only 3 games over a 7-day tournament?

My bad! I just read a tweet from the Italian Federation saying there is also a semi-final!

[mojo13]

So according to Sportrac we can add Dwight Powell to the RFA list. Making it Powell, Bennett and Nicholson to the RFA list and Sacre to the UFA. All four of them will likely be unavailable and that could severely impact our depth and size advantage.

The FA period last year began July 1 when players could first start talking to teams and guys could not sign until July 8 (this is what cause the Deandre Jordan fiasco). I don't see how any FAs could play at all - unless they gave up on the NBA (maybe a small chance for Sacre or Bennett but I doubt it).

Let's sure hope Trey Lyles wants to play. We may need to dust off Joel Anthony or draw in his 12 year younger self also known as Khem Birch. Who is playing well in Turkey by the way (all star team). We are certainly going to need Melvin Ejim I think. Perhaps a guy like Dillon Brooks is needed, or Kyle Wiltjer for that matter.

[UcanUwill]

Is it even guaranteed France will have all their NBA guys? TP/Diaw might not be there if Spurs go on a deep run in the playoffs and will need time to recover, and Batum will be a FA and I'm not sure if he wants to risk any injuries before signing a new deal.

That is a good point. Thinking its Olympics, I assume a lot of top guys would play, who knows.

But even if so, even if Diaw, Parker and Batum dont play, France should be super tough regardless, they have Euroleague star backcourt (Heurtel & DeColo), they should have Gobert, Joffrey Lauvergne, Evan Fournier and possibly Ajinca or Ian Mahinhi as well.

I think Noah will be a FA too.

Noah played for France like once. I doubt he plays, and even if he does, I am not sure he would even make the team at this point. France is stacked at C.

[mojo13]

Seems a french bball official is even doubting Diaw, Batum, Parker and more.

http://www.spin.ph/basketball/news/france-key-players-vie-new-contracts-in-time-for-olympic-qualifiers#MOk4clDCCvLreUD9.01

Not sure I believe this article much - lots of seeming inaccuracies. I am pretty sure Diaw is contracted until 2018. Fournier is an RFA, Mahinmi too etc.
I guess the point is there is allot of doubt with who will play for France. They have lots of FAs and UFAs.

Again - does anyone understand the RFA process as it relates to this tournament. Any chance RFAs are signed in time?
As of right now, unless someone says otherwise - I think you have to say all UFAs and RFA likely wont play. I dont think any RFAs or UFAs can sign a contract before July 8th - after the tournement has started. That's an entire team between Canada and France.

[frumble]

Again - does anyone understand the RFA process as it relates to this tournament. Any chance RFAs are signed in time?
As of right now, unless someone says otherwise - I think you have to say all UFAs and RFA likely wont play. I dont think any RFAs or UFAs can sign a contract before July 8th - after the tournement has started. That's an entire team between Canada and France.

I am no expert on the RFA process, but from quick internet research I am not seeing anything that indicates that RFA signing dates are any different than UFA dates - it seems that for all FAs, no negotiation until July 1, and no official contract until July 8.

So, if Powell, Nicholson, Bennett, and Sacre are all unavailable, that leaves us with these main candidates at the 4/5:
Thompson
Olynyk
Lyles
Birch
Anthony (one last hurrah before he retires?)

J. Bachynski (tired of D league and uses tournament to showcase talent for Euro teams?)
Bhullar (same as Bachynski?)
Wiltjer (goes undrafted and uses tournament to showcase talent for Euro teams?)
Jankovic (same as Wiltjer)
Landry
Klassen?

Maybe I should also be counting Ejim and Doornekamp (as undersized 4s).

Am I forgetting anyone of note? Anyone know where Ashaolu is playing this season? Is Kendall taking the season off to spend time with family?

[SpiderMunn]

Nogueira pencils in as a likely rotation piece for Brazil, who earned an automatic qualification as the host country. The tournament may still be seven months away, but the Raptors’ locker room, which is heavy on international players, is already preparing with plenty of trash talk. Chief among the trash-talkers is Nogueira, who figures he’ll be able to use some of his defensive acumen against Argentine teammate Luis Scola.

“I told him hey, enjoy your shots here. Enjoy your fadeaways because I’m not going to let you touch the ball,” he says. “So be ready.”

Scola isn’t the only one on Nogueira’s hit-list for the summer. Valanciunas (Lithuania) has drawn his ire, and not even DeMar DeRozan (USA) is safe from threats.

“Valanciunas, too,” Nogueira says. “He talks **** to me, Valanciunas. I say wait. It’s easy to talk **** in my face in Toronto, I want to see you talk in Brazil. Like Big Cat says, Jamal Magloire, ‘I got a surprise for you.’ I got a surprise for Scola and Valanciunas. And DeMar.”

Conspicuous by his absence in the trash-talk agenda is Cory Joseph, whose Canadian team still needs to punch their ticket through a July qualifying tournament.

“He got mad at me,” Nogueira says. “Because I said ‘hey man, you guys aren’t going to make the Olympics.’ He told me he’s gonna tweet #LucasHatesCanada. And he said ‘I’m gonna make #LucasHateCanada against Brooklyn, see who they boo more, you or Bargnani.'”

Before anyone gets to booing or using that hashtag, Nogueira did turn complimentary of the Canadian program.

“I think if everybody plays, they have a chance. But the best chance they had, they didn’t take it, playing against South American team,” he correctly points out. “Now they’ve gotta play against Greece (Turkey), France. I know the ’20, they’re already good. They’re already there.

“But they can make it if Tristan, Andrew Wiggins, Cory Joseph, Nicholson. If everybody plays, they have a chance.”

Ironically, until the tournament rolls around, Nogueria’s just waiting for the chance to play.

http://www.raptorsrepublic.com/2016/01/28/lucas-nogueira-talks-trash-hits-3s-waiting-for-chance/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=facebook

[frumble]

A little more speculation re participation - David Ebner was on Vancouver sports radio this morning and said that he thought Wiggins was 100% and that he was was near certain that the starting 5 would be Joseph, Stauskas, Wiggins, Olynyk, and Thompson. This seemed to be based on Ebner's speculation rather than any recent statements from any of those five, or from anyone involved with the program.

It was also noted that Bennett, Nicholson, and Powell would be FAs, but there was no discussion of Lyles or any other potential bigs.

[arbsn]

Serbia got the easiest draw, meanwhile Turin groups are the most interesting. Gilas dream sunk right after it was announced France is in their draw. Canada needs to go big or go hope, because France is arguably the best team in the whole thing.

France will be no joke. Even their 2nd string guys are good. Like Lauvergne, Pietrus, Heurtel, Gelabale. At the end of the day, no pool is easy since Serbia is a legit team too.

My assumptions for the 3 wild card teams: Serbia, France, Croatia

[mojo13]

Tony Parker may miss the tournament as he has a pregnant wife due in early July.

Good news, let's hope for a safe delivery the first week of July for Mrs Parker.

[UcanUwill]

Tony Parker may miss the tournament as he has a pregnant wife due in early July.

Good news, let's hope for a safe delivery the first week of July for Mrs Parker.

Not the biggest loss considering how Heurtel is playing.

[arbsn]

Tony Parker may miss the tournament as he has a pregnant wife due in early July.

Good news, let's hope for a safe delivery the first week of July for Mrs Parker.

Looks like TP is in to battle Cojo

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Sportando/status/696704445573423104[/tweet]

[frumble]

Another good week for Brooks and Boucher for Oregon.

Brooks has been steadily moving up the 2017 mock draft lists (now into the first round for NBAdraft.net, still in second round for draftexpress). And Boucher is now listed for the first time (late second round for this year's draft by NBAdraft.net).

[curryking3]

Elite basketball academy tries to keep up with Canada's expanding talent pool
Athlete Institute in Orangeville, Ont., wants to ensure talented high school players can train close to home

They watched the Florida-born Carter, nicknamed "Air Canada," lead the struggling team into the playoffs 16 years ago and then took up the game themselves. The growing interest in the sport led to more competition, better coaching and better players.

"The kids just keep on coming," said Koreen. "It's just amazing."

There are likely many more to come.

On a gleaming basketball court north of Toronto, two groups of tall high school students clad in red and white are competing in a series of highly competitive drills at the Athlete Institute in the town of Orangeville.

...

The institute's first team began playing in 2012, and the program hasn't stopped expanding. A new dormitory is being built on the property to go along with the professional-level workout facility, fully staffed with coaches and trainers.

"We are really developing elite talent in Canada," said Tony McIntyre, the institute's director of basketball operations. "What we are trying to do is give a kids a chance to stay here and play rather than go to the U.S."

Anyone have insight on this? Seems interesting.

Spoiler:

If only I was an inch taller amirite?

Kalif Young, who is from Vaughan, Ont., says he likes being able to train close to home so he can 'still get some of Mom's home cooking.'

This man deserves to succeed

[Scott Hall]

Meet Canada's next great basketball prospect

Rowan Barrett is part of the past, present and future of basketball in Canada.

He played for the national team, is Canada Basketball’s executive vice president of the men’s national team and his son Rowan Jr., or R.J., is the top freshman in ESPN’s latest class of 2019 rankings.

“You wonder if that’s a good thing at this age,” the father said.

R.J. plays at The Montverde (Fla). Academy, ranked No. 2 by USA TODAY Sports. Two other Canadians are on that team – Marcus Carr, 39th-ranked point guard in 2017 class and forward Simi Shittu, the seventh-ranked power forward and No. 13 overall in the 2018 class.

The Canadian presence at U.S. prep schools is growing – Andrew Wiggins played at Huntington (W. Va.) Prep; Lindell Wigginton, ranked No. 50 in 2017 class goes to Oak Hill (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) Academy; Findlay Prep (Henderson, Nev.) has had its share of Canadians.

Knowing how elite youth hockey players are trained in Canada and leave home at a young age to improve, the Barretts gave their son that opportunity.

“While it’s never going to be easy as parent, everyone wants to support their children and their dreams and goals. That’s the position my family has taken,” Rowan Sr. said. “He really wants this. You try your best to help make this a reality.”

AAU basketball programs growing steadily in Canada

R.J. is a 6-6, left-handed shooting guard with leaping ability, increasing range and a competitive fire.

“He’s working pretty hard. He loves the game. He’s accomplishing goals he set out,” Barrett said. “He has to keep developing. We’ll keep him grounded but hopefully he continues to grow.”

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZj9TRaNn2A[/youtube]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2016/02/11/canadian-basketball-prospect-next-star-high-school/80252688/#