mojo13 wrote:arbsn wrote:frumble wrote:So I give Lewenberg credit for getting an article up, but, like so many others, he appears to be unaware of the qualification format changes, and seems to be buying the low expectations statements put out by Nash and Triano.
Very good point. We will probably be without all NBA guys and some high level Euro League players for the next qualification round robin.
But on the flip side, our backup squad was great at the Pan Am Games basketball tournament with wins against Mexico, Argentina, and USA. It was a lower level event - one that will probably be a similar talent level as these qualifying games. Young guys getting minutes (outside of the one real NBA guy Andrew Nicholson) included Brady Heslip, Junior Cadougan, Jamal Murray (a high school player at the time), Ejim, Dillon Brooks, Bennett, Mullings, and Bhullar.
These guys experienced winning at a senior international level at a young age. Our depth is great when you include the new guys on the roster this year and the other guys like Barrett Jr, Pangos, Doornekamp, English, Bennett who may be available for qualification.
I think you can be confident putting together at least a decent team for those qualification games.
You think our opponents were fielding full teams at the PanAms? Not close.
We barely beat Mexico in the FIBA Americas with a full roster. They had a team full of Mexican domestic league players + Ayon & Gutierrez. Venezuela had one or two guys max that play in foreign leagues. They are going to be able to field pretty full teams of guys who have good familiarity with each other, their system and coaching.
We have a below average system and coaching, an unfamiliarity with each other and with FIBA rules. Our teams are slapped together at the last minute, are incohesive and inexperienced with a very different type of basketball. Our only path for Canada to victory in FIBA ball is through fielding vastly superior talent....
Who is to say any Euro based players will be released to play in the qualifiers anyways? Why would Panathinaikos release a guy like Kevin Pangos mid-season to fly half way across the world to play in a qualifier and maybe miss 2 weeks of their season? It is countries with viable domestic leagues that will have the most advantage - as they will be able to apply pressure on the teams/league to release guys to train and play. In many countries the domestics league are run by their national FIBA affiliated organization. BRA, ARG, PR, MEX, VEN, PAN, URG all have domestic leagues.
Well said.
Two other factors may also come into play.
First, most of Canada's best 21 to 23 year old players will be in college during 5 of the 6 qualifying windows, and thus won't be able to help. If all our best players were available, this wouldn't be an issue. But in a non-NBA scenario, and especially in a non-Euro league scenario, these guys would be needed.
The Latin American countries' best 21 to 23 year old players tend to be in domestic league rather than colleges, and will thus be in play.
Second, many of Canada's top NBA players are fringe NBA guys (e.g., Nicholson, Sacre, Bennett, Powell, arguably Stauskas and Ennis). For cultural, language, and other reasons, equivalent Latin American players are far more likely to be in domestic or other non-NBA leagues than riding the pine in the NBA.
If FIBA somehow works out some participation deal with top Euro leagues, we might have a chance with a team of guys like Pangos, Hanlan, Heslip, Pierre, Doornekamp, Ejim, Bennett, Birch, etc. But again, these guys may not show up even if eligible, and may not be good enough (given the deficiencies Mojo described above).
If these guys are not allowed to play, and we are looking at even lower tier guys, we are really screwed.
In any case, qualifying going forward will be much, much harder than it has been. This has all been known for several years. Our best opportunities were 2014 Worlds 14 and 2016 Olympics.
Matt Prehm, Oregon Duck writer, reporting that Canada will be finalizing roster tomorrow. Anyone else hear anything about this? i am assuming he is just confusing last day of camp with roster being finalized, and that final cuts won't be made until after some of their exhibition games in Italy/Croatia.
