Team Canada Basketball Thread

[aminiaturebuddha]

Short write up on the U17 exhibition loss against France.

http://www.basketball.ca/en/news-article/canadas-u17-men-fall-to-france-86-85-in-overtime-of-first-game-o

No box score, but it doesn't look like either Barrett or Simi played. A one-point overtime loss to France without the two best players on the team isn't bad at all. And I like the sounds of 20 points and 10 rebounds from Brazdeikis. If he can provide excellent production off the bench once Barrett and Simi return, they could be very dangerous (assuming he heads back to the bench and not Kirkwood, who probably fits better as a "glue guy" with the starting unit).

[TheFutureMM]

Birch added as well.

Huge gets in position of big need.

Thank god. I mean I think we are all hyping up Birch just a little too much but at this stage in the game he's probably starting. Bennett and Birch are kind of like a poor mans Olynyk and Thompson - very complimentary.

Still can't believe Wiggins and Stauskas aren't playing - Wiggins has had an excuse every time he dodged the team in the past. First year I'm really shaking my head.

[EJaggit]

Any chance Canada wins with a majority of the USA stars opting out?

[TheFutureMM]

I can't believe it is even getting worse....Brooks out, Boucher out. CoJo not going to Italy. Joel Anthony questionable. Phil Scrubb possibly injured. At this point can we just forfeit rather than have Basketball Canada further embarras the country?

https://canhoopsca.wordpress.com/2016/06/14/canada-sr-mens-update-injuries-other-take-their-toll/

. There is a saying in the stock market that basically says a good time to buy securities is when “all the bad news is in”. For Coach Jay Triano and staff, we are all hoping that this phrase accurately describes the current situation for our Senior men’s team given the recent raft of injuries and other situations – over and above the acceptance of not having the majority of last year’s roster in camp. Most are now aware that only 4 players will return from last season’s team however of the twenty players invited to the training camp, already there has been significant churn. To wit, 6’7″ Dillon Brooks, who was impressive last summer coming off the bench during the Pan-Am games, and on paper set to be one of Canada’s rotation guys on this roster, is currently saddled with leg/foot injury and is in a cast. Brooks recently withdrew his name from the N.B.A. draft and will return to Eugene for his junior season. Dillon’s teammate at Oregon, the freakishly athletic 6’11” Chris Boucher, who led the entire Pac-12 in blocked shots, made a strong early impression in camp, being active and protecting the rim – some viewed him as a shoe-in for a roster spot – however Boucher had to return to Oregon to complete summer courses. Veteran 6’9″ center Joel Anthony, who over the past 15 years has continually answered the bell for Canada – through good times and other – and deserves the utmost respect and honor for his ongoing loyalty to the program and his country, is in the midst of welcoming a newborn to his family, justifiably casting doubt as to whether he will be available. Unfortunately for Canada, these issues cast further doubt on the roster and make things even more challenging for Triano and the rest of the brain trust. On the positive side, what remains is a reasonably strong back court with 6’2″ Cory Joseph (Joseph will be given well-deserved time off for rest and is not expected to travel to Italy when the team leaves for a series of exhibitions this coming Thursday but is in for Manila), 6’1″ Tyler Ennis who has been solid and by all accounts a loyal program guy, 6’3″ Brady Heslip – some expect Turkey to play a lot of zone and Brady continues to show the shooting range that we all have come to know and respect over the past two summers and 6’3″ Phil Scrubb who has been battling injury also. Depth at the 3 spot is a concern as 6’7″ Thomas Scrubb at this point in time is the probable starter, having matured physically and grown his game after a championship season in Finland. 6’7″ Melvin Ejim, who provided so much energy off the bench for Canada last season, taking charges, keeping balls alive on the glass and finishing inside and out, is slotted as the starting four man. 6’6″ Dyshawn Pierre, who just finished his senior year at Dayton, is in camp but missed time due to working out for some pro teams. The staff appears to be trying Pierre at both the 3 and 4 spots. 6’4″ Naz Long, just granted another season of eligibility at Iowa State on compassionate injury-based grounds, is in camp and brings a reputation as a long-range shooter. Veteran Levon Kendall and 7’5″ Sim Bhullar are available at the 5 spot. There has been talk that 6’7″ Anthony Bennett, presently an unrestricted N.B.A. free agent and/or 6’9″ Khem Birch, a Montreal native who plays for Uşak Sportif of the Turkish Basketball Super League, will be in camp – neither was on the original invite list however neither have as yet shown up to camp. CIS fans will be pleased to hear that by all accounts 6’10” Owen Klassen (Acadia/German pro league) has had a solid camp and remains a candidate to at least make the trip to Italy. Highly-touted 6’5″ wing R.J. Barrett has been steady at the 3 spot and 6’4″ Shai Alexander, originally from Hamilton who will suit up for the Florida Gators as a freshman this coming season, probably is a bit away but numerous observers marvel at Alexander’s skill set and, as importantly, how well he soaks up instruction and his very positive attitude – expect Alexander to have some future with the program going forward if his progress continues. We are about 48 hours away from the team breaking camp in Toronto to travel to Italy with their first game against Croatia next week. Many are anxious to discover which group of 12 will make the journey to Europe – we expect and hope that post-Europe, more players – hopefully Tristan Thompson – will also join in time for 5th July game vs. Turkey. Stay tuned.

Awesome blog - rough news.

Was really looking forward to seeing both Brooks and Boucher making this team. Would have been great for their development.

As for Thompson, I don't blame him if he doesn't want to reach. Freer men than him have turned it down and he is still playing NBA ball. Guy deserves a break - likely he'll have another deep playoff run next year too.

[mojo13]

I am doubting Dyshawn Pierre will be on the team. He worked out with the sixers yesterday and is scheduled for the Clippers tomorrow.
Supposedly Shai Alexander made the team per at Twitter. That is not a good thing if you ask me.

[frumble]

Short write up on the U17 exhibition loss against France.

http://www.basketball.ca/en/news-article/canadas-u17-men-fall-to-france-86-85-in-overtime-of-first-game-o

No box score, but it doesn't look like either Barrett or Simi played. A one-point overtime loss to France without the two best players on the team isn't bad at all. And I like the sounds of 20 points and 10 rebounds from Brazdeikis. If he can provide excellent production off the bench once Barrett and Simi return, they could be very dangerous (assuming he heads back to the bench and not Kirkwood, who probably fits better as a "glue guy" with the starting unit).

Thanks for the article.

The blog Mojo linked earlier today (https://canhoops.ca.wordpress.com) has some more details on the game.

Akot with 14 off the bench.
Nembhard with a relatively quiet 6 pts and 6 assists.

From the footage I saw on facebook, Akot was getting a lot of playing time.


Sonny Bairos tweeted that Barrett and Shi-ttu will be rejoining the U17 team and that Shai Alexander will travel to Manila with the Olympic qualifying team.

The first is no surprise.

The second is. If its true I guess he beat out Calliste and Long for the 5th guard spot behind Joseph, Ennis, Heslip, and Scrubb? Or Scrubb's injury is worse than thought?

Pooh_Jeter, I agree that Kendall was a solid player for the national team. And who can forget his performance against the US at the U21s? Last time Canada beat the US at a FIBA event (cadets, junior, or senior)?

If the year away from playing competitive hoops didn't hurt him too much, then I see him as a strong candidate for a backup big spot.

Assuming no TT, my guess at the 7 C/F spots would be Bennett, Birch, Ejim, Pierre, Kendall, Bhullar, and one of Klassen or T. Scrubb.

Ok, just saw Mojo's post re Pierre. Not sure who they take now. Ejim and T. Scrubb play the 3?

[mojo13]

A few years ago we had a nice World University Games team that whooped the USA. 2013.
http://www.basketball.ca/files/DMNT___FISU___Game_5___USA.PDF

Nice squad.

[aminiaturebuddha]

Yeah, extremely surprising that Shai Alexander actually made the senior team. Isn't he a 2017 Class guy, meaning he still isn't even done high school, or did he re-classify? The one good thing about this is that he'll get some great experience and keep playing right up to the time that the U18 team gets back together for the U18 FIBA Americas tournament. Not really a good sign for the senior team, though, that they have to rely on high schoolers to fill out the roster.

[frumble]

Yeah, extremely surprising that Shai Alexander actually made the senior team. Isn't he a 2017 Class guy, meaning he still isn't even done high school, or did he re-classify? The one good thing about this is that he'll get some great experience and keep playing right up to the time that the U18 team gets back together for the U18 FIBA Americas tournament. Not really a good sign for the senior team, though, that they have to rely on high schoolers to fill out the roster.

I haven't heard anything about him reclassifying.

Yes, it would be very surprising if he really were to make the team. But Hoops Hype and Sonny Bairos have been wrong plenty of times before, so I am taking the tweet with a grain of salt.

News re who will be making the trip to Italy/Croatia should be out today.

Pooh_Jeter,
Re XRM, the only place I have seen his name mentioned in connection with this team is on the FIBA "roster" for Canada. That list has a lot of guys who clearly won't be on the team - Olynyk, Murray, Nicholson - and I think it was just a relatively un-informed guess.

[super_balls]

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPGN03ORpAw[/youtube]

Potential big guy in the future.. I know he had issues with Team Canada in the past, hopefully he can add to our already talented pool.

[Double Helix]

Probably posted but Stefan Jankovic cleared up some of the earlier controversy during his workout with the Raptors:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psQhdZXfde8&sns=tw

People sometimes say stupid stuff when they're young. Seems more mature now at least. I can respect what he said there.

[mojo13]

Probably posted but Stefan Jankovic cleared up some of the earlier controversy during his workout with the Raptors:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psQhdZXfde8&sns=tw

People sometimes say stupid stuff when they're young. Seems more mature now at least. I can respect what he said there.

Nice find...I appreciate his more politically correct response in front of people expecting a certain answer, but it is not like he said he would definitely play for Canada. He said he would play for either Canada of Serbia. He is gonna need to make a choice at some point.

My expectation is that if he makes the NBA (less likely) he would probably chooses to play for Canada.
If he ends up playing in Europe (more likely), I expect him to play for Serbia as it would be more financially beneficial.



And....

Boxscore for CAN V FRA u17 Exhibition yesterday:
http://www.ffbb.com/sites/default/files/fiba_box_score_2-france-canada.pdf

[BilboBanginz]

Probably posted but Stefan Jankovic cleared up some of the earlier controversy during his workout with the Raptors:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psQhdZXfde8&sns=tw

People sometimes say stupid stuff when they're young. Seems more mature now at least. I can respect what he said there.

He's giving some pretty safe answers while he's in front of a bunch of Canadians, but in his mind he's like...

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sR-aZn3vYVM[/youtube]

[frumble]

Basketball Canada tweeting that Barrett and Alexander will join the senior team for the European exhibition games.

No mention of Shi-ttu, so presumably he will be joining the U17s?

[aminiaturebuddha]

Basketball Canada tweeting that Barrett and Alexander will join the senior team for the European exhibition games.

No mention of Shi-ttu, so presumably he will be joining the U17s?

I really hope they're not screwing over the U17 team with this decision on Barrett. Sure, it's good experience for him, but he's likely not going to play meaningful minutes in any real games, and the U17 team needs these precious few exhibition games to come together and gel before the World Championship.

[frumble]

Basketball Canada tweeting that Barrett and Alexander will join the senior team for the European exhibition games.

No mention of Shi-ttu, so presumably he will be joining the U17s?

I really hope they're not screwing over the U17 team with this decision on Barrett. Sure, it's good experience for him, but he's likely not going to play meaningful minutes in any real games, and the U17 team needs these precious few exhibition games to come together and gel before the World Championship.

If he is going to travel with the senior team to Italy/Croatia, he won't just miss the U17 exhibition games, he would miss the tournament.

The boxscore of the France exhibition game that Mojo linked shows Emanuel Miller as #6. When the U17 roster was announced, Miller was a spare. FIBA lists Barrett as #6. So it would seem Miller might be Miller's replacement.
(FWIW, the France boxscore and FIBA tournament roster have Shi-ttu listed as #15).

I agree that it is a curious decision.

Canada beat Australia 88-53 today in their second exhibition game.

I haven't seen a game story or boxscore yet.

[aminiaturebuddha]

If he is going to travel with the senior team to Italy/Croatia, he won't just miss the U17 exhibition games, he would miss the tournament.

The boxscore of the France exhibition game that Mojo linked shows Emanuel Miller as #6. When the U17 roster was announced, Miller was a spare. FIBA lists Barrett as #6. So it would seem Miller might be Miller's replacement.
(FWIW, the France boxscore and FIBA tournament roster have Shi-ttu listed as #15).

I agree that it is a curious decision.

Canada beat Australia 88-53 today in their second exhibition game.

I haven't seen a game story or boxscore yet.

"Curious" is a much milder term than I would have used. The U17 team has a very real chance at a medal, possibly even a chance to give the US a tough match in a gold medal game. To take away the team's best player for limited benefit to the rest of the program is beyond curious.

Here's the game story for the Australia game. It would appear that Simi didn't play again. Good to see that the blowout gave some of the other guys a chance to step forward, most notably Stefan Smith and Grant Shephard.

http://www.basketball.ca/en/news-article/u17-men-got-knocked-down-but-we-got-up-again-winning-88-53-again

[arbsn]

Anyone know why Trey Lyles isn't there?

[frumble]

If he is going to travel with the senior team to Italy/Croatia, he won't just miss the U17 exhibition games, he would miss the tournament.

The boxscore of the France exhibition game that Mojo linked shows Emanuel Miller as #6. When the U17 roster was announced, Miller was a spare. FIBA lists Barrett as #6. So it would seem Miller might be Miller's replacement.
(FWIW, the France boxscore and FIBA tournament roster have Shi-ttu listed as #15).

I agree that it is a curious decision.

Canada beat Australia 88-53 today in their second exhibition game.

I haven't seen a game story or boxscore yet.

"Curious" is a much milder term than I would have used. The U17 team has a very real chance at a medal, possibly even a chance to give the US a tough match in a gold medal game. To take away the team's best player for limited benefit to the rest of the program is beyond curious.

Here's the game story for the Australia game. It would appear that Simi didn't play again. Good to see that the blowout gave some of the other guys a chance to step forward, most notably Stefan Smith and Grant Shephard.

http://www.basketball.ca/en/news-article/u17-men-got-knocked-down-but-we-got-up-again-winning-88-53-again

I agree completely. As I mentioned in a post yesterday, I think playing with the U17s would be better for his development as well.
(better to be the main guy, logging lots of minutes against guys about a year older than him, than playing sparingly against grown men).

So having Barrett with the SMNT instead of CMNT seems bad for the CMNT, the SMNT (surely at this state Long or Calliste is a better player than Barrett), and Barrett's development.

arbsn,
I haven''t read anything re why Lyles isn't there. Perhaps the Jazz want him to play summer league again?

[mojo13]

Anyone know why Trey Lyles isn't there?

There is really no word on Lyles. And I have tried digging around. Seems it is the same excuse as Wiggins and Stuaskas - to work on his game. But he has been able to keep a much lower profile than those two as to him being missing.

Rob Sacre to an extent as well. If Bennett is there I am not sure why Sacre isn't. He is a free agent and all but he should be using this as an opportunity to raise his profile as I assume he is looking for work.