Team Canada Basketball Thread

[frumble]

One of the articles or tweets mentioned that Pierre and Bhullar were on bench but were DNPs. I am hoping they see some action on Thursday.

With Barrett gone, I believe that leaves 11 in Europe (counting Alexander). Joseph's arrival would leave us with:
Guards
Ennis
Joseph
P Scrubb
Heslip
Alexander

Forwards/Centers
T. Scrubb
Pierre
Ejim
Bennett
Kendall
Birch
Bhullar

If Anthony arrives after birth of his kid, he presumably bumps Kendall or Bhullar.

That still leaves us with Alexander as the 5th guard. Unlikely to play much, but a little concerning. I would be more comfortable with Calliste, but have heard nothing about him, so assume he did not make the trip and is out of the picture (confirmation that Naz Long is out of the picture - he is back at Iowa State and is playing in a ProAm league).

Are they counting on another guard joining?
Are they really going to go with Alexander?
Or are they going to go with only 4 guards (and no true SF) and 8 bigs?

[tout court]

One of the articles or tweets mentioned that Pierre and Bhullar were on bench but were DNPs. I am hoping they see some action on Thursday.

With Barrett gone, I believe that leaves 11 in Europe (counting Alexander). Joseph's arrival would leave us with:
Guards
Ennis
Joseph
P Scrubb
Heslip
Alexander

Forwards/Centers
T. Scrubb
Pierre
Ejim
Bennett
Kendall
Birch
Bhullar

If Anthony arrives after birth of his kid, he presumably bumps Kendall or Bhullar.

That still leaves us with Alexander as the 5th guard. Unlikely to play much, but a little concerning. I would be more comfortable with Calliste, but have heard nothing about him, so assume he did not make the trip and is out of the picture (confirmation that Naz Long is out of the picture - he is back at Iowa State and is playing in a ProAm league).

Are they counting on another guard joining?
Are they really going to go with Alexander?
Or are they going to go with only 4 guards (and no true SF) and 8 bigs?

Would anyone happen to know if Justin Edwards out of K-State would have gotten an invite? I mean if Naz Long and Jason Calliste were in camp ...

What happened to XRM or even Duane Notice?

Maybe our very own deep throat aka Undefeated can tip us off about others who might have declined invites?

Heavens to Betsy there must be a more viable fifth guard option than an 18-year-old kid.

[frumble]

Would anyone happen to know if Justin Edwards out of K-State would have gotten an invite? I mean if Naz Long and Jason Calliste were in camp ...

What happened to XRM or even Duane Notice?

Heavens to Betsy there must be a more viable fifth guard option than an 18-year-old kid.

Edwards worked out for the Raptors last week, but I have no idea whether he was invited to the Team Canada camp or not. I haven't heard anything re Notice.

Incomplete list of better 5th guard options:
Nick Stauskas
Kevin Pangos
Olivier Hanlan
Andy Rautins
Daniel Mullings

Justin Edwards
Duane Notice
XRM
Junior Cadougan
Grant Mullins

Devoe Joseph
Jason Calliste
Naz Long
Myck Kabongo
Kevin Zabo

If we gave this some more thought I am sure we could get to 20 (without even resorting to Ryan Bell, Tyler Kepkay, or Antwi Atuahene). Of course we know Stauskas turned down an invite. Others may have as well, but I have a hard time believing all 15 did.

This is no knock on Alexander. I just don't think a guy who just finished grade 11 can be better than any of these guys now, even if he ends up better than many of them.

[tout court]

Would anyone happen to know if Justin Edwards out of K-State would have gotten an invite? I mean if Naz Long and Jason Calliste were in camp ...

What happened to XRM or even Duane Notice?

Heavens to Betsy there must be a more viable fifth guard option than an 18-year-old kid.

Edwards worked out for the Raptors last week, but I have no idea whether he was invited to the Team Canada camp or not. I haven't heard anything re Notice.

Incomplete list of better 5th guard options:
Nick Stauskas
Kevin Pangos
Olivier Hanlan
Andy Rautins
Daniel Mullings

Justin Edwards
Duane Notice
XRM
Junior Cadougan
Grant Mullins

Devoe Joseph
Jason Calliste
Naz Long
Myck Kabongo
Kevin Zabo

If we gave this some more thought I am sure we could get to 20 (without even resorting to Ryan Bell, Tyler Kepkay, or Antwi Atuahene). Of course we know Stauskas turned down an invite. Others may have as well, but I have a hard time believing all 15 did.

This is no knock on Alexander. I just don't think a guy who just finished grade 11 can be better than any of these guys now, even if he ends up better than many of them.

If we are just throwing around names for ish and giggles I'd add Malcolm Duvivier from the other OSU to the list. Joe De Ciman from Colorado State.

Or, if we want to go with the all nepotism team, we could put Dustin Triano on the squad. Then you'd have coach's son and nephew on the team. Plus two players from the lead assistant's squad, and for a brief time, the son of the assistant GM. I am sure there are basketball federations in banana republics that give off less of an appearance of cronyism.

It would all be a big joke if it weren't for the Ken Shields' era.

[Syd-TK3]

When does the actually last chance tourney start?

[frumble]

If we are just throwing around names for ish and giggles I'd add Malcolm Duvivier from the other OSU to the list. Joe De Ciman from Colorado State.

Or, if we want to go with the all nepotism team, we could put Dustin Triano on the squad. Then you'd have coach's son and nephew on the team. Plus two players from the lead assistant's squad, and for a brief time, the son of the assistant GM. I am sure there are basketball federations in banana republics that give off less of an appearance of cronyism.

It would all be a big joke if it weren't for the Ken Shields' era.

We can actually assemble a starting five comprised of sons and nephews of the current brain trust:

Dustin Triano
Brady Heslip
Rowan Barrett Jr.
Aaron Doornekamp
Nate Doornekamp

If we can count the son of a former head coach, Andy Rautins can bump one of the guards/wings.

[frumble]

A brief Canhoops.ca entry this morning confirms that Joseph is re-joining the team, and that this brings the roster to the 12 discussed above.

https://canhoopsca.wordpress.com/

Barring a last minute addition (first game is against Turkey on July 5), it looks like this will be it.

[Oakville_Raptor]

Nik Stauskas is on TSN covering the NBA Draft instead of helping Canada qualify for the Olympics...clearly this dude knows his basketball career is over and wants to get a job in the broadcasting field.

[aminiaturebuddha]

Nik Stauskas is on TSN covering the NBA Draft instead of helping Canada qualify for the Olympics...clearly this dude knows his basketball career is over and wants to get a job in the broadcasting field.

Yeah, that's just sad. Obviously it doesn't mean that he isn't working on his game the other 20 hours a day or so that he isn't on TV, these things aren't mutually exclusive, but I still fail to see how being a key player on Team Canada in high pressure games wouldn't have been a good experience for his development.

[BilboBanginz]

Canada beats Australia 81-78 in the first game of the U17 Tournament.

Box Score: http://www.fiba.com/world/u17/2016/2306/Australia-Canada#|tab=boxscore_statistics

Shi-ttu with 22 & 12 with 5 steals.. but 0/7 from the line, including 2 important ones in the last minute.

Barrett had an and-1 dunk to take the lead with 25 second remaining.

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Eurohopes/status/745951954376007680[/tweet]

Full Game:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyMfF5LA4BI[/youtube]

[frumble]

Nice to see them come up with a win even on a day when Djuricic was not shooting well (2/10).

Judging from the boxscore, seems they may have struggled when Shi-ttu was not in the game (he was +19, but Akot and Shepard were each -16).

Nembhard only one assist, and overall Australia had 20 assists to our 12.

[UcanUwill]

Oluwasimisola Shi.ttu, what a name, you cant even spell it because of censor lol. U17 tournament should be interesting, Dzanan Musa from Bosnia is probably the guy to watch.

[aminiaturebuddha]

I'm kind of surprised it was that close, considering they just beat Australia 88-53 a few days ago in exhibition play without Barrett or Simi (I'm just going to continue to use the short form of his first name to avoid the censor).

But as you guys pointed out, it looks like a couple of the players had really rough shooting nights, Djuricic and Brazdeikis especially.

Speaking of Brazdeikis, it looks like he's been moved into the starting lineup, replacing Kirkwood. I didn't get a chance to watch the game, but I'm not sure that's a great move. From the team I saw last year, it seems like Brazdeikis is more useful bringing offence off the bench when the starting lineup already has Barrett, Simi and Djuricic scoring. Kirkwood seemed like a better fit with his all-around game.

[verysalt]

Sorry, I didn't read the whole thread so probably I miss a lot. Anyway, I just wondering what is the current situation with Anthony Bennett? Will he play for Canada's national team, is he planing to play in EU next year (seems like his NBA career is over) ?

[aminiaturebuddha]

Sorry, I didn't read the whole thread so probably I miss a lot. Anyway, I just wondering what is the current situation with Anthony Bennett? Will he play for Canada's national team, is he planing to play in EU next year (seems like his NBA career is over) ?

In summary, he is playing with the NT, and it's unclear what he'll be doing next year, although he's had some workouts with NBA teams that seem to have gone fairly well because he's slimmed down and is in shape.

[MS13]

Anyone know where to buy Team Canada basketball jersey? They haven't re-stocked the Canada Basketball online store in a while.

[frumble]

Re Bennett, there are rumours that he worked out something with the Knicks or Nets before joining Team Canada. Unclear if it is just a training camp invite or a contract.

[Treadmill_Team]

That double crossover and 1 dunk was nasty. This kid isn't the athlete Wiggins is, but his overall game is way farther along than Wiggins was at his age.

[tout court]

Why is Tom Scrubb playing so much?

He is even worse than Doornekamp.

Sigh.

[frumble]

I am just tuning into the live feed of Canada - Croatia now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8qXQo6mQzc


For those who have been watching, any observations to report?