Team Canada Basketball Thread

[mojo13]

ESPN with their first (I think) 2019 mock draft. 5 Canadians projected in the first round:

RJ Barrett (1)
Justin Jackson (13)
Nickeil Alexander-Walker (17)
O'Shae Brissett (20)
Kyle Alexander (29)

Some notes on these 5:

Barrett maintains the top position. He had an interesting weekend: Montverde finished the high school season without any losses for the first time in its history (that's a prep-school that was led by players like Joel Embid, Ben Simmons, and D'Angelo Russell in recent years). This perfect record was almost broken on Saturday, as they were down by 6 with 24 seconds to go in the game, but Barrett scored the last unanswered 7 for a great comeback.

Justin Jackson so high is a bit surprising to me. I think it's mostly a function of what looks right now like a fairly weak 2018 class. In any case, he'll have to earn it next year when returning from injury.

Nice to see Brissett recognized. He wasn't even on their board previously.

Kyle Alexander is the biggest surprise for me. Never even thought of him until now as a true NBA prospect. His stats on his junior year at Tennessee are certainly not spectacular, but he does have 2 blocks a game in about 20 minutes and seems to be very efficient (73% from the field).

Some notable prospects missing from this list:

Simi Xhittu -- perhaps not surprising given his recent torn ACL. Even if he returns well (which is quite likely because of his young age), there's a chance that it's only going to happen halfway into the season. He'll probably take time to get back to full speed and will not show his full abilities in his rookie year at Vanderbilt. So he might not be a one-and-done after all

Lindell Wigginton -- The way he's been playing lately, there's actually a chance that he'll declare this year.

SGA -- Even greater chance that he'll go this year.

Others who I think could find their way into this draft in the 16 months still left before it's here: Akot, Dort, Brezdaikis, Nembhard (a really thin draft in the PG position), and maybe even someone like Llewellyn.

Where's the love for Andrew Nembhard? I think he's going to make some noise at Florida. He's one of the best PG's in his class.

I'm relying on the scouts opinion but everything I read on Nembhard is he is projecting to be a very good (multiyear) college player but seems to be lacking in the athleticism department to be an obvious NBA prospect, let alone a one and done type player.
Wiggington has seriously surprised me (and most everyone) this year, so maybe Nembhard will next year.....

[Hair Canada]

ESPN with their first (I think) 2019 mock draft. 5 Canadians projected in the first round:

RJ Barrett (1)
Justin Jackson (13)
Nickeil Alexander-Walker (17)
O'Shae Brissett (20)
Kyle Alexander (29)

Some notes on these 5:

Barrett maintains the top position. He had an interesting weekend: Montverde finished the high school season without any losses for the first time in its history (that's a prep-school that was led by players like Joel Embid, Ben Simmons, and D'Angelo Russell in recent years). This perfect record was almost broken on Saturday, as they were down by 6 with 24 seconds to go in the game, but Barrett scored the last unanswered 7 for a great comeback.

Justin Jackson so high is a bit surprising to me. I think it's mostly a function of what looks right now like a fairly weak 2018 class. In any case, he'll have to earn it next year when returning from injury.

Nice to see Brissett recognized. He wasn't even on their board previously.

Kyle Alexander is the biggest surprise for me. Never even thought of him until now as a true NBA prospect. His stats on his junior year at Tennessee are certainly not spectacular, but he does have 2 blocks a game in about 20 minutes and seems to be very efficient (73% from the field).

Some notable prospects missing from this list:

Simi Xhittu -- perhaps not surprising given his recent torn ACL. Even if he returns well (which is quite likely because of his young age), there's a chance that it's only going to happen halfway into the season. He'll probably take time to get back to full speed and will not show his full abilities in his rookie year at Vanderbilt. So he might not be a one-and-done after all

Lindell Wigginton -- The way he's been playing lately, there's actually a chance that he'll declare this year.

SGA -- Even greater chance that he'll go this year.

Others who I think could find their way into this draft in the 16 months still left before it's here: Akot, Dort, Brezdaikis, Nembhard (a really thin draft in the PG position), and maybe even someone like Llewellyn.

Where's the love for Andrew Nembhard? I think he's going to make some noise at Florida. He's one of the best PG's in his class.

I'm relying on the scouts opinion but everything I read on Nembhard is he is projecting to be a very good (multiyear) college player but seems to be lacking in the athleticism department to be an obvious NBA prospect, let alone a one and done type player.
Wiggington has seriously surprised me (and most everyone) this year, so maybe Nembhard will next year.....

I agree. I've watched Andrew quite a lot. He's not a bad athlete and can finish above the rim, but I'm more worried about his speed actually. Just hard for him to turn the corner and get by defenders with a not-so-quick first step. Seems to me like in today's NBA it's really hard without this for a PG.

SGA is also not that quick, but he has a great "attack" mentality, which Andrew is lacking at this point. Andrew often finishes games at the high school level with 5 points. It's true that he's a pass-first PG (and great at that), but without looking more for your own shots, it's hard to find a spot in today's NBA.

Still, he might surprise in Florida. He's a great passer and excellent defender (reads the offense really well and steals a lot). As I said, this class seems very thin in PGs, so if he's able to show more offensive assertiveness, there's a chance he'll be able to declare early. If I had to guess though, I think four years at Florida are more likely.

[aminiaturebuddha]

What's the board opinion on Kyle Alexander? I haven't seen him ranked this high before. Late bloomer, obviously... Nice have a kid with his size in the pipeline and making strides.

He seemed very limited to me and I was very surprised to see him listed here. He is a junior - But I get that he only started playing bball in grade 11 or so. I don't think he has much of an offensive game at all but I guess his defensive, rebounding and rim protection is being noticed by NBA scouts. Supposedly he has come along way since arriving at Tennessee. Being measured at 6’11.5” and with a 7’5.5” wingspan opens allot of eyes too. NBA is all about upside potential, not current production....

Seeing some Vols fans reaction to this news - they are quite suprised too.
http://www.volnation.com/forum/tennessee-vols-basketball/289864-kyle-alexander-2019-mock-nba-draft.html

Interesting that a few people on that forum were saying that he's a good 3-pt shooter. I'm not sure where they're getting that from considering he's only shot one of them the whole year (and made it). Maybe they see him putting up those shots in warmups?

He has a decent FT% at 73%, so I guess it's not out of the question that his form is decent enough to extend out beyond the line. That would definitely help his draft stock, paired with his shot blocking, even if he doesn't have much else in the way of offensive skill.

[aminiaturebuddha]

Full participation is a pipe dream. It will never happen. I think we should be extremely happy with 75 percent turnout.
Every summer there is going to be FAs, injuries, voluntary MIAs. Especially when we don’t have strong history of participation. I mean what do you think has changed? It is business as usual for Canada except we now have way, way more talent. The depth, especially, from the top European leagues is crucial.
Chemistry, coaching and a coherent system and play strategy is probably even more important - which is are more than lacking. Talent is not the problem right now.

I agree. I wasn't suggesting that the list I gave was something I expected to happen, just that it would be the best possible team in my opinion. I think we end up getting 7-8 of those players, and then have to fill in the rest with guys like Nicholson, Ejim, Pierre, Rathan-Mayes, etc. Which still isn't bad for depth purposes.

[frumble]

ESPN with their first (I think) 2019 mock draft. 5 Canadians projected in the first round:

RJ Barrett (1)
Justin Jackson (13)
Nickeil Alexander-Walker (17)
O'Shae Brissett (20)
Kyle Alexander (29)

Some notes on these 5:

Barrett maintains the top position. He had an interesting weekend: Montverde finished the high school season without any losses for the first time in its history (that's a prep-school that was led by players like Joel Embid, Ben Simmons, and D'Angelo Russell in recent years). This perfect record was almost broken on Saturday, as they were down by 6 with 24 seconds to go in the game, but Barrett scored the last unanswered 7 for a great comeback.

Justin Jackson so high is a bit surprising to me. I think it's mostly a function of what looks right now like a fairly weak 2018 class. In any case, he'll have to earn it next year when returning from injury.

Nice to see Brissett recognized. He wasn't even on their board previously.

Kyle Alexander is the biggest surprise for me. Never even thought of him until now as a true NBA prospect. His stats on his junior year at Tennessee are certainly not spectacular, but he does have 2 blocks a game in about 20 minutes and seems to be very efficient (73% from the field).

Some notable prospects missing from this list:

Simi Xhittu -- perhaps not surprising given his recent torn ACL. Even if he returns well (which is quite likely because of his young age), there's a chance that it's only going to happen halfway into the season. He'll probably take time to get back to full speed and will not show his full abilities in his rookie year at Vanderbilt. So he might not be a one-and-done after all

Lindell Wigginton -- The way he's been playing lately, there's actually a chance that he'll declare this year.

SGA -- Even greater chance that he'll go this year.

Others who I think could find their way into this draft in the 16 months still left before it's here: Akot, Dort, Brezdaikis, Nembhard (a really thin draft in the PG position), and maybe even someone like Llewellyn.

FutureMM posted the DE (ESPN) mock 2018 a couple weeks ago and it had SGA 19th.

Yeah, Shi-ttu not appearing in the mock 19 makes sense given the seriousness of the injury.

Re Wigginton, some high scoring games, but on volume shooting. E.g., 8 for 22 in the upset over Oklahoma. Now 41% for the year (and only 66% from the line). I am really hoping for the guy, but IMHO an undersized shooting guard needs better percentages thatn that.

Re the guys who did make the 2019 mock, Tennessee is getting a lot of attention (in an article on Friday, fivethirtyeight.com had them as the most likely team to grab the 4th #1 seed (this was before their upset loss to Alamaba)), so Alexander suddenly appearing on the list might be a case of being a high-ceiling player on a surprisingly good team.

I am surprised re the love for Brissett. How can a forward be shooting 34%? He has played 25 games and in only one (early Decemer vs. Colgate) has he shot better than 50% (7 for 12). And it is not a case of his overall shooting being dragged down by his 3 pt percentage, or a small sample. He is only averaging 34% on more than 200 two-point attempts/

For people who have watched Syracuse games this year, is it that he takes a lot of mid-range jumpers? Or he has no finish at the rim?

[aminiaturebuddha]

I am surprised re the love for Brissett. How can a forward be shooting 34%? He has played 25 games and in only one (early Decemer vs. Colgate) has he shot better than 50% (7 for 12). And it is not a case of his overall shooting being dragged down by his 3 pt percentage, or a small sample. He is only averaging 34% on more than 200 two-point attempts/

For people who have watched Syracuse games this year, is it that he takes a lot of mid-range jumpers? Or he has no finish at the rim?

I've seen a couple of Syracuse games this year and I think it's a combination of a few things. Half of the problems are definitely of his own making - he has a tendency to take bad shots (in the games I saw he took a few long contested 2-point shots), and just seems to be missing a bunch of shots he otherwise seems capable of making. I didn't notice any drastic inconsistency in his shot mechanics, so I guess he just needs to get more time in the gym taking shots.

The other half of the problem I think is with Syracuse's offence, which seems to have way too many possessions where they just pass the ball around the perimeter for 20 seconds and then someone is forced to launch up a shot near the end of the shot clock. It doesn't help that Tyus Battle (their "best" player) is a total ball-hog and doesn't create much for anyone else. I don't think it's a surprise that their other key player, Frank Howard, is also shooting poorly at 38%.

I think Brissett does have talent, and hope he stays at least another year or two at Syracuse, keeps working on his handle and getting up shot reps in practice. From the little I've seen him, I think he does have potential to be a solid SF in the NBA at some point.

[TooBad]

Bennett has been finally looking like an NBA player in the G-league as of late. These are his last 5 game stats.

23 pts 8-22 fG 7 reb 1 ast 1 blk 1 stl(6 threes)
21 pts 6-15 fg 13 reb 1ast 2 bk (4 threes)
22 pts 9-17 fg 9 reb 3ast 3 stl (4 threes)
24 pts 9-13 fg 8reb 3 ast (6 threes)
29 pts 10-18fg 4 reb 3ast 2 stl (7 threes)

I hope Canada includes him a lot more in their offense this time around.

[IbakasD]

Where's the love for Andrew Nembhard? I think he's going to make some noise at Florida. He's one of the best PG's in his class.

I'm relying on the scouts opinion but everything I read on Nembhard is he is projecting to be a very good (multiyear) college player but seems to be lacking in the athleticism department to be an obvious NBA prospect, let alone a one and done type player.
Wiggington has seriously surprised me (and most everyone) this year, so maybe Nembhard will next year.....

I agree. I've watched Andrew quite a lot. He's not a bad athlete and can finish above the rim, but I'm more worried about his speed actually. Just hard for him to turn the corner and get by defenders with a not-so-quick first step. Seems to me like in today's NBA it's really hard without this for a PG.

SGA is also not that quick, but he has a great "attack" mentality, which Andrew is lacking at this point. Andrew often finishes games at the high school level with 5 points. It's true that he's a pass-first PG (and great at that), but without looking more for your own shots, it's hard to find a spot in today's NBA.

Still, he might surprise in Florida. He's a great passer and excellent defender (reads the offense really well and steals a lot). As I said, this class seems very thin in PGs, so if he's able to show more offensive assertiveness, there's a chance he'll be able to declare early. If I had to guess though, I think four years at Florida are more likely.

Are Tyler ennis and Andrew comparable in both your opinions? I've heard many people tell me that Andrew is better than Tyler right now. I still see a spot in the league for him. The kids the real deal in my opinion. I get that he's not scoring a lot, but he's doing all the little things a great pg does, he's the floor general of the best high school team in the world right now. He's been winning ever since a young age, in the OBA, aau, high school (Canada), and American levels. The boy just wins games. You put 4 scorers around Andrew, he'll win you the game. Btw love the work both of you guys do!!! Really appreciate it, it's always fun to keep track of the Canadian talent around the world, and see how there doing. Appreciate the work!

[Hair Canada]

Bennett has been finally looking like an NBA player in the G-league as of late. These are his last 5 game stats.

23 pts 8-22 fG 7 reb 1 ast 1 blk 1 stl(6 threes)
21 pts 6-15 fg 13 reb 1ast 2 bk (4 threes)
22 pts 9-17 fg 9 reb 3ast 3 stl (4 threes)
24 pts 9-13 fg 8reb 3 ast (6 threes)
29 pts 10-18fg 4 reb 3ast 2 stl (7 threes)

I hope Canada includes him a lot more in their offense this time around.

Wow, 5 threes a game is really fantastic for a PF. Still a small sample, but if he can bring something even close to this and be able to show just decent defense, then he really can carve back a spot in the league. Would love for that to happen, both because it would be a nice redemption story and because it really sucks that the biggest all-time bust is Canadian.

[TooBad]

Bennett has been finally looking like an NBA player in the G-league as of late. These are his last 5 game stats.

23 pts 8-22 fG 7 reb 1 ast 1 blk 1 stl(6 threes)
21 pts 6-15 fg 13 reb 1ast 2 bk (4 threes)
22 pts 9-17 fg 9 reb 3ast 3 stl (4 threes)
24 pts 9-13 fg 8reb 3 ast (6 threes)
29 pts 10-18fg 4 reb 3ast 2 stl (7 threes)

I hope Canada includes him a lot more in their offense this time around.

Wow, 5 threes a game is really fantastic for a PF. Still a small sample, but if he can bring something even close to this and be able to show just decent defense, then he really can carve back a spot in the league. Would love for that to happen, both because it would be a nice redemption story and because it really sucks that the biggest all-time bust is Canadian.

I know its not very nice but I hope Fultz keeps sucking and Bennett finds his way back to the NBA.

[Hair Canada]

I'm relying on the scouts opinion but everything I read on Nembhard is he is projecting to be a very good (multiyear) college player but seems to be lacking in the athleticism department to be an obvious NBA prospect, let alone a one and done type player.
Wiggington has seriously surprised me (and most everyone) this year, so maybe Nembhard will next year.....

I agree. I've watched Andrew quite a lot. He's not a bad athlete and can finish above the rim, but I'm more worried about his speed actually. Just hard for him to turn the corner and get by defenders with a not-so-quick first step. Seems to me like in today's NBA it's really hard without this for a PG.

SGA is also not that quick, but he has a great "attack" mentality, which Andrew is lacking at this point. Andrew often finishes games at the high school level with 5 points. It's true that he's a pass-first PG (and great at that), but without looking more for your own shots, it's hard to find a spot in today's NBA.

Still, he might surprise in Florida. He's a great passer and excellent defender (reads the offense really well and steals a lot). As I said, this class seems very thin in PGs, so if he's able to show more offensive assertiveness, there's a chance he'll be able to declare early. If I had to guess though, I think four years at Florida are more likely.

Are Tyler ennis and Andrew comparable in both your opinions? I've heard many people tell me that Andrew is better than Tyler right now. I still see a spot in the league for him. The kids the real deal in my opinion. I get that he's not scoring a lot, but he's doing all the little things a great pg does, he's the floor general of the best high school team in the world right now. He's been winning ever since a young age, in the OBA, aau, high school (Canada), and American levels. The boy just wins games. You put 4 scorers around Andrew, he'll win you the game. Btw love the work both of you guys do!!! Really appreciate it, it's always fun to keep track of the Canadian talent around the world, and see how there doing. Appreciate the work!

Thanks. I also like Andrew quite a lot and really would love for him to do well. And maybe he will. It's just that I'm not that sure about his hunger/viciousness. There are games or stretches of games where he really looks like the real deal with his intelligent game and passing. But all too often he lacks a degree of aggressiveness and doesn't attack the basket. The NBA is a really tough league. You have to want it more than all the others. I do hope he'll be better than Ennis. Certainly a better shooter and passer. But would quite surprise me if he's a one-and-done (which Ennis was).

[Hair Canada]

ESPN with their first (I think) 2019 mock draft. 5 Canadians projected in the first round:

RJ Barrett (1)
Justin Jackson (13)
Nickeil Alexander-Walker (17)
O'Shae Brissett (20)
Kyle Alexander (29)

Some notes on these 5:

Barrett maintains the top position. He had an interesting weekend: Montverde finished the high school season without any losses for the first time in its history (that's a prep-school that was led by players like Joel Embid, Ben Simmons, and D'Angelo Russell in recent years). This perfect record was almost broken on Saturday, as they were down by 6 with 24 seconds to go in the game, but Barrett scored the last unanswered 7 for a great comeback.

Justin Jackson so high is a bit surprising to me. I think it's mostly a function of what looks right now like a fairly weak 2018 class. In any case, he'll have to earn it next year when returning from injury.

Nice to see Brissett recognized. He wasn't even on their board previously.

Kyle Alexander is the biggest surprise for me. Never even thought of him until now as a true NBA prospect. His stats on his junior year at Tennessee are certainly not spectacular, but he does have 2 blocks a game in about 20 minutes and seems to be very efficient (73% from the field).

Some notable prospects missing from this list:

Simi Xhittu -- perhaps not surprising given his recent torn ACL. Even if he returns well (which is quite likely because of his young age), there's a chance that it's only going to happen halfway into the season. He'll probably take time to get back to full speed and will not show his full abilities in his rookie year at Vanderbilt. So he might not be a one-and-done after all

Lindell Wigginton -- The way he's been playing lately, there's actually a chance that he'll declare this year.

SGA -- Even greater chance that he'll go this year.

Others who I think could find their way into this draft in the 16 months still left before it's here: Akot, Dort, Brezdaikis, Nembhard (a really thin draft in the PG position), and maybe even someone like Llewellyn.

FutureMM posted the DE (ESPN) mock 2018 a couple weeks ago and it had SGA 19th.

Yeah, Shi-ttu not appearing in the mock 19 makes sense given the seriousness of the injury.

Re Wigginton, some high scoring games, but on volume shooting. E.g., 8 for 22 in the upset over Oklahoma. Now 41% for the year (and only 66% from the line). I am really hoping for the guy, but IMHO an undersized shooting guard needs better percentages thatn that.

Re the guys who did make the 2019 mock, Tennessee is getting a lot of attention (in an article on Friday, fivethirtyeight.com had them as the most likely team to grab the 4th #1 seed (this was before their upset loss to Alamaba)), so Alexander suddenly appearing on the list might be a case of being a high-ceiling player on a surprisingly good team.

I am surprised re the love for Brissett. How can a forward be shooting 34%? He has played 25 games and in only one (early Decemer vs. Colgate) has he shot better than 50% (7 for 12). And it is not a case of his overall shooting being dragged down by his 3 pt percentage, or a small sample. He is only averaging 34% on more than 200 two-point attempts/

For people who have watched Syracuse games this year, is it that he takes a lot of mid-range jumpers? Or he has no finish at the rim?

Some good points frumble.

Re Wigginton, I was really not a fan in previous years, mainly because I found his decision making very lacking and so thought there's no chance he can be a PG. But as for his shooting, while he's not great from the line, he's been quite fantastic from 3P, shooting almost 2.5 per game on 44% (many of them in motion). For me, that's the most positive stats he shows. He is athletic enough to cope on defense with most guards and if he does one thing well (like shooting the three), then he can find a spot in the league. I'm thinking someone like Eric Gordon, who I think is about 6'3 and in his current version after the injury doesn't do much more, but that's plenty. Not saying Wigginton is as good, but that's the role I imagine he might have if he manages to get to the NBA.

Re Brissett, haven't seen him that much this year, but saw him play plenty in the previous years with the national team and AI prep. He's athleticism and enthusiasm are really great, as is his rebounding and shot blocking abilities (I think that's one that he still hasn't fully shown in college). But he just doesn't have a very good shooting touch, and it's especially clear when you see him around the basket. He often missed what seemed like fairly easy lay-ups or put-backs. Once again, although he's only 6'8, I think his style of play offensively is more that of an undersized PF than a SF. He does have a decent handle, but lacks a degree of creativeness and finess when driving to the basket and his outside shot is really inconsistent. Might be able to defend both positions (strong and quick enough I think), but playing him along two bigs would hurt teams' spacing.

[frumble]

Nine days until qualifying game vs. Virgin Islands. Anyone hearing anything on twitterverse (or elsewhere) re roster?

[mojo13]

Nine days until qualifying game vs. Virgin Islands. Anyone hearing anything on twitterverse (or elsewhere) re roster?

Not a peep. We might be the only ones that care. Any day now I expect but I'll poke at the usual suspects via Twitter.

[TooBad]

Glad Wiggins is making Canada Proud.

41 mn 7pts 3 reb on 2-14 fg (0-5 from 3)

[Cheesin]

We've had some good talent over the years but this High school year Canada has represented like never before.

#1 team in the nation--Montverde..starting back court, Canadians Nembhard and Barrett
#2 team in the nation---Sunrise Christian..starting back court, Canadians khaleem bennett, Isaiah Bujdoso
#3 team in the nation---Oak Hill...Canadian small forward Joshua Hemmings

We have the best player, our guys are leading the best teams

Add simi shittu who has lottery potential..we represented big time

[Cheesin]

We've had some good talent over the years but this High school year Canada has represented like never before.

#1 team in the nation--Montverde..starting back court, Canadians Nembhard and Barrett
#2 team in the nation---Sunrise Christian..starting back court, Canadians khaleem bennett, Isaiah Bujdoso
#3 team in the nation---Oak Hill...Canadian small forward Joshua Hemmings

We have the best player, our guys are leading the best teams

Add simi **** who has lottery potential..we represented big time

lmao at realgm bleeping out simi's last name

[Hair Canada]

We've had some good talent over the years but this High school year Canada has represented like never before.

#1 team in the nation--Montverde..starting back court, Canadians Nembhard and Barrett
#2 team in the nation---Sunrise Christian..starting back court, Canadians khaleem bennett, Isaiah Bujdoso
#3 team in the nation---Oak Hill...Canadian small forward Joshua Hemmings

We have the best player, our guys are leading the best teams

Add simi **** who has lottery potential..we represented big time

I agree that its very nice to see. But these are actually players with very diverging prospects. Barrett is indeed the real thing. Nembhard, as discussed here, is very solid, but probably will stay in college a few years.

Bujdoso and Bennett and not considered NBA talents. They are both solid (Bennett an excellent athlete), but I don't think they are even the best players or prospect on their team (that would be N'Faly Dante, Malik Hall, and Blake Hinson). There are certainly superior prospects in this class, many of them we talked about before (Brezdaikis, Dort, Llewellyn, etc.)

As for Hemmings, he's a class of 2020 guy who right now has a pretty marginal role at Oak Hill. He's a great prospect with very good height and some guard skills but is not a central piece right now for Oak Hill, the same way Wigginton was for them last year.

In fact, I'm not sure the Canadian talent in top American schools this year is better than what it was last year with Barret and Nembhard (and Carr) in Montverde, Wigginton in Oak Hill, Akot in Wasatch, and SGA and NAW in Hamilton Heights (all top teams).

[WellYouKnow]

I'm assuming they're having trouble getting commitments right in the middle of everybody's season.

Kind of expecting alot of unattached guys

I'm almost expecting a Rick Fox, Leo and Bill Wennington frontcourt at this point.

In reality Im sure they just realize that there's only about 8 to 15 of us that actually care enough to check for roster updates.

[mojo13]

I'm assuming they're having trouble getting commitments right in the middle of everybody's season.

Kind of expecting alot of unattached guys

I'm almost expecting a Rick Fox, Leo and Bill Wennington frontcourt at this point.

In reality Im sure they just realize that there's only about 8 to 15 of us that actually care enough to check for roster updates.

I see it differently. I am 90% sure we will see mostly the same team we saw in November.
The only real question from that team is Phil Scrubb with his knee (who just returned from sitting out 6 weeks).
If he is out, my guess is Best comes in (with an outside chance of Ward, Peter-McNeilly, or Cherry). Naz Long now seems out due to his 10 day contract (but maybe not - he played in the G last night).

Owen Klassen has moved teams since Nov. but down a level in competition (solid Greek team to a below average German team), so not sure how that impacts him. He is now a more important player to his weaker team. Perhaps Joel Anthony realizes it is time to hang things up? (he was awful in November)
We don't know what is going on behind the scenes with players or clubs, but what else has changed since November (that we know)?
Hanlan, XRM, Heslip, T. Scrubb, Pierre, Trasolini, Bennett should be the core crew. And I'd be ok with that if we dumped most of the minutes on them. Tras, Pierre, T. Scrubb and Bennett were poorly utilized in November.

I think the delay is that there are a few important pieces like Ejim and Nicholson - maybe Sacre that all could have been close to playing the last time around, and might be able to join this round. Ejim is with a Europe Cup team in Russia and shouldnt be impeded from playing. Nicholson is in the China with the CBA and they are releasing players - in one move Nicholson completely changes this team. Also note Yi Jianlian will be playing for China and is Nicholson's club teammate. Sacre plays in the same league as Trasolini. Sacre might not be a game changer to many here - but it is possible having a true center make it easier for someone like Pierre or Bennett at the PF. Both who seem to be excelling at the 4 with their respective club teams.

I am still hoping we can add a few decent pieces especially up front - and ditch on guys like Glaze, Keane and Joel Anthony who were all useless. People need to realize how specialized Heslip is too. He can be just awful and single-handedly lose games for us. We need to realize when his minutes should be very limited.


and if any of you are curious about Jordan Bachynski - he is still out due to a viral infection in his heart. No exercise for 6 months and he is about 4 months in. He'd have been a nice add to this qualification team. A pretty darn good defensive anchor, rim protector to pair with stretch and undersized 4s..
He is an interview with him (Google Translated):
https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.elcorreogallego.es/deportes/ecg/intento-ser-positivo-madre-siempre-decia-vale-pena-esperar-mejores-cosas/idEdicion-2018-02-08/idNoticia-1098891/&prev=search