Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0

[duppyy]

I can't believe that the game is in Canada but not on tv .

DAZN bought the rights. they have the money to, they bought all out of town nfl games last year, outbiding rogers. theyve put together a solid broadcast too.

Always puts a smile on my face when robbers loses out on something.

[TrueNorth31]

Nice win against a tough well coached team.

Now onto Chile. It's a 15 hour flight with connections to Santiago, and then they are playing in Valdiva which is in the far South of the country - a 2 hour flight from the capital.

Not all players are making the trip from multiple sources - I'd be really surprised if any NBA guys did.

Going to be another tough one Monday ( the good thing is Valdiva is actually in the same basic time zone as the Eastern seaboard ).

[TrueNorth31]

Birch was injured - got hit in the eye by a flailing Barbossa , but returned.

[Gday_eh]

Here is a the boxscore off of FIBA..

http://www.fiba.basketball/basketballworldcup/2019/americas-qualifiers/game/1309/Canada-Brazil#tab=boxscore

25 assists on 33 made FG, not bad for a team only just put together.

Ejim with a very efficient 22 minutes out there.

Best 4/5 from downtown was awesome.

I think that the most rebounds (19) Kelly has had since High school ball in BC!

Short highlight package off of FIBA shows excellent chemistry.....

Watch on YouTube

[TrueNorth31]

Post game press conference;

Watch on YouTube

;list=PLCXERy73Oiz96RFtnf5H9Ke-19RGNR0A9&index=12

Leaving for Chile Saturday morning.

No NBA guys - no Pangos.

[Hair Canada]

Went to the game tonight. Sat on the first raw, just behind the Canadian bench, next to Joel Anthony. Right next to me was the Barrett family -- mom, dad, and RJ. Gotta say that mom seemed the most excited of the three... RJ spent most of the time checking his phone. Still, nice that he made the effort. Up close you can see how young he still is and how much more room his body has to fill up. Senior seemed a bit tense, which is to be expected I guess. At halftime, I asked him why RJ is not on the roster. He said that it's because he just landed in Montreal. Wouldn't say if he will be with the team in Chile, but I suspect he might be. In any case, we can surely do without him.

Some impressions:

First, Place Bell was not full to capacity. I think this has to do with how weird and anticlimactic these qualifiers are, because just a month ago when Duke came to town for a scrimmage game, the place was packed and humming. In addition, the game was not publicized well enough. For example, I saw nothing in the local French newspapers today. Not a word. Anyway, there were still about 6000-7000 people I guess (capacity is over 10,000). But relatively few red shirts and only a mild level of enthusiasm. About 200 Brazilian fans were probably louder than the home crowd, all wearing yellow shirts and waving the national flag. Still, have a long way to go on that front.

And now to the game itself.

For Brazil, Barbosa looked like he was still an NBA player. Always liked watching him play (especially during his Phoenix days with Nash). Varejao also looked quite good and gave a hard time to our bigs before he ran out of air.

On our side, Olynyk was at a different level. Love his game. Just a smart player, and today he was also excellent on the boards (finished with 19). CoJo also with an excellent game. Confident and efficient. Real nice setups for teammates and timely shots.
Ejim was the third best, coming from the bench and giving his usual athleticism, high-percentage shooting, and defensive energy. Such a great player. I wonder why he can't get an NBA contract. TT was his usual self, with energy (the crowd loves him) but also 0-5 from the line.

Pangos looked tired and a bit out of focus. His defense is quite weak and he got beat down the lane multiple times for easy layups. Also didn't shoot that well. Still, he's a much better player than Heslip, who basically can do nothing but shoot (finished with 0 in every other category today). And he's also a serious defensive liability. When you see him up-close, Brady looks like a nerdy kid who's never seen the inside of a weight room, not like a basketball player. Best is a much better player and when he shoots the way he did today (4/5 from 3), there's no question who should get the minutes.

Birch got injured right after entering the game, fouling Huertas' elbow with his eye... which brings me to the referees. Really bad officiating and anything but home-inclined. ALL of the 50-50 calls went to the Brazilian side. Otherwise, it would have ended with a 15-20 margin.

Still, a fun evening and a nice win, which I think all but seals the deal for us.

[hsb]

I wish Team Canada focused more advertisement digitally. Missed it and I would have definitely tuned in. Glad the boys got the W! Great box score, now gotta find more highlights.

[TrueNorth31]

Thanks for the report.

I doubt Barrett would go given the injury potential ( see Birch)

Class is cancelled at Duke though, due to the hurricane.

[TheFutureMM]

Post game press conference;

Watch on YouTube

;list=PLCXERy73Oiz96RFtnf5H9Ke-19RGNR0A9&index=12

Leaving for Chile Saturday morning.

No NBA guys - no Pangos.

Wait hold on? No NBA guys and no Pangos for Chile?

Whose even left at that stage? Thompson/Olynyk/Cojo/Birch/Pangos leaves literally 7 guys. If that includes Jackson, were down to 6.

Is this a money issue, a player preference issue, or a combo? I mean, I know Chile is weak, but pretty wild that people are cutting out.

[mojo13]

Post game press conference;

Watch on YouTube

;list=PLCXERy73Oiz96RFtnf5H9Ke-19RGNR0A9&index=12

Leaving for Chile Saturday morning.

No NBA guys - no Pangos.

Wait hold on? No NBA guys and no Pangos for Chile?

Whose even left at that stage? Thompson/Olynyk/Cojo/Birch/Pangos leaves literally 7 guys. If that includes Jackson, were down to 6.

Is this a money issue, a player preference issue, or a combo? I mean, I know Chile is weak, but pretty wild that people are cutting out.

Michael Grange reported yesterday he didn’t think many of the NBA or EL guys make the trip (if any). I hope he is wrong, but that would draw in the other camp guys. Landry (who is not bad), Joel Anthony, Duane Notice.... maybe even RJ. Rhu Hachimura is playing for Japan.

Might be looking at something like:

Keane
Best
Jackson
Ejim
Landry

Haynes
Heslip
Diressa
Pierre
Anthony
Notice

Maybe a 1 or 2 NBA guys?


Edit: Grange said again tonight “none of the NBA/top Euro guys are going” to Chile.
That sounds like to could include Ejim too. This could be a problem.

[TrueNorth31]

I'm sure NBA teams did not feel comfortable sending their players on a one way 24 hour trip halfway across the world and back , just a week before training camp.

At any rate that's the way it is. The 5 guys in camp not dressed tonight are part of the group going. I count 11 players. Maybe they pick up one more on short notice.

[SharoneWright]

I'm sure NBA teams did not feel comfortable sending their players on a one way 24 hour trip halfway across the world and back , just a week before training camp.

At any rate that's the way it is. The 5 guys in camp not dressed tonight are part of the group going. I count 11 players. Maybe they pick up one more on short notice.

Roy Rana has my number..

[aminiaturebuddha]

Birch got injured right after entering the game, fouling Huertas' elbow with his eye... which brings me to the referees. Really bad officiating and anything but home-inclined. ALL of the 50-50 calls went to the Brazilian side. Otherwise, it would have ended with a 15-20 margin.

Still, a fun evening and a nice win, which I think all but seals the deal for us.

I always forget how bad the FIBA Americas refs are until I watch another game. My favourite (read: the one that had me jumping up and down in my living room screaming at the TV) was the one where the refs just decided not to count a Canadian basket in a single-digit lead game with less than two minutes remaining because they didn't understand how TT scored and just assumed it must have been offensive goaltending. Good times.

[TheFutureMM]

Post game press conference;

Watch on YouTube

;list=PLCXERy73Oiz96RFtnf5H9Ke-19RGNR0A9&index=12

Leaving for Chile Saturday morning.

No NBA guys - no Pangos.

Wait hold on? No NBA guys and no Pangos for Chile?

Whose even left at that stage? Thompson/Olynyk/Cojo/Birch/Pangos leaves literally 7 guys. If that includes Jackson, were down to 6.

Is this a money issue, a player preference issue, or a combo? I mean, I know Chile is weak, but pretty wild that people are cutting out.

Michael Grange reported yesterday he didn’t think many of the NBA or EL guys make the trip (if any). I hope he is wrong, but that would draw in the other camp guys. Landry (who is not bad), Joel Anthony, Duane Notice.... maybe even RJ. Rhu Hachimura is playing for Japan.

Might be looking at something like:

Keane
Best
Jackson
Ejim
Landry

Haynes
Heslip
Diressa
Pierre
Anthony
Notice

Maybe a 1 or 2 NBA guys?


Edit: Grange said again tonight “none of the NBA/top Euro guys are going” to Chile.
That sounds like to could include Ejim too. This could be a problem.

So realistically, we only get NBA guys for 3 games within this entire 12 game qualifier? They need to do away with this system post-2020. The Qualifying tournaments weren't perfect, but they were better than this garbage.

[frumble]

How definitive was Grange?

If NBA and top Euro guys includes Ejim and Jackson, then only 10 of the 17 guys in camp would be available, and seven would be guards. Would be great if Barrett could go. We also need some bigs. Anthony Bennett?

Keane
Heslip
Haynes
Friesen
Notice
Diressa
Best

Pierre

Landry
Anthony

[mojo13]

I don’t know why anyone considers Justin Jackson an “NBA guy”. He is unsigned and doesn’t even have a camp invite to my knowledge. The Magic have a full roster and it looks like their plan is to park him at Lakeland for the year. I’m not sure what would prevent him from staying with the team. Hopefully Ejim is with the team as well. I feel fairly confident if he is with this group.
It would be nice to see a Bennett or Chris Boucher surprisingly show up.

[frumble]

I don’t know why anyone considers Justin Jackson an “NBA guy”. He is unsigned and doesn’t even have a camp invite to my knowledge. The Magic have a full roster and it looks like their plan is to park him at Lakeland for the year. I’m not sure what would prevent him from staying with the team. Hopefully Ejim is with the team as well. I feel fairly confident if he is with this group.
It would be nice to see a Bennett or Chris Boucher surprisingly show up.

The Canadian press tends to be a little loose with how they define NBA guys (e.g., describing Sim Bhullar and Andy Rautins as NBA players long after their cups of coffee), so I think there is a possibility that Grange would consider Jackson an NBA guy.

Hopefully Jackson does play, which would give us 4 bigs (counting Jackson and Pierre). Not ideal, but we could get by.
I would feel a lot better if someone like Bennett, Nicholson, or Boucher joined. Even a guy like Klassen, just to have another option in case of foul trouble.

[Mattd97]

Really hope we don't take this game for granted

[TrueNorth31]

Here's a brief report on Trey Bell Haynes ( who will be going to Chile as a primary ball handler) from a European scouting service I sometimes read.

Player Type: Playmaking lead guard, excellent passer on the move, organizer, small but tough

College Summary: PG who organizes and sets up his teammates. 2x America East POY. Lightweight, is just slight, height is fine. Has decent quickness, 1st step but he’s more smooth than explosive. Gets in the paint easily. Looks to pass first, super at kickout passes. When looking to score it’s towards the hoop. Very good at stopping/turning on a dime. Has all types of floaters and tear drops. Comes off attacking in PnR. Really best thing he does is passing on the move, in control, super on drive vision. He’s poised but low key. Average at best outside shooter, form isn’t fluid, rarely looks to take pull-up shots, Pretty instinctive defensively off ball. But his size will hurt him on that end.

Pro Outlook: Frankfurt strikes on a young point guard again late in the summer. They built a solid team and have a robust backcourt so the pressure will not totally be on Bell-Haynes. In Coach Herbet’s system Bell-Haynes should look solid, even though it’s a contract that really just goes through the Eurocup regular season, I can see him staying on longer. He’s not for that level yet but as a backup guard in the BBL it can work, Frankfurt just does so well developing young guards.

[TrueNorth31]

I prefer to take the long view on Justin Jackson. I think he's a talented 3 and D player who at some point will help our program
( maybe more so in the next Quadrennial ) . Too many folks fall prey to recency bias , let him get over his shoulder injuries and then we'll see what we have.

I'm not the only person who likes him, Jonathan Tjarks who in my opinion is the best Ringer NBA writer ( Titus is quite good as a college guy) had this to say about him before he got hurt;

Tjarks: There’s a big talent drop-off after the consensus top five, which allows me to sneak in my favorite sleeper in this year’s draft. The other Justin Jackson will get the chance to make his own name this season, now that the UNC swingman has gone on to the NBA. After a solid freshman season at Maryland, Jackson flirted with declaring for the draft but decided to return to school. With Melo Trimble gone, Jackson will get the chance to play with the ball in his hands a lot more this season, a role he has shined in for Canada at the under-19 level.


He has everything NBA teams are looking for in a combo forward: He has a 7-foot-3 wingspan and the strength and speed to guard all five positions at the college level. Jackson can switch screens and protect the rim on defense, and he can step out and knock down 3s (43.8 percent on 3.2 attempts per game) and create shots for his teammates on offense. He has all the tools to be a special player, and now we will get the chance to see if he can put them all together.

://www.theringer.com/nba/2017/9/19/16333082/2018-lottery-mock-draft-1