Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0

[mojo13]

Kinda shocked that the list is so large.

Rautins and all the rookies being there would be the biggest shocks to me

I wonder if it's just to get them in camp and familiar with everybody . Im assuming Nurse and Rowan did some recruiting in Vegas

Really encouraging list overall. Brooks being there is a good sign. Hopefully he's good to go

I like the large group. This is what Nash did when we first took the helm - had a big camp (40 guys, as a I recall), including guys still in college.
I think a lot of the guys will be there for practice, bonding, etc. rather than to tryout for team. E.g., Nembhard will need to be back on UF campus before the Worlds start, and the low probability of 2019 draftees playing has already been discussed.

I think you are right here. I don;t expect any NBA rookies or college kids on the final roster (including Barrett). They are here as a first stage of securing them for the future and getting them integrated.

I am still skeptical about Dillon Brooks' health here. Not a word out there that he is back on the court or anywhere near full health.

This is just a fantastic list - beyond belief really.

[Syd-TK3]

Thought Wiggins was confirmed like a day ago what happened?

He was confirmed as NOT playing yesterday.

Oh nvm I guess I read the tweet wrong

[Mattd97]

Im worried about our size. I can get behind no tanveer, but you're leaving out sim too!?

[SharoneWright]

That list is outstanding!

Worried about bruised egos though. Lots of NBA dudes gonna be cut.

[frumble]

I think you are right here. I don;t expect any NBA rookies or college kids on the final roster (including Barrett). They are here as a first stage of securing them for the future and getting them integrated.

I am still skeptical about Dillon Brooks' health here. Not a word out there that he is back on the court or anywhere near full health.

This is just a fantastic list - beyond belief really.

Yes, I am also doubting whether Brooks will be able to play.

If we remove Brooks and the college guys, there are 20:

Guard/Wings
Murray
Joseph
SGA
Stauskas
Pangos
P Scrubb
Long
Rautins
Heslip
Best
T Scrubb
Doornekamp (arguably a big)

Bigs
Olynyk
Thompson
Powell
Birch
Ejim (arguably a wing)
Lyles
Boucher
Wiltjer

Interesting that the URL for the list is "... 30 athletes invited to attend ..."
I wonder if there was a late withdrawal.

The article does note that a finalized list will be presented before the start of camp. So sounds like they are hoping for an addition or more (and/or know there are possible withdrawals).

[Bank Shot]

Wiggins giving us the Rick Fox treatment smh.

Unbelievable lineup. This feels surreal after watching all those Nash + Euro League squads for so long.

[mojo13]

Assuming the recent draftees and Nembhard are only there for practice purposes, who do you take at guard?

Murray, Joseph, and SGA are pretty much givens.

That leaves Stauskas, Pangos, Scrubb, Long, Rautins, Heslip and Best to battle for 2 or 3 spots.

Who do you like?

I'm assuming they're gonna go 5 bigs and 7 perimeter guys

At this moment I'd probably go

Guards/wings - Murray, CoJo, SGA , Brooks, Stauskas, Pangos and Best

Bigs - Olynyk , TT, Powell, Birch and I wanna say Lyles but I dont think they can go wrong with whoever they take as the 5th big. Wouldn't be shocked if they went with someone who plays fiba ball for the last spot though

Assuming everyone is actually healthy and near game shape (Brooks) and the rooks are not included - I'd go with:

Guards/wings - Murray, CoJo, SGA , Brooks, Stauskas, Pangos and P Scrubb

Bigs - Olynyk , TT, Powell, Birch and Ejim

It would be really tough to cut Lyles though - I think we could lose him for good if that happens.
I am giving Scrubb and Ejim some push here because of experience with FIBA and past participation. I do think 2-3 FIBA guys is more valuable than people realize. It is a different game and the NBA guys have said a few times how much it helps for experience and added direction on the floor (during practice and games).

[DaFroMan]

We have been eyeing up those 2020 Olympics hard as a country...this is the first step to qualify ..no more excuses... Need the big guns to come out and get this done. Murray specifically hopefully comes out.

Wiggins ...I mean.... What did he have to lose?? He comes out and blows and it's who we all have come to expect ..he kills it in the tournament and takes Canada far and all of sudden people would start thinking there some hope left for him to succeed and his image can start to be repaired.

[MEDIC]

I like the list of players.

All of the NBA & FIBA veterans that have been loyal to team Canada over the years, plus pretty much all of the new up and coming players.

Strong leadership with positive attitudes to rub off on the yutes.

[Mattd97]

I like the list of players.

All of the NBA & FIBA veterans that have been loyal to team Canada over the years, plus pretty much all of the new up and coming players.

Strong leadership with positive attitudes to rub off on the yutes.

Well that's not really true. Rautins bailed when we fired his dad. Lyles has never suited up for the mens team. Murray and stauskas passed last year. Olynyk cojo and TT are the main NBA guys and the scrubbs, Ejim, and heslip have been available when asked


Nm I misread your post, sorry

[frumble]

Assuming everyone is actually healthy and near game shape (Brooks) and the rooks are not included - I'd go with:

Guards/wings - Murray, CoJo, SGA , Brooks, Stauskas, Pangos and P Scrubb

Bigs - Olynyk , TT, Powell, Birch and Ejim

It would be really tough to cut Lyles though - I think we could lose him for good if that happens.
I am giving Scrubb and Ejim some push here because of experience with FIBA and past participation. I do think 2-3 FIBA guys is more valuable than people realize. It is a different game and the NBA guys have said a few times how much it helps for experience and added direction on the floor (during practice and games).

Yeah, assuming no rookies, but that everyone else on the list is in camp and healthy, including Brooks, I think eight of the guys on your list are pretty much locks:
Olynyk, TT, and Powell
Murray, Joseph, SGA, Stauskas, and Brooks

I think it will be a close battle for the other four spots.

For the last two big spots, I can see Birch, Ejim, Lyles, or Boucher making it, with Wiltjer only having an outside shot.

For the last two guard/wing spots, I can see Pangos, Scrubb, Long, Rautins or Heslip making it. Heslip is probably the least likely, but may score some points for loyal service and other factors.

And if Brooks is not healthy enough to go, I think Doornekamp and T. Scrubb would very much be in the running to fill that spot (for positional need reasons).

In any event, provided that all these guys (other than the rookies) really are there, we should have an excellent team. Pretty much the best we could have realistically expected.

Also, good to see the rookies giving up part of their summer to be part of the process. Especially ones who have never been in the program before (Kabengele and Clarke). (should we assume Brazdeikis' absence is related to his rumored desire to play for Lithuania rather than Canada?).

[TheFutureMM]

I agree with all the usual suspects in here regarding the turnout - very impressed if 90% of this list shows up to training camp in early August. Kudos to Team Canada Management (who usually gets ripped pretty hard in here).

Now on to the no shows...

Wiggins - I've been a pretty staunch defender of Wiggins over the last 3 years of no shows however I can't excuse this absence. Not surprised he didn't come but pretty disappointed. We'll probably never know what went down but it has to have been beyond Triano.

Bennett - As others have mentioned, maybe he's just focused on making the Rockets? I could have seen him making this team...

Nicholson - ??? Unlikely to make the team and didn't want to come for nothing?

Anthony - Sad to see the vet not even get a training camp invite. If there was an equivalent of getting your jersey retired, no one deserved it more than Joel.

Dyshawn, XRM, Hanlan - Guess this was a forgone conclusion. Figured they would at least get an invite.

Tyler Ennis - Still hurt?

I hope none of these guys (if they wanted to come) take it too hard if they didn't get a camp invite. We need a lot of our lesser guys for the post-2020 qualifiers.

[TheFutureMM]

Also, super shocked to see Trey Lyles on the list. I had put him in Wiggins territory in terms of commitment.

[Mattd97]

I agree with all the usual suspects in here regarding the turnout - very impressed if 90% of this list shows up to training camp in early August. Kudos to Team Canada Management (who usually gets ripped pretty hard in here).

Now on to the no shows...

Wiggins - I've been a pretty staunch defender of Wiggins over the last 3 years of no shows however I can't excuse this absence. Not surprised he didn't come but pretty disappointed. We'll probably never know what went down but it has to have been beyond Triano.

Bennett - As others have mentioned, maybe he's just focused on making the Rockets? I could have seen him making this team...

Nicholson - ??? Unlikely to make the team and didn't want to come for nothing?

Anthony - Sad to see the vet not even get a training camp invite. If there was an equivalent of getting your jersey retired, no one deserved it more than Joel.

Dyshawn, XRM, Hanlan - Guess this was a forgone conclusion. Figured they would at least get an invite.

Tyler Ennis - Still hurt?

I hope none of these guys (if they wanted to come) take it too hard if they didn't get a camp invite. We need a lot of our lesser guys for the post-2020 qualifiers.

Yeah it's a good point we need people in our good graces with the qualifying process. Guys like pierre, hanlan, xrm, etc are important. Not only that but getting Dylan Ennis (and similarly but opposite side of the spectrum, iggy) involved in the team would have been great considering he left Jamaica for the opportunity and would be a very realistic second tier pg for this team (especially over Aaron best). Nicholson would be disappointing if that was CB's call rather than his, another guy we could use at some point.


Also disappointing if not bringing in loyal guys like Ennis and Anthony was cost cutting thing. After the Raptors season, now is the time for CB to secure sponsorship deals so that you can do things lime make sure these guys are at a camp like this.

[frumble]

Yeah it's a good point we need people in our good graces with the qualifying process. Guys like pierre, hanlan, xrm, etc are important. Not only that but getting Dylan Ennis (and similarly but opposite side of the spectrum, iggy) involved in the team would have been great considering he left Jamaica for the opportunity and would be a very realistic second tier pg for this team (especially over Aaron best). Nicholson would be disappointing if that was CB's call rather than his, another guy we could use at some point.


Also disappointing if not bringing in loyal guys like Ennis and Anthony was cost cutting thing. After the Raptors season, now is the time for CB to secure sponsorship deals so that you can do things lime make sure these guys are at a camp like this.

I assume T. Ennis not being on the invite list is injury related.
Not sure re the others D. Ennis.

Anthony and Keane each appeared in 9 of our 12 qualifying games (second only to Heslip's 12), so it might have been nice to have seen them get an invite if they were interested, but I don't think either would have a realistic chance of making the team given the other guys on the list.

(Other guys with a lot of qualifying game appearances who are not on the training camp list are Pierre (7), Landry (7), and Bennett (5)).

[Matty]

Now that I think about it I kinda don't blame Wiggins entirely for sitting this one out. We don't know what happens behind the scenes with his camp and Minnesota but I can imagine there was some pressure to forgo this summer and work on his game instead of committing for 2 straight summers. I kinda wish he made it public like Simmons did instead of remaining tight lipped because its only going to look bad on him.

On a side note who the hell is running FIBA? and why in the world do they have the world cup a year before the Olympics instead of spreading it out? It makes absolutely no sense.

[Mattd97]

Yeah it's a good point we need people in our good graces with the qualifying process. Guys like pierre, hanlan, xrm, etc are important. Not only that but getting Dylan Ennis (and similarly but opposite side of the spectrum, iggy) involved in the team would have been great considering he left Jamaica for the opportunity and would be a very realistic second tier pg for this team (especially over Aaron best). Nicholson would be disappointing if that was CB's call rather than his, another guy we could use at some point.


Also disappointing if not bringing in loyal guys like Ennis and Anthony was cost cutting thing. After the Raptors season, now is the time for CB to secure sponsorship deals so that you can do things lime make sure these guys are at a camp like this.

I assume T. Ennis not being on the invite list is injury related.
Not sure re the others D. Ennis.

Anthony and Keane each appeared in 9 of our 12 qualifying games (second only to Heslip's 12), so it might have been nice to have seen them get an invite if they were interested, but I don't think either would have a realistic chance of making the team given the other guys on the list.

(Other guys with a lot of qualifying game appearances who are not on the training camp list are Pierre (7), Landry (7), and Bennett (5)).

For Tyler Ennis I more meant in almost a "hang in there bud" kindve way similar to the token way Anthony would be there. Hopefully it was a too many cooks in the kitchen rather than a cheapness situation. And Tyler Ennis might still be there (if hes not rehabbing elsewhere) and just not on the list cause hes not actually healthy enough to play.

[BilboBanginz]

Ben Simmons says he will play in Australia's exhibition games but not in the World Cup.

Read on Twitter

[DaFroMan]

Respect Simmons decision .... Guy needs to be locked in a gym until the start of training camp working on his shot. Australia will still be a solid club ... Canada and Lithuania should be the ones advancing from our group (as long as our NBA guys show up)

[BilboBanginz]

Australia's core is going to be something like:

PG: Delly

SG: Mills / Adel

SF: Ingles / Creek

PF: Bolden / Motum

C: Baynes / Bogut

Still a really good squad without Simmons, but we can definitely form a better team (on paper) if we get the right guys committed to the 12 man roster.

Could someone fill us in on how Lithuania is looking this summer compared to past years? I know they have JV, Sabonis, Kuzminskas, and Kalnietis on their preliminary roster, but don't really know anything about their other important players.