Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0

[gundysmullet]

Nick nurse is a phenomenal coach, but there is no excuse for Wiltjer not starting. I watched the entire game and he’s Jokic level crafty on offense, he has every move in the book. He was the leading score in the game. Nurse hast to start Birch and Wiltjer together in the front court.

[gundysmullet]

We finally get a competent coach afters years of Triano and Co. and every nba player drops out. wtf

Not every, Birch is committed and if Corey joins he will be there too. But yeah, it’s a disgrace that they cannot sacrifice a couple weeks of the summer for the pride and honor of representing their country.

[gundysmullet]

Between Birch, Ejim and Cory, i think we should be decent enough defensively. They are going to struggle to score at times and Wiltjer can do that probably better than anybody on this team


I dont think Pangos has been hesitant to shoot through these warm up games at all. He was clearly struggling with his shot today though

This forum generally really overrates Pangos. He's sen as an elite player in EuroLeague, or at least an elite point guard in EuroLeague. In reality, he's nowhere near to that level. He's an average player for a good EuroLeague team. That's reality.

He's a very good shooter and ball handler, but he always struggles a lot against size and athleticism, and against good EuroLeague teams he has to come off of balls screens to be able to hit his shot. Without ball screens he really has problems getting his shot off.

Same with Wiltjer - both need 2 feet space at least

Tell the truth, did you watch the game? Because your last comment is not remotely true for Wiltjer. He made such a difficult turn around jumper with Miles Turner’s hand right in his face. Wiltjer is a scoring machine, he was for Gonzaga as well. He is just terrible on defense, but Canada needs his offense.

[gundysmullet]

Just being honest, Brady Heslip has no business being on this team.

[Jstock12]

Nick nurse is a phenomenal coach, but there is no excuse for Wiltjer not starting. I watched the entire game and he’s Jokic level crafty on offense

Dude

[gundysmullet]

Nick nurse is a phenomenal coach, but there is no excuse for Wiltjer not starting. I watched the entire game and he’s Jokic level crafty on offense

Dude

It’s weird how people get triggered so easily nowadays when they hear an opinion that is out of the box or not main stream. I specifically said on offense, and he is. I’m a diehard Gonzaga fan, I have been following the Zags since 1998 and have traveled all over America watching them play. In other words I have been watching Wiltjer forever, he is extremely skilled on offense. Now he is not even remotely close to jokic as a passer, rebounder or defender. He’s also quite possibly the least athletic professional athlete on the face of the earth. But strictly From an offensive perspective he has all of the moves.

[Jstock12]

Nick nurse is a phenomenal coach, but there is no excuse for Wiltjer not starting. I watched the entire game and he’s Jokic level crafty on offense

Dude

It’s weird how people get triggered so easily nowadays when they hear an opinion that is out of the box or not main stream. I specifically said on offense, and he is. I’m a diehard Gonzaga fan, I have been following the Zags since 1998 and have traveled all over America watching them play. In other words I have been watching Wiltjer forever, he is extremely skilled on offense. Now he is not even remotely close to jokic as a passer, rebounder or defender. He’s also quite possibly the least athletic professional athlete on the face of the earth. But strictly From an offensive perspective he has all of the moves.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't triggered. And I'm a big Wiltjer fan. Watched quite a few of his games when he, Sabonis and Pangos were on the same team at GU. Was always really impressed with Wiltjer at the collegiate level. And I guess you just wanted to compliment Wiltjer by comparing him to Jokic. I understand that now. I just kinda think it's a bit disrespectful to Jokic, but yeah I guess this is a Team Canada thread after all, not a Team Serbia thread My bad.

And for what it's worth, I think Wiltjer just might be a better athlete than Jokic

[mojo13]

If WIltjer was so amazing on offense he would not have been run off every pro team he has played for to date. He was bad in spain this year that he had the hometown fans hissing him relentlessly at Unicaja.
Guys like Ejim, Scrubb, Pangos, Birch etc have been wanted by their pro teams, stayed multiple years and then moved upward and onward to bigger and better contracts, clubs, leagues. WIltjer has been on a downward trend since draft day. Rockets to Olympiacos to Unicaja to Turk Telecom. Down, down, down.

He has some great offensive runs but it is not consistent enough. And if he isn’t cooking on offense he so so detrimental on defense that he can’t be kept on the floor. He is a hugely limited player (like Heslip) and really should be a depth heat check role player and certainly not a starter. It is a disgrace that this team is so depleted that he will have major minutes.

[Kenter16]

Nick nurse is a phenomenal coach, but there is no excuse for Wiltjer not starting. I watched the entire game and he’s Jokic level crafty on offense, he has every move in the book. He was the leading score in the game. Nurse hast to start Birch and Wiltjer together in the front court.

He played a ton. I don't think it matters if he starts, he will get his minutes.

[gundysmullet]

Dude

It’s weird how people get triggered so easily nowadays when they hear an opinion that is out of the box or not main stream. I specifically said on offense, and he is. I’m a diehard Gonzaga fan, I have been following the Zags since 1998 and have traveled all over America watching them play. In other words I have been watching Wiltjer forever, he is extremely skilled on offense. Now he is not even remotely close to jokic as a passer, rebounder or defender. He’s also quite possibly the least athletic professional athlete on the face of the earth. But strictly From an offensive perspective he has all of the moves.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't triggered. And I'm a big Wiltjer fan. Watched quite a few of his games when he, Sabonis and Pangos were on the same team at GU. Was always really impressed with Wiltjer at the collegiate level. And I guess you just wanted to compliment Wiltjer by comparing him to Jokic. I understand that now. I just kinda think it's a bit disrespectful to Jokic, but yeah I guess this is a Team Canada thread after all, not a Team Serbia thread My bad.

And for what it's worth, I think Wiltjer just might be a better athlete than Jokic

I wonder what it’s like to be so talented at a particular sport yet simultaneously be so unathletic. I was the opposite, I was super athletic but couldn’t hit a fastball if my life depended on it or shoot a jumpshotparticularly well.

[gundysmullet]

If WIltjer was so amazing on offense he would not have been run off every pro team he has played for to date. He was bad in spain this year that he had the hometown fans hissing him relentlessly at Unicaja.
Guys like Ejim, Scrubb, Pangos, Birch etc have been wanted by their pro teams, stayed multiple years and then moved upward and onward to bigger and better contracts, clubs, leagues. WIltjer has been on a downward trend since draft day. Rockets to Olympiacos to Unicaja to Turk Telecom. Down, down, down.

He has some great offensive runs but it is not consistent enough. And if he isn’t cooking on offense he so so detrimental on defense that he can’t be kept on the floor. He is a hugely limited player (like Heslip) and really should be a depth heat check role player and certainly not a starter. It is a disgrace that this team is so depleted that he will have major minutes.

You are wrong. He is fantastic on offense, he shot 49% from the field and 45% from three point land his senior year at Gonzaga. He has every offensive weapon in the book and most of them were on display against team USA. He was the leading score in the game today after all on extremely efficient shooting percentage.He cannot get consistent minutes on the court because he would lose a foot race to a tree sloth and is less athletic then Bea Arthur.

[gundysmullet]

If WIltjer was so amazing on offense he would not have been run off every pro team he has played for to date. He was bad in spain this year that he had the hometown fans hissing him relentlessly at Unicaja.
Guys like Ejim, Scrubb, Pangos, Birch etc have been wanted by their pro teams, stayed multiple years and then moved upward and onward to bigger and better contracts, clubs, leagues. WIltjer has been on a downward trend since draft day. Rockets to Olympiacos to Unicaja to Turk Telecom. Down, down, down.

He has some great offensive runs but it is not consistent enough. And if he isn’t cooking on offense he so so detrimental on defense that he can’t be kept on the floor. He is a hugely limited player (like Heslip) and really should be a depth heat check role player and certainly not a starter. It is a disgrace that this team is so depleted that he will have major minutes.

Tell the truth, did you watch the game? Be honest. Because if you did, you would not post what you did. He was phenomenal on offense today against the best team in the world.

[josejosejose]

It really frustrates me on the lack of updates on all these injuries

[SuperSant]

When does the actual tournament start?

[aminiaturebuddha]

I haven't commented on here in a while - partly because I was in the middle of moving back to Canada after a few years away, partly because I wanted to see how everything ended up with the roster before giving my opinion, and partly because it's just been really depressing seeing what's happened this summer.

Those who have been on this board for a while know that I've been a long-time follower of Canadian basketball. I can't imagine how much time I've spent in the past thinking about "the future" and a potential team that we could field for 2019,2020 and then 2023 and 2024. Most of us had pegged the worst-case scenario at about 4-6 of our top NBA players. Needless to say, being left with Cory Joseph (maybe) and Khem Birch is much worse than even my most pessimistic predictions.

Aside from those two guys, and ourselves as fans, the guy I really feel bad for is Nick Nurse. I can't imagine that this is what he was sold on when he agreed to coach the team, coming off of the high of the NBA championship. I wonder if this will hurt our ability to attract high quality coaches in the future.

All that said, this is the team that we've got now. So I'll be watching the games, cheering on the team as hard as I can, and hoping for a string of great play, good luck, and fortunate bounces that we've rarely seen for Canada Basketball (with the obvious exception of the 2017 U19 World Cup).

It's not the team we wanted - but Go Canada Go!

[TrueNorth31]

Video of France/Serbia tune-up game. Preview of a playoff game?

https://www.eurobasket.com/Serbia/news/594205/Serbia-top-France-to-clinch-AusTiger-Cup-title

[Dtown84]

When does the actual tournament start?

Saturday morning, Canada's first game is at 3:30 am EST on Sunday.

[SuperSant]

When does the actual tournament start?

Saturday morning, Canada's first game is at 3:30 am EST on Sunday.

Thank you! Will be about 12:30am my time!

Can't wait to see how we do, I am sure Nick Nurse will have our guys up and ready to play!

[B-Ball Freak]

When does the actual tournament start?

Saturday morning, Canada's first game is at 3:30 am EST on Sunday.

Goddamn, wish it could have been like a 7:30 start

[And1Skip]

Per Kevin Pangos' IG story, the team indeed did flew to Hong Kong first. So likely they are gonna go through customs there and then go to Dongguan by bus or high-speed bullet train (or simply a connecting flight to Guangzhou if they are flying AC)