21 TD wrote:It'll probably never happen obviously, but theoretically, what would the ideal team Canada be?
Starters: Olynyk, Wiggins, Thompson, Murray, Joseph
Bench: Barrett, Gilgeous-Alexander, Powell
On the bubble: Kabengele, Brooks, Clarke, Alexander-Walker, Birch, Lyles, Boucher, Ejim, Heslip, Pangos, P. Scrubb, T. Scrubb, Stauskas, Wiltjer
Let's start with the following conditions/assumptions. Looking at the roster for a full tournament (vs one game), players are at their current skill level, all players are fully healthy at the beginning of (but not necessarily within) the tournament, NN is the head coach, all players are fully accepting of any/all roles and minutes provided
Guards - Joseph, Pangos, Murray, SGA. I strongly prioritize having lots of options for guys who can run the point. You don't know when injuries can kick in, or a guy is simply rattled/ineffective as the primary ball handler, having flexibility is key. There's also enough size that you could (but don't need to) run any combination of the two in most situations.
Wings - RJ, Brooks - not a whole lot to say here. Have a difficult time envisioning Wiggins role on a good team where he's not needed as a primary scorer but that could be me being narrow minded, I could be talked into it
Bigs - Olynyk, Powell, Birch. Clearly you need a 4th (and potentially 5th) big. It feels like it should be Tristan, but when I think about it critically I'm not so sure. Much of his role is filled by Birch, you'd never play the two of them together, and I wouldn't say you should have 1 of them on the floor at all times. Trey Lyles makes more sense, and you could play him with any of the other 3.
For the last two spots, you're looking between Stauskas, Wiggins, Scrubbs, Ejim and Thompson. I'd probably go Stauskas and Thompson personally but there's definitely arguments to be made otherwise.
This would give you a roster with tons of flexibility and possible lineups to roll out. Deep enough to ride the hot hands/matchups and overcome injury to any player.