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Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0

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TrueNorth31
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2801 » by TrueNorth31 » Mon Oct 7, 2019 6:26 pm

Thanks for the assessment Hair Canada.

I remain a bit of a skeptic about this kid. His street pimp/handler Ro Russell has a rather dubious history. My big problem is that they've shielded him from competition. He plays down against younger kids age wise and since I'm no fan of AAU ball he's hard to assess.

He really needs to take on the challenge of playing for Canada in the World U17 championship this coming summer. Fisher will be a 16 year old playing against predominately 17 year olds. If he's legitimately good he should be able to compete. Fiba basketball is real competition.The coaching and level of play is much higher than in AAU.

Say what you will about Barrett, but he's always taken on the challenge of competing against older players. He was the Fiba U19 MVP as a 17 year old. As a 16 year old he dominated in the World U17 as well.

https://www.fiba.basketball/world/u17/2016/player/RJ-Barrett

If Fisher is legit - it's time to take off the training wheels and prove it.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2802 » by Mirotic12 » Mon Oct 7, 2019 9:36 pm

mojo13 wrote:Quick note that Canada is indeed working on a bid to host a Qualifier tourney.

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From what I can tell - it seems Lithuania, Serbia , Greece and Canada are attempting a bid. Not sure of who else yet.
Serbia hosted in 2016 so I'd put Lithuania and Greece ahead of them and then FIBA likely looking to go beyond Europe with the other two.

Some talk of Senegal out there (but doubtful) and China (more realistic) - but nothing official.


Croatia also put in a bid.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2803 » by tout court » Thu Oct 10, 2019 2:48 am

Was wondering if anyone saw Nicholson play in Guangzhou's two games against the 76ers and Wizards respectively?

I saw the box score and that he shot atrociously from the three-point line. And it doesn't seem his rebounding has improved any either.

But box scores don't tell the whole story.

Also, does anyone know in a case like Anthony Bennett's who pays for his knee surgery and subsequent rehab? Not sure if this was a pre-existing condition prior to signing the camp deal, but it seems shady as hell from the perspective of an employer providing health-care to an employee now that he has been waived, officially.

Started wondering about this vis-a-vis Charles Matthews working out for the Celtics in the spring and tearing his ACL.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2804 » by mojo13 » Thu Oct 10, 2019 3:57 pm

tout court wrote:Was wondering if anyone saw Nicholson play in Guangzhou's two games against the 76ers and Wizards respectively?

I saw the box score and that he shot atrociously from the three-point line. And it doesn't seem his rebounding has improved any either.

But box scores don't tell the whole story.

Also, does anyone know in a case like Anthony Bennett's who pays for his knee surgery and subsequent rehab? Not sure if this was a pre-existing condition prior to signing the camp deal, but it seems shady as hell from the perspective of an employer providing health-care to an employee now that he has been waived, officially.

Started wondering about this vis-a-vis Charles Matthews working out for the Celtics in the spring and tearing his ACL.



Nicholson has shot the three great in China (.46% on 6 attempts per game) and rebounded better as well. It had me thinking he turned his 3 point shooting completely around, but I was certainly skeptical the rebounding was just low competition. Perhaps I was wrong on the shooting as well and maybe he just can't get the shot off as well against NBA athletes. However you'd think distance shooting should translate better.

However I think his defense is really what ran him out of the league - anyone have insight there after watching the game(s)?
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2805 » by mojo13 » Mon Oct 14, 2019 3:50 pm

Just some quick observations on the preseason so far:

Dwight Powell and Kelly Olynyk still injured and will be out the entire preseason.
A shame for Powell as he looks to be the starting C in Dallas. Hope this doesn't set that back. Same for KO as he looked to be the starting 4 next to Bam.

Clarke not looking as good as summer league, but still good and looks to be a main rotation piece for the Grizz. He should start again today with JV out along with Brooks. Brooks has looked underwhelming as a starter so far, but I am sure he is rusty and needs some time (lookshealthy at least). Needs to watch out as he has been outplayed by Grayson Allen so far. EDIT: They are giving Allen the start tonight over Brooks. Only preseason but not a good look for Brooks.

NAW has looked like a draft steal putting up ridiculous stats in very little minutes - despite last night's poor shooting game NAW has really looked efficient and productive. The minutes will be tough to carve out in NO with huge guard depth, but it already looks like he will take minutes from Hart, Moore, Jackson. Heck - he could challenge Ball as a starter at some point this season, based on what we have seen so far. Not like Ball is the healthiest of PGs too.

SGA has looked fantastic too and a potential MIP candidate. He will get the lead PG role tonite with Chris Paul sitting out and is worth a watch. Cool to see OKC experimenting with CP3, SGA and Schroeder on the floor at the same time.

CoJo has looked like CoJo - not much to report there and TT has at least looked healthy and perhaps ready to pick up where he left off pre-injury last year. Contract year for TT so I except a good year if he could stay healthy.

Boucher has looked pretty good eh? Seems like he may carve out a rotation role? At least he didnt waste his time once he bailed on Canada.

RJ has looked ok. Way better than his SL debut - I am still a little skeptical with him. He has been better than expected for me.
Brazdeikis has gotten hardly any run - sort of expected from my point of view. I'm not sure I see him as a NBA regular. Not yet at least.

Birch sadly not getting enough run once again - beside the Canada debacle, my biggest disappointment in the off season was Birch re-signing in Orlando. An agent should get fired for that (whoops - he did).

Kabengele has been a little disappointing among the youngsters - not a tonne of run and the result have been mixed. Perhaps he needs some adjustment time in the G to start off. I think the Clips are going to need him for a support role at some point this season.

Shayok, Dort, Brissett all getting very little run and look like G league guys (or injury depth). Is there a two way spot open for Brissett? In the little run he has gotten - he seems interesting enough to pull a two way deal.
Shittu seemingly getting no run at all and will be in the G as expected. Wiggington not getting much run but did put up 9 points and 3 assists last night.

Crap there is allot of guys to talk about now - it is tough to keep track off. I have not even noticed if Kyle Alexander is getting nay run. Only noticed Wigginton last night or would have forgot about him too.

Any other thought on specific guys out there? I barely touched on any of them.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2806 » by mojo13 » Mon Oct 14, 2019 5:22 pm

Some non NBA news as well:

Saw a first blurb on Justin Jackson since he blew his Achilles in January. Still recovering and aims to rejoin the Lakeland Magic when healthy.

No news on Tyler Ennis out there since he failed his physical with Macaabi Tel Aviv in early August. He was supposed to be out another 6-8 weeks after that.

Nik Stauskas played his first game for Baskonia last night - 0 points in 10 minutes.

Kaza Keane with a notably strong start in the BBL with MCB - has been filling the boxscore and posted a career high 31 points last week. Cool to see him move up in competition and excel. A guy I once thought fairly trash getting better and better each year.


Here is a primer on where our best guys outside the NBA are at if anyone cares to follow. I loosely have this in order of player quality as well - but that, of course, is very debatable.

Andrew Nicholson - Guangzhou China
Nik Stauskas - Baskonia ACB/EuroLeague
Kevin Pangos - Barcelona ACB/EuroLeague
Tyler Ennis - FA
Aaron Doornkamp - Valencia ACB/EuroLeague
Melvin Ejim - Unicaja ACB/EuroCup
Kyle Wiltjer - Turk Telecom BSL/EuroCup
Dylan Ennis - Monaco Pro-A/EuroCup
Dejan Kravic - Obradoiro ACB
Phil Scrubb - Estudiantes ACB
Thomas Scrubb - Strasbourg Pro-A/BCL
Conor Morgan - Jovantut ACB / EuroCup
Dyshawn Pierre - Sassari Series-A/ BCL
Stefan Jankovic - AEK Greece / BCL
Kenny Chery - Nanterre Pro-A / EuroCup
Kassius Robertson - Fortitudo Bologna / Series-A
Andy Rautins - FA?
Aaron Best - PAOK Greece / BCL
Kaza Kajami Keane - MBC BBL
Joel Anthony - San Lorenzo? Argentina?
Brady Heslip - FA
Johnny Berkmanskel - Larissa BC / Greece
Owen Klassen - Antwerp Belgium/ BCL
Mikyle McIntosh - Oostende Belgium / BCL
Olivier Hanlan - Iraklis / Greece
Marc Tasolini - Hokkaido B1-Japan
Xavier Rathan Mayes - FA

I am sure I am missing listing teams that are in the BCL or EuroCup. Didnt have time to look it all up.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2807 » by Hair Canada » Tue Oct 15, 2019 2:29 pm

Great stuff mojo, thanks for keeping us on top of things, especially with the non-NBA guys, who are sometimes hard to follow. Stauskas really not looking well, but it's early. KKK (not the most flattering acronym I guess) really looking good, but also early.

In the NBA, Shai is scoring well, but I worry about his playmaking. In the three preseason games, logging many minutes, including some as the lead PG, he's had an abysmal 2 assists and 10 TOs. He's been mistiming passes, taking forced shots, and in general not good at finding his teammates. It's early and I expect he'll get better (though that was not his strong suit last year as well). As long as Paul is around, SGA won't have to facilitate too much. But long term, not being a great shooter, the PG is the position where he should feel more comfortable so he really needs to boost up his playmaking. That would also be his ideal position on the national team if he suits up alongside Murray. Hopefully, some CP3 rubs on him this year.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2808 » by frumble » Tue Oct 15, 2019 4:17 pm

Mojo, thanks for the updates.

Minnesota waived Wigginton yesterday. Assuming he clears waivers, he will report to Iowa.

No surprise - this was the plan from the beginning.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2809 » by aminiaturebuddha » Tue Oct 15, 2019 5:18 pm

Thanks for the updates, guys.

On the weekend, the NBA Canada Instagram account had a post for Thanksgiving with a cartoon of all 19 Canadian players who have been on rosters in the pre-season. It was kind of fun, but unfortunately also just made me sad about our missed opportunity this past summer.

Still, it's worth checking out.

In terms of pre-season play, the thing that's surprised me the most is Kabengele's lack of minutes. I would have thought that the Clippers would have used the opportunity to take a good look at him. They're not exactly deep at the big man positions. It leads me to believe he hasn't been showing much so far in training camp. Hopefully he'll be able to get on track in the G-League. I still have faith that he'll eventually become a rotation big in the NBA.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2810 » by mojo13 » Fri Oct 18, 2019 4:39 pm

Blake Murphy thinks Oshae Brissett has one of the two ways locked up.
That would be cool. He pretty much sucked at Syracuse but seems like a new player since he left. Once again it seems Syracuse basketball is not real life and players need to be wary of going there.

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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2811 » by Hair Canada » Fri Oct 18, 2019 6:06 pm

My 2019 Canadian Power ranking:

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=1898046
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2812 » by mojo13 » Sun Oct 20, 2019 8:39 pm

Tyler Ennis has popped back up and will be joining the 905 as part of his rehab process. Glad to see this. He had a tryout with Macabi Tel Aviv in August and it was determined he wasn’t ready.


Assuming Brissett gets the two way with the Raps that should take it to 20 Canadians on opening night rosters - including 4 two-way contracts. Fantastic.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2813 » by mojo13 » Sun Oct 20, 2019 9:05 pm

Simi Shittu waived and Kyle Alexander waived as expected. Both heading to the G league affiliates. There is an open 2way in Chicago but I doubt Simi gets it.

Mychal Mulder waived a few days ago by the Heat.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2814 » by BilboBanginz » Thu Oct 24, 2019 12:08 pm

Canadians so far:

Nickeil Alexander-Walker - 3 Pts (1/10 FGs), 4 Rbs, 2 Asts, 2 Stls in 12 Mins

Chris Boucher - DNP

Mfiondu Kabengele - DNP

Tristan Thompson - 16 Pts (8/11 FGs), 11 Rbs in 33 Mins

Khem Birch - DNP

Dillon Brooks - 7 Pts (3/7 FGs), 5 Rbs in 18 Mins

Brandon Clarke - 8 Pts (3/6 FGs), 7 Rbs in 23 Mins

Kelly Olynyk - 7 Pts (1/3 FGs), 8 Rbs, 2 Blks in 22 Mins

Andrew Wiggins - 21 Pts (10/27 FGs), 8 Rbs in 36 Mins

RJ Barrett - 21 Pts (9/13 FGs), 5 Rbs, 2 Asts, 2 Stls in 37 Mins



Ignas Brazdeikis - DNP

Trey Lyles - 8 Pts (3/4 FGs), 11 Rbs in 24 Mins

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - 26 Pts (10/23 FGs) in 37 Mins



Jamal Murray - 14 Pts (4/14 FGs), 5 Rbs, 2 Asts, 2 Stls in 31 Mins

Cory Joseph - 10 Pts (3/6 FGs), 4 Asts in 21 Mins
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2815 » by PoundTown » Thu Oct 24, 2019 6:59 pm

Count me surprised how well Barrett shot from the field is first game. Efficiency is going to make or break him. The talent pool of Canadians is starting to get pretty deep. I’m dreaming of RJ and Jamal joining Cory, Kelly, khem and KP this summer.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2816 » by aminiaturebuddha » Thu Oct 24, 2019 9:52 pm

I still don't know why the hell Birch re-signed in Orlando if he knew they were also going to re-sign Vucevic and were developing Bamba. He's proved he should be a rotation player in the NBA because of his defence, but he's going to get almost no playing time this year, barring injury from one of those other guys.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2817 » by Hair Canada » Thu Oct 24, 2019 11:19 pm

Was watching Elijah Fisher playing today high school basketball. His Crestwood Prep team (now in the OSBA) was playing Orangeville Prep, arguably the best high school team in Canada, though I'm not sure that's the case.

Fisher was the best I've seen him play. Scored 43 points (if I counted right) and looked great, despite being guarded most of the game by Matthew-Alexander Moncreiff, who is a bit taller, just as athletic, and 3 years older. Fisher was especially great in the first half, where he was simply unstoppable going to the rim, particularly in transition. Also hit 4 of 5 pull-up three-pointers, which really opened up the game for him. Orangeville is a much better team, but thanks to Fiser Crestwood (a very limited team) kept close and eventually lost by a narrow margin (much of it opened in the few minutes in which Fiser was sitting on the bench.

So what did I see from Fisher?

The good: Though he's now playing against competition that is two to three years older, he was still by far the best player on the court and I would argue that he's already the best Canadian highschooler regardless of age. The outside shooting also dropped today and that can be a real swing skill for him for the next level. As before, has he has fantastic strength and body control. He's also improved his left hand quite a bit and finished with ease around the basket, going to his left more than I've ever seen before. Also nice to see that although he might be Crestwood's best inside presence, Ro Russell plays him as their PG, which is clearly not his natural position, but certainly gives him important experience.

The bad: Still has a tendency to put his head down and charge into walls. In this team, it's actually justified, as he is so much better than anyone else. And I do like the attack mentality, which I compared in the past to that of Barrett. Still didn't see any mid-range game (floaters, mid-range pull-ups). And though he shot well from behind the arc, he was still 10/18 from the line and his shooting continues to look a bit shaky. I think he's also stopped growing (at about 6'6 if I had to guess), so he likely won't reach the size of Andrew Wiggins or perhaps even Barrett. Finally, when Orangeville realized that Fisher is all that Crestwood has to offer, they started double-teaming him every time. He often didn't quite know how to get out of it and probably turned the ball over more than 10 times. Has okay vision (a couple of nice assists), but still needs to learn how to avoid traps.

Still, lots to be happy about. and I hear his little brother is also making some promising first steps in the basketball world...
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2818 » by mojo13 » Fri Oct 25, 2019 12:29 am

aminiaturebuddha wrote:I still don't know why the hell Birch re-signed in Orlando if he knew they were also going to re-sign Vucevic and were developing Bamba. He's proved he should be a rotation player in the NBA because of his defence, but he's going to get almost no playing time this year, barring injury from one of those other guys.


Bad agent who mishandled his free agency and was then fired for it. Should have gotten a professional who was experienced and trained and not his youth AAU coach.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2819 » by Ell Curry » Fri Oct 25, 2019 2:18 am

aminiaturebuddha wrote:I still don't know why the hell Birch re-signed in Orlando if he knew they were also going to re-sign Vucevic and were developing Bamba. He's proved he should be a rotation player in the NBA because of his defence, but he's going to get almost no playing time this year, barring injury from one of those other guys.


Center is tough. Competent guys like Kyle O'Quinn also didn't get much and the Magic did give him 3M instead of the RHJ sized slot (like 2.5M) elsewhere, but my guess is he ends up getting traded for a 2nd rounder this year or next from some team that has tons of shooting but is looking for a backup 5 to shore up their 2nd unit defensively like he did for Orlando last year, after someone gets hurt.
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Re: Team Canada Basketball Thread V2.0 

Post#2820 » by aminiaturebuddha » Fri Oct 25, 2019 1:40 pm

mojo13 wrote:
aminiaturebuddha wrote:I still don't know why the hell Birch re-signed in Orlando if he knew they were also going to re-sign Vucevic and were developing Bamba. He's proved he should be a rotation player in the NBA because of his defence, but he's going to get almost no playing time this year, barring injury from one of those other guys.


Bad agent who mishandled his free agency and was then fired for it. Should have gotten a professional who was experienced and trained and not his youth AAU coach.


Yeah, I read about the agent issue for Birch. It's just hard to believe that no one else stepped in to tell him it was a bad idea, but I guess agents have an outsized influence in some of these young players lives. It's too bad there isn't a professional association with some teeth, like the bar association for lawyers, to monitor and set standards for agents conduct. Although I guess that might not have had an impact here. It's just unfortunate for him.

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