Team Canada Basketball Thread V3.0

[Kenter16]

Hope nothing serious for CB. In the meanwhile, here's someone who doesn't want this season to end: Brissett looking like an all-star... 23, 12, 3 blocks, and 2 steals in a W for the Pacers.

If he keeps that up, I’ll be happily eating me words right quick. Brissett is a story to watch as the season plays out. Along with the Raptors and Knicks playing too well for my liking lately. What if either go Ona couple round playoff run?

I only saw the highlights, but he was playing the 5! Mostly out of shear desperation as ALL of Indy's bigs are hurt.

[TrueNorth31]

Read on Twitter

?s=20

Well, here is one world event that was going to take place in Canada that was outright cancelled. It was set to take place May 6 - 16th. Not sure that six weeks after this they will allow the OQT to be played in Victoria. This may set the precedent.
I think Canada Basketball should box that court back up and get it ready to go to Florida or Vegas or Texas.

The event is still 10 weeks out and lots can happen both good and bad. At current Canadian vaccination rates by the end of June 75% of all Canadians are projected to have had at least one dose. When you reach those level things change quite dramatically for the better. I think it's too early to speculate. I also think that the if cancelled the tournament is much more likely to go to one of the other participating countries, with perhaps China most likely becoming the host.

[Kenter16]

Read on Twitter

?s=20

Well, here is one world event that was going to take place in Canada that was outright cancelled. It was set to take place May 6 - 16th. Not sure that six weeks after this they will allow the OQT to be played in Victoria. This may set the precedent.
I think Canada Basketball should box that court back up and get it ready to go to Florida or Vegas or Texas.

The event is still 10 weeks out and lots can happen both good and bad. At current Canadian vaccination rates by the end of June 75% of all Canadians are projected to have had at least one dose. When you reach those level things change quite dramatically for the better. I think it's too early to speculate. I also think that the if cancelled the tournament is much more likely to go to one of the other participating countries, with perhaps China most likely becoming the host.

I hope that is not the case. If it gets moved to China participation will be limited. That's worst case scenario.

Sent from my SM-G973W using RealGM mobile app

[mojo13]

Looks like a "MCL sprain" for Boucher but we don't know the severity or timetable for return. Seems like it could be a couple weeks and we see him return if it is a mild sprain or he could be done for the season if it is a little worse?

How concerned should we be for his participation with Team Canada in Victoria?

[TrueNorth31]

Fairly good story by Steven Loung for the casual fan about the makeup of the Victoria team. Loung is the one writer who consistently asks these guys about participating this summer.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article/nba-players-suit-team-canada-summer/

[mojo13]

Fairly good story by Steven Loung for the casual fan about the makeup of the Victoria team. Loung is the one writer who consistently asks these guys about participating this summer.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article/nba-players-suit-team-canada-summer/

Good read - but something is wrong when one talks about Karim Mane, Nate Darling, Mfiondu Kabengele, Mychal Mulder, Trey Lyles (he forgot Brissett), but don't mention Kevin Pangos, Dyshawn Pierre, Andrew Nicholson, the Scrubbs, Ejim, Wiltjer etc.

Pangos is more important to Team Canada than maybe half the NBA players.

[Kenter16]

Fairly good story by Steven Loung for the casual fan about the makeup of the Victoria team. Loung is the one writer who consistently asks these guys about participating this summer.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article/nba-players-suit-team-canada-summer/

Good read - but something is wrong when one talks about Karim Mane, Nate Darling, Mfiondu Kabengele, Mychal Mulder, Trey Lyles (he forgot Brissett), but don't mention Kevin Pangos, Dyshawn Pierre, Andrew Nicholson, the Scrubbs, Ejim, Wiltjer etc.

Pangos is more important to Team Canada than maybe half the NBA players.

You are 100% right. Especially the way Pangos is playing. He is going to be key. However, I will give Steve a pass as the article is titled "Which NBA players could suit up for Team Canada this summer" .

Mychal Mulder with the start tonight for GS. He did exceptionally well when he started last year, so the next few weeks are big for him in terms of Team Canada. If he hits the 3 and plays some defense he could get a spot in the OQT.

[mojo13]

Fairly good story by Steven Loung for the casual fan about the makeup of the Victoria team. Loung is the one writer who consistently asks these guys about participating this summer.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article/nba-players-suit-team-canada-summer/

Good read - but something is wrong when one talks about Karim Mane, Nate Darling, Mfiondu Kabengele, Mychal Mulder, Trey Lyles (he forgot Brissett), but don't mention Kevin Pangos, Dyshawn Pierre, Andrew Nicholson, the Scrubbs, Ejim, Wiltjer etc.

Pangos is more important to Team Canada than maybe half the NBA players.

You are 100% right. Especially the way Pangos is playing. He is going to be key. However, I will give Steve a pass as the article is titled "Which NBA players could suit up for Team Canada this summer" .
.

Fair enough...but it might be worth mentioning there are 20-30 guys outside the NBA that are better players than Karim Mane or Justin Jackson. And no matter how many NBA guys show up there will still be at least 1 or 2 non-NBA guys on the final roster.

[Hair Canada]

D. Powell with one of the best games of his career and certainly the best one since coming back from his Achilles injury. 25 points and 9 rebounds on nearly perfect shooting. So glad to see him start coming back to his old form. One of my favorite Canadians.

Don't think he should suit up for Team Canada this summer. Needs to take the time to make sure he's completely back. But great to see nevertheless. And if he does want to play, that's another good piece of depth at bigs.

[agkagk]

Knicks are collecting Canadians

https://www.hoopsrumors.com/2021/04/knicks-to-sign-simisola-shittu-to-two-way-contract.html

[agkagk]

Any Canadians expected to get drafted this year?

I just went through the nbadraft.net mock and couldn’t find anyone

[TrueNorth31]

Here's two long stories about the improvement this season with R.J. Barrett. The first by Mike Grange who talks at about how he improved his shot this past season through intensive off-season workouts.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article/inside-rj-barretts-transformation-one-nbas-deadliest-shooters/

The second is a video breakdown of his new shot and other areas to improve upon by the Ringer.

https://www.theringer.com/video/2021/4/22/22397038/rj-barrett-is-brand-new-player-new-york-knicks-the-void

The picture you get is of a guy who works very hard at getting better - one step at a time, rather than trying to improve incrementally in several areas at the same time. Hopefully given his plans for extensive off season workouts he can still fit in time for Canada Basketball. Given that his dad runs the program I'm optimistic.

For me he's still a work in progress. His shot while revamped, is still mainly of the catch and shoot variety ( over 99% of his three pointers ) . This is the easiest type of three and you should shoot in the 40% territory. Compare him to a guy like Jamal Murray who shoots pull ups and off the dribble three's about 2/3 of the time and still shot over 40% from distance this year and you can see how R.J. still needs to improve. Given his strong work ethic and relatively young age ( still only 20 ) , I think he'll get there eventually.

[Hair Canada]

Here's two long stories about the improvement this season with R.J. Barrett. The first by Mike Grange who talks at about how he improved his shot this past season through intensive off-season workouts.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article/inside-rj-barretts-transformation-one-nbas-deadliest-shooters/

The second is a video breakdown of his new shot and other areas to improve upon by the Ringer.

https://www.theringer.com/video/2021/4/22/22397038/rj-barrett-is-brand-new-player-new-york-knicks-the-void

The picture you get is of a guy who works very hard at improving - one step at a time, rather than trying to improve incrementally in several areas at the same time. Hopefully given his plans for extensive off season workouts he can still fit in time for Canada Basketball. Given that his dad runs the program I'm optimistic.

For me he's still a work in progress. His shot while improved, is still mainly of the catch and shoot variety ( over 99% of his three pointers ) . This is the easiest type of three and you should shoot in the 40% territory. Compare him to a guy like Jamal Murray who shoots pull ups and off the dribble three's about 2/3 of the time and still shot over 40% from distance this year and you can see how R.J. still needs to improve. Given his strong work ethic and relatively young age ( still only 20 ) , I think he'll get there eventually.

Great videos and really encouraging. I agree with just about everything here. It's not just Jamal. SGA also improved to over 40% this year from 3 while taking many pullups.

But I think we could also ask what's "there" (as in "he'll get there eventually"). When RJ was drafted there were many who worried that he'll never be able to settle for being a good second or third option and will always be an inefficient scorer for bad teams. Many still thought so at the end of his rookie NBA year. but I think this year he's already showed that this is not the case. That is, he's already a good (though not great) NBA player on a good (though not great) NBA team. We all hope he can be more than that and given his great character, work ethic, and willpower, I would bet that's the case. But at only 20 he's already at a point where he's a player you definitely want on your team.

And as for the "get there" part, what do you guys think his ceiling is?

[mojo13]

Here's two long stories about the improvement this season with R.J. Barrett. The first by Mike Grange who talks at about how he improved his shot this past season through intensive off-season workouts.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nba/article/inside-rj-barretts-transformation-one-nbas-deadliest-shooters/

The second is a video breakdown of his new shot and other areas to improve upon by the Ringer.

https://www.theringer.com/video/2021/4/22/22397038/rj-barrett-is-brand-new-player-new-york-knicks-the-void

The picture you get is of a guy who works very hard at improving - one step at a time, rather than trying to improve incrementally in several areas at the same time. Hopefully given his plans for extensive off season workouts he can still fit in time for Canada Basketball. Given that his dad runs the program I'm optimistic.

For me he's still a work in progress. His shot while improved, is still mainly of the catch and shoot variety ( over 99% of his three pointers ) . This is the easiest type of three and you should shoot in the 40% territory. Compare him to a guy like Jamal Murray who shoots pull ups and off the dribble three's about 2/3 of the time and still shot over 40% from distance this year and you can see how R.J. still needs to improve. Given his strong work ethic and relatively young age ( still only 20 ) , I think he'll get there eventually.

Great videos and really encouraging. I agree with just about everything here. It's not just Jamal. SGA also improved to over 40% this year from 3 while taking many pullups.

But I think we could also ask what's "there" (as in "he'll get there eventually"). When RJ was drafted there were many who worried that he'll never be able to settle for being a good second or third option and will always be an inefficient scorer for bad teams. Many still thought so at the end of his rookie NBA year. but I think this year he's already showed that this is not the case. That is, he's already a good (though not great) NBA player on a good (though not great) NBA team. We all hope he can be more than that and given his great character, work ethic, and willpower, I would bet that's the case. But at only 20 he's already at a point where he's a player you definitely want on your team.

And as for the "get there" part, what do you guys think his ceiling is?

Take a look at Sophomore season RJ Barrett (20) vs sophomore season Kobe Barrett (19)
https://stathead.com/tiny/qKBTT
Kobe came off the bench so the per 36 is a better comp. RJ is looking good here - better than Kobe in most categories.

Maybe the better comp is both Kobe Bryant (Yr 3) and RJ Barret (Yr 2) at age 20 (but arguably Kobe is at the advantage with more NBA experience). The Per 36s are eerily similar.
https://stathead.com/tiny/DjqGA
I'd never have thought to compare these two last year and shows just how much RJ has improved.


Kobe is an extremely high bar for RJ to aspire too - but I have to say, the work ethic and mentality are similar. To see these early career comparisons so closely resemble each other is pretty crazy. We are far from knowing what RJ can become...

[TrueNorth31]

More on the Brissett contract from Hollinger at the Athletic. While he has no guarantee for the next season , Indy threw him a little more money this year to maintain their cap flexibility next season and show him some love. In terms of playing for Canada this summer it's going to be tough unless he gets some sort of insurance. The Syracuse guys are hard to project defensively because of all the zone they play, but Brissett who has a long 7 ' reach and good mobility looks like a potential solid wing defender. It'll all come down to him shooting threes.



"Brissett signed a three-year deal out of the leftover piece of the Pacers’ midlevel exception, with Indiana throwing some extra dough his way this year (about $500,000 above his minimum) in return for a non-guaranteed minimum deal for the next two seasons. That could pay dividends for Indy, which has needed a combo forward for a while and may have found one in Brissett, who is a bouncy 6 foot 7, 210 pounds. The 22-year-old ex-Raptor put up back-to-back double-doubles this week, including 23 and 12 in a tight win over the Thunder on Wednesday, coming on the heels of a solid run with the Pacers’ Fort Wayne affiliate in the G League bubble.

This type of contract hinges a lot on continued development. Brissett’s shot has betrayed him in the past — he’s a 30 percent marksman from 3 across multiple seasons at several levels, and that’s not going to get it done. But if he can just become a player who defenses have to bother guarding, he’s shown enough plusses in other areas to make this contract pay off. A promising sign is that he’s taken 22 triples over his last four games and connected on nine of them. At his age and on this contract, it’s an upside bet with near-zero downside risk for Indy."

https://theathletic.com/2543848/2021/04/26/hawks-soar-despite-slew-of-injuries-sizing-up-pistons-rookie-killian-hayes-hollingers-week-that-was/

[Hair Canada]

So where do we stand 2 months before the qualifiers? Unfortunately, we lost our best player.

But there are many reasons to remain positive: Over the last month or two, a record number of Canadians (most of them, in fact) have been playing arguably the best basketball of their careers. Just take a look at the numbers:

* SGA since the beginning of February, before being forced to shut down: 26 points per game, shooting over 45% from 3.

* Dort in April (6 games): 26 points and 6 rebounds per game while shooting 46% from behind the arc.

* Brooks in April (14 games): 18 points per game with 47%/45%/81% shooting splits.

* NAW on his last 9 games before his injury: 18 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists per game, shooting 42% from 3.

* Boucher on his last 8 games before the injury: 18 points and 10 rebounds a game with 57%/40%/87% shooting splits.

* Barrett since the beginning of March: 19 points per game with 46%/42%/77% shooting splits.

* Olynyk since moving to Houston (18 games): Career highs of 19 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists, with career high shooting numbers: 58%/40%/88%.

* CoJo since moving to Detroit (16 games): Career highs 12 points and 5.5 assists, on career high shooting numbers from all ranges: 51%/39%/87%.

* Brissett since he’s been starting for the Pacers (last 5): 16 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal per game, shooting 48%/45%/74%.

* Birch since moving to Toronto: Career highs of 10 points and 8 rebounds a game, shooting 60% from the field.

* Wiggins and Mulder are starting for the Warriors. Wiggins looked great in March but cooled down in April. Mulder playing solid basketball.

Add to this Pangos, who’s also playing his best career basketball lately in the Euroleague (and a couple of other European guys who peaked this season), and things are looking quite sunny if we can get most of these guys to suit up.

[Bruin]

So where do we stand 2 months before the qualifiers? Unfortunately, we lost our best player.

But there are many reasons to remain positive: Over the last month or two, a record number of Canadians (most of them, in fact) have been playing arguably the best basketball of their careers. Just take a look at the numbers:

* SGA since the beginning of February, before being forced to shut down: 26 points per game, shooting over 45% from 3.

* Dort in April (6 games): 26 points and 6 rebounds per game while shooting 46% from behind the arc.

* Brooks in April (14 games): 18 points per game with 47%/45%/81% shooting splits.

* NAW on his last 9 games before his injury: 18 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists per game, shooting 42% from 3.

* Boucher on his last 8 games before the injury: 18 points and 10 rebounds a game with 57%/40%/87% shooting splits.

* Barrett since the beginning of March: 19 points per game with 46%/42%/77% shooting splits.

* Olynyk since moving to Houston (18 games): Career highs of 19 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists, with career high shooting numbers: 58%/40%/88%.

* CoJo since moving to Detroit (16 games): Career highs 12 points and 5.5 assists, on career high shooting numbers from all ranges: 51%/39%/87%.

* Brissett since he’s been starting for the Pacers (last 5): 16 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal per game, shooting 48%/45%/74%.

* Birch since moving to Toronto: Career highs of 10 points and 8 rebounds a game, shooting 60% from the field.

* Wiggins and Mulder are starting for the Warriors. Wiggins looked great in March but cooled down in April. Mulder playing solid basketball.

Add to this Pangos, who’s also playing his best career basketball lately in the Euroleague (and a couple of other European guys who peaked this season), and things are looking quite sunny if we can get most of these guys to suit up.

Is there a reason Tristan and Clarke aren’t listed here? Are they not expected to play this summer?

[aminiaturebuddha]

So where do we stand 2 months before the qualifiers? Unfortunately, we lost our best player.

But there are many reasons to remain positive: Over the last month or two, a record number of Canadians (most of them, in fact) have been playing arguably the best basketball of their careers. Just take a look at the numbers:

* SGA since the beginning of February, before being forced to shut down: 26 points per game, shooting over 45% from 3.

* Dort in April (6 games): 26 points and 6 rebounds per game while shooting 46% from behind the arc.

* Brooks in April (14 games): 18 points per game with 47%/45%/81% shooting splits.

* NAW on his last 9 games before his injury: 18 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists per game, shooting 42% from 3.

* Boucher on his last 8 games before the injury: 18 points and 10 rebounds a game with 57%/40%/87% shooting splits.

* Barrett since the beginning of March: 19 points per game with 46%/42%/77% shooting splits.

* Olynyk since moving to Houston (18 games): Career highs of 19 points, 8 rebounds and 3 assists, with career high shooting numbers: 58%/40%/88%.

* CoJo since moving to Detroit (16 games): Career highs 12 points and 5.5 assists, on career high shooting numbers from all ranges: 51%/39%/87%.

* Brissett since he’s been starting for the Pacers (last 5): 16 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal per game, shooting 48%/45%/74%.

* Birch since moving to Toronto: Career highs of 10 points and 8 rebounds a game, shooting 60% from the field.

* Wiggins and Mulder are starting for the Warriors. Wiggins looked great in March but cooled down in April. Mulder playing solid basketball.

Add to this Pangos, who’s also playing his best career basketball lately in the Euroleague (and a couple of other European guys who peaked this season), and things are looking quite sunny if we can get most of these guys to suit up.

It's really good seeing Olynyk, CoJo, and Birch thriving in new environments, because those are more likely the roles they'd have with the national team. Not that I was really concerned with any of them (just questions about their status and availability). We know what they bring at this point. But if they do show up, the runs they're getting right now will help get them in better playing shape and used to playing extended minutes.

[Hair Canada]

The thing about the 12 guys or so that I mention above is that for just about all of them you could reasonably argue that they are currently playing the best basketball of their careers. There are some Canadians out there who are not (TT, Lyles, Clarke, Powell), but I still think that it's unusual to have so many guys play so well at the same time, and this close to the qualifiers. Now it's just a matter of how many of them will actually be able to / want to come. But you could argue that even getting half of this group wouldn't be that bad with how they've been playing -- enough to put up a very good unit with some complementary pieces.

[Hair Canada]

Oh, and also just look at the shooting numbers. The first 10 on the list are shooting 39% or better from 3 during these relative stretches. Add in Mulder with a 39% 3-point shooting for the season, Wiggins with 38%, and of course Pangos and it doesn't seem like we should be too worried about spacing despite the loss of Murray.