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Old 06-28-2013, 08:54 AM   #61
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Canada now has enough basketball talent to compete for medals at the Olympics, unlike the years when Steve Nash would never play, which is when they could compete for 7th place. I think we will see these guys suit up for Canada in the future.
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Old 06-28-2013, 09:15 AM   #62
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Canada now has enough basketball talent to compete for medals at the Olympics, unlike the years when Steve Nash would never play, which is when they could compete for 7th place. I think we will see these guys suit up for Canada in the future.
Not sure if that's a typo or what, but the best finish Canada has had at an Olympics since 1988 was 7th, on a team that Nash carried. Nash played plenty for Canada, and only retired when the prospect of carrying the national team became too much with his injuries.
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Old 06-28-2013, 09:41 AM   #63
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That year they finished 7th was their best look at a medal. Won their group, just couldn't get past France in the QFs. I think that was a team that could have won a medal. After that the talent level just wasn't good enough to compete for much and obviously Nash has had injury issues for a while so I can see why he chose to pass if the talent level wasn't there, and if Nash wasn't going other top guys wouldn't either. Now I think there is so much talent the top guys will go because the secondary talents now would be the top talents then. Canada is just deeper more than anything.
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Old 06-29-2013, 10:44 PM   #64
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Any idea on whether either of those guys will play for the national team at some point, or have they seemed to waiver on whether they want to?
I think there's no question that Bennett will play for the national team, assuming health allows. I've seen him mention a few times about how much he's rooting for the other Canadian guys in the NCAA, and I get the feeling there's a lot of national pride with him. Will he play with the national team this summer? That's hard to say; like Wiggins, that first summer before starting an NCAA or NBA career is an important one.

Literally every guy who I've mentioned in this thread has played for Canada at the national level already on the cadet or junior teams. No guarantee that one or two guys might decide they don't want to play for the national program. But the best part about this current generation is that you could take any one player away (including Wiggins) and it's still a solid team by international standards. Unlike the Nash Olympics, it won't be up to one player to carry the team.
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Old 07-23-2013, 01:37 PM   #65
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I just wanted to do a mid-summer round-up, because there's been a lot going on that sort of flies under the radar. The senior men's team training camp roster should be coming out in the next week or two, but at other levels there's a number of noteworthy things, some of which is already discussed in this thread.

At the NBA level, Bennett had a great summer, being drafted first overall. Olynyk had a great summer, 13th overall plus a great summer-league. Cory Joseph got some playoff and finals experience, and then a great summer-league. Kris Joseph got traded back to Boston, where he'll probably get a chance to play this time with a rebuilding (or tanking) team. Sacre got some playoff experience and a new contract. At the other end of the spectrum, Kabongo had about the worst summer imaginable, going undrafted and then disappointing even the low expectations for him in summer league. Andy Rautins didn't make much of an impact with Chicago's summer league team, which is disappointing given his record-setting season in the d-league last year.

Going into next year, there will be at least 10 Canadians in the NBA (Bennett, Olynyk, Joseph, Joseph, Sacre, Thompson, Nicholson, Anthony, Dalembert, Nash -- these last two unlikely to play for the national team again), which is up from just 2 a few years ago.

The men's team competed recently in the international university games, and went through their warm-up tournament and the first four games undefeated, before losing to host Russia in the semi-finals. This team had a mix of CIS and NCAA returning players, such as Heslip, Pangos, Powell, and Scrubb. I see this as largely a try-out for the senior national team, and Heslip and Powell in particular had great tournaments although Heslip struggled in Canada's last two games that they lost. You need at least one great shooter in an international tournament, and Canada will need to pick at least one of Heslip, Rautins, and Stauskas. Melvin Ejim probably played well-enough to be in the mix at the SF spot, primarily because it is such a weak spot for the national team right now.
At the high-school level, Montaque Gill-Ceasar and Chris Egi got MVP nods at the Nike Global Challenge, though the Canadian team finished just 2-2. The cadet team finished third in the FIBA Americas tournament losing just one game, in overtime to host Argentina, with Gill-Ceasar, Egi, plus Justin Jackson and Jamal Murray all performing well.
The Junior National Team finished sixth at the worlds, even without Wiggins; Ennis and Lyles were the notable players there.



We'll have a better idea in the next week or two, but right now, I'd expect the FIBA Americas team this year to be something like:
Olynyk, Sacre, Anthony
Thompson, Nicholson, Powell
K. Joseph, Ejim
Heslip, Rautins
C. Joseph, Pangos, Kabongo

Stauskas, Wiltjer, Hanlan, and Scrubb are other guys I could see being in the mix. I don't think Bennett will play this year given his current injury, but as I said previously, everything he says shows his pride in the national program, and if he was healthy I would fully expect him to play. A couple international guys, like Doornekamp, Brown, English or Shepherd may also be in the mix for their international experience, although I think committing fully to the younger generation is the right strategy.

It's worth noting that while Wiggins did turn down the junior team this summer, there's still a chance of him accepting an invite to the senior team, especially since Canada's so shallow at SF, and he'd actually be counted on to play and produce. I'd call that a longshot, but still a possibility.
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Old 07-23-2013, 01:57 PM   #66
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Is Wiggins already tied to Canada through previous international play? If not, is there any suspicion that he may spurn Canada to play for the US down the road (once eligible for citizenship)? With a guy who's getting a bit of next LeBron type hype I wonder if the marketing aspect of playing for the US starts factoring in.
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Old 07-23-2013, 02:39 PM   #67
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Considering Wiggins has already said he wants to play for the Raptors, I think he's a pretty proud Canadian. He did also play for Canada in the under-18 Championships last summer where they won bronze.
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Old 07-29-2013, 12:44 PM   #68
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Steve Nash and Jay Triano talk about the growth of Canada Basketball and shaping the future with young talent.

http://video.tsn.ca/?dl=main/latest/1/0/974191/clip/0
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Old 07-29-2013, 03:34 PM   #69
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Here's the national team training camp invite list. I've bolded guys I think are locks. There's a few guys I thought would be on the team that aren't even invites, though; perhaps injuries or team commitments or such. From Triano's comments in the video Drake posted, it sounds like there'll be a few of the international guys in the mix.

http://northpolehoops.com/2013/07/29...list-released/

Jermaine Anderson Guard 6-2 Toronto, Ont.
Joel Anthony Centre 6-9 Montreal, Que.
Olu Ashaolu Forward 6-7 Toronto, Ont.
Junior Cadougan Guard 6-1 Toronto, Ont.
Aaron Doornekamp Forward 6-6 Odessa, Ont.
Carl English Guard 6-5 St. John’s, N.L.
Brady Heslip Guard 6-2 Burlington, Ont.
Cory Joseph Guard 6-3 Pickering, Ont.
Devoe Joseph Guard 6-4 Pickering, Ont.
Kris Joseph Forward 6-7 Montreal, Que.
Myck Kabongo Guard 6-1 Toronto, Ont.
Levon Kendall Forward 6-10 Vancouver, B.C.
Kyle Landry Forward 6-9 Calgary, Alta.
Andrew Nicholson Forward 6-9 Mississauga, Ont.
Andrew Rautins Guard 6-4 Syracuse, N.Y.
Philip Scrubb Guard 6-3 Richmond, B.C.
Jevohn Shepherd Forward 6-5 Scarborough, Ont.
Tristan Thompson Forward 6-9 Brampton, Ont.


Olynyk and Bennett are at the camp but not participating due to injury. Both may be on the eventual team, though, since its still a month to FIBA Americas.

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Old 08-16-2013, 11:39 AM   #70
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Scrubb and Kabongo are the first two cuts from the national team. But I really like this decision: they're both being sent to Vancouver to train with Steve Nash for the rest of the summer.

http://northpolehoops.com/2013/08/16...ve-nash-in-bc/

It sounds like guys who stood out in the two games against Jamaica were Anthony, Thompson, Nicholson, Heslip, Rautins, Kendall, and Shepherd. Cadougan also led the team in assists in one game, which might be a factor as to why he survived longer than other young PGs. It sort of makes sense to pair good defending and passing PGs like Joseph and Cadougan with hot-shooting, zero-defense SGs like Heslip and Rautins.
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Old 08-30-2013, 01:03 PM   #71
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Canada easily won its opening game over Jamaica in the FIBA Americas Tournament. Top 4 teams from the tournament qualify for next year`s World Championships.

http://www.tsn.ca/nba/story/?id=430819

Pretty sad we`re currently ranked 26 by FIBA, one back of basketball powerhouse Lebanon. Hopefully a strong showing at this tournament and the injection of young NBA players will have us climbing the rankings quickly.
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Old 08-31-2013, 01:38 PM   #72
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Canada trailing to Puerto Rico late... Close game but the difference has been reffing so far, calling 4 unsportsmanlike fouls and a bench technical against canada and handing them 10 points. Couple were legit but most weren't. Refs shouldn't play this big a role in basketball.
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Old 08-31-2013, 01:44 PM   #73
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I take that back, the difference now has been Canada getting owned in the 4th. Announcer said at one point puerto rico was on an 18-2 run. Too bad, looked like it was going to be close.
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Old 09-01-2013, 12:17 PM   #74
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Huge game against Brazil today with a 29 point victory, and the most noticeable difference being them not letting up in the second half, and not losing their composure (other than one technical to Rautins). Obviously this is a weaker Brazilian team without four NBA players, but then most teams including Canada are in a similar spot. Any way you look at it, destroying a team ranked in the FIBA top 10 is impressive.

Finishing top four now looks very possible, especially since they own any conceivable tie-breaker with Brazil. Take care of business against Uruguay, Mexico, at least one win against Dominican or Venezuela, and they should get through easily.

I'm also impressed with the job Triano has done in managing this lineup without a true SF on this team. It helps that some of the bigs have decent perimeter shots.
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Old 09-01-2013, 01:45 PM   #75
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Ya was a big win for them today, didn't expect them to hammer Brazil like that. Execute against Uruguay and they should just need to go 2-2 in the final group to get a spot and as you said, one of those four games looks like it will be against Mexico which they'll be heavily favored to win.

Crazy to see the Dominican beat Argentina the other day by almost 20 and now Brazil get smoked by Canada. Wonder if the balance is shifting in Americas zone. PR is probably taking their last kick at it with this core... Canada really has a chance to not only qualify from FIBA Americas consistently over the next few cycles but maybe to win some silverwear even if they perform.
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Old 09-02-2013, 12:34 PM   #76
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And now Dominican has lost back to back to Venezuela and Mexico, the latter being a 24 point wire-to-wire rout. I don't think anyone expected Mexico - who qualified only because Panama was disqualified - to be 3-0. And Dominican now must win their final game (albeit against winless Paraguay) to move into the next round.

Not sure what the best scenario for Canada is. Argentina and Dominican losing games is generally a good thing, but you don't want Mexico to go 4-0 and be ahead of Canada going into the second round.

edit: also, the Brazilian coach has been suspended for one game for his tirade against the officials during the loss to Canada.

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Old 09-03-2013, 12:09 PM   #77
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Power is out to the entire freaking country of Venezuela. Canada's game is probably going to be delayed.

edit: rescheduled to 10:00pm Caracas time, which I believe is 8:30 Calgary time.

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Old 09-04-2013, 09:47 AM   #78
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A dominant 26 point win of Uruguay puts them in solid shape going into the second round. And then starting tomorrow, it's four games in four days for the remaining teams.

One thing I like in this tournament is the way Triano is using 3-big lineups, like Thompson, Nicholson, and Doornekamp. It's a matchup nightmare in this tournament, and with Olynyk, Bennett, Lyles, and Powell as part of the future of this program, They've got no shortage of inside/outside bigs.
I've said it before but this tournament has me more convinced that a lineup like Joseph, Wiggins, Bennett, Nicholson, Olynyk would be brilliant in international play. Five guys who can shoot the 3, five who can rebound, four who can post up. Few international teams would be able to match up with that sort of size and skill. And Canada has the depth to run two units of that style of play.
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Old 09-05-2013, 01:42 PM   #79
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22 point win over Mexico, but this was actually really close going into the fourth. Nicholson got into foul trouble, Thompson didn't really have it going, so perimeter play needed to be huge. Heslip stopped one Mexico run with nine straight points in the third, and then Rautins did the same in the fourth. Those two guys combined for 40 points.

Home team Venezuela up next.
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Old 09-07-2013, 02:48 PM   #80
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Struggled against the home team Venezuela, shooting dried up all of a sudden and Nicholson imploded. Huge game against the Dominican coming up, since they've lost the tiebreakers with Puerto Rico and now Venezuela and Mexico is the only team in that close group of 6 that they have the tiebreaker on - they have to have this one today.

If they lose it they will need to beat Argentina and get some help in other games to qualify.
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