There's a strong case to be made that a team with a mix of their top NBA players with lower league guys is stronger than a team with your 12 best NBA players. There's only one ball and there could be too many guys wanting to take 25-30 shots a game.
But a team that only has 2 NBA players is a toss up. But then again, lots of successful teams internationally, including the ones that have beaten the US only had a couple of NBA guys. And just like soccer, there are players in lower leagues who are starters who could easily be deep bench guys in the NBA so the term NBA player should be taken with a grain of salt. Canada could easily go 2-1 and have a shot at 3-0 or go 0-3. None of these would surprise me. I've always liked the way Pangos plays. Only seen a little bit of him from his days at Gonazaga but he seems to be quite the scrapper. And it looks funny sometimes because he still looks like a kid. |
FIBA World Cup Exhibition: Canada vs. New Zealand, Game 1
Aug 20, 2019 Watch Canada play New Zealand in the first of two FIBA World Cup exhibition games from Sydney, Australia. 2:00:06 |
I get the feeling the guys who scored the points tonight won't be part of the final roster: Best, Notice, T Scrubb. Offensively, Birch hasn't been great but aside from that the whole team is playing well. I'd start Phil Scrubb and Pangos, both seem to get the game off to a good start early.
|
Noticing the Australian/New Zealand commentators haven't mentioned Canada's missing NBAers at all, unlike here, it is a non story. I didn't watch most of the second Australia game but the only reference I heard was in the first game and they spoke about Australia having seven NBAers in their lineup and Canada had one. So far no one has been mentioned by name, so I guess Canada's missing "star" power doesn't rate too much.
|
Those commentators seemed continually shocked by the Canadian team. With our stars not here they assumed Canada would get routed. They argued that they weren't taking Canada lightly but that's precisely what they did. The NZ/AUS print media had much better and fairer coverage. They talked about Canada being without 16 of 17 NBA players and even had articles about how Canada at full strength was a legitimate threat to the US. Goes to show the disparity between real journalism and those that have no journalism background.
One thing that was a little irritating was how the Australia - US matchup was being hyped to high heaven while the Australia - Canada match ups were treated like an after thought. |
|
U.S. outclasses Canada in final pre-World Cup basketball friendly
Canadian shooters shot just 35 per cent from 3-point range The Canadian Press Aug 26, 2019 Canada's men's basketball team ended its pre-FIBA World Cup exhibition schedule with an ugly 84-68 rout by the United States on Monday. Kyle Wiltjer had 21 points, while Orlando Magic forward Khem Birch — Canada's lone NBA player in the game — had 13 points and six rebounds. "We've got a lot of work to do, but we've enjoyed our time here," Wiltjer said. "Let's not forget these are practice games." The Canadians shot just 35 per cent from the field and 6-for-23 (26 per cent) from three-point range. Jaylen Brown had 19 points to top the Americans, who outrebounded Canada 55-37. Andrew Nembhard, who injured his knee last week, and Kaza Kajami-Keane (ankle) both returned for Canada, while Brady Heslip, a late arrival for the Canadians, played his first game in Australia. But Canada was missing Oshae Brissett, who sat out the game for Canada with an injury. Canada struggled mightily on the offensive end, shooting 27 per cent from the field in the first half to trail 20-9 after one quarter, and 46-31 at halftime. "You don't play great every night," head coach Canadian Nick Nurse said. "They'll be fine. We just flush this one away and get back to what we're doing." Canada never in it The Canadians trailed by as many as 20 points in the third quarter and limped into the fourth down 64-47 in front of a crowd of 15,155 at Qudos Bank Arena. The Americans stretched their lead to 24 points in the fourth. Canada finished the game with a 7-0 run — including three-pointers from Aaron Best and Wiltjer — to make the score a bit more respectable. "I don't think we played very well tonight," Nurse said. "I think we've been playing pretty well, with a lot of juice and spirit and energy and I think you could almost sum that game up in the first four or five possessions [of the game]." Canada finished 4-3 in pre-World Cup action, splitting a pair of games with Australia and Nigeria, and beating New Zealand twice. For Nurse, the stay in Australia has been great for the players and coaching staff. "I've learned a lot about them," Nurse said. "I'm a new coach [for this team], and they're still trying to learn me, I think and we've made a lot of progress. "I think our guys have made a lot of strides, play hard, have chemistry," he said. "We've been really competitive, fun to watch, we've defended, moved the ball, all that stuff. We've played great. We don't expect to play perfectly every night, or even to play well every night." Both Canada and the U.S. are missing most of their NBA stars, although the U.S. is the only team that heads to the World Cup with a full roster of NBA players. Canada is without Andrew Wiggins, Jamal Murray, R.J. Barrett, Tristan Thompson, Dwight Powell, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chris Boucher and Nickeil Alexander-Walker, among others. Miami Heat forward Kelly Olynyk suffered a bone bruise in his knee in the first exhibition game against Nigeria and will skip the World Cup. Sacramento Kings guard Cory Joseph didn't travel to Australia but is expected to join the Canadian team in China. The Canadians open the World Cup on Sunday against the Australian Boomers, a team they beat by 20 points during this exhibition run, in Dongguan. Their tough Group H also includes Lithuania and Senegal. Nurse tour Nurse is getting the full tour of the other side of the world this year. The Canadians have been in Australia for a week or so, and now head to China for the World Cup. Then, Nurse will be in Japan when the world champion Raptors (albeit now without NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard) play preseason games against Houston on Oct. 8 and Oct. 10. Up next Canada: Opens World Cup play Sept. 1 vs. Australia in Dongguan, China. |
So three more Canadians got injured in recent games? This in addition to Kyle Kuzma on the US, who pulled out and now the US is down to 12 players from camp and therefore everyone makes the team.
I suppose those injuries are something you'd typically pick up in the regular season and come back in a couple or maybe a few games. Or just play with it if it were the playoffs. But no wonder the top stars aren't chancing it with the possibility it could be severe. |
The big question is why so many NBA stars are saying no to the World Championships? Sportsnet places the blame squarely with FIBA. I've linked the article below. FIBA are trying to replicate the FIFA system and planning as if the NBA doesn't exist at all. NBA players weren't available for most of the WC qualifying rounds and it explains why 2017 European champions Slovenia didn't qualify for the World Cup. They didn't have enough depth to qualify without Doncic.
Instead of being focused on WC qualification and participating in the WC, NBA players are predictably focused on their NBA season. Even if they wanted to play for their country it's a matter of load management. Can you play an entire NBA season, go through WC qualifying, play the WC, then have practically no down time before the next NBA season starts? Most of them have answered NO to that question. Most are taking a pass on the WC and will commit to the Tokyo Olympics instead. In Canada's case, its now unclear if we will go deep at the WC, and by extension, qualify for Tokyo 2020. Canada has essentially sent a 'B' team; maybe even it's 'C' team. The focus has shifted to the last ditch Olympic qualifying tournament a few weeks before the Tokyo Olympics. If it comes to that, and it looks likely now, we'll likely see Canada at full strength (or close to it) for that. Canadians in the NBA Kyle Alexander - Miami Heat Nickeil Alexander-Walker - New Orleans Pelicans R. J. Barrett - New York Knicks Khem Birch - Orlando Magic Ignas Brazdeikis - New York Knicks Oshae Brissett - Toronto Raptors Dillon Brooks - Memphis Grizzlies Brandon Clarke - Memphis Grizzlies Shai Gilgeous-Alexander - Oklahoma City Thunder Cory Joseph - Sacramento Kings Mfiondu Kabengele - Los Angeles Clippers Trey Lyles - San Antonio Spurs Jamal Murray - Denver Nuggets Kelly Olynyk - Miami Heat Dwight Powell - Dallas Mavericks Tristan Thompson - Cleveland Cavaliers Andrew Wiggins - Minnesota Timberwolves Canadians in the NBA G League Anthony Bennett - Houston Rockets Chris Boucher - Toronto Raptors Luguentz Dort - Oklahoma City Thunder Naz Mitrou-Long - Indiana Pacers Marial Shayok - Philadelphia 76ers https://www.sportsnet.ca/basketball/...da-basketball/ |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
When people talk like that I just assume that they're philistines/simple but this guy clearly finished school. Didn't he play basketball at a college in Iowa? :stunned: |
Quote:
Here are my two pet peeves: Using loose instead of lose ie We are going to loose the game. Since the advent of the Internet I would say this is used incorrectly at least 90% of the time. This was never an issue pre Internet. Using of instead of have ie We should of lost the game. But my all time favourite is, she is a pre Madonna :) Believe it or not I have seen that a few times. Too shay (sic) :) |
Quote:
Fact is most players recognize that their career and legacy is almost entirely going to be measured by NBA championships and anything that is detrimental to that goal should be ignored. The only time I've heard anyone bring up Olympic (or any international) achievement as a credential for possible HOF nomination is Ginobili's gold medal. I think the NBA media has created a bit of a damaging narrative that a superstar is only worth the number of rings they have. If you watch some of the nationally televised games you hear it all the time on the panel with Shaq basically using his rings to invalidate anything Charles Barkley says that he disagrees with. Then the same people get mad that superteams are destroying the sport. Are they really surprised Durant choose to go to Golden State for as close to a guaranteed championship as you can get? He knows basically all of his individual accolades would be swept under the rug if he never made it all the way. If there was the same pressure on guys like Barrett, Doncic, Jokic, etc. That Messi and Ronaldo have had on them their entire careers to bring home an international championship then we would probably see a different tournament. Hopefully now that more countries can field solid teams, another upset of the U.S like in Athens could spark some desire for international achievement, although I still think it will be at the Olympics and not FIBA. |
World Cup of hockey how many Canadians say no? Just saying, NBA is the "all about me and me only" league!
|
Quote:
|
Quote:
They owe volunteers and tax payers? I know Wiggins has donated to upgrade his home facility and to CT Jump Start. I believe it's only in the 10s of thousands but better than nothing. And as for tax payers do you mean for through the funding of Basketball Canada or for funding the facilities they played in growing up? Their parents were all paying taxes when they grew up playing. And these players did represent Canada at youth levels to help them finish as high as possible including the youth WC last year or whenever when they were lead by RJ. |
Quote:
|
Quote:
|
All times are GMT. The time now is 8:45 AM. |
Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.