Canada Basketball

[slaw]

That Katzberg dude in the hammer throw is absurd.

[planetmars]

That Katzberg dude in the hammer throw is absurd.

This random looking dude comes out with a handlebar mustache and just kicks everyone's asses. Super hilarious. Too bad he kept going out of bounds. I think he could have beaten the world record.

[slaw]

This random looking dude comes out with a handlebar mustache and just kicks everyone's asses. Super hilarious. Too bad he kept going out of bounds. I think he could have beaten the world record.

I think he was faulting on purpose cause the throws were short of the Olympic record.

[WJF]

I think he was faulting on purpose cause the throws were short of the Olympic record.

For sure a few were because they were short of his first throw. He is the reigning world champ, so this is not a surprise. Only 22, so he should be around for a while. We have a female shot putter and hammer thrower that are very good as well. Keep your eyes out for them.

[slaw]

That 3x3 basketball is awful. That’s embarrassing from the quality to the officiating. Very low rent looking for the Olympics.

[The Great One]

That 3x3 basketball is awful. That’s embarrassing from the quality to the officiating. Very low rent looking for the Olympics.

The whole thing is stupid. How is a 3x3 basketball an Olympic sport? don't get me started about breakdancing(not a sport).

Get rid of both of those "sports" and add baseball and karate.

[Primer]

The whole thing is stupid. How is a 3x3 basketball an Olympic sport? don't get me started about breakdancing(not a sport).

Get rid of both of those "sports" and add baseball and karate.

At least breakdancing is a competition between the best breakdancers in the world.

3x3 basketball doesn't have a single relevant basketball player competing in it. It's by far the dumbest Olympic sport and it's not even close.

[slaw]

At least breakdancing is a competition between the best breakdancers in the world.

3x3 basketball doesn't have a single relevant basketball player competing in it. It's by far the dumbest Olympic sport and it's not even close.

There’s a number of questionable sports like skateboarding, kayaking, bmx, dancing horses but they all at least look somewhat professional. That 3x3 thing looked like a joke. The refs were atrocious. The same ref called all 8 fouls on Canada in the semi costing them the game - it was blatant favouritism.

[guyroch]

I remember early last summer when we lost to Germany in a Friendly and a lot of us were saying WTF . Little did we know
Germany would go perfect last summer and so far this summer perfect ..

[DanH]

RJ has been fantastic in his role. But that role doesn't exist for him without Shai being Shai.

RJ being this good in this role is a great sign - the Raps want exactly that from him because they have Scottie, just like Canada has Shai. But no one is going to confuse RJ as the Raps' best player and the same mistake shouldn't be made with Team Canada.

Biggest long term question for RJ on the Raps is defence and he's looked solid there this summer, but hard to judge that in international play, it's a bit of a different game on that front in particular.

[golden]

I remember early last summer when we lost to Germany in a Friendly and a lot of us were saying WTF . Little did we know
Germany would go perfect last summer and so far this summer perfect ..

Germany's head coach is Canadian Gord Herbert.

Coaching matters in FIBA. A lot.

[LJ2]

RJ has been fantastic in his role. But that role doesn't exist for him without Shai being Shai.

RJ being this good in this role is a great sign - the Raps want exactly that from him because they have Scottie, just like Canada has Shai. But no one is going to confuse RJ as the Raps' best player and the same mistake shouldn't be made with Team Canada.

Biggest long term question for RJ on the Raps is defence and he's looked solid there this summer, but hard to judge that in international play, it's a bit of a different game on that front in particular.

If RJ was 3 inches taller I wouldn't question it.

[DanH]

If RJ was 3 inches taller I wouldn't question it.

It really just comes down to who they find to play beside him. I think he's fine as the lesser defender on the wing, if they find a true wing defender at a reasonable cost he can stick around for a long time.

If the cost of that wing defender is such that RJ's next contract is going to be too high, and they think Gradey or some similar player is the answer as the lesser wing defender, harder to envision the future for RJ.

But it's very early in his career still, in spite of his mileage. If RJ makes progress as a defender, it would basically be the ideal outcome for the Raps.

[The Great One]

RJ has been fantastic in his role. But that role doesn't exist for him without Shai being Shai.

RJ being this good in this role is a great sign - the Raps want exactly that from him because they have Scottie, just like Canada has Shai. But no one is going to confuse RJ as the Raps' best player and the same mistake shouldn't be made with Team Canada.

Biggest long term question for RJ on the Raps is defence and he's looked solid there this summer, but hard to judge that in international play, it's a bit of a different game on that front in particular.

RJ's defense is fine. He's never going to be an elite defensive player like Kawhi or Butler. My biggest question is shooting. He shot 39% from 3 last year as a Raptor. Is that sustainable? he also need to work on his FT shooting. He only shot 63% last year.

[planetmars]

Jokic came up huge in O/T to beat the Ausies. He blocked a shot off the rim. Got a couple of steals. Made two big buckets. Preferred them winning so the States have a tougher semi-final. But the upset would have been cool too. Australia got off to a real hot start. Were up over 20 early but then cooled off.