Canada Basketball

[guyroch]

U.S win streak is snapped and Austrailia is the team that beats them .

[guyroch]

Some good news.. Injured players Nembhard and Kajami-Keane practice, while Heslip joins team


I am starting to think Cory Joseph is not going .. Why does this have to be a big mystery.

[Gonzz]

Some good news.. Injured players Nembhard and Kajami-Keane practice, while Heslip joins team


I am starting to think Cory Joseph is not going .. Why does this have to be a big mystery.

Coach Nurse says he will show in China. Do I believe him or you?

[guyroch]

Coach Nurse says he will show in China. Do I believe him or you?

Do I believe him yes .. Should Nick Nurse believe him ?

[guyroch]

U.S 84 - Canada 68 Final !! Expected result .. U.S losing and so they will come out focussed .

I wonder if Kyle Wiltjer might get some NBA opportunities after this tournament … Oh by the way … Nick Nurse revealed in his postgame press conference that " Joseph is going to join the team tomorrow .

[Gonzz]

Brissett is also questionable with a swollen knee. May not make the trip to China. Odds of this team doing well are disappearing fast.

[S.R.]

Brissett is also questionable with a swollen knee. May not make the trip to China. Odds of this team doing well are disappearing fast.

Our team sucks.

[guyroch]

Our team sucks.

That is quite harsh … Lets see how the tournament plays out … I think Nurse will shorten his bench and unfortunately we are in a killer group … We have 2 teams in our group who have medal hopes and so our record won't reflect how good we are …

[Truth Teller]

U.S 84 - Canada 68 Final !! Expected result .. U.S losing and so they will come out focussed .

I wonder if Kyle Wiltjer might get some NBA opportunities after this tournament … Oh by the way … Nick Nurse revealed in his postgame press conference that " Joseph is going to join the team tomorrow .

Not that bad, the old USA teams would dominate and win by 30+. I actually think USA is going to get upset.

[Maury]

That is quite harsh … Lets see how the tournament plays out … I think Nurse will shorten his bench and unfortunately we are in a killer group … We have 2 teams in our group who have medal hopes and so our record won't reflect how good we are …

I know you're a massive homer but look at the team objectively. There isn't a single NBA rotation player on the team. When Cory Jo comes back he'll be our best player by a landslide. Look at the teams in our own group. Australia is easily better (doesn't matter that we beat them, when it matters they will come to play) and Lithuania likely wins in a close game just off of experience and composure alone. Sure Lithuania doesn't have a lot of NBA players but they've been together for a while and have been a far more successful group. I'm not discounting the addition that Nick Nurse has been but aside from him our team is bad. Simple as that.

At the end of the day, Nurse expected to come in with a whole bunch of young Canadian talent in RJ, Murray, Alexander, Thompson, Lyles, Wiggins, the list goes on, and push for Fiba and Olympic medals but it's looking like that won't happen and the blame falls on all of the guys who decided their vacations and their phony "preparations" for non-playoff teams are more valuable than big game experience for your country. Kind of sad.

[slaw]

I know you're a massive homer but look at the team objectively. There isn't a single NBA rotation player on the team. When Cory Jo comes back he'll be our best player by a landslide. Look at the teams in our own group. Australia is easily better (doesn't matter that we beat them, when it matters they will come to play) and Lithuania likely wins in a close game just off of experience and composure alone. Sure Lithuania doesn't have a lot of NBA players but they've been together for a while and have been a far more successful group. I'm not discounting the addition that Nick Nurse has been but aside from him our team is bad. Simple as that.

At the end of the day, Nurse expected to come in with a whole bunch of young Canadian talent in RJ, Murray, Alexander, Thompson, Lyles, Wiggins, the list goes on, and push for Fiba and Olympic medals but it's looking like that won't happen and the blame falls on all of the guys who decided their vacations and their phony "preparations" for non-playoff teams are more valuable than big game experience for your country. Kind of sad.

Yeah, hard to blame Canada Basketball here. They have the best structure in place since, well, forever. The junior programs are strong. They brought in an NBA champion coach and staff. If guys don't want to play there isn't much you can do.

Ultimately, I blame FIBA more than anyone/anything else for the timing and location of the tournament and their stupid qualifying nonsense but, having noted that, the fact that Canada almost certainly won't even qualify out of the group stage is on the players who couldn't be bothered to play - and I still think some of the young guys really missed the boat here in terms of experience and showcasing themselves.

[KeonClark]

Yeah, hard to blame Canada Basketball here. They have the best structure in place since, well, forever. The junior programs are strong. They brought in an NBA champion coach and staff. If guys don't want to play there isn't much you can do.

Ultimately, I blame FIBA more than anyone/anything else for the timing and location of the tournament and their stupid qualifying nonsense but, having noted that, the fact that Canada almost certainly won't even qualify out of the group stage is on the players who couldn't be bothered to play - and I still think some of the young guys really missed the boat here in terms of experience and showcasing themselves.

Yeah, the timing was ripe for a lot of excitement. The wave crested after the Raps win for basketball in Canada and they could have ridden that wave right to shore. Blue jays are bad, hockey hasn't started yet, cfl is meh, there's nothing going on!!...TSN and Sportsnet were getting set to promote the hell out of this tournament and these kids from american teams could have owned early September in the sports pages around here.

It really is too bad, maybe if they would have communicated better as a collective like "hey, if you and him play, I'll play too, lets do this"..it seems each guy kind of quit as a domino effect on a case by case basis, a bunch of individuals listening to their agents and not seeing the forest thru the trees

[planetmars]

Yeah, the timing was ripe for a lot of excitement. The wave crested after the Raps win for basketball in Canada and they could have ridden that wave right to shore. Blue jays are bad, hockey hasn't started yet, cfl is meh, there's nothing going on!!...TSN and Sportsnet were getting set to promote the hell out of this tournament and these kids from american teams could have owned early September in the sports pages around here.

It really is too bad, maybe if they would have communicated better as a collective like "hey, if you and him play, I'll play too, lets do this"..it seems each guy kind of quit as a domino effect on a case by case basis, a bunch of individuals listening to their agents and not seeing the forest thru the trees

Never even thought about the media angle.. man, Canada basketball could have owned August/September. The worst two months in sport.

What a waste of an opportunity.

[guyroch]

Never even thought about the media angle.. man, Canada basketball could have owned August/September. The worst two months in sport.

What a waste of an opportunity.

Also to all those players who didn't want to come … The sports fans in Canada were thirsty for basketball … With Nick Nurse as head coach they would have been story leads for the month of August … To me Wiggins may have said no for that very reason … With all eyes on Canada basketball that means expectations would be high and with expectation comes with pressure I am pretty sure Wiggins doesn't like pressure .

[golden]

Yeah, hard to blame Canada Basketball here. They have the best structure in place since, well, forever. The junior programs are strong. They brought in an NBA champion coach and staff. If guys don't want to play there isn't much you can do.

Ultimately, I blame FIBA more than anyone/anything else for the timing and location of the tournament and their stupid qualifying nonsense but, having noted that, the fact that Canada almost certainly won't even qualify out of the group stage is on the players who couldn't be bothered to play - and I still think some of the young guys really missed the boat here in terms of experience and showcasing themselves.

How do you blame FIBA for players not coming out? Players make the final decision. And players recruit other players these days. And they are highly influenced by their agents and the teams, who are usually anti-FIBA.

And yet, the Celtics still have 4 guys on the the Team USA roster. Players can choose to come out if they determine that it's in the best interest of their careers. The best players have seemingly decided that FIBA is no longer a useful career stepping stone and that the altruism payoff isn't worth the injury risk and lack of time to work on individual skills to showcase in the NBA.