Canada Basketball

[stretch]

I wonder who is going to be on the camp invitee list. Thompson is likely out. Ennis as well.

I can't find any press on Karl Towns playing or not for the Dominican. Horford is out. Moe Harkless is playing for Puerto Rico.

Still no decision by FIBA on Brazil, the debt owed FIBA, and the automatic bid status for Rio. Brazil would want to know if it needs to bring the A team to Mexico. Maybe we should take up a collection here on RR to give Brazil some cash to pay off FIBA.

[Primer]

CoJo is confirmed for FIBA Americas, that's pretty huge. Makes the Murray situation less dire.

[Joey]

CoJo is confirmed for FIBA Americas, that's pretty huge. Makes the Murray situation less dire.

Great news! I'd still love to see Murray there as a 6th man. Even if he's only 18 or whatever, he's still one of the best scorers we have. Haha

Jamal Murray, who is 8+ years younger than the average Pan Am player, has been simply sensational for Canada #BBN pic.twitter.com/jKAkZ3p9oA

— Synergy Sports Tech (@SynergySST) July 25, 2015

[stretch]

FIBA granted Brazil an automatic bid for the Rio Olympics.

[DanH]

Nice.

[Puffer]

FIBA granted Brazil an automatic bid for the Rio Olympics.

Great news.

[guyroch]

I wonder who is going to be on the camp invitee list. Thompson is likely out. Ennis as well.

I can't find any press on Karl Towns playing or not for the Dominican. Horford is out. Moe Harkless is playing for Puerto Rico.

Still no decision by FIBA on Brazil, the debt owed FIBA, and the automatic bid status for Rio. Brazil would want to know if it needs to bring the A team to Mexico. Maybe we should take up a collection here on RR to give Brazil some cash to pay off FIBA.

I think this Roster has to be made up of players who know their roles ... I like how Jay shortened the bench when it was required in the Pan am games ... He can't be worried that minutes have to be distributed evenly and if a guy is hot you go with it and don't worry about feelings ... This isn't a season this is a tournament ... There are NBA players on this national team but no superstars and so the talent from starter to backup isn't extreme and so no Divas are required or sulking cause of playing time ..

[Joey]

If Pan Am games taught us anything, its that international competition is good for the goose and the gander .. NBA teams get their little seen players out into the spotlight, which helps up their trade value .. assuming they play well. Look at Andrew Nicholson and Anthony Bennett. Both of their stocks are higher than when the tournament started. So for guys like Ennis .. teams could see value in letting them play.

[stretch]

Gustavo Ayon and Jorge Gutierrez are in camp for Mexico. They are training in Mexico City where the FIBAs tournament will be played. Mexico has home court advantage and there is also the altitude advantage, 2250 meters above sea level, more than 600 meters greater than playing in Denver.

[golden]

If Pan Am games taught us anything, its that international competition is good for the goose and the gander .. NBA teams get their little seen players out into the spotlight, which helps up their trade value .. assuming they play well. Look at Andrew Nicholson and Anthony Bennett. Both of their stocks are higher than when the tournament started. So for guys like Ennis .. teams could see value in letting them play.

I dunno know. There have always been guys who do well in FIBA (Sarunas, Carlos Arroyo, Kleiza, etc...) but end up being fringe NBA players. And vice-versa, standout NBA guys (e.g. Tim Duncan, Iverson, etc...) can suck at FIBA. I would guess that NBA GMs take FIBA performances with a grain of salt.

More important is the money aspect. The NBA will only be okay with international competition if they were getting some share of the revenues generated by the events. That's basically Mark Cuban's argument - the financial investment in the players is massive, and the economic rewards offered are only intangible, with the risk of injury being a potential disaster for NBA franchise owners. Indy basically went into full-blown rebuild mode because of PG's injury and Utah just lost a critical year of development from Exum. Not sure how the insurance works, but I doubt the amounts they get can compensate for the damage to the franchise.

[Primer]

I dunno know. There have always been guys who do well in FIBA (Sarunas, Carlos Arroyo, Kleiza, etc...) but end up being fringe NBA players. And vice-versa, standpoint NBA guys (e.g. Tim Duncan, Iverson, etc...) can suck at FIBA. I would guess that NBA GMs take FIBA performances with a grain of salt.

More important is the money aspect. The NBA will only be okay with international competition if they were getting some share of the revenues generated by the events. That's basically Mark Cuban's argument - the financial investment in the players is massive, and the economic rewards offered are only intangible, with the risk of injury being a potential disaster for NBA franchise owners. Indy basically went into full-blown rebuild mode because of PG's injury and Utah just lost a critical year of development from Exum. Not sure how the insurance works, but I doubt the amounts they get can compensate for the damage to the franchise.

But do NBA teams get a cut of the Drew League (and other similar summer leagues), or all the pickup games players play over the summer? International Ball shouldn't be held on any different level than that kind of stuff as injury is just as likely to happen during an International game as it is to happen at the local YMCA in a pickup game.

[golden]

But do NBA teams get a cut of the Drew League (and other similar summer leagues), or all the pickup games players play over the summer? International Ball shouldn't be held on any different level than that kind of stuff as injury is just as likely to happen during an International game as it is to happen at the local YMCA in a pickup game.

The injury issue and money cut are related, but different.

Injury-wise, NBA franchises do care alot about what players do in their spare time. In player's contracts franchises have full rights to veto certain spare-time activities (like who was it that got injured riding a mo-ped, awhile back, lol?). If you recall, this actually happened with the Raptor's Young Guns (DD, Weems, Ed Davis) when they were playing pickup against local scrubs and Davis got injured. Those pickup games ended pretty quick right after that.

I suspect that each situation is case-by-case with the player having to approach the franchise for approval. Injury wise, the franchise would assess the risk-reward of having the player use the Drew League to stay in shape. They would look at the level of competition and how professionally run the whole setup is and decide if the benefits outweigh the risk.

Economically, the Drew League is just too small potatoes for the NBA to even care about. Cuban is really targeting the IOC, which is basically a multi-billion dollar conglomerate that accesses it's product (professional athletes) at no cost. The IOC competes with the NBA for big ticket sponsorship dollars and without NBA players, I doubt the Olympics would attract the same number of eyeballs and advertising revenue that it does now. That's what the NBA wants (and deserves, IMO) a piece of.

[SkywalkerAC]

Gustavo Ayon and Jorge Gutierrez are in camp for Mexico. They are training in Mexico City where the FIBAs tournament will be played. Mexico has home court advantage and there is also the altitude advantage, 2250 meters above sea level, more than 600 meters greater than playing in Denver.

Whoa, I had no idea Mexico City was that high.

[stretch]

Whoa, I had no idea Mexico City was that high.

You've never heard of Mexican high?

[guyroch]

You've never heard of Mexican high?

This Mexico program won the last FIBA America's and are often overlooked when discussing this summer's strong powers ...