Why Is Canada's Men's Basketball Team So Bad?

[Doc]

Canada's got some absolute young studs coming up the ranks: Cory Joseph, Tristan Thompson, Kris Joseph and a few others I can't remember right now. Many of them are projected NBA 1st or 2nd rounders in the next few years. I hope Leo is gone by then.

I'm with you there.

No doubt the future is bright with young studs like Joseph, Thompson and Myck Kabongo, but I think as long as Leo's at the helm it will deter some of these players from joining the men's program. I think now that the FIBA tournament is over for Canada, its time for another change. I'd love to see a guy like Carleton's Dave Smart take over the reigns as head coach. He has experience as an assistant with the program, its time to award him for the amazing job he's done in Ottawa in the CIS over this last decade.

[CrissKali]

I think Canada needs to find ways to develop a better basketball program. I've lived in Ottawa and Toronto and I know Canada as talent but they aren't scouted like our American neighbors. The NBA is more about entertainment than the actual game. International basketball like Olympics & FIBA is about the game and the game is all about winning. You need your best players to achieve this regardless of if the coach likes them personally or not. Politics dont belong in international basketball.

I have made a list of current and pass players that have played for team Canada which is arguably more talented than any other team in the world except USA.

Starting lineup: (PG) Steve Nash, (SG) Andy Rautins, (SF) Kelly Onylyk (PF) Joel Anthony, (C) Samuel Dalembert
Bench: Jamal Magloire, Jermaine Anderson, Deham Brown, Carl English, Jaun Mendez, Jehvohn Shepherd, Levon Kendall

[Gusser]

but to be honest with you ive never seen an ACTUAL legitimate basketball training center. so tell me, with so little exposure to basketball in this country how are they not going to lose to teams that are more talented? i remember teams like spain and greece are mostly always in it because theyve taken basketball seriously for a long time.

Hamilton has a Regional Elite development squad...that replaced a National Development program. However, I get your point.
It's a top down issue. The athletes are there, the interest is there. The structure and the administration may be lacking to take advantage of the players that we have.

[golden]

Canada's got some absolute young studs coming up the ranks: Cory Joseph, Tristan Thompson, Kris Joseph and a few others I can't remember right now. Many of them are projected NBA 1st or 2nd rounders in the next few years. I hope Leo is gone by then.

[SirChillyMost]

enough said.

Exactly.lol

I didn't like how he handled the whole Dalembert situation. But Canada has some very prominent HS talent in the US plus Bonner should be available in the future. Triano should be the Team Canada head coach not the Raptor's head coach in my opinion.

[.40 Cal Flakes]

Ugh, what a disappointing performance @ the World's to say the least.

IMO Canada had enough to talent that they should have made it out of the group stage, or at least put up a fight. Not sure what the hell happened.

[LBF]

enough said.

god, he's brutal. triano fired=any chances of nash comtinuing play in international league.

but, hpnestly, doc. the same can be asked by any sport outside of hockey. alot of canadians don't support basketball or lacrosee, both canadian sports, out in the west cfl is probably tied if not above hockey as a number 1, but, in canda's biggest, most populated province ontario, not a lot of people support it.

what do i suggest, spread the word about how these sports are canadian, if that doesn't work at least you can cross it off the list knowing people are aware these sports are canadian.

secondly, get the more popular sports to advertise it, hockey needs to advertise basketball, lacrosse, etc. maybe, share some revenue. if people start actually caring about these sports maybe it will draw in the big names.

idk, but what i do know is having only 1 out of like 6 nba players playing on your team certainly doesn't help. we have serious problems as a country to allow good things in,. like matt bonner wanting to play for team canda but the country goes no we're not going ot let you help us out and play for our country.

meanwhile we go and let a couple guys who turn out to be terrorists in.off topic a bit but still.

triano had a good thing going he gets fired, just like all the others, it's like when they do something good and then thye don't improve it from the year before they get fired, and then guys who are cosnistently bad get awarded with contract extensions and such.

also, what i think is a recipe for disaster a father coach with his son on the team. i mean, enough said as bad as a coach le already is, having his son on the team, aboslute brutalness.

it's a shame becauseshows like sportsline that just became a new show on chch, and grill room on sun tv talk about this all the time, but, nobody watches those shows.

to make it short and simple and end this rant.

Question:If Sidney Crosby sits out the Olympics, are you pissed?

Fact:Steve Nash hasn't played a game for Canada in the last 6 years.

a read a thing, that said sidney crosby might not play in the upcomign olmpics in russia.

reaction:that fin asshole, piece of no good rotting shiznit son of a biatch.

steve nash hasn't played for canda in the last olympics nor the previous 2 world championships.

reaction:well, ya cause the team's shit.

[Introcollapse]

The correct answer, by the way, is Rautins.

He's why we failed. Rautins has his team run one of three plays 80% of the time: 5 down, 5 out, or corner ice. The two 5's are more conceptual than actual plays. Smh. It's like the Lakers running the triangle one possession, flex the next, and then capping it off with some obscure Spurs play.

[Introcollapse]

I think in a few years Team Canada will be very good.

Hell yes. I coach OBA, and the national team will be taking some very good players from us very soon.

[RAPT0RS]

I think that's an indicator of the talent level more than anything. Like what Lark Benson said, there's not too many playmakers on this edition of Team Canada outside of Anderson, and even then he's good but not great.

Team Canada isn't that bad of a team talent wise. Yes, they may not be the best but they do have some good players on there. If anything it's the coaching staff. I don't think that this team was prepared enough coming into the tournament.

[santimo]

I think the main reason is they are not as organized. You look at other teams like the US, Brazil or Spain, they are very organized. Also, team Canada doesn't really seem to have a lot of basketball I.Q. as a whole. Maybe it's the chemistry but watching the Lebanon game and the Luthianian(?) game, they were all over the place turning the ball etc.

I think that's an indicator of the talent level more than anything. Like what Lark Benson said, there's not too many playmakers on this edition of Team Canada outside of Anderson, and even then he's good but not great.

[Tim W.]

I think that people often unfairly criticize a coach for the team's play, but in this case, I'm not sold on Rautins. Things I have heard from those who are inside Team Canada have made me think he's not the right guy for the job. Also, I think Team Canada is far too political and far too cliquey. I think they exclude certain players or certain types of players because they they haven't been brought up in the system or don't play a certain way.

I think there are certainly a fantastic group of players coming up, but until they fix what is wrong with Team Canada, they'll always underperform.

[RAPT0RS]

I think the main reason is they are not as organized. You look at other teams like the US, Brazil or Spain, they are very organized. Also, team Canada doesn't really seem to have a lot of basketball I.Q. as a whole. Maybe it's the chemistry but watching the Lebanon game and the Luthianian(?) game, they were all over the place turning the ball etc.

[Lark Benson]

I managed to catch the last 3 games and I'd say the team's list of needs goes like this:

1. Playmaking. The team desperately needs a backup point guard and some players aside from Rautins and Anderson that can create opportunities for others and are comfortable handling the ball and spotting mismatches in pressure situations.

2. Individual shot creation. The team doesn't have any kind of go-to scorer and lacks players that can reliably generate high percentage looks in one-on-one situations.

3. Offensive confidence. The team is a collection of players that can hit the open shot and play opportunistically, but most of them aren't comfortable forcing the action, putting pressure on the defense to react, and taking advantage of defensive breakdowns.

4. Rebounding. Aside from Joel Anthony, the Canadian squad struggles to control the boards.

5. 3-point shooting. The team has a lot of players that are decent from deep but not great and not particularly reliable, save for the injured Rautins.

6. A bench. Pretty self-explanatory, there's just too large a gap between the top 6-7 and the rest of the squad.

The team is scrappy and plays with heart (if not composure down the stretch), it just lacks talent. Luckily, as has been mentioned above, Canada has a lot of quality young players coming up through the ranks. The point guard spot is looking particularly bright and would address what looks like the biggest weakness on the squad, the drop-off that occurs every time Anderson takes a seat. But yeah, it's going to take at least another 4-6 years for the young kids to be ready to put Canada on the basketball map.

[Hotshot]

Canada should have beaten Lebanon and New Zealand.