First off, can Canada even get 12 NBA commitments?
And if they do, is it this team and do they medal?
What changes would you make?
Sharpe in, Boucher out? Joseph in, Nembhard out? Is Zach Edey, at 7’4, a necessity just for the option? Oshae Brissett? Trey Lyles?
Discuss!
by KingOfWeTheNorth
26 Comments
I would probably keep Nickeil Alexander-Walker over Nembhard. I don’t think it’s a marginal upgrade and it’s better to keep him for continuity reasons. I expect him to have a big season this year in the NBA.
I wish we had more big depth. It’s not as easy to get away with the 4 small 1 big lineups in international play.
Canadian basketball has come a long way.
I don’t think so, Olympic rosters will likely be more filled out and we still have no bigs at all. Gotta nationalize Myles Turner or something
As much as I hate Jakob, we could use his defense and he’s practically Canadian as a raptor lol
1st – gotta keep this same core seven so that means keeping NAW fo sure, no question imo
2nd – gotta consider the players that have given something to national team in the past, Jamal (for sure), Wiggins, Sharpe, Brissett, maybe Dalano, maybe Nembhard over Cory because of age
3rd – look at the rest including assessing non NBA guys that have given time, have a skill set, and have promise (Edey?) vs the NBA guys that have not given much time or commitment. Eg would love to see Boucher but what has he given to the team? Lyles seems more American than Canadian? Has Clarke committed anything?
Main thing is we need guys healthy for Paris
Murray plus SGA would be top 2 backcourt in the Olympics I think
We have Dillion brooks, how is this even a question
We need size 🫠
Could be wrong, but I thought you could bring 14 to the Olympics
I’m so proud of those guys
They would, but NAW should be on this team. His contributions are worthy.
I think the most logical process is to look at the roster and the bottom 4-5 guys, and that’s where you’d look to upgrade potentially.
So I wouldn’t swap NAW out, but you would just add more talent on top.
The guys likely in the bubble:
– Trae Bell Haynes (Guard)
– Ejim (Wing)
– Alexander (Big)
– Scrubb (Guard)
– Edey (Big)
I’d personally replace them ideally with:
– Nembhard
– Wiggins
– Clarke
– Murray
– Edey i’d actually keep as a situational piece, and he’ll be one year more seasoned come next summer after another NCAA year
Sadly no, its a great team but there are just better teams, USA, Serbia, France etc. would be amazing if they did ill be cheering hard for them.
Shaedon Sharpe anyone?
Crazy to think some Canadian NBA player(s) might get cut
Hope theres a big man that comes out of college in the next 2 years. This team is a JV away from dominating
Wiggins won’t play, so don’t bother including him. But yeah, this team has the potential to medal in Paris.
Will mal and wigs play?
Will they let guys that didnt make 3 year commitment play
SGA
Murray
Brooks
Wiggins
Powell
Nembhard or Mathurin (leaning Nembhard)
NAW
Dort
RJ
Olynyk
Clarke
Last spot could use another big so you’re looking at Boucher/Lyles/Brissett/Ejim
Everyone in the rotation earned their spot on that Olympic team.
The carter effect
The Answer is and always has been: Anthony Bennett
This a gold medal squad
No one is gonna beat The Avengers in Paris so we have to look at the other competition.
I think it’s doable but there’s a lot of solid competition, Australia, France with Embiid and Wemby, Serbia with Jokic are all GREAT teams. Spain usually does well, Slovenia did really well last tournament as well.
I think we have a decent shot with our full NBA squad but it’s nowhere near a given
Boucher?
Oui.