Predicting the 2020 CANADA Basketball Olympic gold roster

[Stylizer1]

Canada is going to have a great line up this time around and really could have a chance to metal
.

Andrew Wiggins
Chris Boucher
Jamal Murray
Cory Joseph
Kelly Olynyk
RJ Barrett
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Khem Birch
Dillon Brooks
Trey Lyles
Dwight Powell
Oshae Brissett
Tristan Thompson
Brandon Clarke
Mfiondu Kabengele

My starting 5 would be:

Murray - PG
Gilgeous-Alexander - SG
Wiggins - SF
Powell - PF
Thompson - C

Joseph
Brooks
Barrett
Clark
Olynyk

spares:

Boucher
Lyles

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[MMC]

NAK and Kabengele will push to make the team

 

[tony d]

A lot of good talent for sure with Canada. Not sure the team medals but if they make the tournament they could be a competitive team.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Germany, Russia, argentine, australia, Lithuania, Spain, France, Usa, Italy are all better than canada. Chances for medal is very little.

 

[Stylizer1]

I have to admit that I had no idea that some of those players were even born in Canada. I remember when there were only 3 active Canadian NBA players at one time. It was Nash (born in S. Africa to non-Canadian parents), Jamaal Magloire, and Rick Fox. Fox is barely Canadian anyway. He spent most of his childhood in the Bahamas and played his entire high school career in the US.

So what happened? The sudden burst? The black population grew so much in the 90s and 2000s?

There was a lot of immigration from the 70's to the 90's so I would say a lot of 1st and 2nd generation kids grew up at the height of the NBA and the Grizzlies and Raptors. Vince Carter is credited as one of the main reasons Toronto/Canadian kids fell in love with basketball.

As for Nash he moved to Canada when he was 1 1/2. He went to University in the States but always represented Canada at the worlds and Olympics. As proud as they come. His God son is Rowan Barrett who's dad was Nash's best friend and teammate for Canada's Nation team..

At the 1999 Tournament of the Americas, Nash led Canada to the silver medal, qualifying the team for the Olympics for the first time in 12 years; he was named tournament MVP.[4] Nash captained Canada at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.[82] He led Canada to win their round robin group with a victory over Spain and a stunning 83–75 win over favoured Yugoslavia when he scored 26 points with eight rebounds and eight assists. Canada was eliminated in the quarterfinals with a five-point loss to France and Nash left the court in tears. Nash expressed disappointment with the result, saying "It hurts a lot. I feel like I let everybody down. We could have been in the championship game. We were good enough."[83] Nevertheless, he did see a possible silver lining, saying "Hopefully kids [in Canada] will be inspired to play ... that's what I really hope."[83] A victory in its final game of the tournament, a placement game against Russia, enabled Canada to salvage seventh place. Nash's Olympic performance propelled him to stardom in Canada, and he finished fifth in voting for the 2000 Lionel Conacher Award, which is handed out to the Canadian male athlete of the year.[84]

 

[kanuck87]

Canada's 21-man training camp announced for the Olympic Qualifying tournament:

Andrew Wiggins, R. J. Barrett headline 21-man Canada Basketball training camp - TSN.ca

Should have an roster full of NBA players.

PG: Barrett, Joseph
SG: Brooks, Dort, Alexander-Walker
SF: Wiggins, Brissett
PF: Olynyk, Clarke, Powell
C: Thompson, Birch

Would also like to find a way to get Melvin Ejim on the roster as he brings a lot of international experience and as a reward for helping Canada so often the last few years. He's played in just about every international tournament the Canada has been a part of.

Too bad we won't have either SGA or Murray, but this is still a pretty strong roster.

 

[razor ray]

Canada's 21-man training camp announced for the Olympic Qualifying tournament:

Andrew Wiggins, R. J. Barrett headline 21-man Canada Basketball training camp - TSN.ca

Should have an roster full of NBA players.

PG: Barrett, Joseph
SG: Brooks, Dort, Alexander-Walker
SF: Wiggins, Brissett
PF: Olynyk, Clarke, Powell
C: Thompson, Birch

Would also like to find a way to get Melvin Ejim on the roster as he brings a lot of international experience and as a reward for helping Canada so often the last few years. He's played in just about every international tournament the Canada has been a part of.

Too bad we won't have either SGA or Murray, but this is still a pretty strong roster.

By far the best roster Canada has ever put on the floor.

 

[Eye of Ra]

By far the best roster Canada has ever put on the floor.

yeah but still need to get through. greece and china is not eazy then its czech and turkey standing in the way, 2 good teams aswell.

 

[CpatainCanuck]

The 14 players who are in Victoria from which the 12-man team will be selected:



A pretty good team that should be the clear favourite to win the qualifying tournament.

I think Canada Basketball could really peak in the next Olympic Cycle if Murray and SGA are able to play and some of the current young guys pan out. A full-strength squad in 2024 could challenge for gold imo (depending on the strength of the American squad).

 

[Angry Little Elf]

Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Germany, Russia, argentine, australia, Lithuania, Spain, France, Usa, Italy are all better than canada. Chances for medal is very little.

Croatia is eliminated because only Bogan Bogdanovic showed up

Russia is eliminated due to a restructuring of their program since the doping scandal. They’re not as good as they once were

Greece is not as good as they were and will likely not qualify.

 

[Avs_19]

Maple Jordan!

What a comeback.

edit: And then they lose in OT. Damn.

 

[Rob]

Another choke

 

[DoyleG]

Never rely on NBA stars alone to get you over the top.

 

[kanuck87]

Drawing up a play for Trey Lyles at the end of the game when he's 1 for 6 up to that point.

No offense to Cory Joseph, but this guy is toast offensively, and Nurse just stayed with him for far too long when this team needed more offense. Also no excuse to sit Dort out for virtually all of the 4th quarter up until like 3 minutes left. No surprise, that's when they made their run.

Their best lineup all tournament long was when they had Walker/Wiggins/Barrett/Dort plus a big, and yet, they pretty much only rolled out this lineup when they were desperate at the end of the game. Just some questionable decision-making all game long.

 

[kanuck87]

Never rely on NBA stars alone to get you over the top.

No choice. A Canadian team made up virtually of players playing international would get destroyed, like they did in the World Cup.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

How the hell does Canada continue to not even qualify!? They’re up there with the best talent in the world yet time and time again they can’t even qualify.

 

[DoyleG]

How the hell does Canada continue to not even qualify!? They’re up there with the best talent in the world yet time and time again they can’t even qualify.

Talent means little when they don't want to show up.

 

[GermanSpitfire]

Talent means little when they don't want to show up.

Canada needs to make a development program for Basketball that plays together, building chemistry years before tournament’s/qualifiers then.

 

[Eye of Ra]

Croatia is eliminated because only Bogan Bogdanovic showed up

Russia is eliminated due to a restructuring of their program since the doping scandal. They’re not as good as they once were

Greece is not as good as they were and will likely not qualify.

russia have many good euroleague level players. especially shed who eazily could be a star in nba.

same goes for greece, who also have giannis, one of the best players in the world.

 

[kanuck87]

The one silver lining is that Canada didn't get embarrassed. They could have lost in regulation and that would have been a crushing blow for future major tournaments. Current and future players can see they were close here and won't be discouraged from playing for Canada in the future, and I'm specifically talking about SGA and Murray, who could have some major pull on everyone else's future decisions if they commit to the next World Cup, for example.

 

[Angry Little Elf]

Canada needs to make a development program for Basketball that plays together, building chemistry years before tournament’s/qualifiers then.

Yeah. I think high school basketball needs to change a bit in Canada too. Too many Canadians go to the United States to get scouted

 

[Stylizer1]

Canada was missing 3 of its best players. Brooks, Murray, and Gilgeous-Alexander

 

[smokes lets go]

Canada was missing 3 of its best players. Brooks, Murray, and Gilgeous-Alexander

Still, you can't be losing to the czech republic in basketball. That was an epic fail.

 

[John Price]

Canada out of FIBA Olympic Qualifying after OT upset by Czech Republic

 

[Stylizer1]

Still, you can't be losing to the czech republic in basketball. That was an epic fail.

Canada has a young team. By the next Olympics they will contend for a medal. If Canada could just get all of their NBA talent to play at the same time we would be one of the top teams.