2016 Olympic Canadian Men's Basketball Team
I just read the SI piece on Nik and noted the talent coming out of Canada..... mostly Toronto (and 20 years after the Raptors were founded). For fun…. I have projected the 2016 Canadian roster.
Starters
- C - Kelly Olynyk, 7'-0", Celtics, 13th Pick in 2013
- PF - Anthony Bennett, 6'-8", Cavaliers, 1st Pick in 2013
- SF - Andrew Wiggins, 6'-8", Kansas, Projected Lottery Pick
- SG - Nik Stauskus, 6'-6", Michigan, Projected Lottery Pick
- PG - Tyler Ennis, 6'-2", Syracuse, Projected First Rounder
Reserves
- F - Tristan Thompson, 6'-8", Cavaliers, 4th Pick in 2011
- G - Cory Joseph, 6'-3", Spurs, 29th Pick in 2011
- F - Andrew Nicholson, 6’-9”, Magic, 19th Pick in 2012
- F - Melvin Ejim, 6’-6”, Iowa State, Projected Second Rounder
- F/C – Dwight Powell, 6’-11”, Stanford, Projected Second Rounder
- C - Jordan Bachynski, 7'-2", Arizona State, Potential Late Second Rounder
- G - Kevin Pangos, 6’-1”, Gonzaga SR
This team might not set the world on fire but it would be a strong medal contender.... it will be interesting to see how many of these players actually choose to represent Canada.
...they'd be damn good.
Well done on putting this together, very interesting. That's a solid young team.
international roster. A little light in the frontcourt, but the wings are phenomenal and deep. Backcourt isn't bad either. Spain's roster is aging quickly and I think within the next 2-6 years that Canada might be the US' staunchest competitor.
EDIT
With international basketball being a little more conducive to big, slow bodies, would they consider Sim Bhullar?
What about Robert Sacre? He's a true big and would help them out down low.
EDIT: Sacre has already played for the Canadian national team in the FIBA games, so I'm sure he'll be included. He averaged 5 points and 4 boards for the Lakers this past season, so that's probably good enough for a spot on the team.
look out for in the coming years are: Stefan Jankovic (Mizzou), Olivier Hanlan (BC), Naz Long (Iowa State) and Trey Lyles (Kentucky).
Lyles was Canadian, major recruit. A lot of people think Jankovic is special, should get some burn at Mizzou this year. Long does a lot of things that Nik does, just not as well.
JB was also in on Pangos. Eye for talent, indeed.
Are belong to us.
Stick to hockey. As long as Lebron, Durant, Westbrook, Love, and Chris Paul play for the U.S. no other country has a chance.
Apparently OP and the Cavs both decided not to watch Anthony Bennett play basketball.
Because no rookie ever had a bad rookie year and a succesful year??
That's the kind of logic that had teams pass on Andre Drummond.
My point was the Drummond had a bad year at Uconn and as a result teams downgraded him and disregarded what he was coming into Unonn.
I don't pretend to know any more than you do as to what any of these players will look like in 2016. I just found it extremely intriguing that Canada could go from non-qualifying Olympic team in 2012 (was 7th best team in Americas) to medal contender in 2016..... if the eligible players participate.
In the 2013 FIBA Americas Championship, Canada had 4 NBA players on their 12 man roster..... the three mentioned as a reserve above as well as Joel Anthony, who currently sees limited minutes in the post for the Celtics.
If you are still feeling surly, go ahead and take a shot at my inclusion of 7 players who have yet to step on a court as part of an NBA roster.
here going to win it all lol
Agreed. The OP presents an intriguing lineup but it's basically a college team, and we saw how that worked out in 1988. By 2020 everyone on the roster will have 5-7 years of NBA or good international experience. Could be a nice team.
.... twelve 2012 Olympic teams.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basketball_at_the_2012_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_team_rosters
Total NBA players on non-USA rosters:
- Argentina - 4
- France - 6
- Lithuania - 1
- Nigeria - 1
- Tunisia - 0
- Australia - 1
- Brazil - 4
- China - 1
- England - 2
- Russia - 3
- Spain - 4
There is potential for Canada to field a full NBA roster in 2016. Even so, I am not predicting anything. Like I said..... it was just for fun.
And the 1988 team lost 1 game. Disappointing for the US. Significant progress for Canada.
I was born and raised in Toronto but moved stateside when I was 13 - Still go back to see family 5x a year. Always wondered why Toronto didn't produce much basketball talent and have always wanted Michigan to recruit more in the Toronto area - felt it was a great fit geographically and the name recognition was there. Saw it with Amaker and Jevohn Shepard, but would've loved to see them make it more of a priority.
That said, Toronto Basketball is really taking off righ now - the population is there as one of the largest cities in North America. Huge international population as well as a huge Caribbean population as well (most of the residents in Toronto of African Canadian descent are actually from the Islands.)
Obviously the Raptors had something to do with it, but it's great to see it happen to my hometown. Toronto is starting to make a name for itself as one of the best basketball factories in North America. Certainly better than Detroit right now, which I used to consider one of the best per capita talent producers in North America.
in T.O. might be good but if you were to put an alll star team from there against an all star team from Detroit it wouldn't even be close... the Detroit team would just run them into the ground... there is some serious up and coming talent comng out of Detroit...
Coach or player/coach - I'd love to see that.
Interesting read by the OP but if Canada ever gets as good at hoops as the USA is in hockey I will not be happy. Only thing I want CA best in is maple syrup.
What, you don't want Canada to get dominated by the US in Olympic basketball?
BURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNNNNN
probably a little young to make much noise in 2016---but come 2020, Canada could make a statement.
Shhhhhhhhhh this is supposed to be a surprise. We have been planning our "Miracle on the hard court" in complete silence for years now.
wouldn't get a sniff at a medal
Not true, they would absolutely get a sniff at a medal. They are putting out some serious talent recently, and very few non-US countries will have a roster that rivals their's. What other country will get the medals? The Gasols are getting old (especially Pau), so although they'll be good, they won't be as good. After them, there is a big drop off. Russia won the bronze with only a few NBA players and no stars (biggest names are Timofey Mozgov, Andrei Kirilenko and Alexey Shved, and AK will be 35 by the next Olympics). Argentina has some talent too, but all of the bona fide NBA players (Ginobili, Scola, Delfino, Nocioni) will be in their mid-to-late 30s by the next Olympics, and I bet at least a few of those guys won't play. Manu will be 39, and both Scola and Nocioni will be 36.
Who else is there? Canada will have as much talent as Lithuania or France. That puts them in a good spot for a medal.
I'm also from the TO area and so was thinking about this a little while back. I think we may come to see this as a temporary blip in Canada (unless the Raps really turn things around for the long-term). Most of these guys (I'm approximating) are, 20 on average. I think we can all agree that the Raptors' golden years were something like 2000-2002. That would make these guys all 6-8 when during this time, and probably deciding what sport to play the most. Therefore, I think we're seeing the fruits of that time period, and think this could be only temporary, as the Raptors basically descended into mediocrity for basically the entire time period thereafter (this season notwithstanding).
In 2 years that team will be pretty damn good. Tristan Thompson would probably start instead of bennet, but a surprisingly good team.
Not a bad looking team. Not what I'd call a defensive juggernaut save Wiggins, but man could that team score.
Laurent Rivard will be on the Canadian Nation Team.