Week That Was In The NBA

FIBA Americas Tournament

Luis Scola Eliminates Canada At FIBA Americas

Pro Bball reported, Canada wanted this game badly and they played like it, but they had no answer for the three-time FIBA Americas MVP Luis Scola as the 33-year old FIBA and NBA veteran poured in 28 points to eliminate Canada from the medal rounds at the FIBA Americas in Caracas, Venezuela on Sunday.

2013 FIBA Americas: Gustavo Ayon leads Mexico into finals

Kris Willis, SB Nation reports,  Gustavo Ayon and Mexico continued their strong play at the 2013 FIBA Americas defeating Argentina 76-70 to advance to the tournament finals.

Every Team Canada Game From Toronto To Caracas
Pro Bball Report

The Canadian Senior Men’s National basketball Team had a busy summer starting with a pair of exhibition games in Toronto against Jamaica followed by a four game warm-up tournament in Puerto Rico and ending at the FIBA Americas in Caracas, Vanazuela.

Despite fielding a very young roster, Canada had a chance to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Spain and they almost pulled it off. This is a quick rundown of every game Canada played from the two wins against Jamaica in Toronto to the three loses in a row in the second round of the FIBA Americas that ended their hopes for an automatic spot at the World Cup with links to each game story.

Dino Nation Blog: Canada's Present Falls Short: But The Future Remains Bright

Canada is an emerging basketball power and you only need look at the NCAA and the NBA as evidence of that. Soon that will translate to FIBA international competitions as it has already on lower levels.  You saw the growth of guys like Cory Joseph, Andrew Nicholson and Tristan Thompson. There were some surprises with a guy like Brady Heslip showing is deadly skill as a shooter. We all wanted more for this group and to see them progress to next summer and the World Cup. It wasn’t meant to be on this occasion.

NBA News

Mavericks Plan To Offer Camp Invite To Fab Melo

RealGM Wiretap reports, The Dallas Mavericks are planning to bring Fab Melo into training camp.  Melo was recently released by the Memphis Grizzlies and went unclaimed on waivers.

Bulls' contract negotiations with Deng stall

CSN Chicago’s Aggrey Sam reports, Negotiations between the Bulls and Luol Deng’s camp surrounding a long-term contract extension have stalled, CSNChicago.com has learned.  The Bulls opted to put those plans on hold for the time being and risk the team’s longest-tenured player becoming an unrestricted free agent next summer, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation.

NBA to install motion cameras for every arena

NBA News reports, The NBA has partnered with STATS on the SportVU cameras.  The technology can monitor every move a player makes on the court, gauge how tired he is and can even keep an eye on the job referees are doing.

Kevin Durant Expects Russell Westbrook to Play on Opening Night

Slam Online reports,  Kevin Durant confirmed that he’s counting on star running mate Russell Westbrook to be ready and healthy when the season begins.

Thunder waive guard Liggins

NBA news reports, The Oklahoma City Thunder waived guard DeAndre Liggins on Friday after he was charged with seven felony counts in a domestic-violence case.

Knicks' Smith suspended five games for drug violation

NBA news reports, New York Knicks guard J.R. Smith was suspended without pay for five regular-season games by the NBA on Friday for violating the anti-drug program.  Smith, coming off offseason surgery on his left knee, will sit out the first five games for which he is eligible and physically able to play.

Pelicans Darius Miller has surgery on left foot

Jennifer Hale Fox sports reports, New Orleans Pelicans forward Darius Miller is not beginning his second year as a pro the way he intended.  Miller suffered a stress fracture in his left foot and is now expected to miss eight to 12 weeks.

Nets to retire Jason Kidd's jersey

NBA news reports, The Brooklyn Nets will retire the No. 5 jersey of Jason Kidd, who led the franchise to its greatest NBA success as a player and is now its coach.  The Nets said Monday the ceremony will take place Oct. 17 before their preseason game against the Miami Heat.


No minutes restriction for Nene for now, says Wizards Head coach Randy Wittman

Mike Prada SB Nation reports,

"He got in town Aug. 30," Wittman said.  "He's been on the floor. He feels good. He's had a whole summer where he didn't have to worry about the pounding and the stuff he did last summer having the injuries he did and having to play on the (Brazil) national team and never gave his body a chance to recover. He's feeling good. He looks good. I'm pretty pleased with that. I anticipate him being ready to go. When did we play our last game? Five months ago? He's done a lot of good work this summer, not only from a rest standpoint but from physical therapy. He's built his strength back up. I anticipate we'll head into the season with no restrictions."

Lakers Sign Xavier Henry

Lakers announced, The Los Angeles Lakers have signed free agent guard Xavier Henry, it was announced today by General Manager Mitch Kupchak

Billionaire fined for trying to undo Kings arena

NBA News reported, Billionaire Chris Hansen must pay $50,000 for his role in a secretive effort to funnel money to a group trying to thwart Sacramento's efforts to build a new downtown arena, the California Fair Political Practices Commission said Monday.

2013 Eurobasket in Slovenia

Italy is the only unbeaten team at Euro champs

NBA News says, Advancing through the first round as the only undefeated team, Italy has provided the unexpected at the European basketball championships.  Italy beat both Russia and Turkey to finish atop the group, ahead of Finland and Greece.

Gortat, Kravtsov Dominate the Paint in Respective Wins

Matt Petersen, Suns.com reports,  Marcin Gortat and the Poland national team made sure to leave EuroBasket 2013 on a high note. The only negative was handing Phoenix Suns teammate Goran Dragic and host country Slovenia a 71-61 loss in the process.  Gortat punched in with a double-double of 19 points and 12 rebounds for Poland.  Viacheslov Kravtsov rejected three shots while adding eight points, four rebounds and two assists.

Lithuania Wins on Valanciunas Double-Double

Pro Bball reports, Lithuania defeated Latvia 67-59 on Friday on the back of a Jonas Valanciunas 11 point 10 rebound double-double and some stingy defense in the painted area. Head Coach Jonas Kazlauskas started his young star center for the first time at the 2013 Eurobasket and Valanciunas got Latvia in foul trouble early and often in the first half.

Lavrinovic, Valanciunas Lead Lithuania To Win

Pro Bball reports, Lithuania defeated Montenegro 77-70 in an overtime thriller on Sunday. Seldom used veteran forward Ksistof Lavrinovic scored 24 points on 9-11 shooting and it was Lithuania’s young star Jonas Valanciunas that looked like the forgotten man in Head Coach Jonas Kazlauskas’ rotation initially.

The second half started out the way Lithuania usually enjoys success. Three trips through the paint for Valanciunas resulting in 2 free throws and 2 dunks.  Valanciunas ended up with his second consecutive double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Nets Mirza Teletovic scored 31 For Bosnia and Herzegovina

Pro Bball reports, Brooklyn Nets power forward Mirza Teletovic scored 31 points against Lithuania in Bosnia and Herzegovina’s 78-72 win on Monday, but it wasn’t enough as they needed to win by 10 points to advance to the second round.

The Lithuanian big men that have been key to the team’s victories this summer were nailed to the bench against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Jonas Valanciunas only played 7 first half minutes. Ksistof Lavrinovic and Darjus Lavrinovic played 5 minutes and 12 minutes respectively and Donatas Motiejunas played just 8 minutes.


Stephen Brotherston covers the Toronto Raptors and visiting NBA teams at the ACC.  A member of the Professional Basketball Writers Association, Stephen is the editor and publisher of  Pro Bball Report.  You can follow Stephen on twitter @stevesraptors 

Raptors Have Far More Questions Than Answers As Camp Approaches

It has been hard for me to realize that the NBA Season is just around the corner. Training camp is set to open at the beginning of next month. In my reason conversation with Jack Armstrong he mentioned that he has no idea what to expect from the Raptors this season. He is not alone in that thought. I really can’t figure out where the Raptors will end up. I more importantly can’t figure out where it is best for them to end up for the future of this franchise.

If you look at the Raptors in the context of the Eastern Conference they seem to fall in somewhere between 6-10 in the conference, which is the worst possible place to be for the growth of a franchise. This is a team that does have talent but not enough talent to be considered a real contender. This is not to say they need to be at this point.

What is the problem and what you need to determine is what is the growth and upside of these players as individuals and as a collective group.  If you can’t see a large upside to the players or the collective group you have some real problems.

That is where I have some issues with where the Raptors sit currently. Let’s examine that a little bit on who truly has upside on this roster. Jonas Valanciunas is the one player that we all can agree has the most upside at this point. It is believable that he could develop into an NBA All-Star talent at this point looking forward. After that things get pretty cloudy. Terrence Ross the other notable rookie on the Raptors has almost regressed and not improved. He looks much more like he will be one of these guys that wins a slam dunk title and never really develops as a player. He would end up on a list with guys like Gerald Green, Fred Jones and others.

Amir Johnson is a guy that has almost maxed out in what he is capable of at this point. While his age would suggest he still might have some room left to improve his number of years in the league says not so much. DeMar DeRozan has had a bit of a roller coaster ride in terms of development. He is still for the most part heading in the right direction but is a long way from the comparisons to Tracy McGrady or Vince Carter that people talked about when he was drafted. Heading into year four can we realistically ever expect him to reach that level of All-Star level talent? I want to say yes to that but if we are being blunt and honest about it that is less likely to happen than you would hope.

Raptors acquired both Rudy Gay and Kyle Lowry in the last year. Both have been touted as plays on the verge of being All-Star talents but they have never really got to that level. After a few years of being considered on verge of something you need to get there. Gay is likely much closer than Lowry to reaching that level. He did have off-season eye surgery to improve his vision.  This should make an improvement in his shooting you would have to figure. What it doesn’t fix is what ultimately could be his problem which is durability. When you hear back problems at such a young age that is a huge red flag for both durability and longevity. The Raptors will soon have to make a call on Rudy Gay’s future with this team. He will have to make that same call on if he wants to remain a Raptor. I don’t think either side is or should be certain at this point.

In terms of Lowry the writing seems already on the wall to a point. He was not offered an extension to his contract and will enter this season motivated to earn a contract as a free agent.  This in the short term is great but in long term is problematic. Let’s say Lowry lives up to the hype that came with him when Bryan Colangelo traded for him. He comes out and as a season worthy of All-Star consideration. That is great for this year but causes a problem on if you can keep this guy here in Toronto. If he has a season that does not meet those standards and we still have questions about what he will be that is a problem as well. What are you going to have to pay to keep a point guard that you are not 100% convinced can be your foundation at the position for years to come? This will likely lead to Lowry getting paid too much at the end of the day.

We could go on and talk about everyone on this roster but in reality the Raptors as individual pieces and as collective group have more questions than answers.

This all in a year where there is a without question game changing talent at the top of the draft from Canada that wants to be a Raptor. You can see why the Raptors paid Masai Ujiri a lot of money to come here. The decisions he has a head of him will be difficult and will shape the future for this franchise both in the short and long term. I don’t envy him in the slightest; I have never been someone who dreams about being the guy calling the shots for a NBA Franchise. I realize how difficult that is to do. What I do know is that the first couple months of the Raptors season should define the final four months and the direction this team takes. What direction that will be is perhaps the most interesting question about this team of all.

Canada's Present Falls Short: But The Future Remains Bright.

Canada entered the weekend with a great chance to advance to Spain for the World Cup next year. By the time the weekend was over they were eliminated and searching for answers. Canada’s first stumble on the road to Spain was a loss to the host nation Venezuela. This was really the first bit of adversity Team Canada had faced. They had a crowd watching them and cheering against them as well as some calls that were not going in their favour.

Andrew Nicholson would have two fouls and tech (which counts as a personal foul) before Canada could blink. Nicholson individually and Canada collectively could never really recover. What would become a theme for this Canadian group was to really feel pressure when falling behind. Canada became dependent on the three point shot as the weapon of choice to try to rally. It was a less than sound strategy for the most part.

Despite that loss Canada still had it’s destiny in their hands and a win over the Dominican Republic would have had them in prime position to advance. They came out and played a strong first quarter led in part by a motivated Andrew Nicholson who was eager to make up for his poor play the day before. Raptor fans could relate to what happened next as the ten point lead would be erased in less than three minutes and Canada would fall behind and be battling from behind the rest of the day.

Canada was in trouble now after this loss with a final game against Argentina being a must win situation and even with that win it might not have been enough. In fact as it played out it would not have been enough but at the time of the game Canada still had everything to play for. Similar to the game the day before Canada would come out strong and take control of the game. It would slip away as Argentina would rely on Luis Scola a three time MVP of this tournament who would take over. Canada had no answer for him. Canada frustration could be summed up in Andrew Nicholson who had a near meltdown when he was fouled tried to get position battling with an Argentina forward for position. Nicholson would explode and get a tech and needed his team to keep him for getting tossed altogether.

In the end the story on the surface ends like many have for Canada Basketball in the last dozen years or so. A closer look and you see the differences in this effort. Canada lost 4 games in this tournament and none of them you could say they were not in the games had their chances to win them. It was also a very young group many of which getting their first major experience with international basketball. It was a team that actually had choices to make about its roster. It was a team that has more talent yet to come in the future. Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and Kelly Olynyk are just three names you will expect to see next time for Canada that you did not see this time around.

You saw the growth of guys like Cory Joseph, Andrew Nicholson and Tristan Thompson. There were some surprises with a guy like Brady Heslip showing is deadly skill as a shooter. We all wanted more for this group and to see them progress to next summer and the World Cup. It wasn’t meant to be on this occasion but it was a major learning experience to getting to Rio in 2016 and perhaps being a real contender in 2020 for the Olympics that was announced over the weekend that will be in Tokyo.

Canada is an emerging basketball power and you only need look at the NCAA and the NBA as evidence of that. Soon that will translate to FIBA international competitions as it has already on lower levels. It just would have been nice if we could have had another summer to see this group gain experience and grow prior to attempting to qualify for Rio in 2015.

Steve Nash who put this group together took to twitter to motivate and inspire his troops make no mistake his presence at the core of this program is a huge factor in keeping this group together and bringing them together in the first place. Cory Joseph was showing the development a Nash did with Team Canada. Nash gives a lot of the credit to his rise in the NBA to his time with Team Canada. As this wave of Canadian Stars hit the league they look to follow that path of the NBA two-time MVP. Nash’s success in the NBA and the fact he credits his time with Canada Basketball as a factor in that is the biggest selling point for this program.

Canada's Future Brighter Than The Raptors

It was just a tweet but as it stared back at me it made more and more sense to me. I really do have much more hope for Canada Basketball than I do for the Toronto Raptors. It isn’t really a hard argument to make when you consider the talent this program has. Unlike the Raptors Canada Basketball will have two number one overall picks when all is said and done. The Raptors fail to capture the imagination like these young Canadians have done and are doing.

The irony in all of this is without the Raptors existence, who is to say we have all these talented athletes picking up a basketball and loving the sport. At the core of that love for many of these young men goes back to the Vince Carter era in Raptors Basketball. Vince captured the imaginations of these young men and thousands of others across this country. Even in the U.S Kevin Durant recalls growing up watching Vince and wanting to play for the Raptors.

The reality is none of these Canadian kids have come home to play for the hometown team. Andrew Wiggins who will be the centerpiece of this Canadian Basketball program has said he would like to be a Raptor if it was up to him. It will not be up to him and it will be up to the results of perhaps the most hyped draft lottery since Lebron James entered the NBA. Wiggins unlike James will have to show his talents in the NCAA for a season with Kansas much like the aforementioned Durant did at Texas.

The depth of the talent on Team Canada is growing and growing. The Raptors depth is filled with question marks and what if scenarios. Someone asked me if this Team Canada group lined up with Toronto Raptors for a seven game series who would win? This current edition of Team Canada likely would fall a little short. If you add Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett and Kelly Olynyk the answer might change.

Take Canada’s game against Mexico on Thursday and compare it to the Raptors. Like we have seen with the Raptors at times Canada would get off to a tremendous start. This would not last and Canada was on the brink only up 2 points heading into the fourth quarter. The Raptors in that situation have lost more times than they have been successful. This group of Canadians came out and crushed Mexico in the fourth quarter outscoring the Mexicans 29-9. It maybe comparing apples to oranges to some degree but there is something exciting about watching this Canadian Team that is missing when watching the Raptors.

It could be as simple as national pride. I may like Amir Johnson, DeMar DeRozan and others but they are not from where I am from at the end of the day. I honestly can’t get that excited watching Jonas Valanciunas play for a country that I have no real connection to other than the fact one of their best players is a Raptor. All I hope for is that Jonas is not hurt and hopefully develops.

I have the pride for Canada basketball that most in this nation have for hockey. I am not sure I have the pride in the Raptors in the same way as I do for team Canada. MLSE is a corporation that owns them which rooting for Rogers and Bell is not all that an appealing concept. 

The thing that the Raptors and Canada Basketball share is a long history of disappointing the people who support them by failing to deliver with success.   Steve Nash didn’t choose the Raptors but he did choose Canada Basketball. His influence on this team is evident. It is with no disrespect that I say this but to get a call from Steve Nash to play for your country and a call from Leo Rautins or even Jay Triano is not the same thing.

Speaking of Triano someone who I was highly critical of in his time with the Raptors as head coach in this role he works well. The biggest reason why is the support he has behind him. Steve Nash made it quite public that he would not have taken the roll running the Canadian Basketball program without Triano as the head coach. While on the Raptors it could be said that Jay Triano as a former assistant never really had the respect of his team with Canada Basketball he does because the guy running the show is 100% behind him.

While Canada chances of winning a Gold Medal some day remain a slim one as long as the United States is still sending a team to compete. I still give them a better chance in the years to come than the Raptors overcoming power house teams like Miami and Oklahoma City and others to win an NBA Title.

It goes back to one of things I always talk about in this blog the concept of hope. Canada Basketball in my view has it and the Raptors are still wandering around trying to find it.

Week That Was In The NBA

The Good News

Jason Kidd is buying a portion of Jay-Z's minority share of the Brooklyn Nets.  ESPN reports that Nets Head Coach Jason Kidd is buying a very small stake in the team from Jay-Z subject to approval from the NBA.

Pacers to sign Rasual Butler in non-guaranteed deal.  Nathan S., SB Nation reported the Indiana Pacers have signed veteran forward Rasual Butler to a non-guaranteed contract according to Butler's agent.  Butler last played for the Raptors in 2011-2012.


The Bad News

Michael Beasley Bought Out

Richard Parker, SB Nation reported the Suns have bought out Micheal Beasley after a marijuana-related run-in with the law.

"The Suns were devoted to Michael Beasley’s success in Phoenix," said Suns President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby. "However, it is essential that we demand the highest standards of personal and professional conduct as we develop a championship culture. Today’s action reflects our commitment to those standards. The timing and nature of this, and all of our transactions, are based on the judgment of our Basketball leadership as to how best to achieve our singular goal of rebuilding an elite team."

Jared Sullinger Apologizes

The Celtics Jared Sullinger had a run in with the law as reported by Slamonline:

“I voluntarily reported to the Waltham police this morning to respond to charges against me,” Sullinger said in the statement. “The experience was humbling and embarrassing for me. Yet I know that this situation has brought both sorrow and embarrassment to my girlfriend, my family, the Boston Celtics organization, my teammates, and my fans. To all of you, I apologize from the bottom of my heart. My lawyers have advised me not to discuss the case at this time. But I wanted to immediately and publicly apologize to everyone affected by this situation.”

Lamar Odom Can’t Play Anymore?

Ben Bolch and Richard Winton, LA Times reported that free agent forward Lamar Odom was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence and refused to submit to chemical testing after his arrest.

"Lamar can't play anymore," said one senior executive with an NBA team who spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to publicly discuss a free agent.

Just News

Raptors Confirm Quentin Richardson Waived

The Toronto Raptors officially confirmed on Tuesday that they have waived Quentin Richardson. Toronto acquired Richardson by way of sign and trade from New York on July 10 as part of the Knicks trade for Andrea Bargnani. Richardson was never expected to report to Toronto.

Why Did The Raptors Open A Roster Spot?

With another month to go before the start of training camp, there wasn’t any obvious reason for the Raptors to rush Richardson out the door. The Raptors now have 14 players under contract and sit $1.7 million below the luxury tax line and $5.7 million below the NBA hard cap. That is a lot of room for Ujiri to use if he is thinking about bringing another young prospect on board for this season.

The Raptors biggest need at the moment is at center. If Jonas Valanciunas is injured or even just gets in foul trouble, the Raptors get small in a hurry. Another center to develop behind Aaron Gray would seem prudent.  At the same time the Raptors were in the process of dumping Richardson, the Grizzlies were waiving center Fab Melo.

Does Caron Butler Make The Bucks A Playoff Contender?

After three 30-something win seasons in a row, the Bucks have made some dramatic moves this off season, but does acquiring veteran small forward Caron Butler make Milwaukee a playoff contender this year?

Missing from the Bucks roster this year are four of the team’s top five scorers in the previous regular season. Monta Ellis, Brandon Jennings, Mike Dunleavy and J.J. Redick are gone as is their best defensive forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute. In-bound are Brandon Knight at point guard, O.J. Mayo and Gary Neal at shooting guard and small forward Carlos Delfino returns after a season in Houston. Free agent Zaza Pachulia from the Hawks is a proven defensive center that can effectively backup the recently extended Larry Sanders. This rotation isn’t proven as a unit, but the talent is there.

Will The Raptors Signal If They Are Going For The Playoffs or Tanking?

“If I were the coach of the team and I was in the last year of my contract, I would want to know from ownership and management, what do you want from me?” Jack Armstrong said.  “So are we going for the playoffs? If (the Raptors) are doing that, I am playing Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Rudy Gay, Amir Johnson and Jonas Valanciunas 38-40 minutes every single night.

“If (winning) is not the way you are going to be judged, rather try to be competitive but try to develop at the same time, then obviously you loosen the reins a little bit on your substation pattern and you go that way. You give guys like a Terrence Ross and D.J. Augustin and people like that more minutes.”

2013 Eurobasket Starts In Slovenia
2013 Eurobasket or European Championships started on Wednesday with Great Britain, Latvia, Georgia, Finland, Ukraine, Montenegro, Spain, Greece, Germany, Serbia, Slovenia and Italy winning their opening games.  The surprise losers were Lithuania, France and Turkey.

Serbia Shocks Lithuania 63-56

Serbia shocked Lithuania 63-56 in the two teams’ opening game at the 2013 Eurobasket tournament in Slovenia on Wednesday. Serbia had a game plan that they ran to perfection against the heavily favored Lithuanians and Lithuania’s Head Coach Jonas Kazlauskas couldn’t find an adjustment to get his side back on top.

Kazlauskas started the veteran Robertas Javtokas instead of his young star center Jonas Valanciunas and Serbia fed the ball to center Nenad Krstic on their very first offensive possession.  Jonas Valanciunas finished with just 2 points on 1-1 shooting, 2 rebounds and 4 personal fouls in 11 minutes. Krstic led Serbia with 20 points and 9 rebounds.


FIBA Americas

Canada Wraps up Second Place In Group A At FIBA Americas

In a game that was never in doubt, Canada crushed Uruguay 93-67 after having wait over 8 hours to play because of a blackout earlier in the day.  Cory Joseph was still hot after his big game against Brazil, putting up 12 points on 4-6 shooting that included a pair of three-pointers in the first half.  Joseph finished with an impressive 17 points, 3 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals in limited minutes.

With the victory, Canada finishes second in group A and carries 2 wins over to the second round where they will play the top 4 teams from group B over 4 days starting on Thursday. The top 4 teams in the second round move on to the medal round and automatically qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Spain.

Canada plays Mexico on Thursday September 5 at 2pm.

Mexico Shocks Experts At The FIBA Americas

Mexico didn’t even qualify for the 2013 FIBA Americas tournament, getting invited only after Panama was banned from international play this summer. However, the 32nd FIBA world ranked team from Mexico has shocked the experts by starting the tournament 3-0.

Mexico finished in second place in group B and carries 2 wins over to the second round.

Opportunity Knocks For Canada At FIBA Americas

While Canada hasn’t exactly been awash in success nationally at international men’s basketball, this summer, opportunity is knocking loudly for a return to some measure of prominence. 

With their relatively inexperienced roster, Canada probably should not have been considered a favorite to make the medal round this summer. However, not everyone at this tournament is putting their best possible team on the court. Just like Canada is missing players they would really like to have, other countries are missing some of their star players as well.



Stephen Brotherston covers the Toronto Raptors and visiting NBA teams at the ACC.  A member of the Professional Basketball Writers Association, Stephen is the editor and publisher of Pro Bball Report.  You can follow Stephen on twitter @stevesraptors

Canada Basketball Is Starting To Shine

There has never been a moment in time where you could have so much hope for Canada Basketball and its future. While hope is one thing to get results and deliver on that hope is another. Canada has made it through the first round with only one loss on their ledger. Even in that game versus Puerto Rico Canada at one point held a lead briefly. In the games they have won they have been dominate with wins over Jamaica, Brazil and last night over Uruguay.

The win over Uruguay was done under less than ideal conditions for both teams thanks to a blackout that impacted on 75 percent of Venezuela. The game originally scheduled for early afternoon would be re-scheduled to 10:30 pm. Canada stormed out of the gates and never looked back. This group has perhaps the best overall talent Canada has but on a basketball court to compete for Canada. Keep in mind, that this team still will likely add Andrew Wiggins, Anthony Bennett the first pick in the most recent NBA draft and Kelly Olynyk who was also a lottery pick in the most recent draft.

Cory Joseph is having a similar experience to what Steve Nash had with national team. Joseph has really stood out in this tournament and been a consistent performer for this group. The other player that has really stood out is Andrew Nicholson who was drafted in the first round by the Orlando Magic. He has been on fire in this tournament producing at a high level. Tristan Thompson meanwhile has changed his shooting hand which has been a pretty incredible in and of its self. It is also showing some dramatic results in his free throw shooting. Thompson has struggled at the line through his career at Texas and with the Cavs. In this tournament he has been shooting at level far beyond anything we have seen from him.

Canada now moves on to the next round facing Mexico, Argentina, Dominican Republic and the hosts Venezuela. This should be much more challenging but Canada does carry two of their three wins to the next round. They also only need to finish in to the top four to qualify for the World Cup in Spain next year.

As they enter this second round they have a real shot at doing just that. When you consider the roster could be better and in reality the real target for this program is Rio 2016 and the following Olympics in 2020. This has been a good start to what many are considering the start of golden age for Canada basketball.

Lights Out..Q-Rich Out...Raptors Have Some Options.

So the plan for today was to be to talk about Canada Basketball as they were set to wrap-up the preliminary round at the FIBA Americas qualifying tournament. Like the Super Bowl this past year the lights went out and chaos would follow for the afternoon. Canada will play at 10:30PM tonight at last word. This is some of the problems that happen with FIBA and there way of doing things. They take a check for 5 million dollars or so to play in a country in South America where a game not involving the host country draw flies. It is an important game for Canada as they will eventually play Uruguay for second place in their pool as they attempt to qualify for the World Championships now re-branded as the world cup.

Will leave the Canada Basketball stuff for tomorrow and talk a little about the Raptors who will be opening camp next month. They will do that with a roster of 14 players as the Raptors announced they have waived Quinton Richardson. This was expected and now the Raptors will enter camp with potentially a spot on the roster to play for.  Expect the Raptors like they did last year to invite a few players to compete for that open roster spot. A competitive camp is a good camp and this is a change that is good for the Raptors since Dwane Casey has arrived.

There is no guarantee the Raptors will keep a player and start the season with 15 players. It actually makes some sense to have 14 and leave some flexibility to make some trades down the line. If things don’t go well for the Raptors and they look to do some moves to rebuild and take their lottery ticket for the draft this year.

While some will look on the surface and say what the heck are the Raptors doing in getting rid of two players from the Andrea Bargnani trade. Understand that the fact the Raptors have the money to do it is part of the advantage they have compared to small market teams. Bargnani had to go as well and the draft picks and Novak was more than most could have hoped for in dealing Bargnani who had bottomed out in value.

It will be very interesting to see what happens with this team but in general you have to like it. They are not giving up on the season before it starts but are still able to leave some flexibility to go a different direction.

So if the lights stay on in Venezuela will have some thoughts on Canada’s efforts in the preliminary round of the qualifying tournament. It has been pretty good to this point.