Will Lou, Alex Wong, and producer Jerome Cheng have you covered on all things Raptors, in addition to the NBA and other culturally relevant topics. New episodes every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday
Most will scoff at the AmeriCup but Argentina, Brazil will be at full strength and Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico will have very strong teams. I think to keep the momentum going we need to field a competitive development team at that tournament. Players like Edey, Nembhard, Leonard, Mathurin, Sharpe, Banton, Kabengele, Houstan, Darling, Wigginton, Omoyuri, O-Max, Lawson in big roles can build experience for the world cup and Olympics. The European teams have the Eurobasket which is treated as seriously as the world cup or Olympics by the European teams which allows their players to get high stakes experience to carry forward. We need to be building that development through these tournaments rather than sending Usports/ CEBL teams to the AmeriCup.
We went into this Olympics undersized on the front court. Eventually, we were going to get bullied by more balanced teams like Serbia and Germany. Let's look at how we solve the front court going forward.
Murray showed almost nothing useful in the games leading up to that France game. At that point there's no way he should play as much as he did in that game. He's been a really good player in the past but he sucked in these Olympics.
Kelly couldn’t hit a shot and was complete garbage, Murray was terrible. Wiggins was a major loss, he could have guarded those big guys on France, and Edey was another loss.
In terms of bigs who can play in the immediate short term, Brandon Clarke should be mentioned a little more. If he's healthy he can certainly give this team a huge boost and is likely more talented than any of the current bigman we have. Kabengele is not currently in the NBA but if he continues to improve he could be helpful in the next olympics. He should be a nice defensive big who can shoot the 3. Zach Edey who does get mentioned a lot will likely be the starting center if he's able to commit.
Pre Olympics Rowan Barrett was acting all snug with a touch of arrogance when talking about putting the 2024 Paris team together - really smelling himself. Rowan Barrett held personal grudges over sending the best roster to Paris. Rowan Barrett lacks the killer instinct needed to lead the program acting like this is a participation league instead of the Olympics when you take your best 12 players. Then when the training camp list was made available he had all sorts of players that shouldn't have been in training camp like the Thomas Scrubb, Phil Scrubb, Trae Bell-Haynes, Kyle Alexander. He should have taken an all NBA roster to camp and Paris even without Wiggins and Edey. No reason for Ejim or Birch to be on the roster. Boucher and Banton would have been much better overall. CoJo would have been the veteran pg to steady the team in a game like the France one. Tristan Thompson would have gave the team some inside fortitude. Didn't even try to naturalize a player even though center was the weak spot on the roster. Poeltl would have been a nice addition as a potential naturalized player. 2028... what awaits?
We lost this game in the 1st quarter. The deficit was too great to overcome. All we needed was 10pts from someone else...Murray or Brooks & it would've been a different outcome. Absolute failure.
He didn't get to the line today which makes me know there was not a lot of ball movement & Jordi that using guys to their advantage.Less back cutting etc or bending the defense.
Soooo disappointing! More than a 'bit' of a heartbreaker!!! JM was the biggest disappointment. From the beginning I thought something was wrong with his health. But I hoped today he would contribute something similar to what we know about him. He didn't!!! Shai played his heart out...saw how disppointed he was. So bummed!! Still love them all.
Anyone think if Nick Nurse was coach we would still be in it. Im from Kitchener and Jamal should have been on the bench, he looks so slow and is a defensive pylon. Nembhard didn't touch the ball, after having 22 last game. Too much iso, no ball movement and panicked, and turned the ball over. Refs were bad but not the reason we lost
Edey and Wiggins would have been perfect against this French team. The whole team played awful, really sucks that we played like this in the first elimination round.
I'm not worried about Jamal scoring. He played decent defense and was passing the ball really well within the flow of the offense. Olympic basketball and elimination games are about giving it to the hot hand. If Jamal isnt confident keep swinging it to RJ, SGA, Dort and Neimhart and give them open looks. He demands the respect from defenses as a number 2/3 scorer when on the floor. He'll gum up one of the better defensive guards/forwatds on the opposing team and give opportunities to others.
Enjoy this show but whoever said RJ is sixth option on a championship team around 53:00 mark was wack! What has RJ gotta do to get some respect man. And how is RJ, who is clearly ahead of Scottie offensively not a legit first option on a championship if Scottie is? Scottie plays elite defense but his offense is definitely not as polished as RJ. Will said it exactly right that RJ is completely serious about his craft. Let's show the man some respect. Let's just enjoy this team man.
Team Canada's rotations are very befuddling. Team Canada has zero rim protection, rebounds very poorly and are very unathletic. Boucher should be on the team over Birch who looks like he's about to fall a part every time he moves. The Raps signed C/PF Bruno Fernando (6'8.75 barefoot) to a non-guaranteed contract. The Raps current roster/depth chart: CP: Poeltl/Olynyk PF: Barnes/Boucher/Mogbo SF: Barrett/Dick/Temple SG: Brown/Ogbaji/Walter PG: Quickley/Mitchell/Shead Two Way Contracts: G DJ Carton C Ulrich Chomche C Branden Carlson Non Guaranteed Contracts: C Bruno Fernando Exhibition 10 Contracts: PG Tylor Perry F Jamison Battle F Quincy Guerrier
In order to play for Team Canada you have to actually have INTEREST in playing. Boucher has not once played for Canada and was not at the training camp I’m not sure why he’d be there over Khem Birch if he doesn’t choose to. A bit controversial but I honestly think Tristan Thompson would be better and he’d help a lot of the interior defense/toughness concerns. Canada and USA are on opposite sides of the bracket, we finished 3rd and they finished 1st. Also, not sure what you giving the Raps depth chart has anything to do with … Canada Olympics?
@@SlimCharles_95 Chris Boucher had an interest in playing and his post when he wasn't selected confirms just as much. The Raps depth chart is for the Raps fans who make up a large portion, if not all, of this vlogs viewership community. If you don't care then it's not for you. All the best.
I know SGA got to the line, but the amount of illegal screens, and flopping, and non calls spain should have been in the penalty most of the game. Respect to Sergio but he got outcoached. Why did he call timeout before the fouls. He would have advanced the ball, with 2.7, better than half court prayer. Unless you don't advance the ball, and he was worried SGA misses, and no shot. Fiba rules different?
I’m super shocked we brought Jamal even, he clearly isn’t right physically but I’m guessing it’s the program showing loyalty to one of the players who signed that 3 year commitment but it is rather odd still
The proposed trade is BI Hawkins and Matt Ryan for Poetl Bruce and a 2026 first from indi . That’s an amazing steal of a trade if we get Koloko back and health . We can sign BI long term and keep him as an asset with the money freed up from Poetl contract . We get Hawkins too which would be insane
Unless you were out of the country there’s no excuse to not remember that Crosby Goal, Alex lol. Every Canadian old enough knows where they were during that exact moment.
I've been looking for more Canada men's basketball team content. Thanks keep it coming! It's good that they have to play better teams, it means they are actually used to it. LFG Canada!
RJ will be the Raps #1 offensive option. IQ will be #2. SB will be #3. SB has always been a glue guy in HS and college, he has never been a #1 option. I would love to see Team Canada with Wiggins and Boucher on the roster. They are seemingly destine for Silver or Bronze. I believe if Team Canada faces France before the Gold medal game they will receive a very bad whistle. US has zero medals in shooting 🤯...
