Last year, Steve Nash directed a documentary for ESPN’s 30 for 30 series called “Into the Wind” about an amputee’s journey across Canada, now the 37-year-old, former 2-time MVP has a documentary coming out simply titled “Nash”.

Check out the “teaser” trailer for the documentary below:

Outside of the intro by Owen Wilson, not much is known about the self-titled bio. Thanks to the Hoop Doctors for the heads up.

Canadians Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph, both of the Texas Longhorns, as well as their AAu teammate Olu Ashaolu of Louisiana Tech plan on entering the 2011 NBA Draft.

(Discuss Canadian basketball in our forum)

All three are hail from Canada – Thompson is from Brampton, Ontario, Joseph comes from Pickering, Ontario, and Ashaolu is from Toronto.

Thompson, a promising 6-8 forward, just completed his freshman season, averaging a solid 13.1 points and 7.8 rebounds for the nationally-ranked Texas Longhorns – a team that finished 28-8.

The 6-3 Joseph, another freshman, put up 10.4 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds.

Olu Ashaolu is a 6-7 forward that was second in scoring for the LSU Bulldogs with 14.2 points and led the team at 9.4 rebounds.

Ashaolu and Joseph won’t sign with an agent, allowing them to test the draft waters without forgoing their college eligibilites.

Thompson is a potential lottery pick while Joseph and Ashaolu are likely second round selections.

Thompson’s decision did not come as a suprise. Once elite college forwards Jared Sullinger, Perry Jones III and Harrison Barnes decided to stay in school, Tristan’s draft stock rose.
Ashaolu, though raw, was a double-double machine this season and has NBA athleticism. Joseph’s decision to join the draft is seen as the most premature.

PORTLAND (Nike Hoop Summit) – Austin Rivers had 20 points to lead USA Basketball’s Junior National Select Team to a 92-80 win over the World Select Team at the Rose Garden over the weekend.

(Discuss the 2011 Nike Hoops Summit)

The 8,955 in attendance witnessed history being made as Bismack Biyombo of the Democratic Republic of Congo registered the game’s first-ever triple-double with 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocks.

However, that stellar performance by the 18-year-old wasn’t enough as cold shooting afflicted the world team. They shot 37.5 percent from the field for the game including a measly 14.3 percent in the first quarter.

The visitors won the battle on the boards, 41-39, but their shooting woes meant they couldn’t capitalise on their 23 offensive rebounds.

The USA, meanwhile, used their overall depth and talent to great effect, with Rivers well seconded by Anthony Davis (16 points, 10 rebounds and two blocks) and 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship gold medalist Michael Gilchrist (16 points, five rebounds and five assists).

All 10 players got on the score sheet for the home team.

“I’m a big believer in having depth, and with this particular team you have quality depth,” said USA head coach Kevin Sutton. “Having a bench where you could rotate players in freely with very little to no drop off was part of our game plan.”

Rivers said that after a slow start, he and his team-mates figured each other out.

“It’s hard to get a rhythm,” Rivers said. “I thought we actually did great for having not ever played with each other. I started out a little bit slow, and then I knocked down a couple shots and after that I just kept going. My team-mates did a good job of finding me, and I just tried to get out in the open court because Anthony (Davis), (James) McAdoo and all of those guys were working so hard getting the rebounds.”

Biyomba had no regrets afterwards, saying the world team did all it could.

“I was trying to win,” said the 18-year-old, whose future is uncertain as he left his team of Fuenlabrada in Spain in order to play in the Nike Hoop Summit. His coach Salva Maldonado had warned him that the decision would cause him to lose his place in the squad.

“We came here, we’ve been practicing for four days. It’s really hard to play like we did. We tried our best on the court, but something happened.”

Poland’s Mateusz Potnika connected from long range for the opening points of the game and the World Team led 7-4 before Gilchrist went on a personal 7-0 run that put the USA in front and never trailed again.

Down 20-12 at the end of the first quarter, the international side got within 27-24 on a three-pointer by Canada‘s Kevin Pangos.

Rivers – the son of Boston Celtics head coach Glenn ‘Doc’ Rivers – answered right back with eight straight points to help the USA re-assert their firm grip on the game, taking a 42-31 lead at the break.

Davis had a dozen points in the third period to help the USA stretch that advantage to 50-36, but he then was headed to the bench after picking up his third foul.

The world team made the most of it, reeling off six unanswered points to trim the deficit back into single-digits.

But time and again the USA showed they had answers for every one of their opponents’ rally as James McAdoo and Quinn Cook provided a timely scoring punch that helped them head into the final frame with a 66-53 advantage.

The world team got within nine in the fourth quarter but there was little they could do as Rivers had eight points in the quarter alone and seven other USA players got on the scoreboard in that period.

McAdoo – a member of the All-Tournament Five in Hamburg last summer – gave the USA their largest lead, 86-66, from the free-throw line.

Potnika was the high-man for the world team, with 17 points. Canada’s Kyle Wiltjer – who resides in Portland – added 12.

The win saw the USA improve to 11-3 in the 14-game history of the event.

Read the original article at FIBA.com.

A record 84 international players from 38 countries will be on opening night rosters when the NBA tips off a new season on Tuesday.

(Discuss the record number of international players in the NBA)

The 84 international players is just one player more than the previous record of 83, from the opening night in the 2006-07 campaign.

The small increase is a continuation of the steady rise of international players in the NBA. A decade ago, the rosters featured 45 foreign players from 28 countries and territories, an 86% increase.

Only two of the league’s 30 teams will be without at least one foreign player on opening night (check out the most xenophobic NBA teams).

The Toronto Raptors will have the most international flair with six international players from six different countries, Australia, Brazil, Italy, Lithuania, Nigeria and Spain. The Dallas Mavericks and Utah Jazz will both field five foreign born players while eight teams boast four players from other countries.

France provided the most players with 11 followed by Turkey with five and Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Serbia, and Spain each with four.

Are you looking to watch Lebanon vs. Canada or Russia vs Puerto Rico in the first day of World Championships’ group play?

Follow all the pool play matches in Interbasket’s World Championships of Basketball forum where we’ve created game-specific threads so you can follow your favorite national teams,

find out where to watch the game online, comment, and cheer along with Puerto Ricans, Angolans, Lebanese and other diehard basketball fans from abroad.  Check out the individual game threads below:

* Looking for Greece-China and the earlier matches – go here: Watch Greece-China Live in World Championships

It’s been a busy week for FIBA as they announced the four wild cards on Saturday, and determined the top four seeds for the World Championships of Basketball on Sunday.

Now the federation that overseas international basketball has announced the draw results that will determine the groupings for the 2010 world basketball event in Istanbul, Turkey.

The 24 participating nations were drawn into four groups of six teams each:

• Group A: Serbia, Argentina, Australia, Jordan, Germany, Angola
• Group B: Croatia, Brazil, Tunisia, Slovenia, Iran, USA
• Group C: China, Turkey, Russia, Puerto Rico, Ivory Coast, Greece
• Group D: Lithuania, Lebanon, France, Spain, Canada, New Zealand

(Discuss the draw results in our forum)

The draw was held at the the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Hotel, Istanbul, on 15th December 15th, 2009 at 11:30AM local time.

The draw was conducted jointly by FIBA and the LOC in the presence of participating nations’ representatives, “National Federation members, prominent public figures and members of the international media.”

The FIBA World Championships are held every four years and determines the world’s top country in basketball.

The FIBA Wild Cards will determine four teams’ fates for the 2010 World Championships of basketball.

With a few days remaining before FIBA announces their selections, which countries do you think FIBA will select for the event in Turkey in 2010? Below are Interbasket’s top 11 contenders:

• Cameroon
• Dominican Republic
• Germany
• Great Britain
• Korea
• Lebanon
• Lithuania
• Nigeria
• Poland
• Russia
• Taiwan

Seems that Interbasket members mostly agree that Russia and Germany will be locks to receive a ticket to the huge basketball event.

Go to our forum and pick the four countries that you think FIBA will choose based on their criteria of sporting, economics, and governing factors with a maximum of three wild cards from any one zone (that means you, Europe!).

It’s already been hinted that the sporting factor will weigh more heavily, benefiting teams from Europe and the Americas.

After the Wild Cards have been determined, the draw for the World Championships will be held at the Ciragan Palace Kempinski Hotel, Istanbul on Tuesday, 15th December 2009 at 11:30AM local time.

Tijani Umar, the President of the NBBF (Nigeria Basketball Federation) recently returned from Zurich, Switzerland after a meeting with FIBA World officials to chat about the FIBA wild cards for the 2010 World Championships.

However, Umar’s meeting with FIBA officials did not make him very positive on Nigeria’s chances.

While speaking with Ungar, FIBA hinted that they would be selecting the wild cards based on a country’s potential to make some impact on the world stage.

This “impact” factor is listed in FIBA’s wild card criteria, but for FIBA officials to emphasize that, fuels further speculation that the “quality and sporting results of the national teams of the country” is more heavily weighed than any other aspect.

After Nigeria finished fifth in the 2009 Afrobasket tournament, it would be difficult to justify their selection.

FIBA World Championships Wild Cards
With twenty teams having already clinched a spot to Turkey, there are still four slots remaining. These four spots are the wild cards and will be determined by FIBA.

(Chat more about the FIBA wild cards)

In order to qualify for a wild card, a team must have participated in their respective qualifying competition. From there, FIBA will take into consideration the sporting, economic, and governance aspects of that country.

Nigeria is on the short list of roughly ten teams vying for one of the four final spots.

Some of the top contenders for the spot include Cameroon, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Korea, Lebanon, Lithuania, Nigeria, and Russia.

There are going to be six very disappointed teams come December when FIBA announces which four countries will receive the wild cards at the FIBA Central Board meeting in Geneva.

San Juan, PR – Brazil barely squeaked by Puerto Rico 61-60 to capture te gold medal in the 2009 FIBA Americas Championships.

(Discuss the game)

Brazil steadily built up a 13-point lead going into the fourth quarter before the hosts tightened up their defense to gradually pick away at Brazil’s margin.

Puerto Rico’s AD Vasallo led the charge in the final quarter, the 6-6 shooting guard scored all of his nine points in the fourth quarter but missed the second of two free-throws with 33 seconds remaining that could have tied the game at 61.

Leandro Barbosa led Brazil with 24 points, but did most of his damage was in the first three as he was held to just three points in the crucial fourth quarter. Tiago Splitter added 13 points with 9 rebounds for the Brazilian squad.

Carlos Arroyo top-scored for Puerto Rico with 14 points, but missed a three at the end of the game that would have won it for the hosts.

Both teams shot under 40% for the game. Brazil’s was 9-1 in the tournament, their only loss coming at Puerto Rico’s hands in the final day of the quarterfinals – they also won the 2005 tournament.  Puerto Rico finished the tournament with a 8-2 record.

Argentina takes Bronze; Scola wins MVP
Argentina finished the Americas tournament with a bronze medal, defeating Canada 88-73 in the third place game. Argentina used a dominant first quarter to break the Canadians, outscoring them 31-8 in the initial period.  Paolo Quinteros scored all of his 13 points in that first quarter.

Houston Rocket’s forward Luis Scola again led his team with 27 points.  Euroleague playmaker Pablo Prigioni scored 17 and added 8 assists.

For Canada, Jermaine Anderson scored 19 points and had 11 assists; Levon Kendall and Aaron Doornekamp added 12 points and 11 points respectively.

Scola was named MVP of the tournament after the Houston Rockets forward averaged a tournament high 23.3 points per game and was the unquestioned leader of the Argentinians. Carlos Arroyo and Tiago Splitter also were considered in the voting.

The top-two seeded teams will battle for FIBA Americas gold tomorrow.

Brazil and Puerto Rico each won their semi-finals game today and will meet up for the second time in three days.

Puerto Rico handed Brazil their first loss on Friday night 74-70, and though both teams had a 7-1 record, Brazil ended up with the number one seed due to their goal average against Argentina and Canada.

(Click here to discuss the FIBA Americas final between Brazil and Puerto Rico in our forum)

In today’s semi-finals, Puerto Rico halted Argentina’s run of six straight wins with an 85-80 victory while Brazil used a great third quarter to handle Canada 73-65.

Carlos Arroyo continued his resurgent play for Puerto Rico with 19 points. Luis Scola scored 31 points for the Argentina side.

Brazil got 22 points from Leandro Barbosa, and Joel Anthony pulled in 17 points and 8 rebounds for the Canadians.

Both Brazil and Puerto Rico have eight wins and one loss going into tomorrow’s final game.  Canada and Argentina will play for the bronze medal. More importantly, all four teams have qualified for the World Championships next year.

Canada has earned the fourth and final berth to the World Championships by downing the Dominican Republic 80-76 in the FIBA Americas quarterfinals.

(Discuss the Dominican Republic vs. Canada match)

The Canadians used ball movement and three-point shooting to slay the Dominican team, who was without their second leading scorer Francisco García.

Canada hit 10 of their 14 three-pointers in the second half, including two huge threes from Aaron Doornekamp in the final quarter, during a game when they couldn’t shoot well from inside the arc (37%).

Canada converted more than half of their three-point attempts (27), led by Jermaine Anderson’s 5-8 shooting from downtown.

Anderson exploded for an unexpected 21 points. Carl English added 13 points, Jesse Young 11 points, and Levon Kendall contributed a double-double, 10 points and 11 rebounds, for the Mapleleafs

The Dominicans on the other hand, clearly missed Garcia’s ability to stretch the offense. Though veteran guard Luis Flores shot 3-7 from three, they needed another threat from downtown, as the rest of the squad hit just 2-14.

Flores and Charlie Villanueva led the Dominicans with 17 points apiece.

Francisco García was a late scratch as his NBA team, the Sacramento Kings, released a statement saying that Garcia would no longer participate because of an injury to his right ring-finger.

The Dominican Republic’s only chance to go to the World Championships is to receive a Wild Card from FIBA.

With the win, Canada joins Argentina, Brazil, and Puerto Rico in the semi-finals and is guaranteed at least fourth place in the tournament.  They will will have to defeat Puerto Rico in order to reach the finals.

Three of the four Americas teams have punched their tickets to the 2010 World Championships to be held next year in Turkey.

At an undefeated 7-0, Brazil has already earned a spot in the World Championships by dominating their competition, and are now looking for gold with a stacked

Argentina and Puerto Rico are the two other teams that have also qualified.

After starting the tournament with two losses,  Argentina (5-2) has now won five straight games, handing the Puerto Ricans (6-1) their first loss, 80-78, of the tournament yesterday.

Must Win Situations
The fourth and final spot will be determined today in the last day of the quarterfinals between three teams: Dominican Republic, Canada, and Uruguay.

If the Dominican Republic (4-3) can record their fifth win of the tournament by defeating Canada today, the race is over and the Dominicans will move on based on overall record.

But if Canada (3-4) can pull out a win against the Dominicans, and Uruguay loses, the North American country will qualify for the 2010 FIBA World Championship.  This all-important game between DR and Canada is set for 6:30 local time (Puerto Rico).

The third scenario involves Uruguay (3-4) forcing a three way tie between the teams.

If Uruguay can win their last game over red hot Argentina, who may rest their key players against their neighbors to the east. Uruguay can clinch a spot with a win coupled with a Canadian win over the Dominicans.

Canada just laid down a beat down on Mexico in the 2009 FIBA Americas Tournament.

Canada won their first match of the tournament, laying an emphatic 95-40 win over Mexico, a victory margin of 55 points.

Coming into the game, Canada was favored to win, but no one expected the slaughter we saw today. Five Canadian players scored in double-figures led by Andy Rautins’ 18 points and Carl English‘s 17 points.  Together they hit 11-16 three point tries.

NBA player Joel Anthony and Jermaine Bucknor added 11 points, and Olu Famutimi ahd 10 for the winners, who led by 28 points at halftime.

The Canadians shot an amazing 59% from behind the arc, hitting 19 three-pointers out of 33 attempts.

Mexico shot just 21.7% from the field, missing 47 of their 60 shots and were outrebounded by 51-36.  Mexico’s leading scorer was Noe Alonso Chavez with just 10 points.  The normally-reliable Romel Beck was held to just three points on 1-9 shooting.

Discuss the game in our Canada-Mexico thread.

Event: 2009 Americas Championships
Location: San Juan, Puerto Rico
Discuss: Americas Championships Thread
Info: The tournament will determine which four teams qualify for the 2010 FIBA World Championships of Basketball.

The tournament will feature ten teams from Northern and Latin Americas: Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Panama, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

The favorites coming into the tournament is a solid Brazil team and the experienced Argentinians.

Brazil dominated the Tuto Marchand Cup with great efficiency with even contributions from Leandro Barbosa and Marcelo Machado in the backcourt, and Anderson Varejão and Tiago Splitter in the frontcourt.

Despite 2007 Americas MVP Luis Scola down low, Argentina didn’t fare as well in the Marchand Cup (0-3), but were without the services of Pablo Prigioni, who will join the team and run the point.

With Prigioni, Scola, as well as Federico Kammerichs and Leonardo Gutiérrez, team Argentina is still a power even without Manu Ginobili, Andres Nocioni, Carlos Delfino, and Fabricio Oberto.

The unproven Dominican Republic team have looked great in preparation games and is the dark horse of the tournament.  The team maybe the best team RD has ever assembled and features three current NBA players in Francisco García, Al Horford, and Charlie Villanueva.

The three top contenders for gold, Argentina, Brazil and the Dominican Republic, will all compete in a very difficult Group B.  The other two teams are Panama, who is no slouch either and Venezuela.

In Group A, look for Puerto Rico to give out a good fight, especially playing at home, with veteran mainstays Larry Ayuso, Carlos Arroyo, and Daniel Santiago.

Canada will compete with swingmen Carl English, Andy Rautins with NBA player Joel Anthony in the middle.  The other three teams are Uruguay, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Mexico without Eduardo Najera.

The United States will not send a team to the tournament after receiving an automatic bid to the World Championships by winning the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The United States won the 2007 Americas Championship held in Las Vegas by going undefeated in their ten games.  The USA was led by Carmelo Anthony’s 21.3 points and LeBron James‘ all-around game and blistering 76% from the field (73-96 FG). Argentina captured the silver medal, and Puerto Rico defeated Brazil for the bronze medal.

This year’s Championships will feature several other high profile players including Romel Beck (Mexico), Esteban Batista (Uruguay), Luis Flores (Dominican Republic), Levon Kendall (Canada), Héctor Romero (Venezuela), and Óscar Torres (Venezuela).

Carl English shoots a jumper at the Puerto Rico Marchand Cup (AP)” src=”http://www.interbasket.net/news/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/carl-english-jumper.jpg” alt=”Canada’s Carl English shoots a jumper at the Puerto Rico Marchand Cup (AP)” width=”200″ height=”279″ />

The Tuto Marchand Cup commenced yesterday at the Coliseo de Puerto Rico José Miguel Agrelot.

The tournament features four-nations, Argentina, Brazil, Canada and Puerto Rico, in three straight days of games in prepartion for the FIBA Tournament of Americas.

(Discuss Tuto Marchand Cup in our forum)

Argentina lost to Brazil 91-76 led by Leandro Barbosa‘s 18 points and 7 rebounds.  The Brazilians built upon their lead after each period as Team Argentina couldn’t shoot straight.

Outside of Luis Scola‘s 10-19 from the field, his Argentinian teammates were a combined 15-56, shooting just 26% for the game.

Tiago Splitter added 14 points 9 rebounds, 3 assists and Marcelo Machado had 11 points 7 rebounds and 6 assists for Brazil. Scola led Argentina with 28 points and six rebounds.

Puerto Rico defeated Canada 59-55 behind Larry Ayuso‘s 13 points. The Canadian loss could be attributed on a dismal second quarter in which they scored just four points. After a free throw by Andy Rautins and a three pointer by Tyler Kepkay, Canada wouldn’t score another point in the final 8:20 of the quarter.

However, the Canadians “exploded” for 27 points in the third to bring them within five points, 49-44, but another low-scoring quarter in the fourth would keep Puerto Rico on top.

Daniel Santiago had 7 points and 10 rebounds, and Filiberto Rivera added 6 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists for Puerto Rico.  Carl English was the top scorer for Canada with 14 points.  Carlos Arroyo suffered an injury as was limited to just 14 scoreless minutes.

The schedule and rosters for the three-day friendly tournament looks like this:

Aug 18: Argentina vs. Brazil
Aug 18: Puerto Rico vs. Canada
Aug 19: Canada vs. Argentina
Aug 19; Puerto Rico vs. Brazil
Aug 20: Brazil vs. Canada
Aug 20; Puerto Rico vs. Argentina

Argentina: Juan Pablo Cantero and Pablo Prigioni (PG); Paolo Quinteros and Diego Garcнa (SG); Sebastiбn Matнas Sandes and Federico Kammerichs (SF); Luis Scola, Leonardo Gutiйrrez, Leonardo Mainoldi and Andrйs Pelussi (PF); Romбn Gonzбlez and Juan Pedro Gutiйrrez (C).

Brasil: Duda Machado and Marcelo Huertas (PG); Alex Garcia, Diego Pinheiro, Jonathan Tavernari and Leandrinho Barbosa (SG); Guilherme Giovannoni and Marcelinho Machado (SF); Alexandre “Olivinha” and Anderson Varejão (PF); Joгo Paulo Batista and Tiago Splitter (C).

Canada: Jermaine Anderson, Tyler Kepkay and Ryan Bell (PG); Carl English and Andy Rautins (SG); Jermaine Bucknor, Olu Famutimi and Jevohn Shepherd (SF); Aaron Doornekamp, Kyle Landry and Joel Anthony (PF); Jesse Young; Levon Kendall and Phil Martin (C).

Puerto Rico: Carlos Arroyo, Filiberto Rivera, Christian Dalmau and Guillermo Dнaz (PG); Larry Ayuso, Joel Jones and Jesse Pellot-Rosa (SG); A.D. Vassallo and Carmelo Lee (SF); Бngelo Reyes, Ricky Sбnchez and Alex Falcуn (PF); Daniel Santiago (C).

The Marchand Cup is the final preparations before the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship that start August 26, 2009.