FIBA World Cup Qualifiers: Rate your level of confidence

[Dtown]

The FIBA qualifiers are going to be interesting, namely that for top level national teams almost no one is going to field their A team, and for the elite of the elite a D team is most likely.

So on a scale of 1 to 10 how to you rate your national team's chances of making it through to the World Cup,

1 Being something like the Bahamas in the Americas
10 Being something like Australia in Asia/Oceania.

For me the Americas tournament isn't done yet, but the US has been...okay. This is with the knowledge that the qualifier team could be weaker, still the strength of the US is it's absolute depth. I don't think they'll finish 1st, but seven spots should be more than enough to get in.

So I'd rate us a 7.

[Mojado]

Mexico actually has a strong core of players playing in the LNBP. If ADEMEBA is able to fly in Gutierrez, Cruz Ayon and Perez from Europe...well Ayon is with Real so he might be out of the picture but Perez, Cruz and Gutierrez do the trick so there is quality there to make it to the World Cup. I rate Mexico 8 just because Ayon is missing. Not sure if Stoll is needed these days...

[mojo13]

Mexico actually has a strong core of players playing in the LNBP. If ADEMEBA is able to fly in Gutierrez, Cruz Ayon and Perez from Europe...well Ayon is with Real so he might be out of the picture but Perez, Cruz and Gutierrez do the trick so there is quality there to make it to the World Cup. I rate Mexico 8 just because Ayon is missing. Not sure if Stoll is needed these days...

Ya Mexico has a nice advantage of most of their core in their domestic league and familiarity with each other. I like their chances.

My Canada on the other hand is quite the mystery. We now have the advantage of some really good depth, but I just don't know what will will have available.
The Americup I think was supposed to be the core team for the Qualifiers but even that I am unsure. That team was good enough to win the AmeriCup if they wanted any prep time. But Andrew Nicholson just signed in China and we could very much lose him, and our front line depth was horrible at the AmeriCup (good guards though). Xavier Rathan Mayes could very well make the NY Knicks for all I know (he looked really good in the AmeriCup). However there could many, many good players for us to add to that AmerCup squad from the G-League or on Champions League teams in Europe. Some of those guys include:

Dillon Brooks - maybe G league, maybe NBA
Thomas Scrubb - Italy Champions League team
Phil Scrubb - BBL (but coming off an injury so doubtful)
Anthony Bennett (unknown what he is doing)
Kyle Wiltjer - likely G League (long shot NBA)
Naz Long - likeley G League
Chris Boucher - G League
Melvin Ejim - Russia, Eurocup team. Doubt he will be released.
Jordan Bachynski - ACB (but coming off an injury so doubtful)
Robert Sacre - Japan
Khem Birch - maybe G League, maybe NBA
Sim Bhullar - China

Not many of these will likely be available, but just give me 1 or 2 of these guys to our AmeriCup team and we will have a very good chance. We also have many strong recruits from the NBA during those summer windows. I am sure some guys like Kelly Olynyk, Kevin Pangos, Cory Joseph, Dwight Powell, Tristan Thompson, Jamal Murray, Nik Stuaskas, Tyler Ennis, or others could show up then (Lyles? Doornekamp? RJ Barrett?). Cripes maybe even Andrew Wiggins would show up...

Of course we always have poor familiarity with each other and FIBA rules, but hopefully we have helped our usually poor coaching with Roy Rana now at the helm and can overwhelm some teams with talent alone.

Overall I think we are a 7 beacuse of the depth of talent we could reach to. I'd be surprised if we didn't qualify, but it is a realistic possibility because this in-season process such a mess.

[Hepcat]

My Canada on the other hand is quite the mystery. We now have the advantage of some really good depth, but I just don't know what will will have available.

Will these qualifying games be played in the same "windows" used by the European national teams? If so, Canadians playing in Europe with non-Euroleague teams could play but of course they'd be jet-lagged. I'm also wondering whether players from NBL of Canada teams will be able to participate. Nothing's clear to me right now.

[mojo13]

Will these qualifying games be played in the same "windows" used by the European national teams? If so, Canadians playing in Europe with non-Euroleague teams could play but of course they'd be jet-lagged. I'm also wondering whether players from NBL of Canada teams will be able to participate. Nothing's clear to me right now.

Yes...same windows. The expectation is some guys will come back from Europe and if released form their teams. So that means no EuroLeague guys (Pangos, Doornekamp) and unknown on any EuroCup guys (Ejim). But guys like Hanlan, Scrubb bros, Pierre, Heslip should be available (note the injury issues with the Scrubbs above).

The AmeriCup team from my understanding was supposed to be guys who can and will play in the Qualifiers and was meant to be a training exhibition for them. However there are still unknowns with a few of them (Nicholson, XRM) - a couple others were also Free Agents so things could change as they sign club deals..
The guys mentioned above may or may not be restricted to play from their clubs or just decide not to play (injuries, travel time etc.). I am hoping we get a couple re-enforcements from the list above (especially bigs). Anthony Bennett for example was supposedly injured during the AmeriCup (ankle) and may play in November.

Hopefully XRM, Hanlan, Heslip, Pierre, J. Anthony, Nicholson are the core with a few more added. Nicholson is now a wild card though.

[Dtown]

After the team has been announced I'm going to downgrade my confidence to a 6. The core of the FIBAs Americas championship team is there, but not much else, now that team went undefeated and won the title but it wasn't easy by any stretch.

[Terrorizer]

3 or 4 out of 10. Our chances for qualification are not nonexistent but still slim. We're in a tough first group (in which we can easily end at the very bottom) and the level of dedication from everyone involved - federation, players, general public - is once again low. Generally, this doesn't end good for Russia. We ar enot USA to sleepwalk through this phase. It seems that mentally we are back to that disgusting period between London Olympics and last EB's qualification. A roster which was assembled is more than decent though but the spark is definitely not there.

[CHBB]

I'm actually very confident in this US squad. It's so much stronger than the Americup team it's not even funny without losing many of the players from that squad. A lot of these guys were in fights for possible NBA spots during Americup and are now freed up to play. I'm especially happy about the additions of Donald Sloan, Markel Brown, and Amile Jefferson. Sloan can flat out score and is a decent facilitator while Brown and Jefferson are glue guys who play the game the right way. Adding some size down low with guys like Kennedy Meeks was also a good move. We're still not huge but big enough imo.

[Dtown]

If the US has the same (or at least similar) lineup, I'd bump us up to an 8. Puerto Rico looks to be the next best team in our group and we get them at home next window. If the US is smart they'll put that game in an Indiana or Portland.

[pohani komarac]

Fun Fact: From day one people in Croatian bb federation and coach him self are saying they don't belive we will qualify

Now that's the spirit