WC 2019 Power Rankings

[Rodrigue Beaubois]

Based on suspected full rosters:

1. USA
2. Spain
3. France (Aside from USA, deepest roster together with Spain)
4. Serbia
5. Australia (Amazing team at the last Olympics)
6. Greece (Chemistry will be important, but with Giannis on the team I can not rank them lower thank the fourth team in Europe).
7. Lithuania (if you ask me they have over performed in the last decade due to excellent chemistry, but this was not always the case. So I picked a balanced position)
8. Canada (Have not beaten any of the above teams yet)
9. Germany (Germany seems to be on the rise judging from recent tournaments)
10.Italy ( lacks depth, but first 5 can be dangerous)
11.Brazil (decent rooster)
12.Argentina
13.Turkey (Struggling new generation lacks depth and misses Enes Kanter)
14. New Zealand
15. Nigeria
16. Puerto Rico
17. China (home court)

I honestly don't know how you can put any team except USA in front of Serbia, if every team has a full roster. Expected full roster for Serbia is something like this:

PG Teodosic, Micic, Jovic
SG Bogdanovic, Nedovic, Milosavljevic/Guduric
SF Kalinic, Lucic
PF Bjelica
C Jokic, Milutinov, Marjanovic

This team is stacked.

[Italian Pride]

I honestly don't know how you can put any team except USA in front of Serbia, if every team has a full roster. Expected full roster for Serbia is something like this:

PG Teodosic, Micic, Jovic
SG Bogdanovic, Nedovic, Milosavljevic/Guduric
SF Kalinic, Lucic
PF Bjelica
C Jokic, Milutinov, Marjanovic

This team is stacked.

With this roster jovic will ne 11th e milutinov 12 th

Only USA has this deep

Their bench players would play in the starting 5 of 28-30 team in the next FIBA world cup

I m pretty sure that nedovic ,micic and jovic would play like starter in lithuania team and micic also in french team in my opinion

Only in spain ,USA and Serbia they would not have a main role in the Foster

2nd starting 5 of Serbia could be:

Micic-Nedovic-Guduric-Lucic-Marjanovic

4 EL players and one NBA players

My personal ranking

1 USA
2 Serbia
3 spain(with gasols ,llull and chacho)
4Australia(if ben Simmons and bogut join they will be a very balanced team,with great wings like Simmons,ingles ,two big man like baynes and bogut and very good guards like della vedova and Patty mills)
5 Canada(with full roster they could be alsoLithuaniadium,bit chemistry is a great doubt with this NT)
6 Lithuania
7 France
8Greece/Italy/Turkey/Germany/Russia are more or less on the same level

[okanial]

Based on suspected full rosters:

1. USA
2. Spain
3. France (Aside from USA, deepest roster together with Spain)
4. Serbia
5. Australia (Amazing team at the last Olympics)
6. Greece (Chemistry will be important, but with Giannis on the team I can not rank them lower thank the fourth team in Europe).
7. Lithuania (if you ask me they have over performed in the last decade due to excellent chemistry, but this was not always the case. So I picked a balanced position)
8. Canada (Have not beaten any of the above teams yet)
9. Germany (Germany seems to be on the rise judging from recent tournaments)
10.Italy ( lacks depth, but first 5 can be dangerous)
11.Brazil (decent rooster)
12.Argentina
13.Turkey (Struggling new generation lacks depth and misses Enes Kanter)
14. New Zealand
15. Nigeria
16. Puerto Rico
17. China (home court)

We are not missing Kanter at this point considering we never had him to begin with. I liked how we played in last European chapmionship and now we have a much better Osman a slightly better Korkmaz and a little worse Ilyasova which makes the team still better.

[Efesdxb]

We are not missing Kanter at this point considering we never had him to begin with. I liked how we played in last European chapmionship and now we have a much better Osman a slightly better Korkmaz and a little worse Ilyasova which makes the team still better.

Ersan is much better than previous years. Don't look at the stats only. He can now play 5 and we have lot of flexibility.

[okanial]

Ersan is much better than previous years. Don't look at the stats only. He can now play 5 and we have lot of flexibility.

Not looking at stats and I like him at 5. But he seems kinda slower.

I think biggest problem for us is for the first time we have a good offensive team and a mediocre defensive team. We always succeeded with our defense before. It will be interesting to see how we cope with that. Wilbekin-Mahmutoğlu-Korkmaz-Osman-Ilyasova five is really good offensively but really bad defensivly and I think that will be our main 5

[Efesdxb]

Not looking at stats and I like him at 5. But he seems kinda slower.

I think biggest problem for us is for the first time we have a good offensive team and a mediocre defensive team. We always succeeded with our defense before. It will be interesting to see how we cope with that. Wilbekin-Mahmutoğlu-Korkmaz-Osman-Ilyasova five is really good offensively but really bad defensivly and I think that will be our main 5

Probably we will start Wilbekin-Melih/Furkan-Cedi-Ersan-Semih. We'd better talk about our defensive strength after roster announced.
My roster would be:

Wilbekin-Dogus-Kartal
Furkan-Melih
Cedi-Tolga
Ersan-Berkan-Metecan
Semih-Sertac

[Victorious]

We are not missing Kanter at this point considering we never had him to begin with. I liked how we played in last European chapmionship and now we have a much better Osman a slightly better Korkmaz and a little worse Ilyasova which makes the team still better.

Korkmaz is playing for the Development league. Usually players are a disappointment when they come back to Europe from that league. He would have developed more playing for Efes or Darussafaka. I remember Turkey being more stacked at every position. Asik was a beast under the rim. The new guys do not compensate for that. Kanter is the most successful player of the new generation and desperately needed. He should have been part of the team. Regardless of his political convictions or whether he believes in UFO's.

[okanial]

Korkmaz is playing for the Development league. Usually players are a disappointment when they come back to Europe from that league. He would have developed more playing for Efes or Darussafaka. I remember Turkey being more stacked at every position. Asik was a beast under the rim. The new guys do not compensate for that. Kanter is the most successful player of the new generation and desperately needed. He should have been part of the team. Regardless of his political convictions or whether he believes in UFO's.

Probably we will start Wilbekin-Melih/Furkan-Cedi-Ersan-Semih. We'd better talk about our defensive strength after roster announced.
My roster would be:

Wilbekin-Dogus-Kartal
Furkan-Melih
Cedi-Tolga
Ersan-Berkan-Metecan
Semih-Sertac

Id try to include Ömer Faruk or Egemen Güven instead of Sertaç. Other than that maybe Kartal can be replaced with Berk depends which one is better at the moment.

Korkmaz is not playing in the development league he is injured. Before the injury he was playing okay but in 6ers he had a tough time to shine. I think he will stay in NBA most teams would like a cheap young guy with upside. Cavs can be a good destination for him tbh. And Cedi is a much better talent than Kanter. I wish we had him, or Aşık but missing Cedi would hurt much more than an old school center since we have Erden who always outperforms in tournaments and can use Ersan at 5

[Efesdxb]

Id try to include Ömer Faruk or Egemen Güven instead of Sertaç. Other than that maybe Kartal can be replaced with Berk depends which one is better at the moment.

Korkmaz is not playing in the development league he is injured. Before the injury he was playing okay but in 6ers he had a tough time to shine. I think he will stay in NBA most teams would like a cheap young guy with upside. Cavs can be a good destination for him tbh. And Cedi is a much better talent than Kanter. I wish we had him, or Aşık but missing Cedi would hurt much more than an old school center since we have Erden who always outperforms in tournaments and can use Ersan at 5

As far as I know Omer Faruk Yurtseven didn't play a single competitive game due to changing university last summer. He moved from North Carolina State to Georgetown.
That's why he might not be on the roster. Otherwise he would be my choice as well.

[Steadysoul]

Truthfully the rankings don't really matter that much. What does matter is who will actually qualify for the olympics.

[micko]

if everyone plays, including Giannis, Jokic, Marjanovic, Wiggins, RJ Barrett, T.Thompson, B.Simmons, Bogut, Gobert, both Gasols... it will be something like this, imho:
1. USA
2. Greece
3. Serbia
4. Canada
5. Australia
6. Lithuania
7. France
8. Spain
9. Germany
10. Turkey

[mojo13]

if everyone plays, including Giannis, Jokic, Marjanovic, Wiggins, RJ Barrett, T.Thompson, B.Simmons, Bogut, Gobert, both Gasols... it will be something like this, imho:
1. USA
2. Greece
3. Serbia
4. Canada
5. Australia
6. Lithuania
7. France
8. Spain
9. Germany
10. Turkey

I'm following the Canadian and Australian media fairly closely.

The main Australian writers are very skeptical that Ben Simmons will play, but the rest of their 13 odd NBA players all seem ready and willing to play (except Dante Exum who is injured). The chance to play the USA on home soil has to be a big draw for players - word is they may get 90,000 crowds per game.

With Canada we still feel Andrew Wiggins is unlikely. Toronto media asked him directly a few weeks ago if he was going to play - and the best he could say is that "he is open to it". I'd peg it at a 30% chance that he plays but I'm personally am not worried about it as he could hurt the team more than help. We think Trey Lyles is very unlikely as well (but he is not in my top 5 bigs anyways). Dillon Brooks is uncertain due to injury (but possible). RJ Barrett is still questionable due to rookie commitments, but if he can find a way to play he will (he is very tied into Canada Basketball). And the rest all seem to have indicated they want to play. We have a number of unrestricted free agents like Cory Joseph and Nik Stuaskas (and a RFA in Khem Birch) - but with the late summer start hopefully they are cleared up by then. Any time someone changes teams it puts some added risk into the mix. The key players for Canada are Jamal Murray, Kelly Olynyk, Shai Gilgeous Alexander, Dwight Powell, Cory Joseph, Khem Birch and Tristan Thompson who all seem to want to play.

[Roofman]

To Mojo

I have been following things fairly carefully especially in the Aus, but also in other international media, including the Canadian media occasionally. Before addressing line ups, don't you think it is strange that both teams are playing teams in their pool before the real event.... ? In soccer/football it is considered unacceptable to do so. Basically both teams will play hard, but try to avoid showing their cards before the main show, which would aid Lithuania and other opponents...Fwiw, this is a hard lesson Australia learnt during the Barry Barnes era of the 1990s, when they would lose to the same opponents in the Worlds after beating them in the Goodwill Games. Brett Brown was an Australian assistant at that time, there was an article some years ago on this, can't be bothered finding this, bottom line, read comparatively little into results of friendlies/exhibition games.

Speaking of coaching, what is the Canadian situation with your men's NT coach? I feel that building a NT and have a coach impose his style/team rules/system takes a lot longer in NT play than at club level. This is why I feel Roy Rana would be your best bet right now, compared to say Herbert, Scott Morrison or a Euro/NBA person with links to Canadian basketball. At least Roy did the job in the qualifiers, should get the call for the real thing. Also, (and I know this has been covered in some of your other threads before), but surely internationally experienced players including Wiltjier, Pangos and the Scrubb brothers better fill roles than some of the role playing NBA bretheren above...?

As for Australia, virtually all NBA players want to play for the NT. Simmons hasn't played for the NT since being a 17 year old in 2013, although I get the feeling that he would like to play. He has a contract re-negotiation coming up, although a September start shouldn't preclude him from camp. He was pissed some years ago about getting cut from the 2014 team from current coach Lemanis, although insiders mentioned that he was absolutely banged around in practice and not in a position to help then. Hopefully he has gotten over himself, while I hear Larry Kestleman (Australian NBL owner) will pay for his insurance and maybe other little benefits if he agrees to play. A wrinkle here is that Kestleman's negotiated the Aus/USA series and with exclusive media rights, has a vested interest in Simmons playing.

As for the team on court, I feel that Simmons would essentially need to play as a mobile 5, who would handle the ball a lot, especially in transition, which is where the biggest mismatches are and also considering most of Australia's key players (Mills, Dellavedova, Ingles, Broekhoff) are at the guard and small forward positions. According to Lemanis and other team insiders (Luc Longley, Mich Downer), there will definitely be a need for Brock Motum, Mitch Creek and Australian NBL players to perform specific roles, often at the expense of NBA players. Nick Kay (all NBL first team), Nathan Sobey and Mitch McCarron come to mind here.

In terms of selection and coaching, probably the biggest issue facing Australia Simmons or no Simmons is the role of the bigs. Expect Aron Baynes to start or at least play significant minutes every game. Bogut too has shown that, properly rested, he is not yet a corpse and can help for say 10 mins a game, although pairing him with Simmons, were this to happen, would be a stretch. That leaves Motum, Creek (who plays bigger than his 197cms), and some collection of say, Thon Maker, Jonah Bolden, the aforementioned Kay and other NBL prospects. According to many, Kay is more polished than Maker and Bolden now, but putting myself in the coaches shoes, I feel one of Maker or Bolden at least will be selected to give the team some X-factor it otherwise might lack. This is a coaching challenge too, because Lemanis, while I feel a competent coach, takes considerable time to build a team (witness him at club level with NZ Breakers and Brisbane where some said he could have been fired earlier in his tenure), and integrating players who haven't played qualifiers may mean Australia take a step back in the short term with projects, for longer gain gain.

[mojo13]

To Mojo

I have been following things fairly carefully especially in the Aus, but also in other international media, including the Canadian media occasionally. Before addressing line ups, don't you think it is strange that both teams are playing teams in their pool before the real event.... ? In soccer/football it is considered unacceptable to do so. Basically both teams will play hard, but try to avoid showing their cards before the main show, which would aid Lithuania and other opponents...Fwiw, this is a hard lesson Australia learnt during the Barry Barnes era of the 1990s, when they would lose to the same opponents in the Worlds after beating them in the Goodwill Games. Brett Brown was an Australian assistant at that time, there was an article some years ago on this, can't be bothered finding this, bottom line, read comparatively little into results of friendlies/exhibition games.

Speaking of coaching, what is the Canadian situation with your men's NT coach? I feel that building a NT and have a coach impose his style/team rules/system takes a lot longer in NT play than at club level. This is why I feel Roy Rana would be your best bet right now, compared to say Herbert, Scott Morrison or a Euro/NBA person with links to Canadian basketball. At least Roy did the job in the qualifiers, should get the call for the real thing. Also, (and I know this has been covered in some of your other threads before), but surely internationally experienced players including Wiltjier, Pangos and the Scrubb brothers better fill roles than some of the role playing NBA bretheren above...?

As for Australia, virtually all NBA players want to play for the NT. Simmons hasn't played for the NT since being a 17 year old in 2013, although I get the feeling that he would like to play. He has a contract re-negotiation coming up, although a September start shouldn't preclude him from camp. He was pissed some years ago about getting cut from the 2014 team from current coach Lemanis, although insiders mentioned that he was absolutely banged around in practice and not in a position to help then. Hopefully he has gotten over himself, while I hear Larry Kestleman (Australian NBL owner) will pay for his insurance and maybe other little benefits if he agrees to play. A wrinkle here is that Kestleman's negotiated the Aus/USA series and with exclusive media rights, has a vested interest in Simmons playing.

As for the team on court, I feel that Simmons would essentially need to play as a mobile 5, who would handle the ball a lot, especially in transition, which is where the biggest mismatches are and also considering most of Australia's key players (Mills, Dellavedova, Ingles, Broekhoff) are at the guard and small forward positions. According to Lemanis and other team insiders (Luc Longley, Mich Downer), there will definitely be a need for Brock Motum, Mitch Creek and Australian NBL players to perform specific roles, often at the expense of NBA players. Nick Kay (all NBL first team), Nathan Sobey and Mitch McCarron come to mind here.

In terms of selection and coaching, probably the biggest issue facing Australia Simmons or no Simmons is the role of the bigs. Expect Aron Baynes to start or at least play significant minutes every game. Bogut too has shown that, properly rested, he is not yet a corpse and can help for say 10 mins a game, although pairing him with Simmons, were this to happen, would be a stretch. That leaves Motum, Creek (who plays bigger than his 197cms), and some collection of say, Thon Maker, Jonah Bolden, the aforementioned Kay and other NBL prospects. According to many, Kay is more polished than Maker and Bolden now, but putting myself in the coaches shoes, I feel one of Maker or Bolden at least will be selected to give the team some X-factor it otherwise might lack. This is a coaching challenge too, because Lemanis, while I feel a competent coach, takes considerable time to build a team (witness him at club level with NZ Breakers and Brisbane where some said he could have been fired earlier in his tenure), and integrating players who haven't played qualifiers may mean Australia take a step back in the short term with projects, for longer gain gain.

Thanks for the detailed insight, this is great. My commentary on Simmons comes from seeing Olgun Uluc (Fox Sports AU) and Damien Arsenis (Pick and Roll) mention a few times they thought it was very unlikely he’d play.

I heard the Australia v Canada exhibition was set up well before the pools were drawn and something Canada and Australia were trying to do for years. Maybe a commonwealth thing? Despite drawing into the same pool they decided to go through with it. I assume there was good money involved especially with the amount of NBA talent involved.

I was really thinking Roy Rana would be named coach by now for the reasons you described above. Most fans I interact with are still hoping so, but this delay in naming a coach really has me concerned. I’m not hearing any other names right now. But also haven’t heard a thing in a few weeks now.

I absolutely think we will have 3-5 of our top Euro pros on this team filling in crucial rolls around a core of 6-8 NBA players. And as you said they may well be more valuable than end of the bench NBA guys.
Melvin Ejim is an virtual lock as a very versatile undersized big who can play some wing. He’s been excellent for Canada whenever he’s played over the last 5 years. After that it will depend on the role needed, but the most likely candidates are Kevin Pangos, Tommy Scrubb, Phil Scrubb, Kyle Wiltjer and maybe Brady Heslip.
Andrew Nicholson is out there as well but we are deep at the 4. Tyler Ennis would be in the mix at PG but his severe injury with Fener probably keeps him out. Dylan Ennis is another I’d like to see involved but he hasnt the last few years and it might be too late at this point. We had 35 guys play in the Qualfiers so there are a slew of others that could sneak in to fill a role, but it Is highly like it will be the guys mentioned above.

[Steadysoul]

Thanks for the detailed insight, this is great. My commentary on Simmons comes from seeing Olgun Uluc (Fox Sports AU) and Damien Arsenis (Pick and Roll) mention a few times they thought it was very unlikely he’d play.

I heard the Australia v Canada exhibition was set up well before the pools were drawn and something Canada and Australia were trying to do for years. Maybe a commonwealth thing? Despite drawing into the same pool they decided to go through with it. I assume there was good money involved especially with the amount of NBA talent involved.

I was really thinking Roy Rana would be named coach by now for the reasons you described above. Most fans I interact with are still hoping so, but this delay in naming a coach really has me concerned. I’m not hearing any other names right now. But also haven’t heard a thing in a few weeks now.

I absolutely think we will have 3-5 of our top Euro pros on this team filling in crucial rolls around a core of 6-8 NBA players. And as you said they may well be more valuable than end of the bench NBA guys.
Melvin Ejim is an virtual lock as a very versatile undersized big who can play some wing. He’s been excellent for Canada whenever he’s played over the last 5 years. After that it will depend on the role needed, but the most likely candidates are Kevin Pangos, Tommy Scrubb, Phil Scrubb, Kyle Wiltjer and maybe Brady Heslip.
Andrew Nicholson is out there as well but we are deep at the 4. Tyler Ennis would be in the mix at PG but his severe injury with Fener probably keeps him out. Dylan Ennis is another I’d like to see involved but he hasnt the last few years and it might be too late at this point. We had 35 guys play in the Qualfiers so there are a slew of others that could sneak in to fill a role, but it Is highly like it will be the guys mentioned above.

What is the deal with Canada and this Coach search?
I swear there was a self imposed deadline like 3 weeks ago. I would have assumed they would have picked someone by the end of the NBA regular season so they could hit the ground running in terms of reaching out to players.