WC 2019 Power Rankings

[usagre]

And it’s the optics of Klay and Durant getting seriously injured that’s fresh in everyone’s mind. Load management is the new trend. And the World Cup which is not even the Olympics probably qualifies as a load that can be sacraficed.

[usagre]

Somebody has to cheer for Yagmur The Kofta Shake Master ����

We will see. I think we are peaking now and in Tokyo 2020. After that we will have significant dropoff especially at PF and PG positions

I remember us talking about Jokic a few years back and in my wildest dreams I wouldn’t have predicted he would turn into this. He is a top 10 player in the NBA at his age already. Unbelievable. If you look back at those discussions you’ll see Terrorizer minimizing his abilities and somehow Viktor Khyrapa was mentioned in the same sentence. That’s even more unbelievable. He scares me in a one and done game against the USA. Just look at his monster game 3 years ago against us when he was a baby. Draymond’s excellent defense saved us on a critical possession against him late in the game.

[usagre]

And if Anthony Davis doesn’t participate his absence is a big hit. The trio of Lillard, Harden and Davis rounded out with any combination of the other 20 players on that preliminary roster would have been almost a lock to win this tournament. But now they will still be the heavy favorite but definitely can be beaten in a one and done by Serbia. Honestly I don’t think Spain or France would have enough or Canada if they sent their best possible most talented roster.

[CoachZ]

I remember us talking about Jokic a few years back and in my wildest dreams I wouldn’t have predicted he would turn into this. He is a top 10 player in the NBA at his age already. Unbelievable. If you look back at those discussions you’ll see Terrorizer minimizing his abilities and somehow Viktor Khyrapa was mentioned in the same sentence. That’s even more unbelievable. He scares me in a one and done game against the USA. Just look at his monster game 3 years ago against us when he was a baby. Draymond’s excellent defense saved us on a critical possession against him late in the game.

And to be honest that is not even his biggest improvement since 2017, when he really emerged. It's his defensive awareness. He is now a very capable defender overall, with the only issue being mental that sometimes he gets into foul trouble or gets ejected (didn't show up in the playoffs). He moves much better already, even though he can improve his conditioning a lot. He rotates pretty well, managed to zone switch effectively, plays help side well. The issue is still if he gets isolated on high PnR, then I think I can put the guys I am comfortable being there at the center position in the NBA on one hand. It's all up to him now basically, and the injury gods. If he keeps the work ethic and steers of catastrophic injuries, he will challenge Dirk as the best European ever (even though I believe he will never be that level of a scorer, but is much more well-rounded and important to the team).

Regarding Terrorizer, he often has controversial things to say and I don't know why. He is an intelligent guy that sometimes feels a bit bitter about some players and goes out of his way to talk them down.

[CoachZ]

And if Anthony Davis doesn’t participate his absence is a big hit. The trio of Lillard, Harden and Davis rounded out with any combination of the other 20 players on that preliminary roster would have been almost a lock to win this tournament. But now they will still be the heavy favorite but definitely can be beaten in a one and done by Serbia. Honestly I don’t think Spain or France would have enough or Canada if they sent their best possible most talented roster.

Serbia has issues that will show up vs Team USA, that were not as aware in the previous competitions we have played in. Just to list a few:

- Teodosic will not have played a competitive basketball game in 8 months by the time we start seeing the friendlies. He is physically in the worst shape I have ever seen him and he shows absolutely no effort to do something about it. A lot of talk by him and journalists that he is taking time to heal up etc. bla bla. The truth is that his injury has healed some time ago and he should be training and getting back into shape with a professional team. That is not happening, to the best of my knowledge. While his tour of restaurants and BBQ joints with buddies is full on He will be a creative powerhouse always, since he has that and will never lose it, but I am quite concerned that his shot will suffer a lot due to his legs. There is still time to get into decent shape, but knowing him, I am not expecting it to happen.

- Jovic is coming off a miserable season and has lost a spot as the No. 2 in PG rotation in my opinion. That is not a big deal in itself, since Micic has emerged and is a much more well-rounded player and one of the best in EL at his position. Still, Teo and Jovic play well together as dual PG lineup which we use a lot and have chemistry over the years. Jovic's defense is key since he mandhandles ball dominant guards, and he was used to hide Teodosic on defense in games when there is facing a monster at his position. Teo and Micic in a lineup, doesn't look that appealing to me to be honest.

- We are thin at PF spot in depth. It has been our weakspot for years though, so this is not a new one. If Bjelica gets injured, or in any way is playing badly, we will have a huge issue at the position. If Bjelica can carry the load with 30 minutes a game at the position, and stay fully healthy, then it's a non issue. The way it looks now, we have no true PFs behind him on the roster. Our 12 man roster will most probably include 3 centers (Jokic, Milutinov, Marjanovic), 6 guards (Teodosic, Micic, Bogdanovic, Nedovic and 2 out of the trio of Guduric, Jovic, Milosavljevic), so that leaves room for 3 forwards (Bjelica, Kalinic, Lucic). So basically Bjelica, and two 3/4 hybrids in Kalinic and Lucic. Since Guduric and Milosavljevic are able to play the SF equally as well as the SG spot, that means these two will have to pick up the slack on the PF spot behind Bjelica, and that is a concern for me vs USA, and I truly hope that Djordjevic doesn't get crazy ideas like playing Jokic next to Milutinov or Bobi

- Coaching. This will be an issue in a game vs USA. I don't trust Djordjevic and I think he has failed in his gameplan in the 2017 Eurobasket Finals, 2015 Eurobasket Semis, as well as both games vs Team USA in the 2014 and 2016 Finals. I have serious doubts that he can put together something that will throw Popovich out of rhythm.

[JGX]

Nick Nurse confirms he is likely to coach Canada:

https://www.si.com/nba/2019/06/16/nick-nurse-plans-coach-team-canada-raptors

[Straight forward]

Nick Nurse confirms he is likely to coach Canada:
https://www.si.com/nba/2019/06/16/ni...canada-raptors

Well, Valanciunas will have extra motivation to perform well against Canada

[mojo13]

https://twitter.com/ArashMadani/status/1140622228180131840

Looks like Wiggins is going to play.
I'm a little skeptical on Wiggins but it addresses our depth at the wing. Hopefully Nurse can find a way to maximize his strengths and limit his weaknesses.

[madmax]

I'm not so sure having Wiggins in FIBA will be a net positive for Team Canada instead of being most likely a net negative..besides his physical tools, a guy just has no idea how to play a winning team basketball

[usagre]

If Wiggins commits it’s a huge plus for Canada. There aren’t that many scorers like him on the FIBA level. He shot about 50% from three coming off his rookie year in the summer of ‘15 as a 20 year old in his only previous Fiba experience.
He will feast in this tournament. Now if they can get Jamal Murray to commit you will form a lethal scoring duo. Add Thompson, Olynyk, Gilgeous-Alexander, Cory Joseph, Dwight Powell and rookie RJ Barrett and Canada will medal in my opinion.

[mojo13]

If Wiggins commits it’s a huge plus for Canada. There aren’t that many scorers like him on the FIBA level. He shot about 50% from three coming off his rookie year in the summer of ‘15 as a 20 year old in his only previous Fiba experience.
He will feast in this tournament. Now if they can get Jamal Murray to commit you will form a lethal scoring duo. Add Thompson, Olynyk, Gilgeous-Alexander, Cory Joseph, Dwight Powell and rookie RJ Barrett and Canada will medal in my opinion.

I really hope you are right. Wiggins really makes me nervous - it is not hard to find advanced stats showing him as one of the most inefficient scorers in the league (maybe of all time) and one of the worst team defenders. He is even sporting a negative VORP rating - but perhaps a negative VORP in the NBA is still a positive at the FIBA level.

https://deadspin.com/andrew-wiggins-update-ah-hm-well-the-thing-is-1833135884

[Shawshank]

If Wiggins commits it’s a huge plus for Canada. There aren’t that many scorers like him on the FIBA level. He shot about 50% from three coming off his rookie year in the summer of ‘15 as a 20 year old in his only previous Fiba experience.
He will feast in this tournament. Now if they can get Jamal Murray to commit you will form a lethal scoring duo. Add Thompson, Olynyk, Gilgeous-Alexander, Cory Joseph, Dwight Powell and rookie RJ Barrett and Canada will medal in my opinion.

All those canadas guys that most of them gonna made debut in such tournament have no idea what awaits.Especially getting in group with very tough and hard nose defences Ltu and Aus plays.We gonna zone them all game long and pound them inside hard not only at c and pf positions also on sf and check how patience their defence is .Even best USA and world's players needed years do adapt to fiba style.If Canada will come to this tournament playing like NBA 1 Vs 1 alot bye bye very soon.

To win medal being on that bracket side is just nightmare road awaits everybody.Usa obviuos goes in to semifinal and only one from

aus,ltu,can,Fran,ger,tur,Greece,Brasil

goes together with usa to fight for medal .You imagine this bunch of Canada rooks gonna come to first tournament and beats all those top Europe teams and best Aussie team ever ,teams that played together for years?...that's not how basketball usually works, unless you have like 8-9 best players of entire tournament on your roster.If Canada makes semifinal through those elite teams with no fiba experience that would be really shocking to me .

Either way firstly they will have to show me how they gonna survive death group.I don't remember tournament in last 30 years where ltu or Aus went home after first group...so Canadas NBA players better come strongly prepared and have togetherness ,because start tournament back to back with 2 of top 8 teams of entire tournament (atleast by rankings) is not a joke.

[usagre]

If they send their best available players their talent dwarfs most of those European teams. People still think it’s the 2000’s
when their were legitimate elite players in Europe like Bodiroga, the Greek guard trio, Juan Carlos Navarro, Jasikevicius,
Scola and a lot more. Those days are over. There are no surprises. Everyone knows who the best players are and what their games are and they are all in the NBA. The style played is similar now too between FIBA and NBA. The teams with superior talent will have a huge leg up in these tournaments. And then of course you factor in team cohesiveness and familiarity.
But honestly with this new FIBA schedule the elite players never participate in these tournaments like they used too. Just look at 2017 Eurobasket rosters. So we can fairly say that’s it’s been like 3 years since any of these top teams really had their best players play together. Pre 2016 it was almost every summer. The Canadian team is young, athletic and skilled.
But again I still need to see the roster. I am going on the assumption that they get all 7 or 8 of their best players to participate. That’s no guarantee. Just a couple of them will not translate to a medal in my opinion. But if they all come, sure it’s still a short tournament and they can fall flat. But the potential is also incredible.

[usagre]

@Shawshank
I disagree that this will be the best Australia team ever. They peaked in 2016 in my opinion. Yeah they add Ben Simmons
but Dellavedova, Patty Mills, Andrew Bogut, and Baynes are 3 years older and all are not as good as they were. Ingles is probably the same but overall I think they take a step back.

[Shawshank]

We will see but not having played in such type tournaments makes big difference.On our ltu chat most of the ltu posters fear Australia more than Canada.And it's not just because Simmons ( his game doesn't fit fiba that much) but their toughness,experience and there players played together alot in such tournaments ,they have seen it all. Aus have tough minded group,that are pushing, holding,grabbing and very smart knowing when you can do it.We played them alot in recent years and they kicked our asses .

Canada will have only young inexperience tallent,no chemistry, no high IQ players that have been there,no togetherness, they will struggle in tough moments being first time and believe me elite teams gonna put them in tough moments, good teams won't allow them run in fast brakes and dunk, they make them play style they want.Both Aus and ltu have experience guards that knows well how to control tempo in fiba tournament games.Do Canada have such guards or only running athletes? They also will need shooting alot againts zone defences they gonna face .

Brain and experience of good players have good chance beating inexperience athletes in fiba game.

Canada athletes will have their hands full to survive just first group.They better bring their A game, because one of the top8 team is going home after first 3 games...

are you sure it won't be Canada?