FIBA Americas Championship - Bonner and Magloire Onboard!

Guys... just an fyi

www.bet365.com has excellent live streaming... that's where I watch most of my World Cup Euro qualifying games and FIBA Europe Competitions.

If you're interested... just go to the website and register... make a fake name etc if you don't want to place wagers.... and at the end it asks for your credit card #... DON"T fill it out... just click the end button and it still registers you as a customer... which gives you access to live streaming to sports events all over the world.

The quality of picture is pretty good too boot.

Definitely Congrats to our Men's Team for Qualifying for the World Championships! Great news as it's obviously important that we are represented on the Global Basketball stage.

Saw the discussion about the Coaching Staff. Wayne Yearwood and Dave Smart were both not part of the Staff this year, not sure why. Here is the Roster and Coaching Staff from the Basketball Canada website. Roy Rana was actually part of the staff, which is great for Toronto basketball.

2009 ROAD WARRIORS - SENIOR MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM ROSTER
# Name Position Height Hometown School / Club (2008/09)
4 Jermaine Anderson* Guard 6’2 Toronto, ON Tuebingen (Germany)
15 Joel Anthony* Centre 6’9 Montreal, QC Miami Heat (NBA)
6 Ryan Bell Guard 6’5 Ottawa, ON Schalke (Germany)
7 Jermaine Bucknor Forward 6’7 Edmonton, AB Maurienne (France)
11 Aaron Doornekamp* Forward 6’7 Odessa, ON Carleton University (CIS)
8 Carl English* Guard 6’5 Patrick’s Cove, NF Gran Canaria (Spain)
9 Olu Famutimi* Forward 6'6 Toronto, ON Khimik (Ukraine)
14 Levon Kendall* Forward 6’10 Vancouver, BC Panionios (Greece)
5 Tyler Kepkay* Guard 5’10 Vancouver, BC University of Utah (NCAA)
13 Kyle Landry Forward 6'9 Calgary, AB Mons-Hainaut (Belgium)
10 Andy Rautins* Guard 6’5 Syracuse, NY Syracuse University (NCAA)
12 Jesse Young* Forward 6’10 Peterborough, ON Murcia (Spain)
*Indicates players from the 2008 Senior Men’s Team

2009 SENIOR MEN’S NATIONAL TEAM STAFF
Name Position
Leo Rautins Head Coach
Mike Malone Assistant Coach
Renato Pasquali Assistant Coach
Roy Rana Assistant Coach
Sam Gibbs Athletic Therapist
Paul Elliott Team Manager
Jake Presutti Video Coordinator
Dr. Andrew Pipe Team Physician
Maurizio Gherardini Managing Director

(Very weird that with all the talented players we have here in Toronto, there were only 2 guys on the Roster from the T-Dot!!!)

Congrats to the Guys though, great accomplishment...

I actually thought Jermaine Bucknor was a great addition to the roster as a "Glue-Guy". He made a lot of High B-Ball IQ plays such as quick high-low feeds to Joel Anthony, hit big 3's and pushed the ball in transition numerous times as a big. I'd be nice to see the team push the tempo a little more often since it seems like they struggle in their half-court sets fairly often.

I like Ryan Bell and Aaron Doornekamp as gritty/tough role players as well. I'd be great to see the day when we can truly put all of our best players forward (a-la Spain, USA, Argentina, Brazil etc) and truly take our place as a competitive and high-level basketball nation!

The guys on the Roster this year represented Canada well though in that they played gritty, tough and with a chip on their shoulders! Underdogs that represented our country well!

I saw on the FIBA website that Carl English did not dress for our last two games for disciplinary reasons.

Just what we need going forward! Another problem within the roster. Seems to be a never-ending story. The coaching changes, player problems (again) all kept under wraps by Basketball Canada and the coaching staff.

From FIBA wesite:

"No Dalambert and no Nash helped them and maybe Carl English is on his way out too as he did not suit up for the Maple Leafs in the last two games. Officially due to disciplinary reasons..."

Leo Rautins is a past master at keeping things under wraps. Look at the confusion about the Dalembert incident. I'm still not clear on what went down. And didn't Leo say the door was open for Dalembert to come back? It appears not!

Or maybe like so many others he just doesn't want to play for King Leo. Will English now join the club?

[quote="Coach Clement"]I saw on the FIBA website that Carl English did not dress for our last two games for disciplinary reasons.

Just what we need going forward! Another problem within the roster. Seems to be a never-ending story. The coaching changes, player problems (again) all kept under wraps by Basketball Canada and the coaching staff.

From FIBA wesite:

"No Dalambert and no Nash helped them and maybe Carl English is on his way out too as he did not suit up for the Maple Leafs in the last two games. Officially due to disciplinary reasons..."

Leo Rautins is a past master at keeping things under wraps. Look at the confusion about the Dalembert incident. I'm still not clear on what went down. And didn't Leo say the door was open for Dalembert to come back? It appears not!

Or maybe like so many others he just doesn't want to play for King Leo. Will English now join the club?[/quote]

When players think and act like they "are the team" they put a lot for pressure on coaches,these type of players are usually border line talented players that think they are better than they really are.Samual is limited on offense and Carl on defense and team play,I will not miss either if they don't come back with the right attitude.

Leo shows that he will not put up with players getting out of line,I am sure Carl did something and it is up to him to take responsibility for his actions.The door will always be open for talented players that play team ball and put the team first and personel agendas last!

English is a "me first" type of player that never met a shot that he didn't like. I will not miss him.

On the other hand, add his name to the list of players that Leo's regime has alienated. How many strikes does Leo get before the fools at Basketball Canada turf him?

No question he forced his game a lot. Either jacking up contested jumpers or getting himself into jackpots off the bounce.

My guess is this too will be overlooked by the Basketball Canada folks.

Whether Carl English and Samuel Dalembert are "me first players" or not though, it has to be kept in mind that we don't have an unlimited supply of Elite players here in Canada.

Part of a Coach's job is managing different personalities/egos and getting those guys to buy-in to a team concept and play for a common goal.

Both Carl English and Samuel Dalembert, along with Juan Mendez and whoever else doesn't play for the National Team anymore, have had long careers and have competed and bought-in for other teams, so I'm not sure how long we can turn a blind eye and blame it on players.

I'm NOT saying let players run wild and have no discipline, but let's keep in mind these guys are grown men, and there is a different culture around professional athletes vs. the High School or College level.

There needs to be a serious shift in Basketball Canada towards making our Elite players 100% Comfortable and Proud to wear the Red & White, not alienating top players and making them feel unwanted or disposable!

I don't think you're hearing stories in Spain about Ricky Rubio and Pau Gasol getting kicked off the team, or Manu Ginobili and Scola getting the boot! LOL...

WE NEED OUR BEST PLAYERS TO COMPETE AGAINST THE BEST IN THE WORLD!!

No matter how phenomenal (or not) a Coach is, you still need players to win! Why do you think the winningest Coaches in the world are the best recruiters!!?? What do Dean Smith, Roy Williams, Coach K, Red Aurbach, Phil Jackson, Tom Izzo, John Wooden etc all have in common....Player management skills, getting guys to buy-in, and ELITE RECRUITERS! They'll tell you themselves, they wouldn't have won a single game without their players!

Btw. I have never met Coach Rautins, and this is not meant as disrespect to him. I just want to see all of our best players compete for the Red & White and represent our Country to the fullest on an International stage. This was an issue that existed before Coach Rautins took the job and something that needs to be fixed before we can be considered an Elite basketball country...

"In the second half, Argentina kept its double-digit lead and Canada kept playing hard to try to find an offensive rhythm, but they missed the shooting touch of Carl English, who had to leave the tournament to attend to a family matter. " I know his wife just had a baby recently. Dave Thomas retired from the Australian NBL due to health issues. Also, Wayne Yearwood was an assistant this year, yes Smart was no longer part of the program.

Canadian media reported that Carl left for personal family reasons... and that the team excused him and supported his need to leave.

Now I read this?!?!

Some one is not telling the truth... stay tuned.

OK Setshot, thanks. I've removed David Thomas from my post....
He's had a long history as a great contributor to the Canadian Men's program, and I think is one of those guys who is really under-rated regarding what he brought to the table.

Juan Mendez is another guy that was a MAJOR contributor, and who's game is under-rated as well.

Think about if we could get: Dalembert, Magloire, Nash, Mendez, Denham Brown etc. to suit up alongside the guys already in place?
WOW....we would be able to compete against anyone in the world...

Not sure if it's Canadian society's overall lack of patriotism (with so many 1st/2nd generation Immigrants that still feel loyalty to their home countries), or Canada Basketball's history of politics. I think to blame it all on Leo Rautins is probably a little bit short-sighted as this is not a new issue...

I DO know that Samuel Dalembert (who is a Haitian immigrant as my father was) and someone I had the pleasure of playing against a few times, was EXTREMELY excited and proud to represent Canada when he 1st got the opportunity! That's a great mystery that I would love to hear the true story to...

Regardless, congrats to this year's Senior Men's Team for Qualifying to the FIBA World Championships! Let's hope we can put our best foot forward for that Tourney and shock the world with all our best guys being a part of the program!

No Thanks

Magloire is way over the hill and Brown is over rated,Mendez is undersized for the power forward match ups against the better teams,his lack of ball handling skills and perimeter game is a big negative that would be exploited.

Dalembert needs to swallow his pride and suck it up,if he is truly interested in playing,he needs to tough it out with the coaching staff and at least fake being on board and do what is asked of him.He doesn't have to agree with the system he just needs to be professional and do what is asked of him.Joel is keeping his mouth shut and just playing hard,Sam needs to do the same.

One thing that needs to be remembered,Team Canada is a team made up of none NBA players,Joel is the exception.The better teams have several NBA starters and at least 1 all star.Canada would have a tough time with the top teams even if everyone mentioned above including Nash was playing.Steve makes everyone better but we don't have enough talent to compete with the top teams.

Canada is a minimum 3-5 years away from making any real noise,wish it was sooner but lets be real,we need a skilled dominant big man (Joel could be that player some day)and a star floor general running the show,throw in a dangerous shooter at the 2 guard that can at least defend his position and then we will have a basic foundation to build from.Ya I know that's every coaches wish list but the best teams have them! WE DON'T!

Steve isn't coming back so don't go there anymore...

The Toronto Sun reports Matt Bonner and Jamal Magloire will be on board for our World Championship run in 2010. Here's the story

"The Red Rocket will be wearing red and white at the world basketball championships next summer.

Canadian men's coach Leo Rautins said former Raptors forward Matt Bonner almost certainly will have his paperwork completed in time to play for Canada at the 2010 worlds in Turkey.

Bonner, who started 67 games for the San Antonio Spurs last season, has taken the necessary steps to acquire Canadian citizenship. He married a Toronto girl and spends much off the off-season in Canada. Rautins said that almost immediately after the Canadian team qualified for the 2010 worlds last week in Puerto Rico, team officials began receiving text messages from Bonner.

"He's jacked. He's completely pumped and waiting to play," Rautins said. "It's going to happen, and we're anxious to have Matt. He's a high-character guy, who's committed to the game. And for the international game, he is multi-faceted. He can play at the three, four and five spots."

Bonner, from Concord, N.H., was a fan favourite during his two seasons with the Raptors (2004-06).

Rautins added that Toronto native Jamaal Magloire, a centre with the Miami Heat, is also on board to play at the worlds. Magloire has been criticized in the past for not playing for the national side during his time in the NBA.

"He's a physical beast," Rautins said. "He has an edge to him and he has no problem cracking you on the side of the head if that needs to be done."

The inclusion of Bonner and Magloire would give Rautins three NBA players on the national team, joining Heat forward Joel Anthony"

That makes us pretty solid in the post with Anthony, Young, Kendall, Bonner and Magloire. Add Dalembert at the 5 and we'd be real good!

I wouldn't hold my breath for Magloire.
I'll believe that when I see it happen.

^^^ditto^^^