Game Thread - USA/Canada

[khans2k5 [enjin:6608728]]

Bennett and Murray sealed the deal on that win. All of Bennett's offense was from natural flowing offense and no ball stopping. He definitely wasn't floating in this game. I thought he made quick decisions with the ball which I know people have been critical of him in the past. If Bennett plays like that for us he deserves a fair shake. Also his foul trouble on the defensive end at least shows effort on that end. I'd rather him get into foul trouble trying to play defense than not take that end of the court seriously. I think this has been a pretty good showing for him. I hope we keep him.

[mjs34]

I've never doubted Bennett's abilities, but I do want to see consistency from him. I realize the talent level isn't anything to write home about. let's hope he plays well in the final and then is able to continue that trend later this summer.

[longstrangetrip [enjin:6600564]]

Wow. Great game/great finish. Canada wins 111-108 and advances on to Gold Medal game. We all get at least one more game to watch AB. AB finished with 18 pts/14 rebounds. He looks to be in very good shape. He still seems a little timid at times (will pass up shots). And the Canada guards were not good at getting him the ball when open under the rim. But AB looked solid and more confident than we last saw with Wolves.

Looks like I just had a two page conversation with myself. Hopefully a few of you got to watch and will comment your thoughts later.

Carlos Danger out!

Thx for the detailed report on the game, Anthony...sounds like a terrific game. I'm going to DVR the gold medal game to check out how AB looks.

Based on my review of box scores and the limited live viewing I have seen, I agree that AB has scored efficiently, rebounded well, and looks to be in great condition. Here are some of my questions though.

1) How has he looked defensively? Active? Smart? I realize he has had a lot of fouls, but I'm not too concerned about that from a guy we aren't expecting that many minutes from (if any).

2) I like how he has been drawing fouls, and I wonder if he is being utilized quite differently than he is in Flip's offense. Is he posting up more, rather than floating out around the 3-point line like he does with the Wolves? He is so long and explosive, I think his best offense will come close to the basket. Combine that with an ability to hit the three, and he could be a potent offensive player...like he was in college.

3) Many of us were tantalized by his occasional bursts of brilliance last year, and then frustrated by his seeming lace of interest at times. How consistent has his effort been?

[BizarroJerry [enjin:6592520]]

LST I'll chip in here as I watched most of the 2nd half. It felt like I was watching a scrimmage or an exhibition, the pan am games doesn't bring out the best defensive effort in teams. Like Carlos mentioned, AB had a great running block on the um, er, quick release of Anthony Randolph, but still a great effort by AB. Watching him fight for position down low on a couple series was impressive, he could be a good inside/outside player IMO. Maybe this tournament will fire him up to fight for playing time next year.

[Carlos Danger]

LST, I'll try to answer your questions, but understand that last game was the most I've watched outside of a few minutes on other games.

1.) AB definitely looked active on defense. Smart? I don't know. It seems like he was in foul trouble a lot in the little bit I've watched. For me though, I appreciate the effort. And considering his role with Wolves will certainly be a bench player - I don't think we have to worry about him fouling out anyhow.

2.) From the little I saw, I couldn't really pattern how they used him. I saw him down low and open at times and the guards didn't get him the ball. It didn't seem like he was camped under the rim though. He had a couple of nice drives for big dunks like we've seen with Wolves. He seems pretty powerful when going tot he rim. When he starts coming it seems like most guys just get the hell out of the way and let him have it. He floated a bit too...but I didn't see the long jumpers that made us all cringe last season.

3.) Based on what I saw...pretty consistent. He flashed some dominance in the 4th quarter and OT during that last game. But he couldn't have done much in the first half based on stats (I missed the 1st half). He sat a lot of the 3rd Q due to foul trouble. Overall, I certainly would say he was active and in the game even when not scoring. He was a monster on the boards and had at least one stolen from him by a teammate (Kevin Love style).

[Monster]

I watched this game on YouTube last Sunday and I thought I had posted my thoughts but I guess not. Here is the link:

http://youtu.be/a8J2s10ChiQ

i have had some time to think about this game the last couple days so my comments will reflect that.

First of all I will say that these teams were probably closer to summer league level than I first thought. I would say the talent overall is still a step down but these teams had more practices together and have more guys bought into some sort of system. Both teams had experienced players and some young guys. Again not totally different from SL teams.

Both of these teams were poor defensively probably partly because there just isn't enough time to have a good team concept with the amount of practices that they likely had. That's important to consider when talking about players both offensively and defensively. Once again similar to SL play.

Ok let's get to some thoughts on players.

The US had no answer for Nicholson. If that doesn't tell you the level of talent I am not sure what does. He was nailing 3's taking slower guys off the dribble etc.

Anthony Randolph. Talent but you can see from this game why he didn't make it. He just doesn't get it. He has all the talent both skills and physically you can ask for. Other than being stronger there isnt much more you could want in theory. Bottom line though that he couldn't put it together despite actually putting up some productive stay lines as a young player at the age of 19. Keep this all in mind when considering Bennett.

Ejim. Junkyard dog fun to watch at this level.

Bobby Brown classic SL chucker

Hollins: if you want a really athletic not too skilled guy to play hard and irritate the opposing team sign him cheap he can do that

Murry what a finish to the game. He could have made some better decisions at times but heck of a performance.

I had more thoughts on other players but nobody probably cares and I can't remember so let's get to Bennett. Lol

Overall he played well. His rebounding was giving the US team problems at times. Offensively I thought he did a nice job getting good looks for himself either on the perimeter or post ups or rolling to the basket. I had no problem with his fouls he would have played more of the other guys (it's a legit roster) wouldn't have held the lead. He was a little tired like everyone once it was late in the game and OT but he had played a lot of consecutive minutes then. His man defense was ok but I didn't like his team defense much. As I said above the team defensive concept didn't look too well developed but there were times he basically watched guys score in the paint when he could have done more. He also got burned doubling but maybe someone should have rotated to help him idk. That block he had on Randolph was one of those times. Overall his team defense was concerning to me and that's a real problem.

Bennett had a nice tourney it was positive no doubt but a couple days later I feel like I only feel a little more positive than before. I want to give him credit because he deserved it and I do think he looked better in this one game than I remember him in SL last year more like a baller and locked in more but the competition level wasn't too great and that team defense left a bad taste in my mouth. I keep hearing about his potential and his skills and I talked about Anthony Randolph earlier and he has a lot of the skills Bennett is supposed to have with more length less strength but a lot better production at an earlier age. Now saying all that Bennett was a better player than AR in this game IMO. I just think people somehow get carried away with Bennett's potential to a certain extent and I think comparing him to AR is something worth considering. Bennett hasn't been productive up to this point but we don't know he can't put it together like AR couldn't either so that's a positive. :) This tourney was a good step in the right direction for Bennett and let's hope he follows it up with a nice showing next month in FIBA qualifying which will have a higher level of talent both on his team and the teams they will face.

[Carlos Danger]

Not to kill the good vibe...but right now I think Anthony Bennett would kill for an Anthony Randolph type NBA career. If you look at the Advanced stats player comparison - Randolph has AB beat in pretty much every single category including: PER, TS%, TRB%, AST%, STL%, BLK%, WS48 and VORP

http://www.basketball-reference.com/play-index/pcm_finder.cgi?request=1&sum=1&p1=bennean01&p2=randoan01&p3=&p4=&p5=&p6=