YouTube Gold: Can Canada Win The Olympic Basketball Tournament?

People are talking a lot about Team USA’s preparations for the Paris Olympics and of course Jayson Tatum will play for the Yanks. He’s not the only Duke guy there though. Khaman Maluach will debut play and there’s a lot of excitement about his Olympic debut for the South Sudan Bright Stars.

We thought Jack White might play for Australia but he’s not on the final roster.

There is at least one more member of the Brotherhood set to play and it’s RJ Barrett for the Canadians. And as we’ve been saying for some time, the Canadians are a rising power and a real threat now to the U.S. and everyone else.

On Wednesday, the U.S. and Canada will have a friendly in Las Vegas. The U.S. is going to be favored. There are a lot of people who are arguing that this Team USA might be better than the Dream Team. We’re of two minds there. That 1992 team had Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan, among others. However, Bird was near the end with his devastating back issues and Magic had already retired after his HIV diagnosis. So in retrospect, it may have been overrated.

And in 1992, a team with someone like Luka Doncic would not have been eliminated in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament. He would have been a sensation and unstoppable.

So things have changed.

In this appearance on Dan Patrick, Joe Vardon says that Canada is a real threat for gold.

He also says that what they’re missing is a powerful player inside. And they have one of the most promising bigs in Zach Edey. At 7-4 and 300 lbs, he’s a major load. People have revised their opinions of his NBA prospects lately and he may justify it.

Unfortunately, he’s not playing in Paris, opting to train for his debut with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Still, Canada is pretty loaded. We’ll see what Barrett and his companions can do, starting Wednesday.