Argentina, which won the Olympic gold in men's basketball in 2004 and took home bronze in 2008, is ... having a bad summer. Manu Ginobili is not playing with the team due to injuries. (Injuries aggravated by last summer's Olympic run, we should note.) Andres Nocioni is out. Carlos Delfino didn't have a contract until a couple weeks ago, so he demurred from national service. It's up to Luis Scola and Pablo Prigioni and ... it hasn't gone well at FIBA Americas.Canada, meanwhile, lost Samuel Dalembert due to an internal spat early last summer. Steve Nash still won't give up his summer for a team on the third tier of international competition. There is one current NBA player on the Canadian roster: Joel Anthony, who lost his starting job on the Heat to a decrepit Jermaine O'Neal. Yet, here's Canada, 2-0 and through to the quarterfinals after blowing out Mexico and the Virgin Islands.
Canadian coach Leo Rautins, who several thought would be under fire if the team failed to qualify for the 2010 Worlds by finishing in this tournament's top four. But somehow, it's all come together. Canada's offense began to bloom in the opener against a dilapidated Mexican team -- The Painted Area's Jay Aych noted that the Canadians earned an assist on 30 of 35 field goals, impressive by any standard, and even moreso when you consider that Canada is a defensive-minded squad. It continued Friday against U.S.V.I.; the European-style passing displayed by Canadians impressed one informed fan, at least. Canada is 2-0, with a point differential of +75. !!!
For Argentina, it's been pure sludge. The loss to Brazil (a gold medal favorite here, and a top challenger to Team USA next summer) is expected; the Brazilians' only absence of note is Nene -- the presence of Tiago Splitter (a brilliant Spurs draftee currently playing in Spain) and Anderson Varejao have more than covered that hole. But fans in Argentina surely didn't expect their team to lose huge to Venezuela on Wednesday. The tension has bubbled over, and Alfred R. Berrios of ESPN Deportes reports that the Argentines trashed their locker room Friday afternoon.
Of course, as has been noted, there's no way Argentina misses the World Championships next summer in Turkey. FIBA will choose four teams which haven't qualified as "wild cards." The only two teams in the world beside the United States (which has qualified by virtue of the Olympic gold) which are absolute locks as wild cards pending regional qualifying failure are Argentina and Spain. FIBA will not keep the two premier challengers to the Redeem Team out of the Worlds, even if Argentina bows out 0-4 in FIBA Americas this month. Manu Ginobili would have to lose a limb for Argentina to be bypassed, and even then I think FIBA still gives them the nod over France or Russia.
