<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Coach Leo Rautins leads a young squad into a tournament hoping for a berth at the Summer Games The physical grind of the FIBA Americas Olympic qualification basketball tournament is tremendous ? as many as 10 games in 12 days, all at a fever pitch of intensity ? but the mental demands are just as great. And a young, relatively inexperienced Canadian team that begins play tonight against Brazil has to learn quickly how to deal with the inevitable hiccups if the program is to continue to move forward and not suffer another huge setback. At stake in the 10-country tournament in Las Vegas are two spots in the 2008 Beijing Games while the next three top teams will play in a wild-card tournament next summer for three more Olympic berths. "Guys have to realize that if something happens and we hit a couple of speed bumps, there's a lot riding on not just being one and two," Canadian coach Leo Rautins said. "You have to have all the goals in perspective. If you're in a game ... that one game where you lose by 20 instead of 10 can really kill you and guys have to understand that going into the tournament." In the convoluted tie-breaking process, a spot in next summer's event could come down to points for and points against. Rautins, who has been around the international game a long time knows it's often not a matter of who a team loses to but when it loses and by how much. </div> Source: The Star
<div class="quote_poster">dotmotion Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Would Nash decide to play for the Olympics</div> No, because of various back problem and fatigue from playing so many minutes for the Suns. I'm sure Leo Rautins wouldn't mind if he wanted to play, but it is almost 99.9% likely he will not come play for Canada. Also, there is a chance that the Suns organization won't let him play because he is valuable to them. Nash back in Red and White is something I dream about...
<div class="quote_poster">Master Shake Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">No, because of various back problem and fatigue from playing so many minutes for the Suns. I'm sure Leo Rautins wouldn't mind if he wanted to play, but it is almost 99.9% likely he will not come play for Canada. Also, there is a chance that the Suns organization won't let him play because he is valuable to them. Nash back in Red and White is something I dream about...</div> hmm I know he won't play in all these "minor events" I thought it would be different for the Olympics What about magloire...
<div class="quote_poster">dotmotion Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">hmm I know he won't play in all these "minor events" I thought it would be different for the Olympics What about magloire...</div> Magloire isn't welcome on the team according to Rautins. <div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> And while coach Leo Rautins expects there will be some changes to that roster for the Olympic qualifier, it's looking unlikely that they would include Toronto's Jamaal Magloire. "I would have to say it's up to the guys," Rautins said. Rautins wasn't happy when Magloire failed to re-connect after a planned meeting had to be cancelled earlier this summer. He was less happy when he learned Magloire's intentions from an article in the Sun that quoted Magloire saying he wasn't coming. Rautins players took it worse than that. "The line that just killed everyone here was the one where he said if they get there (to Beijing) he would show up," Rautins said. "Man for man, everyone said at that time, 'We don't want you.' "So, I don't know where it's at now. I haven't talked to Jamaal, but I'm tired of chasing him. Would I like to have a guy of his size on the roster? Sure. But these guys worked their butts off to get there and if they don't want him, he's not playing. I don't care if he begs to play." </div> <a href="http://www.torontosun.com/Sports/Basketball/2007/08/31/4460104-sun.html" target="_blank"> Toronto Sun</a>
We don't need him. I think him and Dalembert wouldn't be that great. I mean, we would have the record for most goal-tending in FIBA basketball history.
