Is guard Cory Joseph in or out of the FIBA World Cup for Team Canada? Joseph, the most prominent NBA member remaining on the depleted Team Canada roster, was withdrawing from the competition, according to a tweet from Toronto Star reporter Doug Smith. However, Team Canada coach Nick Nurse said that report was incorrect and that Joseph would indeed join the team in China, John Casey of 7Olympics tweets.
Joseph is not currently with the team during exhibition games in Australia and Sportsnet Canada’s Michael Grange notes that Joseph would have to leave for China soon, given that the tournament begins in 10 days and he needs to adjust to the 12-hour time difference (Twitter link).
We have more World Cup news:
- Spain will be a tough out in the World Cup. The final roster includes several NBA players, according to a Sportando tweet. Ricky Rubio and Marc Gasol lead the 12-man squad, which also includes Willy Hernangomez,and Rudy Fernandez.
- Former Clippers guard Milos Teodosic didn’t make the final Serbian roster, according to a Sportando post. Teodosic has returned to his Italian team, Virtus Bologna, to rehab a foot injury.
- The Serbian team tops the latest FIBA rankings, Emiliano Carchia of Sportando tweets. Team USA is No. 2, followed by Spain, France and Greece. The Serbian team includes Nikola Jokic, Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nemanja Bjelica.
Serbia’s success hinges on the ability to distract their opponents by the opposition pausing to try and pronounce the names on the backs of the uniforms worn by the Serbian players !!
Man that’s straight up racist! How hard is it for you to say Bogdan Bogdanovic?
I’ll grant you that Bjelica is worth a double take. But other cultures can be confused by American names that start with J. Must be why Jordan and James have had the success they did.
That’s not racist. Long names are long names. Also, most people anymore know some English, but not some Serbian.
This might be racist to some: Hail the Serbs for their desperate resistance to the scimitars of the Ottoman Empire! Christiandom saved! Further religious wars reduced but of course they never fully end.
Imagine if the Sultans had aimed for Moscow instead of Vienna. Would Russians have been so stout? The Cold War could have been a religious war! (Conjecture.)
Read fast, way off-topic