The draw for the 2023 FIBA World Cup qualifiers took place on Tuesday. According to a press release from FIBA, Team USA’s qualifying group in the Americas event will include Puerto Rico, Mexico, and Cuba.
The 2023 World Cup will take place in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia two years from now, while the first qualifying matches will take place in November 2021. During the qualifiers for the 2019 World Cup, Team USA fielded a team made up of G League standouts, since those events overlapped with the NBA season. That roster made up of NBAGL vets put up a 10-2 record in qualifying games, so I’d expect a similar approach this time around.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- In a pair of Insider-only stories for ESPN.com, Kevin Pelton handed out offseason grades for all the teams in both the Eastern Conference and Western Conference. The Hawks and Wizards were the two teams to earn an A, while the Cavaliers and Pelicans were the only two to receive a D.
- Former Raptors forward Malcolm Miller has signed with Italian team Vanoli Cremona for the 2021/22 season, the club announced in a press release. Miller appeared in 53 total games across three seasons with Toronto from 2017-20 and was a member of the championship squad in 2019.
- Although the NBA’s 2021/22 schedule will still include some MLB-style two-game sets between the same teams in the same arena, there will be just 23 of them this season, compared to 84 in 2020/21, writes Marc Stein (subscription required). As Stein explains, not playing in front of fans last season – along with a desire to reduce travel – made those sets a logical addition to the schedule, but the league was less motivated to include them this time around.
Lakers remodel
Lakers are wild at Upgrade the age
A or F?
According to the comparison, the average age of the Lakers in 2021-22 has reached 32.1 years old, which is 0.4 years older than the Bulls (31.7 years old) who won the last championship in 1997-1998.
This year’s rosters for the Lakers are: AD, Nunn, Horton-Tucker, Munch
So Cavs add a potential superstar in the draft and a great PG who can pass and defend, yet the Timberwolves apparently get a higher grade for…Prince and Beverly?
My grade
Jazz A+
Able to keep the same team
1 seed overall
Warriors A-
Add 5 players with low cost and high trade value
Kuminga, Moody, Otto Porter, Bjelica, iguodala
I don’t buy Heat and Clippers things
Clippers trade Beverley, Rondo and Oturu for Bledsoe
Yeah I don’t buy the Clippers offseason either. Add 3 three draft picks that have potential but will need time to show it, and Justin Winslow? That isn’t going keep them afloat in the West with Kawhi out.
Sulli ‘A’ grades- should have mentioned Rudy Gay’s 6\$18m with the top FA signings. Makes up for the switch of Favors+’24ownfirst for Whiteside+basically$8m capspace. Space gained used wisely. I’m not a huge Gay fan but he fits the need, need being from the wide criticism after the Clipper loss: smallball5, mobile wing depth, 38%3.
Pelton ‘A’ grades- agree there too.
A few other places gave Houston the best offseason grade this year, so even if they didn’t get an A then he must have given them either an A-, B+, or at the worst a B.