Every Friday Vancouver Basketball takes a look at the week that was for Canadian’s in the NBA.
Andrew Wiggins – SF Minnesota Timberwolves
Wiggins continues to have an outstanding sophomore season, averaging 22.8 points over the Timberwolves four games. Despite doing his part, Minnesota lost all four games it played over this past week.
Cory Joseph – PG Toronto Raptors
Joseph helped Toronto to a 2-0 record this week, with wins over Philadelphia and Orlando on the road. Averaging 33 minutes per game, the Raptors’ point guard didn’t shoot consistently, but had a good performance versus the Magic where he poured in 19 points on 9-11 shooting from the field.
Tristan Thompson – PF Cleveland Cavaliers
Thompson averaged a double-double this past week with 10 points and 10 boards. Cleveland went 2-1 this week, losing a close one to the San Antonio Spurs Thursday night. Thompson has good chemistry with backup point guard Matthew Dellavodova, as Thompson had more shot attempts than Kevin Love in the Spurs matchup.
Trey Lyles – PF Utah Jazz
Lyles is impressing people in Utah, as he continues to average 27 minutes a game in his rookie year. He went scoreless versus the Los Angeles Lakers in Utah’s win over the Lakers last Sunday. Lyles looks to be earning more confidence from his teammates and in himself, as he shot 14-20 from the field versus Portland and Sacramento in the Jazz’s last two losses.
Kelly Olynyk – PF Boston Celtics
Olynyk continues to have an up-and-down season with his minutes. He doesn’t seem to be injured, yet he is playing less minutes now than in the first round of the playoffs last season. I know it’s not the playoffs, but he is not meshing with the lineups Boston is putting out there. There 1-2 record this week is telling.
Dwight Powell – PF Dallas Mavericks
Powell went 2-12 in 32 minutes in Oklahoma City versus the Thunder. The Toronto native made 4 of his 5 free throws, but only played 16 minutes in the previous two matchups. At this point, Powell is a good prospect but doesn’t get a lot of time unless the Mavs are resting the front line.
Robert Sacre – C Los Angeles Lakers
Sacre has fallen out of favour in the Lakers rotation. In Los Angeles’ five games played this past week, the Handsworth Secondary alum played in just one game, with 7 minutes of action, scoring just 2 points. The Lakers finished the week with a 1-4 record.
Tyler Ennis – PG Milwaukee Bucks
Ennis had a mystery illness this week, but logged 16 minutes in a loss to the Knicks in New York. He went 0-5 from the field in that game.
Joel Anthony – PF Detroit Pistons
Joel played an average of one minute during garbage time in losses versus the San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies.
Anthony Bennett – PF Toronto Raptors
Anthony may be headed to the Raptors’ D-League team for action. Not a surprise at this point. When DeMarre Carroll went down, you would think there would be a minutes for Bennett in a small lineup rollout. We’ll keep you posted.
Andrew Nicholson – PF Orlando Magic
Andrew continues to lose time behind the one dimensional Channing Frye. Nicholson is seeing nothing but garbage time action right now. You would think that there may be something we don’t know going on with Nicholson and the Magic coaching staff behind the scenes.
Nik Stauskas – SG Philadelphia 76ers
Nik continues to struggle through his second year in the NBA. He played 39 minutes in a loss to the Chicago Bulls, after holding a double-digit lead. He switched off on Jimmy Butler a few times, and it wasn’t pretty as Butler would go on to score 51 points in that Chicago victory. Nik only managed 7 points per game this week.
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