Wiltjer signs with Unicaja Malaga in Spain

[ZagNative]

Per Jim Meehan, in the Spokesman-Review: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/201...ing-pro-team-/

Wiltjer averaged 7.6 points and 3 rebounds in 14.7 minutes per game with Olympiacos. He made nearly 46 percent beyond the 3-point line and 81 percent at the free-throw line.

[Jstock12]

Per Jim Meehan, in the Spokesman-Review: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/201...ing-pro-team-/

Domas' first team!



Good luck to Kyle, I think he'll be a good addition to the Spanish team.

[ZagNative]

Links for future reference:

Eurobasket

Twitter Feed

Unicaja Malaga home page

Eurocup

ACB League

ACB League Standings:

[Mojo13]

Hopefully this is a better fit for Kyle than Olympiacos.
Oly was such a defensively focused team it was easy to see Kyle was going to have a tough time staying on the floor. To the surprise of no one here I think Kyle showed he can be a potent offensive weapon at the highest European levels, but his defense is still bad enough that teams focus specifically on him and attack him relentlessly. Oly's system just couldn't afford him on the floor for long stretches.

I think he better fit on a team where is is a key component in their offense and they can build a team and defensive systems with Kyle's limitations in mind. Oly wasn't set up to do that for what was always going to be a rotational player. If he is signed to be a focal point of Unicaja's offense they should do a better job at hiding his weaknesses and exploiting his offensive strengths.

[ZagNative]

Kyle had a nice outing today with 15 points as Unicaja overcame Valencia 86-73 in his first Liga Endesa game. Box Score. Kyle is #33 in the pic below:

[ZagNative]

[Jstock12]

Unicaja has unexpectedly lost their first EuroCup game against Rytas, 72-80.

Kyle with 9 points (3/10 FG, 1/6 3PT, 2/2 FT), 1 rebound, 3 assists and 1 block in 24 minutes of play.

[Mojo13]

Unicaja has unexpectedly lost their first EuroCup game against Rytas, 72-80.

Kyle with 9 points (3/10 FG, 1/6 3PT, 2/2 FT), 1 rebound, 3 assists and 1 block in 24 minutes of play.

You watch the game? If so how did KW look?

I'm still not convinced he isn't anything more than a 6'10 version of Brady Heslip and he really hurts a team defensively. Unless his shooting is on fire he is tough to keep on the floor. Thats how it looked at Olympiacos last season.

[Jstock12]

You watch the game? If so how did KW look?

I'm still not convinced he isn't anything more than a 6'10 version of Brady Heslip and he really hurts a team defensively. Unless his shooting is on fire he is tough to keep on the floor. Thats how it looked at Olympiacos last season.

No, unfortunately I forgot that Rytas was playing that day, against Unicaja no less. It would have been interesting to check it out since it was being broadcasted on TV. I think as long as you pair Wiltjer with a more defensive minded big in the front-court and perimeter players who are adequate defenders, it's definitely possible to make it work. Kyle probably just needs the right personnel/coach/system to be really dangerous in the Euroleague. I'd be very interested to know how he would look under the coaching of Jasikevicius.

[ZagNative]

Kyle had 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 assists and a Performance Index Rating (PIR) of 21, in the team's first Eurocup win, 91-64, against Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt. Box Score. Brady Heslip played for the other side, scoring 20 points with a PIR of 12.

[RenoZag]

Kyle played a key role in Canada's win over Brazil ( which earned Canada a trip to the FIBA World Cup:

https://ca.nba.com/news/canada-qualifies-for-fiba-basketball-world-cup-2019-in-china-kyle-wiltjer-joel-anthony/zc8lrgzf5tkp1wftistqlmpki

On Monday it was a much different looking team. They had their legs under them, they were energized and they took it to Brazil from the opening tip. Canada shot the ball much better than they did in the loss to Venezuela (37.5%) finishing the game with a scorching 51.5% from the field.

Kyle Wiltjer led the way with a game-high 25 points and Phil Scrubb added 15 points in the win. Thomas Scrubb was scrappy all game long and finished with 14 points of his own in the win.

[Zagdawg]

ROSTER ANNOUNCED FOR SIXTH WINDOW OF FIBA BASKETBALL WORLD CUP 2019 AMERICAS QUALIFIERS

http://basketball.ca/en/news-article/roster-announced-for-sixth-window-of-fiba-basketball-world-cup-2

[Mojo13]

ROSTER ANNOUNCED FOR SIXTH WINDOW OF FIBA BASKETBALL WORLD CUP 2019 AMERICAS QUALIFIERS

http://basketball.ca/en/news-article...ll-world-cup-2

Great to see Wiltjer there again. He was the best player on the floor during the last window games.
He’ll have another big role here, but might be the 6man with Melvin Ejim back from injury and likely starting. He will still get plenty of minutes and probably will lead the team in scoring.
I could also seeing him sneaking on the summers World Cup team depending on who else shows up. He could be a very valuable role player.

This is substantially the same roster as December with Ejim, Peter McNeilly and Mulder in for Dashawn Pierre, Duane Notice and Kadry Gray.