FINDING OUR EH GAME
This season, the greatest number of NBA players from outside the United States came from Canada, and there’s more on the way
Not so long ago, to suggest that a Canadian would be the first overall pick in any NBA draft, let alone in consecutive NBA drafts, would have been branded insanity.
Not so anymore, insists Minnesota Timberwolves guard Andrew Wiggins.
The cause of this effect: Vinsanity.
Growing up just north of Toronto in Vaughan, Wiggins — selected first overall in last year’s draft — watched the spectacular dunks of Vince Carter as he starred for the Toronto Raptors. It made his dream of someday playing in the NBA seem a little more real.
“They were a big influence, especially Vince Carter,” Wiggins said of the Raptors. “He was the No. 1 hero in Canada. Every kid’s hero.”
You can thank Carter for making basketball cool in this country.
“Growing up, I used to watch the Raptors with Vince Carter,” said Timberwolves forward Anthony Bennett, the Toronto native who was picked first overall in the 2013 draft. “The Raptors are a big part of Canadian basketball.”
CANADIAN CONTENT
Since 1946, 30 Canadians have cracked an NBA roster.
Of those, almost half — 13 — are playing this season, including nine from the Greater Toronto Area, which speaks to the influence the Raptors have had on the region since joining the NBA as an expansion franchise in 1995.
Of the 10 Canadians selected over the past four NBA drafts, eight were from the Toronto area.
The city has become a hotbed for NCAA basketball recruiters.
“I firmly believe that there are more top players developed in Toronto than in New York City,” Bob Hurley Sr., the legendary high school basketball coach at St. Anthony High School in Jersey City, N. J., told the Wall Street Journal.
While Carter may get credit for much of the increased interest in the sport, the boom goes back a little farther and to the west — to Steve Nash.
In back- to- back seasons from 2004- 06, the Phoenix Suns guard from Victoria was voted the NBA’s most valuable player. Canadians discovered they could not only play in the NBA, they could be dominant NBA players.
Not only has Nash been a star, he’s given back significantly to his homeland, both on the court and in the boardroom, where today he serves as general manager of the national men’s team and makes himself available to young players
( The Raptors) were a big influence, especially Vince Carter. He was the No. 1 hero in Canada. Every kid’s hero.
ANDREW WIGGINS
seeking to make the grade.
“Every summer I try to talk to him,” Bennett said. “He’s been in the league for so long. He’s doing a good thing for Team Canada and for Canada in general.”
With the roster that should be at his disposal for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Canada — guided by coach Jay Triano — will have its best medal hope since the Windsor Ford V- 8s brought home silver from the 1936 Berlin Games. That is Canada’s only Olympic medal in basketball.
COSTS AND CULTURE
While Canada’s success in basketball is obvious at the upper levels, it is also strong at the grassroots level.
A 2010 Canadian Heritage research paper revealed that while 22 per cent of Canadian youth aged 3- 17 play hockey, 16 per cent said they play basketball. A 2014 Solutions Research Group study found that with 354,000 participants 17 or younger, basketball trails only soccer ( 767,000) and hockey ( 531,000) when it comes to youth team sports in Canada.
Economics may play a role. A 2014 Solutions Research Group study suggests it costs a family $ 1,666 per child to participate in hockey each season, which is more expensive than anything other than water- skiing at $ 2,086. Popular team sports such as basketball, volleyball and soccer cost 25 to 50 per cent less.
Immigration is also a factor. Hockey may be Canada’s game, but for most of the one million immigrants who arrive in Canada every four years skating on ice is new.
Sacramento Kings guard Nik Stauskas, who is from Mississauga, Ont. and of Lithuanian descent, will admit he’s never skated or held a hockey stick in his life — and he’s not alone. Basketball, like soccer, is a worldwide game. It’s played almost everywhere and, after soccer, it’s the second- most popular sport among new Canadians.
“The leap has not only been in Canada and overseas, but everywhere,” said Minnesota coach Flip Saunders of basketball’s growth. “I think the league, led by commissioner ( David) Stern originally, has done a great job of getting NBA basketball out.”
Part of that, Saunders said, is due to League Pass, which enables viewers to watch NBA games live or on- demand, on any device.
“League Pass changed the dynamics of young kids seeing it in Europe and Canada, Argentina, all over the world.”
There were 101 international players on NBA rosters this season, according to the NBA, representing 37 countries and territories. The previous record, set in 2013- 14, was 92. No non- American country had more roster players than Canada’s 13.
RAPTORS ON RISE
Outgoing Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment Ltd. CEO Tim Leiweke predicts that within a decade, the Raptors will be more popular among Toronto sports fans than the Maple Leafs.
For Stauskas, the Raptors were a huge influence.
“The Raptors were a big deal with me getting into basketball,” he said. “I watched every single one of their games growing up. I don’t know about all the other guys coming up out of Canada, but for me, the Raptors were a huge part of it.”
And because of them, he never doubted he’d make it to basketball’s best league.
“I never thought it was unrealistic,” he said. “From the moment I picked up a basketball, I always told myself I was going to be an NBA player. You have your doubts throughout the whole experience, but from Day 1 this has always been part of the plan.”
And as Nash and Carter influenced one generation, players like Stauskas and those following behind him have the ability to influence another.
As many as three Canadians could be picked in this year’s NBA draft. Kentucky guard Trey Lyles of Saskatoon is pegged as a certain first rounder — NBADraft. net has him going 11th overall in their mock draft — while Harvard forward Chris Egi of Markham, Ont., and Boston College guard Olivier Hanlan of Gatineau, Que., are considered possible later picks.
If the numbers continue along their current path, soon, this path may no longer be the one less travelled by Canadian athletes.
“Definitely and I know there will be more to come,” Wiggins said of Canadian NBA players. “Every year, there’s going to be more and more Canadians entering the league.”