Canada's loss will have lasting sting
Defeat does not erase fact that this is a new era for national men's basketball program
A day later, it still stings.
And that's just for those of us with no real stake in the game. Imagine if you had invested the time and energy the likes of a Dwight Powell or Corey Joseph or Nick Nurse or any of the players or staff who said yes when Canada Basketball came looking for seven-week commitments this time around from those who would represent their country in men's basketball?
Imagine how bad an overtime loss by a single basket would feel, were you one of those individuals.
Sport can be crushing and it was for all Canadian basketball supporters Saturday as they watched perhaps the most athletic and talented national men's team ever assembled fall just short, losing a FIBA qualifier semifinal on a turnaround jumper against tight defence that banked in.
It was far from a perfect game by the Canadian side. They were outplayed by a more seasoned, more meshed team in the Czech Republic. But again, that is sport. Some days, it's just not your day.
Across the country people are lamenting what could have been. What if all who could have represented us at the FIBA Olympic qualifier in Victoria had said yes is a common refrain.
The thing about that is just about all of them did and the bulk of those that didn't had very good reasons.
Canada had eight NBA players answer the call. Three others — Shai Gilgeous-alexander, Jamal Murray and Chris Boucher — had the opportunity to say yes taken from them by injury.
Two others — Kelly Olynyk and Khem Birch — went into the off-season as free agents, meaning they aren't under contract to anyone and were unprotected (unless they bought their own insurance) should anything happen to them. It's easy to sit back and say they should all play for their country, but the aforementioned are all very legitimate and logical reasons for not being there.
That's 13 NBA players born in Canada who either said yes or wanted to say yes.
To begin the 2020-21 NBA season, there were 17 Canadians on opening night rosters. So the vast majority were in or wanted to be in. Nurse suggested in the aftermath of Saturday's loss that the country needs a core of consistent commitments from the Canadian NBA family so they can build some sort of lasting chemistry that doesn't need to be developed every three or four years when the program comes calling.
Nurse talked glowingly about the buy-in leading up to this actual training camp he oversaw in Tampa last month. He spoke of conference calls between the potential players where all but one or two were on the call.
The point is there is a level of commitment from this young core of Canadians in the NBA like never before.
Consider RJ Barrett, Andrew Wiggins, Luguentz Dort and Nickeil Alexander-walker were arguably Canada's top 4 performers in Victoria.
Barrett is 21. Wiggins is 26. Alexander-walker is 22 and Dort is 22.
That is a core you can start build from.
The obvious ingredient missing from that group is size, the all-important big man in international play to battle underneath the basket and ensure rebounds and a defensive presence at the rim.
That, too, is coming. In fact, it was in Tampa, too — though just too raw to bring in a tournament against men. Toronto native and present day Purdue Boilermaker Zach Edey stands a statuesque 7-foot-3 and is currently in Latvia with Canada's under-19 team. He was in the training camp in Tampa, along with two other prenba college stars with Canadian passports — Edey even made the trip to Victoria before it was decided the jump up in age group was just too big at the moment.
Through two games in Latvia, Edey is making a mockery of the rebounding lead in the tournament, averaging 15 1/2 a game — more than four more a game than his nearest competition.
In addition to Edey, University of Arizona forward Bennedict Mathurin, who hails from Montreal, and Aurora, Ont., point guard and Gonzaga alum Andrew Nembhard are at the U19 tournament gaining experience and familiarity with their fellow Canadians.
The payoff didn't come this time around for the national men's team, but the blueprint is there, assuming that level of commitment remains. Yes, falling short of an Olympic berth for the past two decades in heartbreaking fashion can become increasingly frustrating.
But this is a new era of Canadian basketball. The options are more plentiful and the level of commitment is higher than it has ever been.
The next Olympics arrives in four years in Paris. Don't be surprised to see the Canadian men represented ... and don't be shocked when they win a medal.