Road to Rio: Bennett shows up at Canadian team camp leaner and with something to prove
Jay Triano almost had to do a double take when a much-appreciated reinforcement for the Canadian men’s basketball team arrived at training camp Wednesday morning.
It’s not that the head coach didn’t recognize 2013 No. 1 NBA draft pick and one-time Toronto Raptor forward Anthony Bennett, but it was the slimmed-down Bennett who arrived that jarred Triano.
“His body composition has changed,” Triano said of the notice- ably thinner Bennett. “Last year he couldn’t have practised like this the whole time. We had to play him in spurts, and I thought today he was very good.”
Bennett declined to speak with reporters following his first workout with Canada and after his first appearance at the Air Canada Centre practice facility since being unceremoniously waived by the Raptors in February.
Trying to resurrect an NBA career that’s seen him leave three teams — Cleveland by trade, Minnesota after engineering a buyout and Toronto after being cut — the 23-year-old has had recent auditions with New York and Brooklyn, trying to at least snag an invitation to an NBA training camp in the fall.
Triano said Canada Basketball was able to work out insurance concerns that allowed Bennett to take part in the final training camp practice before the team heads to Europe for a series of exhibition games starting Monday.
Bennett, who had shone at times for the national team in the past, is expected to play in the summer’s marquee event — a six-team, last-ditch Olympic qualification tournament early next month that Canada has to win to make it to the Rio Games.
“He was a big part of our team last summer. At the Pan Am Games, he was outstanding. Even in the (Mexico City Olympic) qualifier he was very good,” Triano said of Bennett. “It’s great to have him back here, another experienced guy.”
Triano’s team got another boost Wednesday with the arrival of forward Khem Birch, who played in Turkey last season.
“(He) is a guy who had to make a decision whether he was going to play in the summer league or play for his country, and he decided to be here,” Triano said. “That’s another huge thing for us.”