Basketball: Nembhard gives Canada a second teen standout
R.J. Barrett, everyone knew about. The hype around the budding Canadian basketball has been huge for years.
United States prep school player of the year, Duke University-bound phenom seemingly destined to be a top two NBA draft pick a year from now, son of the Canadian icon Rowan Barrett, godson of the estimable Steve Nash, a teenager headed for great things.
And so far in three games with Canada’s senior team, the young Barrett has been advertised but there’s another teenager crowding him for a place in the spotlight.
Andrew Nembhard, the 18year-old point guard from Aurora who’s headed to Florida for what’s expected to be a oneseason pre-NBA career, has been full measure in his national senior team debut, fitting seamlessly into games against men despite his tender age.
“He’s really impressed me,” said no less an authority than Cory Joseph of the Indiana Pacers who suited up next to Nembhard for the first time Friday when Canada routed Dominican Republic to take control of its first-round qualification group for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.
“He’s kind of that playmaker like myself,” Joseph said. “He’s very crafty as well. … I think he’s gonna surprise a lot of people.”
Surprise many, perhaps. But not Canada Basketball insiders who’ve seen Nembhard in action in both scrimmages in games.
Heading into Monday afternoon’s final qualification game against U.S. Virgin Islands in Ottawa, they’ve come to see the six-foot-three point guard as a revelation from the first time they got him in camp.
Along with Barrett, the other 18-year-old on the roster, they’ve provided a huge level of optimism about the next few years.
“I don’t know if you would know they were teenagers the way that they played,” head coach Jay Triano said Friday night. “I thought both were very composed. RJ just attacks the basket like very few people can, and he does it at this level, which is a really high level.
“Andrew just seems unfazed about anything out there. He guards well, controls the offence, the ball moves when he’s out there, he’s a true point guard.”
Canada needs just to beat Virgin Islands on Monday to finish its group in first place — they won by nearly 30 points in a game in February. The next round will comprise home-andhome series with Venezuela, Brazil and either Chile or Colombia in three windows over September, November and February, 2019.