Talent pool deeper than ever for national basketball team
Hopes run high for summer World Cup as GM works to build ‘culture of winning’
TORONTO With Canada’s wealth of talent on the ice, hockey fans have enjoyed doing this for decades. They’ve scribbled their Olympic dream teams down on bar napkins over beers. They’ve filled up social media screens arguing about goaltending. They’ve tuned in to watch the dramatic unveiling of Canada’s roster live.
Finally, Canada’s men’s basketball team has people talking. And not necessarily because of who’s not playing, but because Canada Basketball will face a tough but enviable task of selecting its World Cup team — and if all goes well, it’s Olympic roster for Tokyo in 2020 — from a deeper player pool than ever before.
When players gather for training camp in August ahead of the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China, it will arguably be the most talented collection of Canadians under one roof in history.
“It will be exciting for fans for sure,” said Rowan Barrett, Canada Basketball’s general manager of the men’s team. “Look at all the players, the players who are playing in the pros all around the world, and the ones who are coming along into the pros, the ones still in college.
“That’s exciting, especially when you know you have the depth of players. It’s definitely exciting for the game.”
The Canadians capped World Cup qualifying with routs of both Chile (85-46) and Venezuela (95-55) in St. John’s, N.L., sewing up first place in Group F with a 10-2 record.
Canada used an incredible 36 different players through the 12 qualifying games that stretched over 14 months, finally booking its first World Cup spot in nine years with a victory in Brazil in December.
“It’s important, right?” Barrett said of Canada’s final qualifying window in St. John’s. “Because we kind of built a culture. You’re building a culture of winning. It’s important every time you step on the floor.”
Canada’s last World Cup appearance was a woeful, winless, first-round exit in 2010 in Turkey. Canada’s only players with NBA experience were Joel Anthony and Andy Rautins.
Even the Canadian team that made it to the quarter-finals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics had just two NBA players in Steve Nash and Todd MacCulloch. When Nash was named general manager of Canada’s men’s program in 2012, Barrett recalled the two-time NBA MVP telling him it might take six to eight years for Canada to climb up the global basketball ranks.
“I think in 2015, when we put our team on the floor (for Olympic qualifying), our team on average was maybe 21 years old, our starting group, and that’s generally not a recipe for winning basketball in FIBA. But they were some of the best players that we had, and they needed those experiences, so we went that way.”
Canada didn’t qualify for the Rio Olympics, crumbling in the FIBA Americas qualifying tournament final against Venezuela in Mexico. They travelled to the Philippines for a last-chance qualifier, narrowly losing to France.
“Now those 21- and- 22-yearolds are older, more experienced, more years of playing professionally, they have their games in hand, they’re confident,” Barrett said. The Canadian men’s team will spend most of August together before the World Cup that runs from Aug. 31 to Sept. 15 in China. How many players will be invited to camp is still to be determined. And while Canada had 14 play- ers on NBA rosters this season, it’s a good bet Canada’s World Cup roster won’t be an all-NBA lineup. Who fits where, international experience, chemistry, and a willingness to put aside ego, will all be factored in.
Other factors: Who is healthy? Who will be available? Who will commit to spending a good chunk of the summer with the program? Here’s a look at who Canada can draw from to build its 12-man roster this summer:
Guards: Cory Joseph (Indiana Pacers), Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Los Angeles Clippers); Kevin Pangos (FC Barcelona); Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets); Phil Scrubb ( Zenit Saint Petersburg); Nik Stauskas (Cleveland Cavaliers). Forwards: R.J. Barrett (Duke Blue Devils); Melvin Ejim (BC UNICS); Andrew Wiggins (Minnesota Timberwolves); Dillon Brooks (Memphis Grizzlies); Dwight Powell (Dallas Mavericks).
Centres: Kelly Olynyk (Miami Heat); Tristan Thompson (Cleveland Cavaliers).
Other players who could get a look: Trey Lyles (Denver); Chris Boucher ( Toronto Raptors); Thomas Scrubb (Pallacanestro Varese); Aaron Best (Riesen Ludwigsburg), Joel Anthony (San Lorenzo), Nickeil Alexander-Walker ( Virginia Tech), Brandon Clarke ( Gonzaga), Anthony Bennett (Agua Caliente).