For many years, Canada’s senior men’s basketball team could be best described as a “revolving door” for NBA players. With a few notable exceptions, NBA players showed up when it was convenient for them and stayed home when it wasn’t.
Simply put, there wasn’t a culture of representing Canada internationally in place.
Former head coach Nick Nurse said as much when he and general manager Rowan Barrett demanded a three-year commitment from NBA players in the lead-up to the 2024 Games, creating a “summer core” that Barrett called a “systematic change” for the program.
The goal of the core was to increase Canada’s chances of qualifying for its first Olympic Games since 2000 and to finish on the podium of an international tournament through improved continuity and chemistry. It was a lesson the Canadian men have learned many times throughout the turbulent history of the program, but one that was most recently crystallized after losing to the Czech Republic in the semi-finals of the 2021 Olympic qualifying tournament in Victoria, B.C., when Canada lost despite having eight NBA players compared to one for the Czechs, who had nine returnees from the 2019 FIBA World Cup compared to one for Canada.
Last summer, at the 2023 FIBA World Cup, Canada accomplished those goals with a roster stacked full of NBA players who had been together for two straight summers, defeating Spain, the No. 1-ranked team in the world, to qualify for the 2024 Olympic games. Canada then beat Team USA for bronze — its first medal in an international tournament since the 1936 Olympics (which were played outdoors, in the rain).
“It was big-time for us as a country, as an organization and a nation,” Team Canada captain Kelly Olynyk told Sportsnet.ca. “Just everything we’ve been through, you know, it’s been a long road, hasn’t been easy. It’s obviously been bumps and hiccups and growing pains along the way, but to be part of that and see it through is a huge thing.”
The “core” concept worked. But it didn’t only help Canada qualify for the Olympics and finish on the podium of a World Cup. More than that, it helped Canada build a culture — one where NBA players don’t view the program from afar but are actively engaged in it year-round, acknowledging the benefits of playing international basketball and the pride and joy that comes with it, expressing their desires to represent Canada at the Paris Olympics and beyond.
“I think this team is as strong as it’s ever been because of everything that happened in the past,” said Olynyk, who has been with the senior team since 2010.
“The program, the nation and everybody that’s behind us now — it’s been building in the right direction because of what’s happened. … And for us to be able to go do it in the Olympics and on world stages, it’s super impactful and hopefully can trickle down and inspire the youth.”
A track record of development
In September 2019, with Canada in the middle of a disappointing showing at the FIBA World Cup in China — where they would finish 21st and, instead of qualifying directly for the Tokyo Olympics, would have to play the 2021 qualifier against the Czechs — Steve Nash expressed his disappointment with the fact that only Cory Joseph was representing Canada out of a possible 16 NBA players.
“I went to the Olympics in 2000 and it springboarded my career,” Nash, at that time an advisor to Canada Basketball after Barrett officially took over as general manager earlier that year, told The Bill Simmons Podcast. “It was the best experience of my career, and I think that next year, I think I was a borderline All-Star with Dallas.”
Nash went on to explain that “it’s a generational thing,” with modern NBA players having so many more options to train in the summers that they no longer view national team experience as a core part of their development. Plus, “it doesn’t seem to mean as much anymore in this generation,” he said about the World Cup in particular.
“How do we shift to where international basketball means something, not just like winning and losing, but means something in your development as a player?” Nash wondered. “Because it’s just lost its lustre I think and think the players have so many options these days and like nobody in their corner is saying, ‘This is really good for you.’”
That shift has occurred. Across the board, the best young Canadians are playing international basketball and seeing those reps translate to NBA success. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is having perhaps the best season ever by a Canadian and is among the MVP favourites, averaging an absurd 31-6-7 (points-rebounds-assists) on a career-high 65 true shooting percentage. But he isn’t the only one having a career year.
Oklahoma City teammate Lu Dort is another crucial cog in the Thunder machine, averaging 11-4-1 with career highs in two-point (51) and three-point (39) field-goal percentages. Meanwhile, Nickeil Alexander-Walker finally carved out a meaningful role for himself (on the best team in the Western Conference, the Minnesota Timberwolves), averaging 7-2-3 on a career-high 57 true shooting percentage in Minnesota.
RJ Barrett is playing the best basketball of his life since being traded to the Toronto Raptors in December, averaging 21-7-4 on a career-best 61 per cent true shooting. And reigning NCAA Player of the Year, Zach Edey, who has been around the program every summer since 2021, has shot up draft boards in recent months due to his improved play.
“I think it helps me every year. I think you can kind of see the jumps I’ve made every summer. Team Canada is a big part of that,” Edey told the media after a 35-point performance in a win over Alabama in Toronto in December. “It’s really helped out kinda just playing in the summer and with the Olympic team, playing [against] grown men. Like, they’re fast, they’re physical, they can play the game forever. And trying to learn off them and watch how they kinda do things, it really helps.”
All of those players are indeed young and expected to get better every season, but development isn’t always linear, and it can’t be a coincidence that practically everyone who committed to the core is having a career year. In fact, even older NBA players such as Dwight Powell and Olynyk continue to have productive seasons at age 32 in a league that is getting younger by the day.
“What it does is I think it gives them a head start on the season because they come in, they’re at game speed already,” New York Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “And then I think it can give a player great confidence. … The big thing for young players is to develop consistency. And I think that what that allows them to do is to get confident and then come into the season where they’re ready to go.”
Alexander-Walker said a big part of his success this season is having more confidence after “having a similar role on the national team” that he has in Minnesota, adding: “I think all of it just kind of spiralled in a good way and it’s all crescendoing in my favour.”
The Dillon Brooks effect
Although it has become clear that playing for Team Canada can help NBA players develop, last summer also proved that it can be an opportunity to showcase them in a different role and setting than the one they are used to playing in the NBA. Dillon Brooks is a prime example of that. After not participating in the 2021 Olympic qualifier and being the one unexcused absence during the first training camp of 2022, Brooks saw Barrett, Gilgeous-Alexander, Alexander-Walker and Dort commit to the program long-term and decided he was all-in.
“It’s more promising [now],” Brooks told Sportsnet.ca “We got guys that you never thought would play are playing every single time, having that consistency and taking accountability and ownership of it. And it’s contagious.”
“Once I’ve seen guys there consistently, every single year, it made me want to be a part of it and get back to repping the pride of Canada … having that mindset of wanting to continually keep doing it and passing it down to the younger generation.”
One thing that Brooks can pass down is how a few weeks of international basketball can completely change your reputation. After all, Brooks entered the 2023 FIBA World Cup after having not played for Canada in a major tournament since the 2015 AmeriCup, so nobody expected much of him. But coming off a disappointing final season with the Memphis Grizzlies, where he shot a career low from the field and was scapegoated for the team’s playoff failures, Brooks had an opportunity to rewrite his career narrative. And he did it by averaging 15-3-3 on 58.8 per cent shooting from three, scoring a World Cup medal-winning game record 39 points in a win versus Team USA before being named Defensive Player of the Tournament.
“What you’ve seen is some good carryover from the summer with him, I think. Different role that he always had in Memphis, he got to do a little bit more with Canada and we’re asking him to do the same things here,” Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka said.
“The main thing with us was efficiency and, at times, in Memphis, it looked like there was some forced shots and probably some frustration not being used offensively. And so for us it was, yeah, he was playing with SGA and Barrett and all these guys this summer, but you’re taking the right shots, making the right reads, being unselfish, and so that’s the things we wanted to see.”
Brooks is playing the best basketball of his life as a Rocket, averaging 14-4-2 on career-high shooting from two (49 per cent), three (40 per cent) and the free-throw line (85 per cent). Sure, he landed his four-year, $86-million contract with the Rockets before joining Canada for the World Cup, but by taking advantage of the opportunity Team Canada provided him, he changed his reputation and expanded his role. And there are sure to be other Canadians who look at what he did and want the same for themselves in the future.
“It’s an opportunity for growth. It’s an opportunity for you to be seen in a different role,” said Udoka, who played for the Nigerian national team. “And obviously, he’s one of the leaders of Canada and we’re asking him to do the same thing here. … So it’s a chance to expand your game and, like I said, be viewed a little bit differently.”
A buzz is building
Every athlete comes to international basketball differently. For Olynyk, it was through his father, Ken, a former head coach of the Canadian junior national team (who once cut a young Nash from the Under-20 squad in 1991). Powell discovered the importance of Olympic Basketball through his mentor and former German national team idol, Dirk Nowitzki, during his early years in Dallas. Barrett walked by his father Rowan’s Olympic jersey hanging on the wall of their home every day. Gilgeous-Alexander wanted to reach the same pinnacle of sport that his mother, Charmaine Gilgeous, did as a sprinter for Antigua and Barbuda at the 1992 Games.
This current crop of players is proving that they can be that inspiration for the next generation of Canadian hoopers — or perhaps even for older players who represented Canada in the past and want to give it another go.
“I think it’s another step, obviously, just like [the Raptors] winning the NBA championship,” Chris Boucher said of Team Canada’s success. “I think it’s just an eye-opening [moment] for the country and just making people realize that basketball is an opportunity but also we have a lot of good talent in Canada and hopefully it can [help] open up programs and help kids want to have aspirations of playing on either Team Canada or NBA.”
As Boston Celtics forward Oshae Brissett put it: “It’s definitely building a culture of wanting to be there in the summer and compete and grow together. Because it does a lot for the country.”
Already, young NBA players are lining up for an opportunity to represent Canada. Indiana Pacer Bennedict Mathurin and Portland Trail Blazer Shaedon Sharpe have both expressed interest in playing in Paris, while Pacer Andrew Nembhard said: “Most definitely I’m trying to play this summer. I think I can help the team and I think it would be a fun opportunity.” Nembhard said the decision to not play in the World Cup was “a little bit selfish decision” as he “wanted to really focus on having a good year two” in the NBA.
Meanwhile, potential 2024 NBA Draft pick Emanuel Miller said it was “very inspiring” to watch the Canadians win bronze, while his brother, Leonard, watched last summer’s training camp shortly after being drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves, saying: “It looked like a lot of fun. And it looks like our country is getting together, getting along together. We’re all tapped in with each other and we’re a force to be reckoned with.”
Aside from the team’s success, that joy and camaraderie is a big part of the appeal that comes with playing with this group of Canadians. In fact, it’s part of the reason both Tristan Thompson and Boucher — who have not played for Canada since 2016 and 2018, respectively — have told Sportsnet they are interested in playing this summer.
“That’s probably one of the main times left in your career where you’re really playing, truly, truly playing for the love of the game,” Olynyk said. “For the love of your country and the love of your brothers and people around.”
“I think now that it’s so prevalent, we’re doing great things, big things, making a name on a national stage, being on the podium in a World Cup, winning a medal — guys want to be a part of that,” Olynyk added. “You want to have that brotherhood and that feeling, you want to be included. And now with being able to compete in the Olympics, you’re seeing guys that after this summer are like: ‘Yo, I want to be in that group. I want to be with those guys, the people that we grew up with, the people you come up with.’”
Shortly after Nash and Barrett took over the program as general manager and assistant general manager in 2012, head coach Jay Triano remarked how there would come a time when the interest in the national team would be so great that they would have to start cutting NBA players. It might not have happened as soon as Canada Basketball would have hoped, but this summer, as Team Canada approaches Paris 2024 with a record 26 Canadians in the NBA and a tangible buzz building around the program, that dilemma will finally become a reality.
The door has stopped revolving. You’re either in or you’re out.
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