Roll call suggests Canada Basketball has turned the corner

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For too long, the narrative around the first gathering of the Canadian Senior National men’s basketball team revolved around who was NOT there.

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Thanks to devoted national team members such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Dwight Powell and Kelly Olynyk, to name just three, that is no longer the case.

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With the opening game of the FIBA World Cup just 25 days away, Canada’s senior men’s team assembled in Toronto ahead of an ambitious pre-tournament schedule with 17 of the 18 expected bodies in uniform and participating.

The 18^th, Kevin Pangos, was in Toronto but was not in uniform. He has just arrived from Europe, where he plays with Olimpia Milano in the Italian League Serie A.

Rowan Barrett, general manager of Canada Basketball, knows all too well what those previous training camps were like where the absences and the reasons or excuses for those absences became the story.

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But Canada Basketball changed things up last summer and asked for and received commitments from a core group of Canada’s best and brightest basketball players. The fruits of that project were evident Monday at the Raptors’ OVO practice gym, where the team will spend the week in advance of some overseas exhibitions before the World Cup, at which their opening gamers are in Indonesia.

“Obviously we’ve been working towards this for years now, getting commitment from our players and not throwing something together at the end,” Barrett said. “We’ve got a core group of guys who have (said they are committed) and that have (shown they are) committed.

“Look, I always breathe easier when they’re on the court and I’ll feel better when we get on the plane going to Germany,” Barrett continued. “It’s good, knowing guys are committed, understanding each other, having seen each other, played with each other is good. Obviously, our coach is implementing some things and we’re going to pick that up.”

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The one newcomer to the group was a situation few saw coming.

Former national team head coach and Raptors head coach Nick Nurse was let go from his Raptors duties at the end of the NBA season and took his whistle to Philadelphia, where he will coach the 76ers.

Nurse had a unique arrangement with the Raptors and the national team, and when one ended, continuing with the other was no longer feasible.

And Barrett, while not thrilled with the late-developing situation, likes the way the organization has handled a potential hurdle.

“I’m never going to say the ideal thing is having to change your coach just a month out from going to the world championship,” Barrrett said. “Clearly not ideal. But I think we pivoted very well, and there’s opportunity in any kind of adversity and brining in a new coach here that understands the NBA players, which is critical to this job – if you don’t know how to handle them it doesn’t matter what the heck you’re saying.”

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Enter Jordi Fernandez, a long-time NBA assistant currently employed by the Sacramento Kings with a long history of international coaching experience both at the FIBA level and with European basketball.

Fernandez retained a good chunk of Nurse’s staff bringing back Nate Bjorkgren, Nathaniel Mitchell, Michael Meeks and Jon Goodwillie so there is plenty of familiarty for the players returning.

Fernandez, who has been on the job for only a month, is fully confident in his abilities to do the job at hand.

“No excuses with the time,” Fernandez said. “Obviously, I had an unbelievable opportunity knock on my door and it was a no-brainer for me. I have done the FIBA basketball enough times and the EuroBasket championship and the Olympics and I am extremely honoured to bring it here and help this program to grow to where it is supposed to be and ranked No. 1. This is our long-term goal. These things don’t happen overnight but if we work every single day and we care about building our identity, we will get there.”

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On the court, Fernandez will have in his charge the most talented, deepest and, by all accounts, most committed team Canada has ever produced.

And that’s not a writer’s perspective or opinion, but that of the players themselves.

“I think if every player does whatever it takes to win and plays to their strengths, we’ll get the job done,” Gilgeous-Alexander said.

He’s not talking about advancing from pool play to the championship round. He’s talking about winning the World Cup.

There is plenty of international experience on this squad from Olynyk to Powell to R.J. Barrett and Gilgeous-Alexander himself to name just a few. But this team is talented and committed to winning like few before them have been.

Jamal Murray, fresh off an NBA championship with the Denver Nuggets, is another sign of the level of commitment this team has.

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Murray likely won’t play in all the tuneup games, but he’s here after an elongated season that many before him have used as an excuse to take a pass on national team involvement.

Nobody is making any excuses this time around.

“It’s awesome to see everybody show up,” Powell said of the excitement level for Day 1 of training camp. “(Everyone is) ready to work, egos aside, everybody’s locked in on the goal to win, compete for our country and it’s a different energy when everybody shows up with that mindset. You can feel it in the building. It’s definitely exciting.”

And different, for all the right reasons.

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