The Canadians are ready for Saturday's opener in Paris, looking to medal for the first time in 88 years
Canada has its Dream Team, finally.
A group of NBA vets and talents ready to take the crown as the world’s top (Olympic) basketball team. A dream lineup — 10 NBA players, a record for any non-American team — kicks off its Olympic tournament on Saturday.
It’s a dream for B.C. too — a dream that one day, maybe, there will be more B.C.-bred players on the team.
As it stands, Kelly Olynyk, the Toronto-born, Kamloops-raised power forward for the Toronto Raptors, is the only player on the roster from the West Coast. Eight of the 12 are from within a 100km radius of Toronto, two are from Montreal, and then Trey Lyles of Saskatoon (!) although he moved to the U.S. when he was seven years old.
The representation is just as small on the women’s side; guard Nirra Fields was born in New Westminster but also moved to the East when she was still in elementary school.
B.C. can at least claim the Olympic program patriarch in Steve Nash, though Johannesburg, South Africa would also lodge an appeal as his birthplace.
But lack of West Coast talent aside, this is the best Canadian team of all time, even before they've played a game at the Olympics. Apologies to the Bill Wennington and Leo Rautins apologists.
The sports bookies have seventh-ranked Canada running in second place to win the Olympic gold, behind only the U.S., who only beat them by six in a warm-up two weeks ago.
The road to the podium in Paris is a tough one, train sabotage notwithstanding.
First up is Greece, led by flagbearer Giannis Antetokounmpo, at noon on Saturday.
On Tuesday, if you can rise early enough for the 4:30 a.m. PT tipoff, is No. 5-ranked Australia, led by NBAers and five-time Olympians Patty Mills and Joe Ingles.
Round-robin play ends on Friday with another morning game, this one a more palatable 8:15 a.m. start, against the world No. 2 — Spain — which boasts just a single current NBA player despite its lofty global ranking.
If this is Canada's Dream Team, the same can be said for the rest of the world. Ever since 1992, the number of NBA players at the Games has trended upwards. Even in 2000, the last time the Canadian men qualified for the Games, they had just two: Nash and Todd MacCulloch.
In the Paris, it's the first Olympics where more than half of the players have NBA experience, and every team has at least one player who suited up in a regular-season NBA game the previous year.
Of the 144 players, 81 have NBA experience. In the last Games in Tokyo, it was just 85.
"No, I don't worry at all. At the end of the day, they're basketball players," Shai Gilgeous-Alexander told Fiba.com ahead of the Paris Games.
"Now, they may be some of the best in the world, but our team has some of the best in the world as well and we don't fear any of them.
“We play them all year (in the NBA). They’re the same basketball players. They sweat and bleed just like us, and the ball’s gonna tip, and at the end of the night, you’re gonna find out who’s a better team. Whether you play USA or you play Lithuania, whether you play Spain, that’s what it comes down to. So for us, there’s no difference.”
Kelly Olynyk, celebrating Canada's bronze-medal win over the U.S. at the FIBA WC last year, is the lone B.C. player on the men's Olympic team. Ariana Saigh/Getty Images
This era of Canadian basketball has roots in those 2000 Games with Nash, MacCulloch and Rowan Barrett. They actually had the second-best record overall and the third-best point differential, but finished seventh after losing to France in the quarterfinals.
A focus on the grassroots became sharper in the wake of those Games, buoyed by the NBA's foothold in Canada with the Grizzlies and Raptors. Nash was named GM of the program in 2012, and was succeeded by Barrett, and now RJ Barrett — Rowan's son and Nash's godson — is in Paris wearing the Maple Leaf.
Canada has only medalled once in men's basketball — silver in 1936 Games in Berlin.
But this year's squad has the ability to make that dream come true.
We believe, after last summer (when they beat the U.S. for bronze at the World Championships) . being so close to gold, and with our new additions, that gold is something we can achieve," said Gilgeous-Alexander. "We have really high goals, and we want to achieve them."
CANADIAN MEN'S OLYMPIC ROSTER
Nickeil Alexander-Walker, G (Minnesota Timberwolves)
RJ Barrett, G/F (Toronto Raptors)
Khem Birch, C (Girona)
Dillon Brooks, F (Houston Rockets)
Luguentz Dort, G/F (Oklahoma City Thunder)
Melvin Ejim, F (Unicaja)
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, G (Oklahoma City Thunder)
Trey Lyles, F (Sacramento Kings)
Jamal Murray, G (Denver Nuggets)
Andrew Nembhard, G (Indiana Pacers)
Kelly Olynyk, F/C (Toronto Raptors)
Dwight Powell, F/C (Dallas Mavericks)
CANADIAN MEN'S OLYMPIC BASKETBALL RECORD
1936: Berlin Olympics — Silver
1948: London Olympics — Ninth
1952: Helsinki Olympics — Ninth
1956: Melbourne Olympics — Ninth
1964: Tokyo Olympics — 14th
1976: Montreal Olympics — Fourth
1984: Los Angeles Olympics — Fourth
1988: Seoul Olympics — Sixth
2000: Sydney Olympics — Seventh
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