TORONTO– Think of this.
Canada is producing more than its share of NBA first round picks these days as well as others who dot the league’s rosters.
If the country was to field its best team in international competition, the roster might like something like this: center Kelly Olynyk, Robert Sacre, forwards Tristan Thompson, Trey Lyles, Joel Anthony, Nik Stauskas, Dwight Powell, Anthony Bennett and Andrew Nicholson, guards Andrew Wiggins, Corey Joseph, Tyler Ennis and Brady Heslip.
At the very least, that team would qualify for the 2016 summer games at Rio and possibly contend for a medal.
But NBA contract status, summer league obligations and fatigue have robbed Canada of many of its best players again this summer, leaving senior men’s coach Jay Triano and general manager Steve Nash are using this Pan Am men’s basketball competition to audition players for spots on the national team roster as Canada prepares for an early September FIBA Americas Olympic qualifier in Mexico as well as try to win this tournament, which is being played in this country’s basketball capitol.
Canada has not been to an Olympics since 2000 when the country finished seventh in the summer games in Australia and does ot have to participate.
The United States has already qualified for Rio by virtue of winning last year’s World Championship in Spain.
In a best case scenario, Triano and Nash are hoping Wiggins, Thompson, Stauskas, Olynyk and Corey Joseph can be added to the roster and provide a solid core group as the Canadians attempt to secure one of two Olympic spots available in the FIBA Americas tournament and he can fill the rest of the roster with the best players on this Pan Am team.
But nothing is a lock.
With that in mind, perhaps the most encouraging news to come out of Canada’s 105-88 victory over the Dominican Republic in pool play were the performances of Heslip and 6-5 guard Jamal Murray, an 18-year old prodigy who actually reclassified to the class of 2015 so he could graduate early and enroll at the University of Kentucky this fall.
Heslip, a former Baylor guard who once made 11 threes in a NBA Development League game and may be the best pure shooter in the country, lit the Dominican Republic up for 24 points. He shot 9 for 15 and made five 10 threes.
But Murray, who set the basketball world on fire last spring when he went off for 30 points in the Nike Hoop Summit, may have been Canada’s biggest revelation. He scored 12 points and contributed two rebounds and two assists while running the Canadian offense with uncommon poise for a teenager during the 21 minutes he played in his debut with the senior men’s team.
“He’s sold me,” Triano said. “He’s got great poise knows how to control the game. moves the basketball can score the basketball. We’re working with him continuously about how to defend men, that he’s never had to play against.
“He’s got a confidence about him. I asked him if he was tired he said to me, ‘Coach, I’m 18.’ He’s got that attitude where he wants to be o the floor and hes a geat kid to coach.”
Murray is Canada’s future, maybe even more so than talented Wiggins because he has played on Canada’s youth development teams since he was 16. Murray has no fear of trying out for this team and is confident he has a shot to make the national team going forward. “I don’t see why not,” he replied when asked the big question.
He has already picked up a big fan in Heslip, who played with the NBA Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2015 NBA Summer League after starring for Igokea of the Adriatic League, where he was named the 2015 Bosia Cup Grand final MVP.
“I just told him we’re going to be a dynamic duo,” Heslip said. “I love playing with him. He’s great has a great attitude about everything. He’s a great player and he’s going to be special. I heard about his little all star game run and I came into camp and he was my roommate so we got to know each other well so he’s my little bro’.”
Murray is already a growing legend in this country. His father Roger recently told the Canadian web site Hoop Hype his son was offered a seven-figure deal, much like Emmanual Mudiay last year, to play overseas for a year. When the site did further investigation, it discovered the offer was made by a Las Vegas semi-pro team which is trying to lure players away from college to play against international teams.
Murray looked right at home with the older players on the court. “He’s mature for his age,” Heslip said. “He’ll figure it out. When I was younger and you play against men, there’s obviously an adjustment period, but you just figure it out as you go.”
Murray looks like he has already figured it out.
“I play with all these guys all the time so it’s not a problem,” he said. “Obviously it’s a little more physical going to the boards, but hat’s part of the game. I think everybody has a little of the jitters going into a game like this, especially the Pan Am games, where you are representing your country and everybody looking at you.
“But after you run up and down the court once or twice, it goes away.”
“It’s not out of the question he could be a contributor on this team going forward,” Nash said. “There is going to be a lot of opportunities for a lot of players.”
Murray will have five straight days to prove himself.
However, with the focus squarely on the more important Olympic qualification tournament in early September in Mexico, Canada is using the Pan Ams as an extension of training camp and as a chance for players who might be on the fringe of making the Olympic team a chance to prove themselves.
Canada has not played in an Olympics since 2000 when it finished seventh in Australia.
