The time for Canada basketball is now. It seems that for many people the goal for the National Men’s basketball team should be to qualify for the 2016 Olympics in Rio, Brazil. With names like Andrew Wiggins, Cory Joseph, Tristian Thompson, and among others gone professional, Canada is in a golden age for basketball and setting high goals will only lead to success.

HY

Late this coming summer Canada will get its chance to qualify for the 2016 Olympics as the FIBA America’s men’s qualifying tournament will take place in Monterrey, Mexico. Ten teams will compete for the two spots at the Olympics during the August 25th to September 6th tournament.

Wednesday afternoon FIBA America announced the draws for the tournament and Canada seemed to come out unlucky. With Mexico being the host team they had the choice of being in either Group A or Group B, placing the northern country in the other group. The groups played out in this seeding order:

Group A

  1. Mexico
  2. Panama
  3. Dominican Republic
  4. Brazil
  5. Uruguay

Group B

  1. Canada
  2. Cuba
  3. Puerto Rico
  4. Argentina
  5. Venezuela

Canada is currently ranked 25th in the world in men’s basketball and seventh in FIBA America. Argentina, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Mexico and Dominican Republic are teams in this tournament that rank ahead. However, entering this tournament the rankings play very little part as most rosters will change and some teams could be without their top players.

For Canada’s Head Coach Jay Triano the draw was one that he called fair. “It doesn’t really matter which group you’re in,” Triano said in a conference call. “Finishing in the top four is the goal in this tournament because then you have a game to play to qualify for the Olympics.”

Triano

The former Toronto Raptors Head Coach believes the team has to be sharp from the get go, as they will also have to cross over and play the teams in the other pool. “I think both groups are very balanced and with Argentina, Puerto Rico, Venezuela and Cuba, we are going to have to be sharp right off the bat. All the games are important.”

The schedule for the tournament has not been released yet, however, the tournament format plays out as so:

  1. Teams will play every team in their pool in round robin. The top four teams will advance.
  2. Following that, teams will then cross over to play the top four teams from the other pool. The game against the teams eliminated will not count. Therefore, the top four teams with the best seven game record will advance.
  3. From there the number one seed will play the number four seed, and the two seed will play the three seed. The winners from both games will advance to the finals and earn themselves a spot in the Olympics.
  4. The teams that finish third, fourth and fifth will be given another chance to qualify for the Olympics come next year in a buy-in tournament.

For Canada it would be best suited to earn an Olympic spot through this tournament as it would boost a very young team’s confidence. Triano does not have any names for who will be participating in the Olympic qualifiers, let alone for the Pan-American Games set to take place in Toronto this summer. The Pan-Am games will take place from July 10th to July 26th as Triano and his staff hope to have a majority of their roster play in both the Pan-Am’s and the Qualifiers.

“The goal is to have as much of the team together for the Pan-am games. In our pool of players we’ve got thirty guys I think we’ve targeted as candidates for this team,” Triano said. He understands that the NBA Summer League will be taking place during the Pan-Am games so he’ll discuss with NBA teams on were they see their players participating. “The good thing is that for a lot of our players they’re beyond the summer league.”

For now Triano has had minimum discussion with NBA teams and plans to sit down with management after the NBA season concludes to see if he can get the players he wants for both the Pan-Am and Olympic Qualifier. He also mentioned that there shouldn’t be any conflict during the Olympic Qualifier as NBA Summer League will have concluded and most free agents will have signed. It’s a situation that every team is in right now as it is unclear if the top players will be participating for teams like Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.

A player many will have their eye’s on is Andrew Wiggins, the clear-cut favourite to win NBA Rookie of the Year. Triano says he’s had discussion with some members of the Minnesota Timberwolves but nothing formal. He plans to sit down with T-Wolves President Flip Saunders at the end of the season to see where he stands with Wiggins’ participation with Team Canada.

“I think the way he’s shown he can play he can be the leader of the team,” Triano said about Wiggins. “He’s got an incredible skill set. His growth through the first year in the NBA has been fantastic.” Triano also pointed out guys like Tristian Thompson and Andrew Nicholson. He believes Thompson’s physicality can play a huge role for Canada along with Nicholson’s ability to stretch the floor as a big man.

When asked about what team he sees Canada comparing to Triano touched on multiple teams; “Argentina seems to play such a great crash style of basketball. Brazil is getting fired up because they are going to get a chance to host the Olympics. The Dominican team has super athletic players and Mexico is extremely well-coached.”

Coming into the tournament Triano will see Canada’s depth as an advantage. “Going into a tournament were there’s a possible nine games in eleven days that depth and athleticism we have can hopefully wear teams down.”

The golden age is now for Canada. A lot of the players that will be on Team Canada for the FIBA America Qualifier in Mexico have gained international experience and there’s enough skill to compete with the top teams. Triano and Canada are slowly rising to the top and this summer will only add to the growth of an already fast growing program.