(Toronto) Nick Nurse was about to talk to Canadian NBA players last summer in Las Vegas when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander interrupted him.
Posted at 7:07 p.m.
“He mentioned he had something to say,” Nurse recalled. He got up and said he would play. I hadn’t even had time to ask the question. It shows how ready he was. »
Nurse had asked Canada’s top players, who have often been hard to pin down in previous years, to commit to play for the national team for three summers leading up to the Paris Olympics.
Gilgeous-Alexander hasn’t played for Canada since he was 17 due to his NBA commitments, but three days from a basketball World Cup qualifier at his home in Hamilton, the 23-year-old was all smiles.
“He’s been very conscientious and very forthcoming about everything and his enthusiasm for playing,” Nurse said after practice Tuesday. I heard from him many times how excited he was to be here. »
Canada, which is 8-0 in two qualifying windows, will host the Dominican Republic at the FirstOntario Center on Friday.
This week marks the first gathering of Nurse’s “core” players and they are probably the most talented Canadian group training at the OVO Athletic Centre, which normally hosts practices for the Toronto Raptors.
Gilgeous-Alexander, point guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker (Utah Jazz), winger Dwight Powell (Dallas Mavericks) and center Kelly Olynyk (Detroit Pistons) are on the roster. RJ Barrett (New York Knicks), Oshae Brissett (Indiana Pacers), Khem Birch (Raptors), Luguentz Dort (Oklahoma City Thunder), Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets) and Kevin Pangos (CSKA Moscow) are at camp, but they will not play during this international window.
” I am engaged. Everything went well and I will be part of the team in the future,” said Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Thunder’s star point guard is coming back from an ankle injury that caused him to miss his team’s last 10 games. He was limited to 56 games in 2021-22 due to injuries. Gilgeous-Alexander was impressive in setting career highs in points (24.5), steals (1.3) and blocks (0.8) per game and tied a high with 5.9 assists .
Gilgeous-Alexander never played on the same team as his cousin (Alexander-Walker) and he hasn’t played in Hamilton since his high school days.
“It will be fun to play with him this time,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. We both improved a lot. Our tandem should be better. I direct the game more and he shoots. It complements each other perfectly. I’m excited to show it to the world. »
Gilgeous-Alexander’s last national team appearances date back to the Under-18 Tournament of the Americas in Chile and Canada’s last Olympic qualifier in 2016.
Gilgeous-Alexander said his college scholarship offers “blew up” after playing for Canada.
“It definitely worked. I have improved so much. The pace of play was faster and I knew I wanted to play in the NBA. There’s no better way to prepare for it than playing against NBA guys every day,” he insisted.
Compared to other great basketball nations, Canadians haven’t felt the same sense of pride playing for the national team. Joseph and Birch were the only NBA players to appear at the 2019 World Cup, from which Canada could have qualified for the 2020 Olympics.
Canada’s surprising semi-final loss to the Czech Republic in the last-ditch Olympic qualifier last summer reignited the flame.
“We have a lot of guys who have been there. They really want to get on the international stage and it was definitely a painful situation. It fueled our desire and now that the players are coming together, it’s exciting,” Powell said.
Despite being second only to the United States in NBA player count, Canada’s men’s team hasn’t competed in the Olympics since 2000.
The Canadians travel to the US Virgin Islands for their second game of this window on July 4.
There are six qualifying windows for the FIBA World Cup. The last three will take place from August 22 to 30, November 7 to 15 and February 20 to 28. Seven FIBA teams from the Americas will take part in the 32-team World Cup, which is a direct qualifier for the Paris Olympics.