Canada Basketball released its preliminary list ahead of next week’s FIBA World Cup 2019 qualifiers. The team’s roster for the two-game set will be composed of players from this list.
| First Name | Last Name | DOB | Height | Position | Hometown | Current Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Richard | Amardi | 1990-10-16 | 6’9″ | F | Toronto, Ont. | Raptors 905 (G-League) |
| Jermaine | Anderson | 1983-03-08 | 6’2″ | PG | Toronto, Ont. | Free Agent |
| Joel | Anthony | 1982-08-09 | 6’9″ | C | Montreal, Que. | Free Agent |
| Olu | Ashaolu | 1988-04-18 | 6’7″ | PF | Toronto, Ont. | Sendai 89ers (Japan) |
| Anthony | Bennett | 1993-03-14 | 6’8″ | F | Toronto, Ont. | Northern Arizona Suns (G-League) |
| Aaron | Best | 1992-01-09 | 6’4″ | SG | Scarborough, Ont. | Raptors 905 (G-League) |
| Sim | Bhullar | 1992-12-02 | 7’5″ | C | Toronto, Ont. | Dacin Tigers (Taiwan) |
| Melvin | Ejim | 1991-03-04 | 6’7″ | F | Toronto, Ont. | Unics (Russia) |
| Joel | Friesen | 1990-08-16 | 6’4″ | SG | Abbotsford, B.C. | London Lightning (NBL of Can) |
| Grandy | Glaze | 1992-03-04 | 6’7″ | C | Toronto, Ont. | St. John’s Edge (NBL of Can) |
| Olivier | Hanlan | 1993-02-15 | 6’4″ | SG | Aylmer, Que. | Austin Spurs (G-League) |
| Brady | Heslip | 1990-06-19 | 6’2″ | SG | Burlington, Ont. | Trabzonspor (Turkey) |
| Kris | Joseph | 1988-12-17 | 6’7″ | SF | Montreal, Que. | Free Agent |
| Kaza | Keane | 1994-01-27 | 6’1″ | PG | Ajax, Ont. | Raptors 905 (G-League) |
| Levon | Kendall | 1984-07-04 | 6’10” | PF | Vancouver, B.C. | Free Agent |
| Owen | Klassen | 1991-10-31 | 6’10” | C | Kingston, Ont. | PAOK (Greece) |
| Duane | Notice | 1994-09-07 | 6’2″ | SG | Woodbridge, Ont. | BM Slam Stal (Poland) |
| Adika | Peter-McNeilly | 1993-04-17 | 6’3″ | SG | Toronto, Ont. | Ludwigsburg (Germany) |
| Dyshawn | Pierre | 1993-11-17 | 6’6″ | SF | Whitby, Ont. | Banco di Srd (Italy) |
| Xavier | Rathan-Mayes | 1994-04-29 | 6’3″ | PG | Scarborough, Ont. | Westchester Knicks (G-League) |
| Phil | Scrubb | 1992-11-27 | 6’3″ | PG | Richmond, B.C. | Fraport SKY (Germany) |
| Thomas | Scrubb | 1991-04-08 | 6’6″ | SF | Richmond, B.C. | Scandone AV (Italy) |
| Marc | Trasolini | 1990-06-21 | 6’9″ | C | Vancouver, B.C. | Hokkaido L. (Japan) |
| Warren | Ward | 1989-11-16 | 6’6″ | G/F | London, Ont. | Caceres (Spain) |
The team will be lead by head coach Roy Rana and assistants Dave Smart, Nathaniel Mitchell, Michael Meeks, and Jack Sikma.
Raptors 905 stand to lose more than just Mitchell, a key assistant under Jerry Stackhouse. Kaza Keane is expected to be named to Canada’s roster, and Kennedy Meeks will be suiting up for the U.S. Aaron Best and Richard Amardi are also listed here, though it doesn’t sound as if they’ll be in Halifax.
Canada will play Bahamas on Nov. 24 in Halifax and then play Dominican Republic on Nov. 27 in Santiago de los Caballeros. This marks stage one of a three-part qualifying process under the new FIBA guidelines, so Canada will be back in action again in February and June to complete the trio of home-and-home sets (U.S. Virgin Islands are also in their group).
The top three teams from each group of four then advance to further qualifiers next September through February. Future qualification rounds may run even deeper, as David Pick reported Tuesday that FIBA and EuroBasket are in conversations to allow greater flexibility for international players to suit up in the qualifiers. (The new system is…something.)
A final roster is expected to be announced later this week.
