The FIBA World Cup is a big deal. Maybe not as big of a deal as the Olympic Games — the biggest stage for international basketball — but big nonetheless. It is not only a tournament with significant pride, money, and international rankings on the line, but it also represents a chance for teams to qualify outright for the Olympics by finishing well in the tournament. In the case of Team Canada, that means finishing top-two out of all nations from the Americas in next summer’s World Cup in order to qualify for the 2024 Paris Games.
However, the Canadian men’s senior national team hasn’t always treated the tournament with the respect it deserves. Due in large part to the nature of star players showing up whenever they deemed fit creating a lack of continuity in the program, the Canadians failed to qualify for the FIBA World Cup in two of the last four tournaments (2007 and 2014). When they did qualify, they did so barely, leading to a low seed, difficult group, and uphill battle, finishing the World Cup 22nd in 2010 and 21st in 2019, when they failed to get out of their group after losing to powerhouses Australia and Lithuania
Because of those bad finishes, the Canadians have had to compete in last-chance qualifying tournaments in order to reach the Olympics, which by now we know have become reliable sources of heartbreak, as the Canada has failed to reach the Games since 2000.
But things are different now. Or at least that is the hope and expectation coming from the Canadian men, who began training camp for the second round of qualifying for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Victoria, B.C. on Monday. The team will host Argentina at the Save Foods Centre in Victoria on Thursday (August 25th) and follow it up with a game against Panama in Panama City on Monday (August 29th).
Fifteen athletes participating in 🇨🇦 Senior Men’s National Team training camp ahead fourth window of FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers.
Read more:https://t.co/pJhhx4YFZh#WinForCanada | #CanadaBasketball pic.twitter.com/gXGXgVUIND
— Canada Basketball (@CanBball) August 18, 2022
Things are different not only because the Canadians have finally introduced a level of continuity to the program, bringing a large contingent of their “summer core” with them to Victoria for training camp (only Jamal Murray and Oshae Brissett are missing from the 15-man core), but also because they are the only team in the Americas to finish the first round of qualifying with a perfect 6-0 record (along with a +198-point differential to lead all teams), entering the second round of qualifying atop Group E.
Now, with 12 teams remaining — six in Group E and six in Group F — and the top-seven advancing to the World Cup — the top three in each group along with the fourth-place team with the best record — the Canadians are in prime position to qualify for next summer’s World Cup. They still need to play each of Argentina, Venezuela, and Panama twice (during this window and in November and February, 2023), but Canada is already so far ahead that they could qualify for the World Cup after this window is through with two wins and two Dominican Republic losses. However, that feels unlikely given some of the NBA players representing the Dominican Republic during this window.
Still, the Canadians are feeling good about themselves and the group they brought to Victoria. While the absence of Murray and Brissett remain question marks, the Canadians have almost their entire summer core participating in training camp, even if players like R.J. Barrett, Khem Birch, Dillon Brooks and Luguentz Dort will not be available for the games.
The point is to build chemistry on and off the court, becoming more familiar with each other and with the system head coach Nick Nurse is running in hopes that they will win the rest of their qualifying games and not only reach the World Cup, but do so in style — they want to better their current No. 18 world ranking and be one of the top seeds in the tournament to increase their chances of landing in a relatively easy group. So far, so good.
“You do notice that they’re ahead of where they were, I think it’s really noticeable,” Nurse told Sportsnet. “They know, all our terms, all our sets, all our coverages, well, they don’t remember maybe all of them exactly, but just one quick reminder and then it kind of clicks back in. And that’s the case for the majority of the guys — not all of them — but for the majority of them. So it’s been good.”
After blowout wins over the Dominican Republic and Virgin Islands in the last round of qualifying in July, Canada is returning all five starters from those games: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Melvin Ejim, Kelly Olynyk, and Dwight Powell.
“The continuity is huge,” says Powell. “I mean, we can skip through a whole bunch of time [and] get right to picking up sets and learning how we play with each other and everyone’s tendencies. We’re already in the mix, running plays. We know our offense, we know our defense.”
“There’s some stuff to brush up on and refresh but at the end of the day we have a feel for what we’re doing so we kind of get right into the action and preparing for competition, which I think is a huge advantage that I think a lot of countries have had, is having that continuity year after year, so not only being able to have that continuity over the last couple of years but over this summer is huge.”
The hope is that that continuity will better prepare them to beat one of those experienced and tight-knit nations that Powell is referring to: Argentina.
In what will be the biggest test and the most important game thus far in qualifying, Canada will play host to Argentina on Thursday at 10:30pm EST in front of fans in Victoria. Argentina is ranked No. 7 in the world, influenced by their second-place finish in the 2019 World Cup and longstanding success in international tournaments. And while this is a younger group than the one that won silver in 2019, it’s still the most talented and well-prepared group that Canada has played during this qualifying cycle, holding a 5-1 record through the first round of qualifying.
Head coach Nestor Garcia has a history of beating the Canadians, willing Venezuela to its upset Canada in the last-chance qualifier in 2015, while point guard Facundo Campazzo is a wizard playmaker with two years of NBA experience under his belt. Most importantly, they have a team full of players with experience playing and succeeding together for their nation, which is exactly what the Canadians are trying to replicate.
“Listen, their history and pedigree speak for itself. This is a challenge for us from a typical standpoint. They’re very experienced — guys that are playing mostly in high-level FIBA,” Nick Nurse said of the Argentines. “Most of the guys on their team have been with the national team a long time. They’re a well-oiled machine, a successful machine and we’re going to have to play really well.”
“It’s big-time for us,” Olynyk added. “To play a team of that calibre at home in Canada — these are the types of teams we’re going to have to play to move forward in the World Cup, to get to the Olympics. It’s a huge test for us. One of the top teams in the world coming into our house and we have to make a statement.”
After that, the Canadians will travel to Panama City to take on a Panama side that is 2-4 after the first round of qualifying. That game goes on Monday, August 29th at 8:10pm EST.
The final two qualifying windows are in November of this year and February 2023. Canada will be without their NBA players as well as some of their top-level European League players in those windows, sending their “winter core” players and coaches to compete instead, making these immediate contests against Argentina and Panama that much more important.
Look out for game recaps, special interest stories, and maybe even some features about Canada Basketball’s men’s and women’s senior teams on this website right here in the coming months. Go Canada!
