It’s been just over two months since it was announced that Jordi Fernández was no longer going to continue as the head coach of the Canadian national team. The newest episode of The Canadian Basketball Show, featuring special guest Oren Weisfeld, believes that the search is almost over. Here are the candidates that were discussed as the possible new leader of Canada’s national program.
Gordon Herbert
The first mentioned candidate, Gordon Herbert, is a familiar name to those who follow Canadian basketball closely. He represented Canada as a player at the 1984 Olympics, where they finished just outside of the podium with a fourth-place finish. He served as an assistant coach for Canada in two stints (2001-02 and 2018-2021). He also finished as the runner-up twice as the head coach for Canada in 2015 when Leo Rautins was selected, and in 2019, he was the next man up for Nick Nurse. He has good experience in FIBA and EuroLeague, has multiple accolades, and is reportedly the top candidate at this point.
Jama Mahlalela
Another familiar name, this time for all Raptors fans, as Mahlalela has served in three stints with the Toronto Raptors (2013-18, 2020-21 and 2023-present)and one stint as the head coach of the Raptors 905 (2018-20). He also served as an assistant with the Golden State Warriors from 2021 to 2023, and he was a part of the championship during the 2021/22 season.
Nathaniel Mitchell
Mitchell is another name that was thrown out there, as he has been an assistant coach for Canada since 2016. He’s served as an assistant in the NBA for the Charlotte Hornets, Toronto Raptors and Milwaukee Bucks. Currently, he’s the head coach of the Guangzhou Loong Lions Dralions, who are a part of the Chinese Basketball Association.
Roy Rana
A relatively inexperienced candidate at the senior level who served as an assistant coach for the Sacramento Kings from 2019 to 2022. He has, however, led Canada to a gold medal at the 2017 FIBA U19 World Cup, becoming the first coach to win gold for Canada at a world championship.
Scott Morrison
A candidate who has been rising in the ranks of coaching. Morrison has been a part of the Boston Celtics (2017-2021) and Utah Jazz (2023-present) coaching staff. He also has a lot of experience in the G-League and was even the Coach of the Year in 2015 with the Maine Red Claws (affiliated with Boston Celtics) back when the name of the development league was the D-League.
Igor Kokoškov
The last name mentioned, and he was the only non-Canadian mentioned. Kokoškov has been a part of a ton of NBA coaching staffs from 2000 all the way to now, with a few gap years in between. He even served as the head coach of the Phoenix Suns in the 2018/19 season and became the first head coach that was born outside of North America in the NBA. He was a part of the 2004 Detroit Pistons coaching staff that won the NBA championship and even had success in international play with Turkey when he led them to a gold medal in the 2017 EuroBasket.
Check out the full podcast, which goes over each candidate in much more detail and covers much more than just the coaching vacancy.
