A couple months ago, Canada Basketball unveiled its new strategic plan for the next Olympic Cycle. While the previous (2020-2024) charter focused on unifying a basketball nation, and rebuilding the Canadian basketball infrastructure and community after the isolating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, this newly introduced “flywheel of success” sets a bold new vision for winning and performance. Podium finishes across global competitions are no longer just an ambition, but an expectation and standard to hold Canada Basketball accountable to. To be the Best In the World.
Since then, the Men’s player pool has lived up to this new vision of high performance success. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the newly crowned NBA MVP, is dominating opposing playoff defenses, with his unique blend of shotmaking and improved playmaking, en route to his first NBA Finals appearance against the Indiana Pacers (and fellow Canadians Andrew Nembhard and Benn Mathurin). His long-time Thunder teammate, Luguentz Dort, was finally recognized for his defensive prowess with a First Team All-Defense selection. Zach Edey’s interior presence as a highly-efficient play finisher and rebounder allowed him to be one of the few high-impact rookies in recent classes, and landed him on the First Team All-Rookie.
Looking beyond the NBA, it’s a similar story of success for Canadians. Ryan Nembhard finished his collegiate career at Gonzaga with the 5th most assists totaled in a single NCAA season. Moving overseas, Melvin Ejim, who has played a contributing role in Unicaja Malaga’s most successful period in club history, recently won the FIBA Basketball Champions League for the second year in a row and now has a chance at winning the Spanish Treble. And there’s Khem Birch, whose mobility on the perimeter despite left knee surgery in 2022 helped power the suffocating defense of EuroLeague Champions, Fenerbahçe.
Which brings us to the FIBA U16 AmeriCup, the 5×5 Men’s program’s first opportunity to compete under the new “Best In. Best For” vision. Running from June 2–8 in Juárez, Mexico, this U16 cohort will look to be the first Canadian team to win the U16 AmeriCup outright, securing a Gold Medal finish. Drawn into Group A, they’ll face Venezuela, Brazil and Puerto Rico to start the tournament, before advancing to the knockout stages.
The Competition Format
While the U16 Americas tournament has been rebranded as the “U16 AmeriCup”, the competition format itself has not changed. All eight teams automatically qualify for the knockout stages and the four semi-finalists will qualify for the FIBA U17 World Cup next year. Podium finishes aside, the primary objective for Canada will be to play on the international stage next summer, an event they haven’t missed since its inception in 2010.
Behind the scenes and amongst Canadian grassroots circles, there’s an undeniable excitement and buzz around the depth of high-end talent in this specific cohort, one that has been uncharacteristically absent on the Junior Men’s side over the last few years. While many of the players on this year’s U16 team are familiar with each other as teammates (or opponents) on AAU, high school and provincial teams, this is the first time they will all be competing as a collective on the international stage. Compared to their peers from South and Central America, who won grueling U15 tournaments to even qualify for the U16 AmeriCup, the lack of shared time on the court is the major concern.
The lack of shared on-court reps is compounded by the short-fuse nature of these week-long tournaments. As head coach Chris Cheng, who returns after leading Canada’s U16 and U17 teams the last two summers, acknowledged, “it’s such a short amount of time compared to my University team. When you’re coaching the National Team, it’s a sprint, right? So every step of the way that you take along the sprint has to be somewhat almost perfect. There’s no time to figure it out”.
For what it’s worth, the U16 team did at least get the opportunity for a single trial run over the last week. The second last day of training camp was centered around a closed-door scrimmage against Toronto Metropolitan University, followed up by a film session and walkthrough of high-level gameplan concepts with the players on Friday morning. For the coaching staff, it was a “scripted” scrimmage, simulating Canada’s Group stage opponents and allowing them to make final decisions on the roster, evaluate lineups and test out pet actions and defensive schemes.
A full-on tournament of scrimmage games would have been ideal (similar to last year’s U17 prep tour in Spain before the World Cup), but unfortunately was not a realistic add to the schedule as Team Canada boarded a plane for Mexico a day after training camp ended.
The Team
The FIBA U16 AmeriCup typically serves as my first in-depth introduction and tracking point for Canada’s next generation of prospects. Finding full-game film of high level, competitive basketball is a challenge at this age so I typically wait for the infrastructure of a FIBA tournament to analyze outlier microskills. That being said, there’s a shortlist of players who have piqued my interest in the limited film I have come across and will be watching closely over the next week.
“They’re high level. They’re extremely coachable. They want to learn. They want to be the best they can be so when they get [to training camp], they’re like a sponge.”
HC Chris Cheng on this cohort of U16 players
Isaiah Hamilton
- Age: 15.6
- Height: 6’6″
Entering the tournament, Hamilton is likely the most heralded prospect on the Canadian U16 squad. Like many high-flying wings before him, Hamilton has racked up a ton of attention for his highlight reel dunks in transition. We’re talking one-handed “Eastbays” type of vertical pop. The previous iteration of the U16 squad in 2023 was missing some punch from the wing and Hamilton promises to change that with his length and vertical explosiveness on both ends of the floor.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Cheng deploys Hamilton at the top when Canada inevitably mixes in some zone defense. Cheng has loved playing a 1-3-1 zone with this age group, putting a long wing at the top to disrupt opposing guards and Hamilton fits that mold.
Hamilton has talked about the influence that his older brother, Amare Hamilton has had on his nascent basketball career. Amare recently finished a strong freshman season at the University of Guelph, garnering OUA All-Rookie honours and winning the Guelph Men’s Basketball Rookie of the Year.
He’s always made me better. He’s also the one that taught me “controlling the controllables” […] When we’re watching guys ball together he’s pointed out stuff that I haven’t been able to point out […]. So yeah he’s just been helping with stuff like that.
Jérémy Gohier
- Age: 14.5
- Height: 7’6″
Yes, that’s not a typo, the youngest player on Canada’s U16 team is also the tallest, with an official listing of 7’6″ by FIBA. Gohier’s presence continues Canada’s tendency to include giants on their Junior Teams (think the 7’9″ Olivier Rioux, 7’4″ Zach Edey over the last 4 years) and will almost certainly be one of the most talked about prospects at the tournament due to his size.
Gohier went viral in the grassroots basketball world last year at the notorious MSHTV camp, where he was just comically dominant. I haven’t watched a full game of his myself so I can’t speak in depth, but from an initial glance the movement skills at his size are noteworthy. Age is an important factor in player projections and I think it’s always worthwhile to pay special attention to the athletes Canada Basketball brings along that are younger than the rest of their peers. Similarly, size is another important factor and Gohier is an outlier in both facets.
Liam Mitakaro
- Age: 16.2
- Height: 6’2″
The lone player from Alberta on the team, Mitakaro caught my eye last year at the U15 National Championship, where he almost single handedly upset the heavily favoured Team Ontario. His off-beat cadence as a driver and his mature playmaking (he’s especially adept at utilizing jump passes to manipulate defenders) were impressive for a player his age. Add in his strong defensive activity and that’s an intriguing lead guard prospect.
In another USPORTS connection, Mitakaro is the younger brother of Lars Ishimwe, who spent five seasons with the University of Alberta and now plays professionally in Rwanda. Much like Hamilton, he spoke openly about the pivotal role his older brother has played in his development and training.
