Nick Nurse is all in and he wants the Canada’s best basketball players to join him on a three-year plan that ends on a medal podium on the greatest stage of all.
Nurse and Canada Basketball announced Monday that he will be coaching the men’s national team through the next Olympic cycle with an eye toward Canada qualifying for the 2024 Games in Paris.
For him it’s a chance to complete a job left undone, but he can’t do it alone. So the guy from Carroll, Iowa, wants the country’s top basketball talent to let their intentions be known now: Are they in, or are they out when it comes to representing Canada internationally?
Nurse laid out his vision in an open letter to Canadian basketball fans that started “Dear Canada,” but was clearly aimed at letting those who want to play for the country at the 2024 Olympics know what would be expected of them over the next three summers.
He’s already met with what could be the core of the national team at a Canada Basketball summit of sorts that was held in Las Vegas during the NBA Summer League, at which 11 “key” players were in attendance, but felt the need to be transparent about the process, and his expectations.
“I think (my) extension and the three-year commitment we’re asking from the players go hand in hand,” said Nurse in an interview with Sportsnet on Monday afternoon. “And I’ve been in heavy communication with these guys (since) Victoria, about the plan going forward and whether they could give me feedback and digest the plan and see if they wanted to be a part of that plan.
“We laid out the details, the commitment, the timeframes of when the Games were, when training camps would start to coincide with all the key dates in the NBA in the basketball world, and just said, ‘This is it; this is the cycle, it’s a three-year cycle if you’re committed to this.
“And if you’re not sure if you feel like playing then check back in 2025.”
Nurse wants a core group to train next summer and be available for the World Cup qualifying windows in June and August. He is also putting as much emphasis on the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup with an eye toward qualifying for the 2024 Olympics there, rather than relying on the uncertainty of another winner-take-all Olympic Qualifying Tournament in the summer of 2024.
It takes a coach with a certain amount of juice to speak so plainly in a Canadian basketball environment where great pains are taken to avoid stepping on anyone’s toes for fear of alienating anyone from the program. But all the tiptoeing hasn’t amounted to much as the commitment Canada has been able to get from its growing pool of NBA players has been spotty.
Nurse started with the national team in the summer of 2019, fresh off winning a title as a first-year NBA head coach with Toronto Raptors.
But even in that brief time he’s witnessed first-hand some of the issues that have kept Canada punching well below its weight internationally.
During preparations for the 2019 World Cup he saw what was projected to be a roster filled with NBA talent get whittled away as training camp approached until only two players – Khem Birch and Cory Joseph – of the nearly 20 Canadians in the league made the trip to China, where Canada finished 21st out of 32 teams and missed a chance to pre-qualify for the Tokyo Olympics.
This past July, Canada’s 12-man roster featured eight NBA players, but there remained a considerable list of its best players that chose not to play, even after initially indicating their commitment.
As it was the only player on the roster that had played for Nurse before was Joseph.
It’s not a problem unique to Canada – NBA players from other countries don’t always play internationally, citing contract concerns, family conflicts, injury or fatigue.
But it’s hard to avoid the reality that the teams with the best track records globally have a core of players willing to temporarily put aside their own interests.
France won the silver medal with two starters – Nic Batum and Evan Fournier – heading into NBA free agency. Australia won bronze in large part because Patty Mills played even as he was without an NBA contract. And while the gold-medal winning Team USA had a vast talent pool to choose from, they were still reliant on three players – Kris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker – flying to Tokyo almost directly from the concluding game of the NBA Finals and playing the Olympic tournament opener just four days later. It was a sacrifice that flies in the face of everything we’ve learned about sports performance in the “load management” era.
Nurse was paying attention.
“That’s the kind of commitment we’re looking for (and) I would also say that’s more of the culture we’re trying to build,” he said. “I think the culture or mission of those countries is way ahead of where we are right now, that’s why those guys commit to play.
“I think there’s also a camaraderie when those guys start playing together and sticking together, that the (national team) almost becomes like a second home to them, and they become kind of brothers … and I think that’s what we’re trying to build here, and that’s the kind of commitment we’re talking about.”
Canada’s Head Coach Nick Nurse leaves the court following second half FIBA Men’s Olympic Qualifying basketball action against Greece, at Memorial Arena in Victoria, Tuesday, June 29, 2021. (Chad Hipolito / CP)
Talent wins – Nurse knows that. The Raptors had very, very good seasons before Kawhi Leonard arrived and after he left, but they only won a title in 2018-19, the one season the two-time Finals MVP played in Toronto.
And in an ideal world, Nurse would love to have the best Canadians also be the most committed to the road to Paris. But if he can only have one, he’s choosing continuity and chemistry over waiting, finger’s crossed, for top talent to parachute in at the last minute.
Canada had more NBA players (eight) than the other five teams at the Olympic Qualifying Tournament had combined, yet a team with no experience playing together struggled to get past an undermanned Greek squad and was sent home by a Czech Republic entry led by journeyman Tomáš Satoranský.
“I think that continuity and playing together over a number of summers would probably outweigh (talent) in some respects,” said Nurse. “And that’s a little bit of a lesson (in Victoria). Czech Republic returned nine or 10 of 12 from that team that finished sixth (at the 2019 World Cup) and it shows … from start to finish, there was a chemistry, a bond between those guys, that’s hard to overcome. And that’s, again, what we’re trying to build some of that chemistry of some of those bonds and connections.”
It starts at the top. Nurse is on board and all in. After a coaching journey that has taken him all over the world, he says he feels almost indebted to Toronto and Canada after nine seasons in one place, by far the longest stretch of his career. Canada is his coaching home. His two younger sons are Canadians, born in Toronto. He jokes that his dream is that they one day they wear the red and white.
But before that, he wants to help Canadian basketball get to where it should be, to help build a tradition that they want to be part of. He’s got a plan to do just that and he’s putting it out there for all to see.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points in a record-setting performance and the Sacramento Kings beat the Toronto Raptors 122-107 on Wednesday night.
Domantas Sabonis added 17 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds for his third triple-double of the season for Sacramento. He shot 6 for 6 from the field and 5 for 5 at the free-throw line.
Keegan Murray chipped in with 22 points and 12 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox scored 21.
The 35-year-old DeRozan has scored at least 20 points in each of his first eight games with the Kings, breaking a franchise mark established by Chris Webber when he reached 20 in his first seven games with Sacramento in 1999.
DeRozan spent the past three seasons with the Chicago Bulls. The six-time All-Star also has played for Toronto and San Antonio during his 16-year NBA career.
RJ Barrett had 23 points to lead the Raptors. Davion Mitchell scored 20 in his first game in Sacramento since being traded to Toronto last summer.
Takeaways
Raptors: Toronto led for most of the first three quarters before wilting in the fourth. The Raptors were outscored 33-14 in the final period.
Kings: Fox played strong defense but struggled again shooting from the floor as he is dealing with a finger injury. Fox went 5 for 17 and just 2 of 8 on 3-pointers. He is 5 for 25 from beyond the arc in his last three games.
Key moment
The Kings trailed 95-89 early in the fourth before going on a 9-0 run that gave them the lead for good. DeRozan started the spurt with a jumper, and Malik Monk scored the final seven points.
Key stat
Sabonis had the eighth game in the NBA since at least 1982-83 with a triple-double while missing no shots from the field or foul line. The previous player to do it was Josh Giddey for Oklahoma City against Portland on Jan. 11.
Up next
Raptors: At the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday night, the third stop on a five-game trip.
VANCOUVER – The Vancouver Whitecaps are one win away from moving on to the next round of the Major League Soccer playoffs.
To get there, however, the Whitecaps will need to pull off the improbable by defeating the powerhouse Los Angeles FC for a second straight game.
Vancouver blanked the visitors 3-0 on Sunday to level their best-of-three first-round playoff series at a game apiece. As the matchup shifts back to California for a decisive Game 3 on Friday, the Whitecaps are looking for a repeat performance, said striker Brian White.
“We take the good and the bad from last game, learn from what we could have done better and go to LAFC with confidence and, obviously, with a whole lot of respect,” he said.
“We know that we can go there and give them a very good fight and hopefully come away with a win.”
The winner of Friday’s game will face the No. 4-seed Seattle Sounders in a one-game Western Conference semifinal on Nov. 23 or 24.
The ‘Caps finished the regular season eighth in the west with a 13-13-8 record and have since surprised many with their post-season play.
First, Vancouver trounced its regional rivals, the Portland Timbers, 5-0 in a wild-card game. Then, the squad dropped a tightly contested 2-1 decision to the top-seeded L.A. before posting a decisive home victory on Sunday.
Vancouver has scored seven goals this post-season, second only to the L.A. Galaxy (nine). Vancouver also leads the league in expected goals (6.84) through the playoffs.
No one outside of the club expected the Whitecaps to win when the Vancouver-L. A. series began, said defender Ranko Veselinovic.
“We’ve shown to ourselves that we can compete with them,” he said.
Now in his fifth season with the ‘Caps, Veselinovic said Friday’s game will be the biggest he’s played for the team.
“We haven’t had much success in the playoffs so, definitely, this is the one that can put our season on another level,” he said.
This is the second year in a row the Whitecaps have faced LAFC in the first round of the playoffs and last year, Vancouver was ousted in two straight games.
The team isn’t thinking about revenge as it prepares for Game 3, White said.
“More importantly than (beating LAFC), we want to get to the next round,” he said. “LAFC’s a very good team. We’ve come up against them a number of times in different competitions and they always seem to get the better of us. So it’d be huge for us to get the better of them this time.”
Earning a win last weekend required slowing L.A.’s transition game and limiting offensive opportunities for the team’s big stars, including Denis Bouanga.
Those factors will be important again on Friday, said Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, who warned that his team could face a different style of game.
“I think the most important thing is going to be to match their intensity at the beginning of the game,” he said. “Because I think they’re going to come at us a million miles per hour.”
The ‘Caps will once again look to captain Ryan Gauld for some offensive firepower. The Scottish attacking midfielder leads MLS in playoff goals with five and has scored in all three of Vancouver’s post-season appearances this year.
Gearing up for another do-or-die matchup is exciting, Gauld said.
“Knowing it’s a winner-takes-all kind of game, being in that kind of environment is nice,” he said. “It’s when you see the best in players.”
LAFC faces the bulk of the pressure heading into the matchup, Sartini said, given the club’s appearances in the last two MLS Cup finals and its 2022 championship title.
“They’re supposed to win and we are not,” the coach said. “But it’s beautiful to have a little bit of pressure on us, too.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2024.
Each PWHL team operated under its city name, with players wearing jerseys featuring the league’s logo in its inaugural season before names and logos were announced last month.
The Toronto Sceptres, Montreal Victoire, Ottawa Charge, Boston Fleet, Minnesota Frost and New York Sirens will start the PWHL’s second season on Nov. 30 with jerseys designed to reflect each team’s identity and to be sold to the public as replicas.
Led by PWHL vice-president of brand and marketing Kanan Bhatt-Shah, the league consulted Creative Agency Flower Shop to design the jerseys manufactured by Bauer, the PWHL said Thursday in a statement.
“Players and fans alike have been waiting for this moment and we couldn’t be happier with the six unique looks each team will don moving forward,” said PWHL senior vice president of business operations Amy Scheer.
“These jerseys mark the latest evolution in our league’s history, and we can’t wait to see them showcased both on the ice and in the stands.”
Training camps open Tuesday with teams allowed to carry 32 players.
Each team’s 23-player roster, plus three reserves, will be announced Nov. 27.
Each team will play 30 regular-season games, which is six more than the first season.
Minnesota won the first Walter Cup on May 29 by beating Boston three games to two in the championship series.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.
