Nick Nurse and John Herdman have created a new category among Canadian national teams — the superstar coach whose profile almost matches or exceeds that of his big-league pro players.
Herdman and the Canadian men’s soccer team captured the imagination of the nation in CONCACAF by qualifying for the World Cup for the first time since the Island-tinged team of 1986 and will be featured in November when FIFA’s big show rolls into Qatar.
Nurse hopes to do the same for men’s basketball at the 2023 FIBA World Cup, from which the first seven qualifiers will emerge for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, as Canada looks to end the drought of not having qualified for the Olympics since being captained by Steve Nash of Victoria at Sydney 2000.
“We feel a little bit of a responsibility. From the highest point, which are the senior men’s and women’s national teams, that light needs to shine bright,” said Nurse, also coach of the Toronto Raptors of the NBA.
“That will make everything continue to grow.”
That process continued Monday night in Panama City with Canada’s 106-50 blowout victory over Panama in 2023 Americas regional World Cup qualifying. Canada was without NBA players Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Cory Joseph, who were unavailable, following their performances in leading Canada past world No. 7 Argentina 99-87 last week at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria. NBA players Kelly Olynyk of Kamloops, who had 18 points, and Dwight Powell were the only two NBA players Monday for undefeated Canada as it moved to 8-0 in qualifying while Panama fell to 2-6.
The Canadians could have qualified for the 2023 World Cup on Monday with a win over Panama and if Venezuela beat the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas beat Argentina, but that didn’t happen regarding the latter game. World Cup qualification seems inevitable for Canada but will have to wait to become official in the final two qualifying windows Nov. 7-15 and Feb. 20-28. Canada will be without any NBA players for those because they fall in the heart of the NBA season. It is estimated Canada needs depth of up to 35 players to make it through the qualifying rounds.
“We’re still in the building process,” said Nurse, when in Victoria.
“We are building up. We got guys in the wings waiting [including NBA players R.J. Barrett, Jamal Murray and Dillon Brooks for the World Cup and Olympics]. All have seen our system and it doesn’t take as long to get up to speed for a one or two-game series like this. Our windows teams did a great job because they are learning and learning.”
Can the Canadian basketball players raise the emotional temperature of the country as the soccer players did in CONCACAF qualifying for the World Cup? There were indications of that with the passionate Island throng of 7,000 that turned out to lustily cheer on Canada against Argentina last Thursday at the Memorial Centre.
“There’s a lot of buzz. Fan participation is on the rise. Fans are coming out to games and getting into it,” said Nurse.
“This country has proven and really good fans. Cheering and clapping and get behind us with everything. It’s a good team we are trying to take to a higher level. There is a continuation of [Canadian] players getting drafted and playing at high levels overseas. The numbers and talent keep coming through.”
That is having a ripple effect.
“The number of kids you see, too, is on the rise,” said Nurse.
“You go to parks and you see a lot of kids shooting buckets that I didn’t notice when I first got to Toronto. Now when I go to a park there’s all kinds of kids out there shooting. On all fronts, it’s all positive.”
It’s something evident on the Island.
“Our basketball courts in all our parks are one of our most used city assets showing so clearly that Victorians love basketball,” said Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps.
That passion will be refuelled next month when the Toronto Raptors hold their NBA training camp at CARSA Gym on the University of Victoria campus for the second time since 2017.
“Everywhere we go, the Raptors are the nation’s team and we get a tremendous response and support,” said Nurse.
“Pre-season games in Vancouver and Montreal are almost like a playoff atmosphere.”
