TORONTO – It’s been a memorable year for basketball in Canada.
Beginning with the Toronto Raptors’ unforgettable championship run in the spring, the momentum carried into the NBA draft when a record six Canadians were selected, including No. 3 overall pick R.J. Barrett.
But on top of that, the country’s national sporting organization, Canada Basketball, had itself a nice little 2019, even if everything didn’t go according to plan.
Canada’s women’s 3X3 team hit a major hurdle in their quest to reach the 2020 Olympic Games because of a nonsensical rule from FIBA that states only one national team of a specific gender may reach the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
And, of course, Canada’s men’s national team disappointed during the FIBA World Cup, forcing them to take the hard road to the Olympic Games.
The women’s 3X3 team’s situation still seems rather grim, but in regards to the men’s national team, they were offered a glimmer of hope as Canada will host one of the OQTs in Victoria B.C., something that could potentially make the new year, and potentially new decade, the best one yet for the country.
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Sportsnet recently caught up with Canada Basketball CEO and general manager Glen Grunwald to discuss the year that was for Canada’s men’s and women’s national teams, as well as the anticipation and optimism he has for next year and beyond.
Note: This interview has been edited for clarity.
Sportsnet: What are your general thoughts on what has been a strong year overall for Canada Basketball?
Glen Grunwald: It’s an exciting time to be involved in basketball in this country, starting with the Raptors’ world championship. Now we hope to follow up in their footsteps.
Our women’s team has been very solid and very competitive for a long time now, and we’re very hopeful that they’ll have an opportunity to qualify and medal at the Olympics.
Our men’s team, it’s awesome that we’re able to host the Olympic Qualifying Tournament next June in Victoria, B.C. We think that is a tremendous home-court advantage, and will hopefully allow us to win that tournament and qualify for the Olympics. We’ve had a great response from our men’s program in terms of NBA guys committing to play, and we look forward to fielding a very exciting and winning team when the time rolls around.
SN: Looking specifically at the women’s team, they also have an OQT coming up in early February. What are Canada’s chances looking like?
GG: Our women have to play in an Olympic Qualifying Tournament that’s taking place this February in Belgium and there are four teams in that tournament: Canada, Belgium, Sweden and Japan.
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Japan has an automatic bid because they’re the host country of the Olympics this year, so we have to finish, among the other three teams, within the top two. So we have to beat Sweden or Belgium, basically.
Belgium’s a very good team. They’ve got an excellent WNBA player in (Washington Mystics centre) Emma Meesseman and we’ll have our work cut out for us. But we’re also very hopeful, and I think we’ve shown ourselves – we’re now ranked No. 4 in the world – and we’ve got a very solid group that’s played together and that’s got some great experience. They’re just entering their prime right now.
Assuming we’re healthy when that tournament rolls around we’re confident that we should be able to move on.
SN: The women’s program, dating back to when it first qualified for the 2012 Games, has had a tremendous decade of success. Is that No. 4 ranking in the world a culmination of the triumph the program has seen during this span?
GG: It’s a reflection of the grassroots basketball in this country.
The women’s basketball has been solid. We’ve developed a number of very good players and we’ve done a good job of investing in that team, and making sure that we’ve stuck with them. That we’ve worked with those players to improve their individual skills, and we’ve also had enough practice time and competitions together where they’re coming together as an excellent unit.
So I think we’ve had a great partnership with the city of Edmonton, which is the national training centre for our women’s program – they’ve invested in the program. I don’t think we’d be there without the investment and support of the Edmonton community.
SN: Turning attention to the men’s program now, with the announcement that the OQT would be in Victoria, B.C., there’s been a wave of commitment from players through both traditional and social media that guys will be there to try to help Canada reach the Olympics. Has Canada Basketball been hearing the same directly as well?
GG: Rowan Barrett is our general manager of the men’s program and he’s done a good job. He’s been out talking to the players and their agents and their teams and their families, so he’s been actively working and has spoken to all of the players.
We’re very thankful and appreciative of the commitment that the players who have committed have shown and we’re hopeful that others will join them and further add to the depth of our talent on that team.
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SN: Two of the men’s program stalwarts, Tristan Thompson and Kelly Olynyk, will likely be in contract limbo with their NBA clubs when the OQT is taking place. Has Canada Basketball reached out to them yet to try to get clarity on that situation?
GG: Yeah, Rowan has spoken to all of them and it’s just a matter of sorting through their contract status for Kelly and for Tristan.
Kelly has a player option for next season, and Tristan will be a free agent absent a re-negotiation or extension of his existing contract. So we have to respect that. We’re talking about large dollar amounts here and we have to be very understanding and have to respect the players’ earnings situations because it’s very important as we’re not really able to get insurance for players who don’t have contracts.
So there’s no real way around it but, at the same time, you’ve got a player like Dillon Brooks, who will also be a free agent and has publicly said he’s gonna play for us whether he’s going to be or not. We certainly appreciate that and thank him for his support.
SN: Lastly, what is it about the OQT in Victoria that might be drawing this wave of commitment that we’ve seen?
GG: B.C. and Victoria, in particular, has great basketball tradition. Ken Shields was our national team coach for a number of years and was very successful U Sports coach and he’s still very active in the basketball community there.
Clint Hamilton is the athletic director at the University of Victoria and he was instrumental. He showed a magic trick he pulled out of his hat there to be able to assemble the group to be able to play on our home soil.
This is probably the most important men’s basketball game that’s been played in Canada since the 1994 FIBA World Championship, and if we can take advantage of this opportunity and qualify for the Olympics I think it’ll really get us over the hump that we’ve been up against for the past 20 years now since Australia in 2000.
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