| FINAL STANDINGS 1. Spain 2. Argentina 3. France 4. Australia 5. Serbia 6. Czech Republic 7. United States 8. Poland 9. Lithuania 10. Italy 11. Greece 12. Russia 13. Brazil 14. Venezeula 15. Puerto Rico 16. Dominican Republic 17. Nigeria 18. Germany 19. New Zealand 20. Tunisia 21. CANADA 22. Turkey 23. Iran 24. China 25. Montenegro 26. Korea 27. Angola 28. Jordan 29. Ivory Coast 30. Senegal 31. Japan 32. Philippines | CANADIANS Cory Joseph (Toronto, Ont.) Khem Birch (Montreal, Que.) Kevin Pangos (Newmarket, Ont.) Phillip Scrubb (Richmond, B.C.) Thomas Scrubb (Richmond, B.C.) Kyle Wiltjer (Portland, Ore.) Kaza Kajami-Keane (Ajax, Ont.) Melvin Ejim (Toronto, Ont.) Andrew Nembhard (Aurora, Ont.) Brady Heslip (Burlington, Ont.) Owen Klassen (Kingston, Ont.) Conor Morgan (Victoria, B.C.) Nick Nurse – coach Gordie Herbert – associate Nate Bjorkgren – assistant Brad Greenberg – assistant Nathaniel Mitchell – assistant Jon Goodwillie – assistant/film coordinator James De Poe- manager Jeff Petroff – equipment manager Samuel Gibbs- IST lead/therapist Jason Meehan – therapist Charlie Weingroff – strength & conditioning John Philpott – physician Peter Jensen – psychologist Marc Bubbs – dietician |
| POOL A | POL | VEN | CHN | CIV | Record | ||
| Poland | —– | 80-69 | 79-76 | 80-63 | (3-0) | ||
| Venezeula | 69-80 | —– | 72-59 | 87-71 | (2-1) | ||
| China | 76-79 | 59-72 | —– | 70-55 | (1-2) | ||
| Ivory Coast | 63-80 | 71-87 | 55-70 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| POOL B | ARG | RUS | NIG | KOR | Record | ||
| Argentina | —– | 69-61 | 94-81 | 95-69 | (3-0) | ||
| Russia | 61-69 | —– | 82-77 | 87-73 | (2-1) | ||
| Nigeria | 81-94 | 77-82 | —– | 108-66 | (1-2) | ||
| Korea | 69-95 | 73-87 | 66-108 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| POOL C | SPN | PUR | TUN | IRN | Record | ||
| Spain | —– | 73-63 | 101-62 | 73-65 | (3-0) | ||
| Puerto Rico | 63-73 | —– | 67-64 | 83-81 | (2-1) | ||
| Tunisia | 62-101 | 64-67 | —– | 79-67 | (1-2) | ||
| Iran | 65-73 | 81-83 | 67-79 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| POOL D | SER | ITA | ANG | PHI | Record | ||
| Serbia | —– | 92-77 | 105-59 | 126-67 | (3-0) | ||
| Italy | 77-92 | —– | 92-61 | 108-62 | (2-1) | ||
| Angola | 59-105 | 61-92 | —– | 84-81 | (1-2) | ||
| Philippines | 67-126 | 62-108 | 81-84 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| POOL E | USA | CZE | TUR | JPN | Record | ||
| United States | —– | 88-67 | 93-92 | 98-45 | (3-0) | ||
| Czech Republic | 67-88 | —– | 91-76 | 89-76 | (2-1) | ||
| Turkey | 92-93 | 76-91 | —– | 86-67 | (1-2) | ||
| Japan | 45-98 | 76-89 | 67-86 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| POOL F | BRZ | GRE | NZL | MON | Record | ||
| Brazil | —– | 79-78 | 102-94 | 84-73 | (3-0) | ||
| Greece | 78-79 | —– | 103-97 | 85-60 | (2-1) | ||
| New Zealand | 94-102 | 97-103 | —– | 93-83 | (1-2) | ||
| Montenegro | 73-84 | 60-85 | 83-93 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| POOL G | FRA | DOM | GER | JRD | Record | ||
| France | —– | 90-56 | 78-74 | 103-64 | (3-0) | ||
| Dominican Republic | 56-90 | —– | 70-68 | 80-76 | (2-1) | ||
| Germany | 74-78 | 68-70 | —– | 96-62 | (1-2) | ||
| Jordan | 64-103 | 76-80 | 62-96 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| POOL H | AUS | LIT | CAN | SEN | Record | ||
| Australia | —– | 87-82 | 108-92 | 81-68 | (3-0) | ||
| Lithuania | 82-87 | —– | 92-69 | 101-47 | (2-1) | ||
| Canada | 92-108 | 69-92 | —– | 82-60 | (1-2) | ||
| Senegal | 68-81 | 47-101 | 60-82 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| CONSOLATION POOL M | NGR | CHN | KOR | CIV | Record | ||
| Nigeria | —– | 86-65 | 108-66 | 83-66 | (3-0) | ||
| China | 65-86 | —– | 77-73 | 70-55 | (2-1) | ||
| Korea | 66-108 | 73-77 | —– | 80-71 | (1-2) | ||
| Ivory Coast | 66-83 | 55-70 | 71-80 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| CONSOLATION POOL N | TUN | IRN | ANG | PHI | Record | ||
| Tunisia | —– | 79-67 | 86-84 | 86-67 | (3-0) | ||
| Iran | 67-79 | —– | 71-62 | 95-75 | (2-1) | ||
| Angola | 84-86 | 62-71 | —– | 84-81 | (1-2) | ||
| Philippines | 67-86 | 75-95 | 81-84 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| CONSOLATION POOL 0 | NZL | TUR | MON | JPN | Record | ||
| New Zealand | —– | 102-101 | 93-83 | 111-81 | (3-0) | ||
| Turkey | 101-102 | —– | 79-74 | 86-67 | (2-1) | ||
| Montenegro | 83-83 | 74-79 | —– | 80-65 | (1-2) | ||
| Japan | 81-111 | 67-86 | 65-80 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| CONSOLATION POOL P | GER | CAN | JRD | SEN | Record | ||
| Germany | —– | 82-76 | 96-62 | 89-78 | (3-0) | ||
| Canada | 76-82 | —– | 126-71 | 89-78 | (2-1) | ||
| Jordan | 62-96 | 71-126 | —– | 79-77 | (1-2) | ||
| Senegal | 78-89 | 78-89 | 77-79 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| CHAMPIONSHIP POOL I | ARG | POL | RUS | VEN | Record | ||
| Argentina | —– | 91-65 | 69-61 | 87-67 | (3-0) | ||
| Poland | 65-91 | —– | 79-74 | 80-69 | (2-1) | ||
| Russia | 61-69 | 74-79 | —– | 69-60 | (1-2) | ||
| Venezeula | 67-87 | 69-80 | 60-69 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| CHAMPIONSHIP POOL J | SPN | SER | ITA | PUR | Record | ||
| Spain | —– | 81-69 | 67-60 | 73-63 | (3-0) | ||
| Serbia | 69-81 | —– | 92-77 | 90-47 | (2-1) | ||
| Italy | 60-67 | 77-92 | —– | 94-89 | (1-2) | ||
| Puerto Rico | 63-73 | 47-90 | 89-94 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| CHAMPIONSHIP POOL K | USA | CZE | BRZ | GRE | Record | ||
| United States | —– | 88-67 | 89-73 | 69-53 | (3-0) | ||
| Czech Republic | 67-88 | —– | 93-71 | 77-84 | (1-2) | ||
| Brazil | 73-89 | 71-93 | —– | 79-78 | (1-2) | ||
| Greece | 53-69 | 84-77 | 78-79 | —– | (1-2) | ||
| CHAMPIONSHIP POOL L | AUS | FRA | LIT | DOM | Record | ||
| Australia | —– | 100-98 | 87-82 | 82-76 | (3-0) | ||
| France | 98-100 | —– | 67-63 | 90-56 | (2-1) | ||
| Lithuania | 82-87 | 63-67 | —– | 74-55 | (1-2) | ||
| Dominican Republic | 76-82 | 56-90 | 55-74 | —– | (0-3) | ||
| QF | Argentina 97 Serbia 87 | |
| QF | Spain 90 Poland 78 | |
| QF | France 89 United States 79 | |
| QF | Australia 82 Czech Republic 70 | |
| 5-8th | Serbia 94 United States 89 | |
| 5-8th | Czech Republic 94 Poland 84 | |
| Semi | Argentina 80 France 66 | |
| Semi | Spain 95 Australia 88 | |
| 7th | United States 87 Poland 74 | |
| 5th | Serbia 90 Czech Republic 81 | |
| Bronze | France 67 Australia 59 | |
| Final | Spain 95 Argentina 75 | |
On June 24, 2019, Canada Basketball announces that Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse, fresh off guiding the Raptors to an NBA title, had been appointed to head the Canadian team for the World Championships and the 2020 Olympics, should Canada qualify. The 51-year-old Nurse replaced Jay Triano, who resigned in March for “personal reasons.” Nurse said in a statement that “I’m looking forward to working with this talented group of young players and to seeing what we can do on the competitive global basketball stage. I love the international game. I also see this as a real chance for me to learn from the world’s best, and for us to represent Canada with pride and distinction.” Rowan Barrett, general manager of the Canadian men’s team, said in a statement that Nurse’s knowledge of the country’s young stars was key. “Nick fits our gold-medal profile as he is a proven leader with extensive experience coaching FIBA, NBA and other professional leagues around the world. His coaching pedigree shows his ability to win at some of the highest levels, and he has a tremendous understanding of the FIBA game and our Canadian NBA players. We strongly believe that this unique combination gives our players the best opportunity for success at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 and the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.” Nurse was the lead assistant under head coach Chris Finch for host Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics in London. The Carroll, Iowa, native was named head coach of the Iowa Energy of the G League in 2007. He landed his first NBA job with the Raptors, joining then coach Duane Casey’s staff as an assistant in 2013. He was named head coach after the Raptors fired reigning NBA coach of the year Duane Casey. Nurse played four seasons at the University of Northern Iowa and finished his career at the school’s all-time 3-point percentage leader (.468). Following his playing career, he stayed on with the Panthers as an assistant coach for the 1989-90 season. After a one-year stint as a player-coach with the Derby Storm in the British Basketball League, Nurse returned to Iowa, as a 23-year-old, to become coach at Grand View University (1991-1993). He then spent two seasons as an assistant at South Dakota (1993-95) before returning to the BBL in 1995. Over the course of 11 seasons as a head coach in the BBL with the Birmingham Bullets (1995-96), Manchester Giants (1998-2000), London Towers (2000-01) and Brighton Bears (2000-06), Nurse captured two league championships with Birmingham in 1996 and in 2000 with the Giants. After leading Manchester to their first BBL title in program history, Nurse was named Coach of the Year in 2000 and again following the 2003-04 season with Brighton. Nurse returned home to Iowa where he became the first head coach of the Iowa Energy (2007-11) for their inaugural D-League (now NBA G League) season. Three years later, he led the Energy to the best record in the league (37–13) and 2010-11 D-League championship, and was named the league’s coach of the year. The following year, he joined the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and helped the team capture their second title in franchise history in 2012-13.
Canada Basketball also announced that Gordie Herbert was appointed full-time associate coach for the forthcoming World Cup. He would also coach Canada at the FIBA AmeriCup 2021 Qualifiers that are set to begin in November. The 60-year-old Herbert had been coach of the German club team Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt since 2013. He served as an assistant with Canada’s Senior Men’s National Team at the 2002 FIBA World Championship in Indianapolis. He was also coach of Finland’s U18 team (1995-97, 2010) and the Georgian national team (2005-07). Herbert attend the University of Idaho (1979-1981) and then played 12 years in Finland. The Penticton, B.C., native then coached in Finland’s Korisliiga with Korihait (1994-96) and Espoon Honka (1996-99). He then spent ae season in Austria coaching the Oberwart Gunners (1999-00) and was named Austrian League Coach of the Year after leading the team to a 21-7 regular season record. After one year with s.Oliver Würzburg (2000-01), he became coach of the Skyliners (2001-04) and led the squad to a Basketball Bundesliga title in 2003-04. He then became coach of Paris Basket Racing (2004-06) before joining Élan Béarnais Pau-Orthez (2006-07), leading them to their third French Cup and first French Super Cup title. After one year in Greece with Aris Basketball Club (2007-08), Herbert returned to Canada and spent the 2008-09 season as an assistant coach with the Toronto Raptors. He rejoined Espoon Honka in 2009 and helped the team capture their second Finnish Basketball Cup. He then returned to the Skyliners before joining Alba Berlin for the 2011-12 season. Since 2013, Herbert has been coach of Fraport and was named BBL Coach of the Year (2016) after leading the Skyliners to a victory in the inaugural FIBA Europe Cup championship. As a player, Herbert represented Canada at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and the 1986 FIBA World Championships. He was also a member of the Canadian team that won a gold medal at the 1983 Summer Universiade in Edmonton, Alta. Herbert said “I’m very excited to once again be involved with Canada Basketball. Rowan (Barrett) and Glen (Grunwald) both have a clear vision of where the program needs to go and the culture that is required. This is also a great opportunity for me to work alongside and learn from Nick Nurse.”
Nurse subsequently selected four assistants: Nate Bjorkgren, Brad Greenberg, Nathaniel Mitchell and Jon Goodwillie. Bjorkgren was an assistant with the Raptors, having previously served for three years as an assistant with the Phoenix Suns. Greenberg was coach of the Maccabi Ashdod in the Israeli Premier League. He has 12 years of NBA experience as an assistant coach with the L.A. Clippers and New York Knicks, and has served as the president and general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers. Greenberg also has some international experience, coaching Kosovo in the recent FIBA World Cup qualifiers and serving as an assistant coach with the Venezuelan national team. Mitchell was an assistant with the Charlotte Hornets. He was previously an assistant with the G League’s Raptors 905, and was an assistant coach for Team Canada during the FIBA qualifying rounds. Goodwillie was the Toronto Raptors video coordinator and coach of the Raptors team in the NBA Las Vegas Summer League.
There were 29 players invited to national team training camp. Notable omissions were NBA star and Minnesota Timberwolves guard Andrew Wiggins, who general manager Rowan Barrett said had told him that he was “not feeling this is the right time for him.” Wiggins last toiled for Canada in 2015 and subsequently, refused all invitations to rejoin the team. Another of the invitees, Cleveland Cavaliers post Tristan Thompson, who’d for years donned the red and white, declined participation, ostensibly because of a lingering foot injury. Subsequently, Denver Rockets guard Jamal Murray (ankle), New York Knicks rookie J.R. Barrett (calf strain), Dallas Mavericks post Dwight Powell, Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and New Orleans Pelicans rookie forward Nickeil Alexander-Walker announced that they would not play for Canada. Memphis Grizzlies swingman Dillon Brooks indicated he could not play because of a foot injury. That left Sacramento point guard Cory Joseph, Miami Heat post Kelly Olynyk, Orlando Magic forward Khem Birch, Toronto Raptors 12th-man, post Chris Boucher, and Raptors signee, forward Oshae Brissett as the only NBA players attending training camp. Boucher subsequently left the camp citing “personal reasons.” That left 18 players vying for 12 spots. Olynyk suffered a bone bruise in a fall during an exhibition game against Nigeria and was ruled out by Miami Heat doctors. Brissett suffered a knee injury and was ruled out days before the start of the tournament. That left Canada painfully short on the front-line and heavily reliant on its perimeter attack. Brady Heslip, Owen Klassen and Conor Morgan (none of whom were among the original training camp invitees) were quickly called in and named to the roster days before the start of the tournament. Once high expectations plummeted and Canadians were left puzzled as to why they’d for years supported the development of the NBA stars, including carding them, and providing funding, for them in their youth only to have them disdain the national team when they were needed (unlike virtually all other nations, which saw almost every one of their NBA players suit for their teams). Canadian-born NBA multimillionaires, it seems, quickly lose what little patriotism they may once have had.
In their opener of what was labelled “The Group of Death,” Canada was pounded in the paint and clocked 108-92 by Australia. The Boomers led 23-20 after one quarter, by as many as 17 in the second frame and 52-40 at the half. Canada rallied by ripping off a 25-7 run to start the second half. Khem Birch hit a fadeaway. Cory Joseph and Kevin Pangos pilfered the ball for runouts. Greg Wiltjer added a trey and then Canada took its first lead on a trey by Pangos with 6:51 to play in the third quarter. Thomas Scrubb hit a late trey to give Canada a 77-76 lead after three quarters. But the Boomers opened the fourth quarter with a 16-2 run, capped by a floater from Andrew Bogut. Joe Ingles added a trey to give Australia a 16-point lead as Canada folded its tent. “We had some extraordinary moments tonight,” Canadian coach Nick Nurse told Canadian Press. “We’ve just got to stretch them out a little bit and go from there. … We don’t really have a choice other than to learn what we can from this game and pick ourselves up and come out and play. For us, we would have probably thought we would have to win the first two [+games] to have any chance — and obviously the third. We were hoping to get this one tonight and we didn’t so that puts us in a kind of must-win scenario for the next one. … We didn’t seem to be catching any breaks with the ball early, and didn’t shoot it especially well. … But we put a heck of a third quarter together. … The start wasn’t very good and the end wasn’t very good and I thought the middle was excellent. We didn’t seem to be catching any breaks with the ball bouncing our way early, and didn’t shoot it especially well … But we regrouped and put a heck of a third quarter together. Just had another bad stretch to start the fourth and then a really bad stretch in the fourth there where we just couldn’t shut their water off.” Cory Joseph, who was in foul trouble quickly (including a technical for complaining about a poor call in transition, as well as foul for tripping over Australian forward Mitch Creek’s outstretched leg) said “this game is done, just got to flush it and go on. … I’ve got no comment on those guys (the officials).” Khem Birch said “just can’t dwell on this game. We’ve got to move on. We’ve got to play how we did in the third quarter from the beginning next game.” Kevin Pangos told Canada Basketball that “we had moments where we played pretty well, we played our kind of basketball and I thought there were moments where we struggled and didn’t get stops like we needed to, didn’t get scores like we needed to. They’re a good team. They’ve got a lot of talent, a lot of size, shooters, so unfortunately it didn’t go our way today. We’ve got to get back and learn from some of the things we didn’t do so well, take some positives and get better for next game.” Nurse said “they’ve got a really good experienced physical team and we just ran out of gas a little bit against them. … I thought the start wasn’t very good for us, and I didn’t think the end was very good, and I thought the middle was excellent [for us]. … We regrouped [at the half] and after halftime came out and put a heck of a third quarter together, then had another bad stretch to start the fourth. It was a game [where] we were going to have to keep scoring and then we didn’t score for a stretch. We were just playing transition defence and they were getting it down a little quicker than we would have liked because we had such a cold streak on offence.” Australian coach Andrew Lemanis told the Xinhua News Agency that “I’m happy to win the first game, we made a good defence, we got in trouble in the third quarter, but we fought back in the last quarter. We got 24 assists, which shows that everybody is willing to pass for the team.” Nurse later told Canadian Press, when asked about a technical he received after complaining about the officiating team of two Puerto Ricans and one Albanian, that “I’m always going to fight for my team.” Canada was whistled for 12 fouls in the first half to Australia’s 4.
Cory Joseph, who scored 16 points for Canada on the night, had to take a seat in the second quarter after he picked up a puzzling third foul when he tripped over Mitch Creek’s outstretched leg. “I just thought there was a lot of flopping going on [by Australia] and they called every one of them. I know that’s part of the game and they’ve got experienced players, but I’m just trying to get them to call it straight up. And then Cory Joseph, who’s a veteran NBA player, veteran FIBA player, gets tripped coming up the floor and gets his third foul. Those are costly things that I’ve got to take my best player off the floor in the first half of a game, and that’s all, I was just fighting for my team. I’m always going to fight for my team when I think we’re not getting the good calls.” Matthew Dellavedova paced Australia with 24 on 3-3 from the floor, 6-10 from the arc, 0-1 from the line, 5 boards and 5 assists. Chris Goulding added 16 on 4-4 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc and 2-3 from the line. Patty Mills notched 15 on 3-6 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 9-9 from the line, 6 assists and 2 steals. Joe Ingles scored 13 on 2-3 from the floor, 2-6 from the arc, 3-4 from the line, 5 boards, 9 assists and 3 steals. Andrew Bogut added 12 on 6-7 from the floor and 9 boards. Aron Baynes notched 10 on 4-6 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 4 boards. Nic Kay added 8 on 3-7 from the floor, 2-2 from the line and 2 boards. Jock Landale scored 8 on 2-3 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 6 boards and 3 assists. Mitch Creek added 2 on 1-1 from the floor and 3 boards, while Nathan Sobey, Cam Gliddon and David Barlow were scoreless. Australia (coached by Andrej Lemanis, assisted by Adam Caporn and Luc Longley) hit 39-67 (.582) overall, 28-40 (.700) from the floor, 11-27 (.407) from the arc and 19-25 (.760) from the line, while garnering 37 boards, including 8 on the offensive glass, 23 assists, 21 fouls, 13 turnovers, 7 steals and 3 blocks. Khem Birch paced Canada with 18 on 7-9 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 4-4 from the line, 5 boards and 2 blocks. Cory Joseph added 16 on 6-10 from the floor, 4-4 from the line, 4 boards, 4 assists and 2 steals. Kevin Pangos notched 14 on 4-9 from the floor, 2-6 from the arc, 2 boards, 8 assists and 2 steals. Philip Scrubb scored 8 on 3-9 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc and 2 boards. Melvin Ejim added 9 on 2-2 from the floor, 1-7 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 7 boards and 2 steals. Thomas Scrubb scored 8 on 0-1 from the floor, 2-2 from the arc and 2-2 from the line. Brady Heslip added 8 on 1-2 from the floor and 2-2 from the arc. Kyle Wiltjer scored 6 on 1-1 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 3 boards. Owen Klassen added 4 on 1-1 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 3 boards and 2 assists, while Kaza Kajami-Keane and Andrew Nembhard were scoreless. Nembhard dished 2 assists. Conor Morgan did not play. Canada Hit 34-71 (.479) overall, 25-44 (.568) from the floor, 9-27 (.33) from the arc and 15-16 (.938) from the line, while garnering 30 boards, including 8 on the offensive glass, 20 assists, 11 turnovers, 7 steals, 2 blocks and 24 fouls.
Canada suffered its second consecutive loss, and fell from Olympic berth consideration, after being pounded 92-69 by Lithuania. “Obviously when you come in here, we had our sights and goals and dreams on advancing out of this pool,” Canadian coach Nick Nurse told Canadian Press. “We knew it was going to be hard … and now you’ve got to continue to play, and for us, it’s like this is a good hard-working group of guys with a lot of pride, that’s why they’re here, we’ve got to represent ourselves. We feel a little down about the result tonight that we couldn’t battle a little harder and make it a little bit closer. But we’ve gotta get ready to play against a talented Senegal team that played Australia tough today, and then we go from there and see what awaits us from there.” Asked how the team moves on after being knocked out of the winner’s side pool, Cory Joseph said “I don’t know. Just play. They’re all important. … We didn’t do enough to win.” Joseph was again infuriated with the officiating. “If you could tell me where the foul is, let me know. I watched them. I don’t know. I don’t know what to tell you. That tall dude … now I’m not one to blame anybody and I never blame no-one. It’s on us at the end of the day. But that tall dude was horrible. I don’t care. I’m done with it. I don’t care. At the end of the day we lost the game. We didn’t do enough to win.” Kyle Wiltjer said it was “obviously not the outcome our team wanted, so we have to learn from it, this isn’t the end of the tournament. So we’ve just got to continue to be positive as a program and just continue to work.” Philip Scrubb said “at the beginning you always expect to win, but now we have to take the mindset that we are kind of moving on and we got a couple more games to win and finish the best we can. [The loss] will be tough for today but tomorrow is another day and we will forget about it and move on.” Nurse said “we were were coming in hoping to get up a lot of threes tonight, and kind of shoot over the top of them, but I give credit, they were playing hard and hustling out to our shooters and about the only one they couldn’t keep track of was this guy.” Lithuania led 24-14, 46-36 and 70-54 at the quarters. Canada drew no closer than 9 in the second half. Lithuania iced it with a 8-0 run in the four quarter to stretch their lead to 20. Nurse told Canada Basketball “obviously it was a bit of a size issue. We knew for us going in [that this could be an issue], and it was pretty evident. There were a lot of baskets at the rim, a lot of second shots. … If we would have taken a little bit better care of the ball and not race straight to the bonus the first five minutes of the first quarter we might have had a really good start there. We were turning it over too much early. We had seven turnovers in the first quarter, we limited that to one in the second quarter and played that quarter even. … We were coming in hoping to get up a lot of threes tonight, and shoot over the top of them. But give them credit, they were playing hard, hustling out to our shooters and about the only one they couldn’t keep track of was [Wiltjer].”
In the final frame, Lithuania maintained the lead throughout. Though a three-pointer from Joseph (who scored nine points in the fourth) trimmed the deficit to 12 with 4:44 remaining, Lithuania responded with an 8-0 run to stretch the lead to 20, then went on to collect the victory. “This is a good, hard-working group of guys with a lot of pride, that’s why they’re here,” Nurse said. “We’ve got to represent ourselves. I think we feel a little down about the result tonight, that we couldn’t battle a little harder, and make it a little closer, you know, but we’ve got to get ready to play a talented Senegal team that played Australia tough today, and they we go from there, see what awaits us from there.” Canada doubled Jonas Valanciunas and Domantas Sabonis but Lithuania made them pay the price by draining perimeter jumpers and slamming down weakside putbacks from its wings. Canada was also hampered by early foul trouble from Melvin Ejim, Kevin Pangos and Khem Birch, as well as raft of turnovers often because of Joseph driving into double or triple teams in the paint, as if he felt compelled to carry the team on his own, without giving up the ball to open teammates. Given the way Canada shot the ball, it may well have been a legitimate strategy but it all but ensured Canada’s demise. Edgaras Ulanovas paced Lithuania with 15 on 7-8 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 6 boards. Jonas Valanciunas added 13 on 5-6 from the floor, 3-3 from the line, 8 boards and 2 assists. Mantas Kalnietis notched 11 on 4-6 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 4 boards and 6 assists. Lukas Lekavicius scored 1 1on 4-7 from the floor, 0-3 from the arc, 3-4 from the line, 2 assists and 2 steals. Domantas Sabonis added 10 on 3-7 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 4-6 from the line, 8 boards and 4 assists. Mindaugas Kuzminskas notched 9 on 3-5 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 0-1 from the line and 4 boards. Marius Grigonis added 8 on 1-5 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 2 boards, 2 assists and 2 steals. Jonas Maciulis scored 7 on 1-1 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc and 2-2 from the line. Paulius Jankunas notched 3 on 1-2 from the floor, 1-2 from the line and 2 boards. Arnas Butkevicius added 3 on 1-2 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 5 boards. Renaldas Seibutis scored 2 on 1-2 from the floor, while Rokas Giedraitis was scoreless. Lithuania (coached by Dainius Adomaitis, assisted by Benas Matkevicius and Ramunas Siskauskas) hit 36-71 (.507) overall, 31-51 (.608) from the floor, 5-20 from the arc and 15-22 (.682) from the line, while garnering 46 boards, including 19 on the offensive glass, 19 assists, 27 fouls, 12 turnovers and 7 steals. Kyle Wiltjer paced Canada with 24 on 4-8 from the floor, 3-3 from the arc, 7-7 from the line and 3 boards. Cory Joseph added 15 on 5-13 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 2-3 from the line, 4 boards and 3 assists. Khem Birch notched 12 on 4-8 from the floor, 4-8 from the line and 4 boards. Brady Heslip added 5 on 1-1 from the floor and 1-3 from the arc. Philip Scrubb scored 4 on 1-1 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 2-2 from the line, 4 boards and 2 assists. Kevin Pangos added 3 on 1-5 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 8 assists. Thomas Scurbb added 2 on 1-3 from the floor. Conor Morgan scored 2 on 1-3 from the floor and 3 boards. Owen Klassen added 2 on 2-2 from the line, while Melvin Ejim and Andrew Nembhard were scoreless. Kaza Kajami-Keane did not play. Canada hit 23-56 (.411) overall, 18-43 (.419) from the floor, 5-13 (.385) from the arc and 18-24 (.750) from the line, while garnering 27 boards, including 9 on the offensive glass, 14 assists, 25 fouls, 15 turnovers and 4 steals.
Prior to their final game, in the face of considerable disappointment among Canadian fans about the failure to the team to win a FIBA World Cup game in 17 years, coach Nick Nurse told Canadian Press that “when I considered [the job] I thought there would be a majority of NBA guys playing, which I thought made sense as an NBA coach to have an NBA guy coaching them.” Nurse added that he thought he had to play a bigger role in convincing NBA players to suit up for the team. “I think I have got to try and develop some relationships with some of these guys and see where they are at. But I need more information. I need a better understanding of why or why not. Will they or will they not participate, and why or why not?” Canada Basketball general manager Rowan Barret said “I think that no matter what we do, and Steve [Nash] mentioned this years ago, in the end this is the players’ program. It’s their program, and so if we want to win, ultimately it’s going to come on the backs of the players.” Canada Basketball CEO Glen Grunwald said “we want to go back and revisit it with each player, and again each one is different. We’ve got to respect each person in terms of what’s going on in their career or their life, but at the same time we’ve got to figure out how we can fit in better with their life and their career.” Grunwald added that Canada Basketball had to reconsider its preparation time, which required a six-week commitment from players, including a trip to Australia for five exhibition games. Canada Basketball might keep players together at home for longer, he said, by perhaps playing more games in Canada. Grunwald said it wasn’t the time to address grumbling about Barrett by the Canadian media. “I don’t think this is the time for the laying of the blame. This is the time for us to focus on this tournament with this team and then when we are done here we will evaluate it and get a plan. … I don’t pay too much attention to that stuff. Especially while we’re in a tournament. I started this job in February, and I’ve been working in that time frame to bring in a coach and bring in our players, and understand kind of what’s ahead of us. I think right now our goal kind of remains the same, we’re trying to get to the Olympics. And I think that that goal is still within our grasp.” Nurse said he had no intention of trying to get out of his contract, which runs through the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. “I love international basketball. I don’t have to tell you the goal of me being a head coach of a team going to the Olympics is a personal life achievement or a personal goal I’m shooting for. … This team has been good. There has been moments in this thing where we have looked really good. In the lead-up games, we have looked great at times. There have been moments here where we have played really good. I think it’s unfair to judge anything yet based on these two games we have played.” Meanwhile, Khem Birch, one of just two NBA players to suit up for Canada, told Canadian Press that “I let Khem Birch dictate what he wants to do and Khem Birch decided to play for his country because I want to go to the Olympics. Regardless of whether I was fourth string, fifth string, third string I was going to come here and represent my country. Luckily for me, no one showed up and I’m starting. Unfortunately, we didn’t advance and now we have to take another route to the Olympics. … I’m not worried about other guys. But regardless, I know I’m going to show up.”
Canada closed out pool play by clocking Senegal 82-60 to capture their first FIBA Worlds win in 17 years. “It’s always good when there’s a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, that’s always good,” guard Cory Joseph told Canadian Press. Coach Nick Nurse said “we leave here with some confidence off a win, and got a couple of games to play, and we gotta go play them.” Melvin Ejim said “obviously (Thursday’s win) keeps our Olympic qualifying tournament opportunities alive, and I think it just infuses us with a little bit of positive energy around. We’ve obviously been down those last two games, but every time you get a win and you realize that it’s not that bad, we have goals in front of us that are still attainable, I think tends to change the direction we were going in. This (win) is going to be big for us going into these next two games.” A trey by Xane Dalmeida gave Senegal a 13-point lead in the first quarter, after which Canada trailed 22-11. “We got a lot of good looks, we didn’t make a lot, but the best thing that we did in that first quarter is we kept rebounding and we kept limiting them and their opportunities,” Ejim said. “So when we went on our run, we weren’t in so much of a hole because we had limited them to one-shot opportunities, so as long as we continue to do that. … we play our style, we’ll always have a chance no matter what the score is.” Canada took its first lead in the second quarter on a 22-4 run capped by treys from Brady Heslip and Kevin Pangos. They led 33-32 at the half on a late pull-up jumper by Joseph. Pangos nailed a pair of treys as Canada took a 59-46 lead after three quarters. “We came out in the third quarter and we just picked up our energy, picked up our aggressiveness, we were able to get a couple more stops, stopped them from crashing the boards a little bit,” Joseph said. “And in terms of my 11 points, my teammates did a good job, I was able to get a couple to go, and they did a good job of setting screens, and finding me when I got a little bit hot.” Ejim said “there was an emphasis for us just to crash the boards, starting with me and the bigs. … I think we did a good job today. We hit them early and got some rebounds and I think they kind of stopped going (to the boards) late in the game.” Joseph told Canada Basketball that “Senegal’s a good team. They’re long, athletic. At the start we had to get used to their length. They play good defence. Second half, we talked amongst each other, Nick [Nurse] told us to execute better and that’s what we did. Went out there, played better defence and our defence transitioned into our offence, easier buckets.” Nick Nurse said “we generated pretty good offence tonight for the entire game. We didn’t make any shots in the first quarter. It felt a little painful, we missed a bunch of layups, a bunch of open threes. Like Cory said, we were all saying just keep doing what we’re doing, we’re getting the shots we want, they’ll fall eventually. We were 4-for-19 from three in the first half and 8-for-17 in the second half. … We had a couple big points of emphasis going into the game and one was try to stop their driving with multiple bodies. I think we did that and that enabled us to have a lot of bodies in there to rebound. Tonight was a much better job from us considering we got pounded on the glass the other night by Lithuania.” Cory Joseph paced Canada with 24 on 6-12 from the floor, 3-5 from the arc, 3-3 from the line, 2 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Kevin Pangos added 13 on 2-4 from the floor, 3-7 from the arc, 5 boards, 5 assists and 2 steals. Melvin Ejim notched 11 on 5-8 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 1-1 from the line, 8 boards and 2 assists. Khem Birch scored 6 on 2-6 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 2-4 from the line, 10 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals and 3 blocks. Brady Heslip added 6 on 0-1 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 3-3 from the line and 3 boards. Andrew Nembhard notched 5 on 1-1 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 2 boards. Kyle Wiltjer scored 5 on 1-2 from the floor, 1-7 from the arc and 2 boards. Philip Scrubb added 3 on 0-1 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 2 boards and 2 assists. Kaza Kajami-Keane scored 3 on 1-1 from the arc. Conor Morgan added 3 on 0-1 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc and 2 boards. Owen Klassen scored 3 on 0-3 from the floor, 2-5 from the line and 6 boards. Thomas Scrubb added 1 on 1-3 from the line, 2 boards and 2 assists. Canada hit 28-74 (.378) overall, 16-38 (.421) from the floor, 12-36 (.333) from the arc and 14-20 (.700) from the line, while garnering 47 boards, including 22 on the offensive glass, 20 assists, 14 fouls, 13 turnovers, 9 steals and 5 blocks. Mouhammad Faye paced Senegal with 14 on 2-3 from the floor, 3-9 from the arc, 1-2 from the line and 3 boards. Lamine Sambe added 10 on 1-4 from the floor, 2-8 from the arc and 5 assists. Maurice Ndour notched 9 on 2-6 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 2-2 from the line and 12 boards. Xane Dalmeida scored 7 on 1-3 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 2-3 from the line, 3 boards and 7 assists. Youssoupha Ndoye added 7 on 2-4 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 3-4 from the line and 4 boards. Babacar Toure scored 5 on 1-2 from the floor and 1-1 from the arc. Djibril Thiam notched 4 on 2-3 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc and 2 assists. Hamady Ndiaye added 3 on 1-1 from the floor, 1-2 from the line and 2 boards. Momar Ndoye scored 1 on 0-1 from the floor and 1-2 from the line, while Pape Diop was scoreless and nabbed 2 boards. Ibrahima Faye and Makhtar Gueye did not play. Senegal (coached by Moustapha Gaye, assisted by Dame Diouf and Mamadou Gueye) hit 21-57 (.368) overall, 13-28 (.464) from the floor, 8-29 (.276) from the arc and 10-15 (.667) from the line, while garnering 32 boards, including 8 on the offensive glass, 17 assists, 16 fouls, 18 turnovers, 5 steals and 4 blocks.
Canada finished 1-2 in pool play and dropped to the 17-32 classification round.
In the classification round, Canada set a FIBA World Cup record with 24 treys, including 7 by Kyle Wiltjer, while pounding Jordan 126-71. “It’s fun to watch when our team is letting it fly like that,” guard Kevin Pangos told Canadian Press. “We have a lot of guys who can shoot it. Everyone was just encouraging each other to let it fly.” Greg Wiltjer said “for us, our main goal is to make the Olympics, so every game we have to get better as a program, so I think we did that today, and just building that camaraderie going forward.” Asked in the post-game press conference whether he holds the family scoring record (father Kyle once played for Canada) Wiltjer said “probably. [My dad] was more of a rebounder. I’ll talk a little smack tonight with him.” Coach Nick Nurse said “I thought our guys did a good job, took a real professional approach, we’re trying to play tough defence as much as we can and share the ball on offence, play a driving and kicking out to three-point style offence, and today that was going pretty well obviously. I’m just glad I think every guy we put out on the floor went out there and played with some energy, some focus, and real professionalism.” Canada led 31-13, 63-35 and 99-50 at the quarters, completely outclassing Jordan and putting the outcome well out of Jordan’s reach with a 25-7 run to start the second half. Nurse said “I think it’s great when most of your shots are a good percentage. I think assisted baskets hold up in tough games, assisted baskets hold up in tournament-style play, etc., so it’s always a big focus.” Cory Joseph told the Toronto Sun that shooting the trey “is one of our strengths on this team. But today we shot a lot more. That was in our game plan. Shoot a lot more threes. It was one of our goals — sharing the ball. We were able to penetrate the gaps and kick out to open plays and we were able to knock them down.” Jordan coach Joseph Stiebing said “that was a good beating by a very good basketball team, a well-coached team. We didn’t do the little things that give you a chance to succeed against a quality-coached team like theirs. They shot the ball extremely well. We did not locate their shooters in transition, or in their half-court sets. They did a great job of moving the ball. I know at halftime they had 20 assists and I see they had (37) for the game. That’s phenomenal. We just got outclassed, outplayed.” Greg Wiltjer said “building cohesion (is important). Even for myself as player, I didn’t know what to expect because we brought in a new coach and with that comes a new system. If we have to play next year, guys like Cory, Khem, me, we know the system now. We feel comfortable in it. It’s fun, I’m really honoured to be here. Hopefully moving forward we can continue to build on these successes.” Kyle Wiltjer paced Canada with 29 on 4-5 from the floor, 7-9 from the arc, 2 boards and 2 assists. Conor Morgan added 14 on 2-4 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 4-4 from the line and 3 boards. Melvin Ejim notched 13 on 3-4 from the floor, 1-1 from the arc, 4-4 from the line, 2 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Cory Joseph notched 11 on 1-3 from the floor, 3-5 from the arc, 5 boards, 8 assists and 2 steals. Kevin Pangos scored 10 on 2-2 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc and 4 assists. Philip Scrubb scored 9 on 3-4 from the floor, 3 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Kaza Kajami-Keane notched 9 on 1-4 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 4-6 from the line, 2 boards and 3 assists. Brady Heslip added 9 on 3-6 from the arc. Khem Birch scored 7 on 3-4 from the floor, 1-1 from the line, 7 boards, 3 assists and 2 steals. Owen Klassen added 7 on 3-3 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 7 boards and 2 assists. Thomas Scrubb scored 5 on 1-2 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 3 boards and 3 assists. Andrew Nembhard added 3 on 1-3 from the arc and 5 assists. Canada hit 44-75 (.587) overall, 20-31 (.645) from the floor, 24-44 (.545) from the arc and 14-17 (.824) from the line, while garnering 38 boards, including 13 on the offensive glass, 37 assists, 17 fouls, 6 turnovers, 10 steals and 4 blocks. Dar Tucker paced Jordan with 13 on 4-7 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 5-5 from the line and 2 boards. Amin Abu Hawwas added 11 on 3-3 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc and 2-2 from the line. Mahmoud Abdeen scored 8 on 1-2 from the floor, 2-6 from the arc, 2 boards and 4 assists. Ahmad Al Dwairi added 8 on 3-7 from the floor, 2-2 from the line, 5 boards and 2 assists. Zaid Abbas notched 7 on 2-2 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc and 2 boards. Mohammad Hussein scored 6 on 2-8 from the floor, 2-2 from the line and 3 boards. Jordan Al-Dasuqi added 5 on 1-1 from the floor and 1-1 from the arc. Ahmad Alhamarsheh added 5 on 1-1 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 4 boards and 2 assists. Freedy Ibrahim scored 4 on 2-4 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 3 boards and 3 assists. Yousef AbuWazaneh added 2 on 1-6 from the floor, 0-2 from the line and 6 boards. Mousa Alawadi scored 2 on 1-2 from the floor, while Ahmad Obeid was scoreless and nabbed 2 boards. Jordan (coached by Joseph Anthony Stiebing, assisted by Zaid N.M.S. Alkhas and Kelton Thompson) hit 27-67 (.403) overall, 21-45 (.467) from the floor, 6-22 (.273) from the arc and 11-13 (.846) from the line, while garnering 35 boards, including 15 on the offensive glass, 13 assists, 17 fouls, 19 turnovers, 4 steals and 1 block.
Canada closed out classification pool play with an 82-76 loss to Germany. “Today was a microcosm of how we’ve played,” coach Nick Nurse told Canada Basketball. “We look great for stretches, then have some cold stretches where we couldn’t put the ball in the basket, but I thought we generated good shots. I thought we played hard. We just needed to shoot the ball a little better today.” Germany ripped off a 9-0 run to take 9-2 lead and while Melvin Ejim drained a trey and Andrew Nembhard notched a runout off a steal, Canada trailed 17-12 after one quarter. A trey by Philip Scrubb drew Canada within 20-18 and then back-to-back buckets by Nembhard and an and-one by Owen Klassen gave Canada the lead. Canada extended its margin to 33-27 but closed out the first half with a 9-0 run to take a 36-33 lead. Canada opened the third quarter with a 13-3 run, capped by a Khem Birch dunk and Kyle Wiltjer hit back-to-back treys to give Canada a double-digit lead but Germany closed out the frame with a 12-2 run to knot the score at 56 after three quarters. Canada was scoreless for the first five minutes of the final frame as Germany built a 63-56 lead but rallied to knot the score on a trey by Wiltjer with five minutes to play. Germany iced it with a 14-7 run. Nurse was puzzled by the fact that Canada once again seemed to be the victim of officiating, and particularly, why Canada had drawn Bulgarian official Martin Horozov in four of its last five games, though there were officials from 84 countries in the referees pool.
Dennis Schroder paced Germany with 21 on 4-10 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc, 10-12 from the line, 10 boards, 9 assists and 3 steals. Maximilian Kleber added 20 on 5-6 from the floor, 2-4 from the arc, 4-4 from the line, 4 boards and 2 blocks. Robin Benzing notched 12 on 1-3 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc, 4-5 form the line, 3 boards and 2 assists. Johannes Voigtmann scored 8 on 2-2 from the floor, 1-4 from the arc, 1-2 from the line, 9 boards and 4 assists. Paul Zipser added 7 on 2-4 from the floor, 1-3 from the arc and 4 boards. Ismet Akpinar notched 6 on 0-1 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc and 2 assists. Maodo Lo scored 5 on 0-1 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 5-6 from the line and 4 boards. Daniel Theis added 2 on 1-2 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc and 5 boards. Danilo Barthel scored 1 on 0-4 from the floor, 1-2 from the line and 4 boards, while Niels Giffey, Andreas Obst and Johannes Thiemann were scoreless. Obst nabbed 2 boards. Germany (coached by Henrik Rodl, assisted by Alan Ibrahimagic and Martin Schiller) hit 24-58 (.410) overall, 15-33 (.450) from the floor, 9-25 (.360) from the arc and 25-31 (.810) from the line, while garnering 47 boards, 19 assists, 22 fouls, 19 turnovers, 5 steals and 5 blocks. Kyle Wiltjer paced Canada with 18 on 3-5 from the floor, 3-14 from the arc, 3-4 from the line and 5 boards. Khem Birch added 15 on 6-7 from the floor, 3-3 from the line, 9 boards, 2 assists and 3 steals. Melvin Ejim notched 9 on 0-2 from the floor, 2-3 from the arc, 3-4 from the line, 8 boards, 4 assists and 5 steals. Cory Joseph scored 9 on 3-7 from the floor, 1-5 from the arc, 2 boards and 6 assists. Andrew Nembhard added 6 on 3-5 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc and 4 assists. Conor Morgan scored 6 on 2-2 from the arc. Philip Scrubb notched 5 on 1-3 from the floor and 1-3 from the arc. Owen Klassen added 4 on 1-3 from the floor, 0-2 from the arc, 2-3 from the line and 7 boards. Kaza Kajami-Keane scored 3 on 1-2 from the floor, 0-1 from the arc and 1-2 from the line. Kevin Pangos added 1 on 0-3 from the floor, 0-5 from the arc and 1-1 from the line, while Thomas Scrubb and Brady Heslip were scoreless. Scrubb nabbed 2 boards. Canada hit 27-78 (.350) overall, 18-39 (.230) from the floor, 9-39 (.230) from the arc and 13-17 (.760) from the line, while garnering 41 boards, including 15 on the offensive glass, 22 assists, 26 fouls, 15 turnovers, 13 steals and 1 block.
Joining tournament MVP Ricky Rubio (Spain) on the all-tournament team were: Marc Gasol (Spain); Luis Scola (Argentina); Evan Fournier (France); and Bogdan Bogdanovic (Serbia).
Canada finished in second place in its consolation pool and FIBA announced that they would be placed 21st in the final standings, largely as a consequence of their positive scoring margin. That assured Canada of a berth in one of the four, six-team pre-Olympic repechage tournaments to be held in June, 2020, with the winner of each draw earning a berth at the Tokyo Olympics. Seven teams earned automatic berths to the Olympics as a consequence of their performance at the world championships, to wit (with Japan automatically qualifying as host):
-Americas (2 berths): United States and Argentina
-Europe (2 berths): Spain and France
-Oceania (1 berth): Australia
-Asia (1 berth): Iran
-Africa (1 berth): Nigeria
Following the disappointing performance at the worlds, coach Nick Nurse told Canadian Press that “I love national team basketball. I think that there’s something really special about these guys putting it on the line for their country and giving up this time, and to me it’s the purest form of basketball we have. So I love that. … I think it’s important to us to do well in (international basketball), it means a lot to our players, it means a lot to our coaches, means a lot to me personally. We’ll keep moving forward. … I think we played some really good competition, it was a good experience for us playing Australia and Lithuania in the group, and then ended up playing Germany in this side of the pool as well. Three very highly, highly ranked teams, so it was good for us to get some good competition, thought we played some really good basketball.” Kyle Wiltjer said “I think it was a learning process. Obviously we came up short of our goals for this tournament, but the dream is still alive hopefully. We have a lot of bright spots from this team and a lot of guys want to represent their country. We just want to continue to get better and keep going forward.” Melvin Ejim said “we had moments in this tournament where we played really well, and we had some times where we didn’t, and that was a microcosm of our situation this tournament. Would’ve liked to have played better those first two games. … But I thought we came out, we played hard, and we tried to give ourselves a chance.” Canada Basketball general manager Rowan Barrett said “I think as you start your evaluation, you start with wins and losses. It looks like our goal of working to get to the Olympics is still very much there. So while you would have loved to get there straight on from here, there is still no guarantee that you can. Even if things worked out the way we wanted with every single thing this summer, I think a call here or an injury there can impact every single thing you are doing.” In his post-World Cup press conference, the Toronto Star reported that Barrett said “I don’t have a plan to resign at this point. We’ll be going home and looking at what we’re doing … Our main focus has been to work with this team now and, as we get home, we’ll continue to work on this team going forward.” Steve Nash told CBC News that toiling for Canada “wasn’t a job. I will say it was a gift. It was an opportunity to serve your country. [The program] gave me as much as I gave the program.” He added that “we knew this was a major problem trying to get guys to come out. Itshines a light on a deeper issue and having to try to really figure out how can we make this a really important part of a player’s summer and career.” The Canadian Press reported that Nurse said in the aftermath of the disappointing results, that “for some of the guys, they need to find out why or why not they’re going to play or commit to playing. If they’re going to play, it needs to be a five or six-year stretch.”
Following the Olympics, Canada Basketball announces that it was extending national team coach Nick Nurse’s contract through the 2024 Paris Olympics. Canada Basketball President and CEO Glen Grunwald said “from the coaching staff to those players selected to represent Canada, we recognize that consistency and familiarity is critical for this program to continue its progress towards those goals.” General manager and executive vice-president Rowan Barrett said “Nick is a tremendous head coach with a proven history of success at each and every level he’s coached throughout his career. Extending Nick provides our program the excellence and leadership to continue growing our program at all levels, as we pursue the podium and establish Canada as global leader in international basketball.” Canada Basketball said it was “initially able to able to sign Nurse to a contract in 2019 thanks in part to a generous donation from the Dani Reiss Family Foundation to the Canadian Olympic Foundation, in support of basketball high performance programs.” Nurse told Canadian Press that the key to future success was a three-year commitment from coaching staff and players. “Part of what we’re building here is that culture, a lot of those countries have the culture where these guys play together, stick together, bond together and it becomes like a brotherhood for them to play.” Canada’s loss to the Czech Republic in the Olympic repechage tournament was a function of a lack of chemistry, compounded by COVID-19 and the inability to travel for any exhibition games, he added. “They deserved to win. Those same guys committed to play for a number of years together … You could feel the chemistry, you could feel the connections, you could feel the bond that they had and that’s super important in basketball. … When Rowan and Glen gave me this job a couple of years ago and they said, ‘Get us on the podium,’ this to me is the formula. Get this talent and keep them together, and let this team reach it’s potential and then we can let the chips fall where they do a little bit.” Nurse said in an open letter to supporters that “we believe that to get where we are going we need to lay out a three-year commitment — from today to Paris 2024 — and players need to decide that yes, they are in. We need to lay out what’s waiting on the other side, and how we’ll invest in their journey. This is what we’re truly after here, because this is one of the lessons we’ve learned time and again. I think everyone sees it clearly, including those of you reading these words now. Another lesson learned is that chemistry, camaraderie and continuity can – and often will – trump talent. Keeping a core group of players together is crucial. Accomplishing this is the key to getting where we want this program to be and to me, it is also a sign of immense respect for all of those countries and players that do it year after year. This is why we’re doing it.”