Where Does Canada Men's Basketball Team go Next?

For the fourth straight Olympiad the Canadian Men's basketball team will not be taking part in the Summer Olympics. 

If this was soccer, Jay Triano would have stepped down from the coaching position, grassroots at the youth level would be criticized along with the number of uneducated coaches at the youth level that is required to build a powerhouse at any world class sport. 

However, exactly the opposite is happening. The amount of youth playing basketball has grown astronomically in recent years and so has the quality of players playing as well. Canada isn't in the Olympics in basketball for Rio 2016 not because they aren't one of the best 12 teams in the world, there not in it because they didn't win the games that mattered the most in a Qualification process that gives very little margin for error. 

Canada went 11-3 in Olympic Qualifying which is pretty impressive. Unfortunately, in games where they had a chance to punch their ticket to Rio they were 0-2. That is the number that sticks out the most. 

It's a shame that our Canadian NBA players didn't want to participate in the qualifying this summer but I wouldn't be putting the blame on them. The guys who were there couldn't make the shots when they needed to including Brady Heslip who had a horrible week from long range. 

Nando De Colo who doesn't even play in the NBA currently  had a outstanding tournament that propelled France to a Olympic berth. This demonstrates that you don't need to be a NBA player to succeed at the FIBA level. Ultimately, NBA players realize this and they know they aren't making as much of a difference to their eventual replacement playing over in Europe. 

In other words, there WAR (Wins Above Replacement) is minimal compared to what it would be if they were injured on there NBA team. This is noticeable when Melvin Ejim scores 19 in the losing effort. In a case where Wiggins and Olynyk are on the team. Ejim's minutes would be reduced and not able to chip in as much with his 19 points. Yes, defensively, your team might be better but at the end of the day, when a player is playing at this level of basketball, everyone is trying to play defense to there best ability. 

As it stands, France won because they had more experience. Therefore, I'm not pointing the finger at any of the NBA holdouts. With the new FIBA format that comes into place in the fall of 2017, it is anyones guess what Canada's roster will look like with NBA players not expected to participate. For that reason, it might turn out to be a blessing that Canada was able to play so many non NBA players to get the experience that they will need in the future. 

The future is also a bit of a question mark for Head Coach Jay Triano. With him being hired as a Assistant Coach with the Phoenix Suns, it is unclear if he will be able to coach for the upcoming World Cup Qualifiers. 

To close, the fact that Canadians are disappointed that they weren't able to qualify for Rio 2016 demonstrates that the program is headed in the right direction. We will just have to be patient and wait for our opportunity.