FIBA
Canada Basketball Extends Nick Nurse Through 2024
The biggest problem for Canada Basketball these days is turnover. Year after year, Olympic cycle after Olympic cycle, the roster has changed as players shuffle in and out with little to no prior experience playing together. While that issue hasn't been entirely solved, the organization has decided to keep its head coach Nick Nurse in place for the foreseeable future.
“Extending Nick is an important first step for our Senior Men’s National Team program as they pursue a spot on the podium at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 and at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games,” Canada Basketball President & CEO, Glen Grunwald, said in a press release. “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.”
Nurse, who also coaches the Toronto Raptors, of course, was named the Canadian Senior Men's National Team in June 2019 and has coached the team at both the 2019 FIBA World Cup and the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Victoria, B.C. this past summer. While neither event went entirely as Canada had hoped, the organization remains faithful to Nurse who certainly does not appear to be the problem.
The key for Nurse and Canada Basketball, as illustrated in Nurse's open letter to Canadian basketball fans, is building a team with chemistry, camaraderie, and continuity. That's the lesson Canada Basketball has learned over and over again: it doesn't matter how much talent you have if those players don't function and communicate well with one another.
That is why senior members of Canada Basketball traveled down to Las Vegas during Summer League action to talk to Canadian players and start putting together the building blocks that will raise the country up to its first Olympics since 2000.
While much will change in terms of the Canadian roster between now and Paris 2024, the stability at the top with Nurse captaining the ship should only bode well for the country as the organization learns from its mistakes and eventually punch through to the world's biggest stage.
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