On Friday Canada’s men’s basketball team will begin its quest to qualify for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup in China, a key step that will help determine qualifying nations for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games basketball tournament.
Canada tips off against the Bahamas in Halifax Friday at about 7:15 p.m. ET and will then travel to play the Dominican Republic in Santiago de los Caballeros on Nov. 27 as part of the first phase of the round-robin stage of the qualifier. The second phase will take place in February where Canada will see the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Bahamas again.
This is a new qualification system that FIBA setup to try to not only more closely emulate it’s much-more popular soccer cousin’s system for the FIFA World Cup, but to also make it so fans have more opportunity to see their own national basketball team play on home soil.
A good idea for most countries, but for Canada, this new system has robbed the program of its best players because of the qualifier dates. There’s never been more Canadian talent in the NBA than now, but none of those guys can play Friday because they’re with their NBA club.
As a result, the team Canada Basketball has put together is comprised of a combination of mostly G-Leaguers and EuroLeague pros.
This isn’t to say this collection of players can’t get the job done, however, unless you’re the most hardcore Canadian hoops head, you’ve likely only heard of a handful of these players, so let’s get to know them a little better in advance of Friday’s game.
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Joel Anthony
Position: Centre
Height: Six-foot-nine | Weight: 245 lbs
Age: 35
Hometown: Montreal, Que.
Current Team: Free Agent
The Skinny:
Anthony was a staple for Canada from 2008-2013 and then returned in 2016 for the last-chance Olympic qualifier tournament that the program ultimately came up short in.
He’s, unquestionably, the veteran leader of this current group and has pretty much seen it all with the national team with the exception of a true signature win.
A defensive force in his heyday when he won back-to-back NBA titles with the Miami Heat in 2012 and 2013, it’s unclear how much Anthony has left to give, but it’s guaranteed as long as there’s something still there he’ll lay it all out there on the court.
Anthony Bennett
Position: Forward
Height: Six-foot-eight | Weight: 245 lbs
Age: 24
Hometown: Toronto, Ont.
Current Team: Northern Arizona Suns (G-League)
The Skinny:
Probably the most recognizable name on the team. Unfortunately it’s also probably for all the wrong reasons. Bennett was infamously taken first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2013 and has since been heralded as one of the biggest busts in recent NBA history.
But while his professional career has been the butt of many jokes over the years, his national-team career has been a bright spot for him. For example, during the 2015 Pan-Am Games Bennett averaged 15.6 points and 9.4 rebounds per game on 56 per cent shooting.
There’s something about the pro game that just doesn’t click with Bennett, on the international stage, however, he does seem a lot more comfortable.
Grandy Glaze
Position: Forward
Height: Six-foot-seven | Weight: 235 lbs
Age: 25
Hometown: Toronto, Ont.
Current Team: St. John’s Edge (NBLC)
The Skinny:
A relative newcomer to the national team, Glaze made his debut back in late August at the 2017 FIBA AmeriCup. His playing time in that tournament was sparse — he averaged just a little over eight minutes per game — so he wasn’t exactly able to be very productive.
The best way to describe Glaze’s game is blue-collared. He’s an undersized power forward without much of a jumper, but he makes up for it with sheer tenacity crashing the boards, slashing to the hoop and digging in on defence.
Olivier Hanlan
Position: Guard
Height: Six-foot-four | Weight: 190 lbs
Age: 24
Hometown: Aylmer, Que.
Current Team: Austin Spurs (G-League)
The Skinny:
Hanlan is a classic shooting guard and will likely be relied upon as one of the team’s outside shooting threats.
At the 2017 AmeriCup, Hanlan averaged 12.3 points per game on 50 per cent shooting and 42.9 per cent from beyond the arc. He has a sweet shooting stroke and can create a little if he gets run off the line with a nice pull-up mid-range jumper or floater.
Brady Heslip
Position: Guard
Height: Six-foot-two | Weight: 185 lbs
Age: 27
Hometown: Burlington, Ont.
Current Team: Trabzonspor (Turkey)
The Skinny:
You likely remember him from the 2012 NCAA Tournament with Baylor where he introduced himself to the greater basketball world as one of the best pure shooters on the planet.
Five years later, Heslip remains one of planet Earth’s finest three-point artists. He’s undersized and doesn’t have the handle nor natural vision to play point guard in the NBA, but that doesn’t matter in the international game. As a 38.6 per cent three-point shooter in 35 FIBA games played, Heslip has one duty and one duty only. Get those fire emojis ready.
Kaza Kajami-Keane
Position: Guard
Height: Six-foot-one | Weight: 185 lbs
Age: 23
Hometown: Ajax, Ont.
Current Team: Raptors 905 (G-League)
The Skinny:
Keane will make his national team debut Friday. A relatively unheralded player, Keane’s actual ability don’t often show up on the box score.
He’s a crafty point guard and is getting decent run with Raptors 905 at the moment because of it (20 minutes per game). In his final season at Carleton he averaged 15.5 points and 5.2 assists per game on 51.8 per cent shooting, so when given the opportunity he can definitely ball out.
Owen Klassen
Position: Centre
Height: Six-foot-10 | Weight: 224 lbs
Age: 26
Hometown: Kingston, Ont.
Current Team: PAOK BC (Greece)
The Skinny:
A U Sports superstar when he was at Acadia, Klassen has been enjoying a fine professional career overseas in Europe that includes a Montenegrin League championship earlier this year.
Klassen’s success in Europe should come as no surprise as he’s a classic Euro-big with supreme skill and feel in the post, excellent vision and touch passing the ball and three-point range for pick-and-pop situations.
Friday will be his senior team debut.
Dyshawn Pierre
Position: Forward
Height: Six-foot-six | Weight: 223 lbs
Age: 24
Hometown: Whitby, Ont.
Current Team: Banco di Sardegna Sassari (Italy)
The Skinny:
Pierre is a wing player with NBA-measurables, but just wasn’t able to show enough in his Summer League tryouts.
Still, he’s long, athletic and, even though it hasn’t shown yet in his pro career in Europe, he’s proven in the past he can shoot the ball being a 38.4 per cent from deep shooter during his four-year college career at Dayton.
Xavier Rathan-Mayes
Position: Guard
Height: Six-foot-four | Weight: 208 lbs
Age: 23
Hometown: Scarborough, Ont.
Current Team: Westchester Knicks (G-League)
The Skinny:
If the AmeriCup is any indication, Rathan-Mayes should figure to be one of Canada’s key contributors during the qualifiers.
During that glorified exhibition tournament, Rathan-Mayes led the team in scoring, averaging 14.7 points per game along with 6.3 assists and 5.7 rebounds.
He didn’t shoot the ball well in that tournament (just 38.1 per cent from the field) and probably took too many shots himself (14 field-goal attempts per game), but, much like this one, that was a team that needed somebody to take the reins and say, “Follow my lead” while on the floor.
Rathan-Mayes has those kinds of natural leadership abilities.
Phil Scrubb
Position: Guard
Height: Six-foot-three | Weight: 185 lbs
Age: 24
Hometown: Richmond, B.C.
Current Team: Fraport Skyliners (Germany)
The Skinny:
One of the greatest U Sports athletes ever, Scrubb has seamlessly transitioned to European basketball that’s seen him win a FIBA European Cup in 2016 after a sparkling five-year career at Carleton.
As a player, Scrubb is, simply put, a shot-maker. He can shoot the ball with the best of them and has a strong handle to compliment his stroke that allows him to get his shot up in a myriad of situations.
He won’t always put up the flashiest lines, but when Canada really needs a bucket, this is probably the guy to go to.
Thomas Scrubb
Position: Forward
Height: Six-foot-six | Weight: 189 lbs
Age: 26
Hometown: Richmond, B.C.
Current Team: Sidigas Avellino (Italy)
The Skinny:
The older, less-decorated Scrubb brother, Thomas is no less important than Phil. In fact, for this Canadian club, he’s probably more important.
While Phil is more of the offensive savant, Thomas is the defensive beast. A two-time U Sports defensive player of the year, this Scrubb has the height, length, strength and lateral quickness to guard multiple positions and will likely be relied upon by coach Roy Rana to try to shut down the opposing team’s best perimeter player.
Outside of the veteran Anthony, this Team Canada lacks a defensive presence, making Thomas Scrubb an invaluable piece to the club.
Marc Trasolini
Position: Centre
Height: Six-foot-nine | Weight: 245 lbs
Age: 27
Hometown: Vancouver, B.C.
Current Team: Levanga Hokkaido (Japan)
The Skinny:
Trasolini, in all likelihood, is the name on this roster Canadian sports fans are least familiar with.
He was a standout player at Santa Clara from 2008-2013 and was part of a Canadian under-18 team that won bronze at the U18 FIBA Americas Championship in 2008.
Like Klassen, Trasolini is a skilled Euro-big who can play with his back or front to the basket, has a little bit of outside range, is a strong passer and rebounds the ball.
Friday will be his Canadian senior national team debut.
