If the Canadian men’s national team is to write a new chapter in its uneven history, it’s fitting that Andrew Wiggins will be one of those holding the pen.
That he’s even available for the assignment is part of the story.
It’s not like the Golden State Warriors star has been a non-factor with the national team. He won a bronze medal at the 2010 FIBA U17 World Championship as a 15-year-old, and his breakout performance against a prospect-laden Team USA entry was one of the signposts that the hype that had followed the athletically gifted wing since he was in middle school was justified.
In 2015, shortly after winning NBA rookie of the year honours, Wiggins made his senior team debut for what was supposed to be the start of Canada’s international ascendence.
The former No. 1 overall selection was one of eight NBA players and six former first-round picks on a team that was supposed to provide the foundation for decades of international successes.
But it never happened – or hasn’t yet.
That edition of the men’s team stormed through the field, winning seven straight games, all in blowouts. Wiggins was brilliant too, flashing his ability to get his own shot and make plays for others, his athleticism shining.
But it all came to a crashing halt in the semifinal against a veteran Venezuelan team. With an Olympic berth on the line, Venezuela clutched and grabbed and clogged the lane. They kept the game close enough that they were able to claw their way into a tie – thanks to some unlikely shot-making – as the clock ticked down.
Any Canadian basketball fan knows the nightmare that followed: a shot goes up and a loose ball foul gets called in the scramble for the rebound, putting Venezuela on the line with no time on the clock. The game-winning free throw is made, and Canada’s Olympic dream is denied.
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Wiggins hasn’t played for Canada since, but he’s back now and hoping for a different outcome.
"I think about [Mexico City] sometimes, but it was a long time ago," said Wiggins from Tampa, where the men’s team is training prior to leaving Thursday for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Victoria from June 29 to July 4. "So, I’m just looking forward to this time around. I feel like our team is even better now, a lot of good talent, some of the guys are older, experience is there, and we’ve got a lot of great, good young guys. So, it should be a good one."
Wiggins will need to be a big part of it. With the absence of game-breakers the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Jamal Murray due to injury, the six-foot-seven Wiggins qualifies as Canada’s most likely designated bucket-getter; the guy most capable of creating his own shot in late-clock situations.
"I think he’s looked good," said head coach Nick Nurse. "He gives us a versatile player who can play two through four, probably, for us and a guy who can bounce up off the floor and get a shot off when things are a little murky at times, which is really valuable, to have guys that can get you out of some jams on offence, and he can help with spacing on catch-and-shoot threes as well. He’ looked good."
Wiggins will likely be paired with RJ Barrett to give Canada a 1-2 punch from the wings with positive results – in training camp, at least.
"Pretty much all the time, they’ve been together," said Nurse. "It’s good. It looks interesting. It’s like you can kind of mirror everything with those guys. You’ve got a play you like to run for a wing player you like to run on one side of the floor, and that might be the extent of it with a team. But they’re similar. They can both kind of catch and shoot it. They both can turn the corner and drive it. They can post it a little. There’s a lot of mirroring they can do. And so far, their chemistry has been great. I think they’ve really looked good getting off the ball and swinging it and making the right plays and attacking it when the attack is there as well."
An added benefit is that Wiggins isn’t the same player as he was in 2015 and he’s not the same player as he was in 2018, either. After spending the majority of the first six years of his career in Minnesota on teams that flailed for the most part, Wiggins was gaining a reputation as – if not quite a bust as a first-overall pick – as a player who didn’t positively impact winning.
He could score – he averaged nearly 20 points a game – but the other things required for winning basketball seemed either missing or dormant.
But playing alongside Warriors teammates with championship experience has seemed to revitalize Wiggins. His defensive consistency was more noticeable as the Warriors finished fifth in overall defensive rating and while Wiggins’ offensive output – 18.6 points a game in 33 minutes – remained steady there was an uptick in his efficiency, with career-best 38 per cent shooting from three and 53 per cent on two-pointers.
At age 26 and after seven seasons, Wiggins was able to see basketball in a different way.
"Just being around certain people, being around [Warriors head coach] Steve Kerr and Steph Curry, Draymond, being around that championship mindset that they have and the team I joined, it taught me a lot," said Wiggins. "It taught me a lot about winning, about sacrifice, about everything. So hopefully I can take that, what I learned there, and bring it here."
The national team would like nothing better.
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