TORONTO – On a team that featured five current NBA players and even a former No. 1 NBA draft pick, it was a pair of teenagers who haven’t even begun to think about which college electives to take that shone the brightest for Canada’s national basketball team Friday night.
Playing in front of a sparse but loud Ricoh Coliseum crowd in Toronto, Canada was able to cruise past an overmatched Dominican Republic side, 97-61, all but assuring Canada will finish with the top spot in Group D of its FIBA World Cup qualifying campaign.
Contributing to this result in a major way was 18-year-old R.J. Barrett and Andrew Nembhard – though one’s impact was more apparent than the other.
Barrett finished tied for a team-high 14 points on 5-of-11 shooting, but most importantly he more than looked like he belonged out there on the court.
On the way to his 14-point night, Barrett also managed to earn five free-throw attempts, a sign he’s not one to be intimidated.
“Everyone thinks because I’m the young guy, I’m going to be weak or something,” Barrett said after the game. “I’m still strong, can still play with them, so, you know, just try to play my game.”
Nembhard, on the other hand, was less visible on the box score, putting up only four points on 2-for-6 shooting, but what he brought to the team didn’t go unnoticed.
“I think if you were to have watched, I don’t know if you would know they were teenagers the way that they played. I thought both were very composed,” said Canadian coach Jay Triano. “R.J. just attacks the basket like very few people can, and he does it at this level, which is a really high level.
“Andrew just seems unfazed about anything out there. He guards well, controls the offence, the ball moves when he’s out there, he’s a true point guard. I really don’t think unless you looked at their birth certificate that you would know that they’re teenagers playing the way that they do right now.”
Unlike Barrett, it’s tougher to see just how, or why, exactly Nembhard was affecting Friday’s game, but if there’s one moment to point out it was late in the first quarter when he took the ball off an inbounds pass, immediately recognized a mismatch and made a smart decision to get into the lane leading to a wicked Khem Birch alley-oop finish.
Nembhard Birch! @CanBball @RDBSeleccion
https://t.co/5VEs9rX5EF
https://t.co/LgS4HMqIyk
https://t.co/6BBBf6oObD pic.twitter.com/L0a4LNbG9l— Basketball World Cup (@FIBAWC) June 30, 2018
It’s a play that wouldn’t look out of place in an NBA contest, and speaks greatly to the kind of decision-maker Nembhard already is – a guy who’s a lot like Canada’s current playmaker-extraordinaire.
“He’s kind of that playmaker like myself,” said Canadian captain Cory Joseph. “He’s very crafty as well. … I think he’s gonna surprise a lot of people.”
A pleasant surprise if you’re a Canadian basketball fan as he’s not only balled out for the senior team thus far, he also recently suited up for Canada’s under-18 team where he led the tournament in assists per game (8.8.) while scoring 15.7 per contest to help Canada win a silver medal in the FIBA Under-18 Americas Championship in St. Catharines earlier in June.
Based off that under-18 championship performance, Triano knew he needed to bring this other teenager into the senior-team fold.
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“I was watching down in St. Catharines, the under-18s, I said, ‘You know, we need to bring this kid up,’” said Triano. “No. 1, because he’s good. No. 2, because we’re going to be down a point guard.
“He showed up for camp in Vancouver after playing that tournament and played excellent and then we had to play against China, against men, and he was even better, arguably one of our better players in those two games. He’s got a great future ahead of him. You found out tonight but we found out a week ago the kid’s special.”
Barrett’s always known the kid was special. Childhood friends, the two were also high school teammates together at Montverde Academy.
The pair will go their separate ways this fall as Barrett will head to Duke and Nembhard Florida, but that doesn’t mean this weekend’s FIBA World Cup qualifying games will be the last we see these two play together.
If anything, Friday was just a glimpse of what the future has in store.
And boy is it bright.
