Canada becoming prominent part of basketball scene
“O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all of us command.”
In the past couple of years, the “Six” (Toronto) has been one of the most popular cities in pop culture. The music and fashion industry is what kept the country relevant from the outside looking in.
When you think of the heavy hitters like Justin Beiber, Drake, Celine Dion and The Weeknd, who wouldn't want to be from Canada?
In contrast to that, sports in the country were never popular. Canada has always been known for strictly hockey. Basketball culture was non-existent until the mid-90s where the sport changed the country forever.
The Toronto Raptors and the Vancouver Grizzlies were both brought to Canada in 1995. In 2001, Vancouver was forced to relocate and ended up in Memphis. That made the Raptors the home team for Canadians and gave the North something to root for other than the (at that time) sorry Maple Leafs and Blue Jays.
Canadian businessman Nav Bhatia (Raptors superfan) has never missed a Raptors game since the team was founded. He told Vice Sports that the team united the country in a way that he never thought was possible.
“You look around the arena and see all the different colors, religions, and famous people here,” Bhatia said. “It's just one big community enjoying a basketball game.”
In 1998, the Raptors traded their fourth overall selection in the NBA draft to get University of North Carolina star Vince Carter, who was selected fifth by the Golden State Warriors.
Fans around the league found a superstar with that rare combination of top-level talent and showmanship, earning him the nickname "Half-Man, Half-Amazing." His high-flying dunks and crazy athleticism brought national visibility to the Raptors organization, but more importantly, he was a basketball forefather to a whole new generation of Canadian players.
Mike George, a famous Canadian sports agent, teamed up with coach Tony Mcintyre to create the CIA Bounce AAU team based in Toronto. This team produced NBA talents such as Tristian Thompson, Anthony Bennet, Tyler Ennis and Andrew Wiggins.
“Up here, the competition was not enough, and we knew forming this travel team would put all the American teams on notice about the talent we have,” said Mcintyre to Vice Sports.
Wiggins led CIA Bounce's 16U team to gold meadal at the AAU Super Showcase in 2011 and a 26-2 record on Nike's Elite Youth Basketball League circuit. The following year, the team went 17-3 and all eyes were on them from then on.
Wiggins AAU's success allowed him to be the number one high school player in the country with D1 offers from almost every Blue-blood school in the United States. Many speculated him going to North Carolina to play for the Tarheels like Vince, and he had family in Kinston, N.C., which is only two hours away from the school.
In the end, he would attend the University of Kansas where he would average 17.1 points per game and follow up as the second Canadian player in history to be selected first overall in the 2014 NBA Draft. The first was CIA Bounce alum Anthony Bennett in 2013 .
While players like Bennett and Wiggins were opening doors for young Canadaian hopefuls, Denver Nuggets star Jamal Murray was developing as a young talent out of Kitchener, Ontario, Canada During this time, watching all of these homegrown talents make it pushed him to be a part of that history.
He was one of the first top Canadian prospects to stay up north for prep school (Orangeville Prep, Ontario), rather than join a powerhouse in the US like Oak Hill or Montverde.
Murray would end up attending college at the University of Kentucky and eventually be selected seventh overall in the 2016 NBA draft. Today, he’s known as one of the most prolific young talents in the league after averaging an outstanding 24.4 ppg and 6.3 assists in route to leading the Nuggets to the Western Conference Finals in NBA Bubble this year.
After a record-setting six Canadians were drafted in the 2019 NBA Draft, there are currently 22 Canadians signed to NBA deals.
On Sept. 3, the Brooklyn Nets announced Steve Nash as the next head coach for the team, making the former two-time league MVP the second Canadian head coach ever in the NBA behind Jay Triano when he coached the Raptors in 2008.
Canadian born talent that has dominated the NBA for decades, and now that basketball is a normal thing in the country, we’ve only seen the beginning of the North’s takeover.
