Creating winning culture top challenge for new Canadian men’s basketball coach

Canadian men’s basketball head coach Jordi Fernandez wants his team to get one per cent better every day in advance of the World Cup.

“We have 25 days until we play the first game,” he said on the first day of training camp in Toronto in early August, “so we have a chance to be 25 per cent better. And then that championship game is in 41 days. So if you think about it, we have a chance to be 41 per cent better.”

But the challenge for Fernandez, who was hired in June after Nick Nurse’s exit, is that his team essentially started at zero.

After Canada lost a heartbreaker to the Czech Republic at an Olympic qualifier in Victoria ahead of Tokyo 2020, the organization made a three-year plan leading into the 2024 Paris Olympics that included 14 players and a coaching staff showing up at every opportunity when available.

The plan took a hit when Nurse abruptly exited in June. Of the 14 core players, nine will be at the World Cup. Denver Nuggets star Jamal Murray is the most notable absence.

The Canadians, who have been placed in Group H at the World Cup, will play France on Friday, Lebanon on Sunday and Latvia on Tuesday, Aug. 29 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

It’s on Fernandez, the 40-year-old Spaniard, to bring it all together. Canada must finish top-two amongst Americas teams to book its ticket to Paris.

“He’s just got a great way about him,” said Jay Triano, the Tillsonburg, Ont., native who coached the last Canadian men’s Olympic basketball team in 2000 and is currently an assistant with Fernandez on the Sacramento Kings.

“I think the players are going to jump onto his enthusiasm and as soon as that happens, I think that’s how you start building a team.”

WATCH | Triano confident Canada will ‘do well’ at World Cup:

‘Genuine vibe’

General manager Rowan Barrett, who played on that 2000 Olympic team, said Fernandez has a blank slate to lead the team as he chooses.

Kyle Alexander, of Milton, Ont., wasn’t part of that core 14, but has quickly become a key big man off the bench in exhibition games under Fernandez.

Alexander, whose previous Canada experiences were under Nurse, gushed about the job Fernandez has done in just a few weeks.

“He’s been great. I think what he brings to the table is a European aspect to things. He understands the FIBA game. He understands the European game,” he said. “Great guy. I mean, sense of humour, cool dude. Off the court, just has a real genuine vibe to him.”

Alexander said the team has bonded through its long road trip together, which began with the team heading to Germany Aug. 5 and may not end until the Sept. 10 gold-medal game in Manila, Philippines.

He said cards are a preferred activity, from the games President to Uno, to go with group dinners and watching games together.

Alexander, who played last season in Spain, said he didn’t know what to expect joining a group with seven NBA players.

“It’s been a family, everybody’s been cool. We just play cards, hang out, joke around. It’s been a great group of guys. Everybody’s really down to earth, really humble.”

Bonding through adversity

A thrilling overtime win over Germany to claim the DBB Super Cup earlier this month also helped improve the team’s vibe — especially after Canada fell in its opener against the Germans.

Triano said he messaged Fernandez after that initial loss.

“I said it might be best thing [if] you lose that first game because you’re going to have their attention and you’re going to find out if these guys are going to rally and sure enough, they’ve rallied back for two wins,” Triano said.

While Fernandez is bringing his own concepts to the floor, Nurse’s assistant coaches — Nate Bjorkgren and Nathaniel Mitchell — remain with the team.

“I don’t think Jordi is going in there and trying to reinvent the wheel,” said Dave DeAveiro, Toronto Metropolitan University’s head coach and an assistant with Canada’s U-23 team. “I think he’s going to stay with what these guys know and are familiar with and some of the success that we’ve had in the windows.”

In order to stay competitive in games with top teams like France or Spain, who the Canadians could meet in the second round, players must trust Fernandez.

“Everybody’s got to be accepting of their roles,” Triano said. “There can’t be any internal squabbling or anything like that. You just got to keep fighting through tournaments. Tournaments are long. You’re going to go through heartache and you’re going to have to be able to bounce back.”

But when it comes to clutch time, talent typically wins out.

“You stay in a game through strategies, but at the end of the game, you’ve got to have somebody who’s going to make a play,” Triano said.

Through card games and exhibitions, percentage point by percentage point, Canada is slowly coming together as a team. Whether it’s enough to finally get over the hump at a major tournament remains to be seen.

“I just think top to bottom, it’s a pretty good roster. And I have all the faith in the world that Jordi will find a way to get them to mesh together,” Triano said.