Continuity is the name of the game for Canada basketball and Nick Nurse, as both parties agreed to renew their coaching vows for the next three-years keeping Nurse in-charge of Canada’s Senior Men’s National Team through the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Speaking to Tim Micallef and subsequently releasing a penned letter to Canadian basketball fans and players, Nurse reiterated the importance of building a team culture that resembles and emulates some of the top national basketball federations.
“Just look at the blueprint of any successful sports team or organization and you’ll see it. Starting at the very top, the President and General Manger are good leaders, solid pillars who set the culture and the vision for a program. The coaching staff is there next, building on that team identity year after year. As the head coach of this program, with Paris 2024 in front of us, my first and biggest task immediately at hand is to begin to build that kind of continuity in Canada.”
Nurse first signed on as Canada’s head coach in June 2019 with hopes of turning around an underperforming national side that has struggled to win meaningful international ball games despite having the most NBA talent outside the United States.
Despite Canada’s 2-3 record at the 2019 FIBA World Cup in China, the two sides agreed on a multi-year extension contract in September 2020.
Nurse’s current coaching record with Team Canada stands at 7-8, picking-up quality wins over Nigeria, Australia, Greece, New Zealand (2), Senegal and Jordan.
Canada moves up three spots in latest FIBA World rankings
Canada has climbed three spots up in the latest FIBA men’s World rankings, moving from 18th to 21st. Additionally, Team Canada leapfrogged both the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico to claim the fifth spot in the Americans zone behind the United States, Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela.
