Steve Nash has retired as a player, and the Internet has been flooded in recent days about the point guard’s glorious past.
I am here today to tell you a 15-year-old story that no one else has told, and give you an idea of where Nash hopes to be in five years when he turns 46. Ideally, it’ll be on the gold medal podium at the Tokyo Olympics as the executive director of Team Canada.
As you already know, Canada has been producing some of the NBA’s best young talents for the past couple of years. Andrew Wiggins and Anthony Bennett have been picked No. 1 overall in each of the last two drafts, Cory Joseph is a key bench contributor for the defending champion San Antonio Spurs, Andrew Nicholson is a rotation player for Orlando, as is Kelly Olynyk for the Boston Celtics. Additionally, the point guard starting for Gonzaga in the Sweet 16 this weekend is Kevin Pangos, another Canadian.
Wiggins told me at All-Star Weekend that he plans to play for Canada in this summer’s FIBA-Americas championship in Monterrey, Mexico, from Aug. 26 to Sept. 5, when two berths in the Rio Olympics will be at stake. (The United States — World Cup champion — and Brazil — the host team — are the only two teams to have qualified already.)
Nobody is predicting gold medal contention for Canada in Rio, but by the time the Tokyo Olympics roll around, all of Canada’s key players will be in the prime of their careers. In Monterrey and Brazil, the Canadian team should be able to pick up some seasoning and experience to at least make it to the Round of 16 of the Olympics for the first time since 2000, when Nash was the team leader. Canada won its group at the Sydney Olympics, but the loss of shooting guard Rowan Barrett doomed them in their Round of 16 matchup with Frederic Weis and France.
What exactly happened to Barrett? And how was Nash involved?
That’s the story I share with you below in this video with CineSport’s Noah Coslov.
Chris Sheridan is publisher and editor-in-chief of SheridanHoops.com. He has covered every U.S. men’s senior national team since the 1996 Olympics. Follow him on Twitter.