Wednesday August 4 2010 – 11:06am Eastern – Toronto, ONIn the coming days and weeks you’ll probably see a lot about Canada Basketball – the Senior Men’s Team specifically – in this space.I briefly write about the World Championship in yesterday’s blog – with the Canadians tipping off the tournament in Turkey on August 28.But before the Worlds roll around, Team Canada will take part in no less than 3 exhibition games on Canadian soil (1 in Vancouver and 2 in Toronto) and at least 2 tune-up tournaments as well (in Greece and Turkey).However, Leo Rautins’ crew will be a bit undermanned when compared to the core he’s been used to having for the past few years.Forward/center, Jesse Young, will not be available for the World Championship. Not only is the reliable big man battling a bad ankle (originally injured back in the Spring), but he’s dealing with an illness in his family as well. Rautins knows his front court will be depleted without Young’s experience and grit.There was some hope that San Antonio Spurs forward, Matt Bonner, could help fill some of that void left by Young but Bonner’s quest to gain his Canadian citizenship seems to have stalled right now (for what reason, I don’t know) and his status for Team Canada and the Worlds appears to be on life support at best. I’m still scratching my head with this one — as I wrote on Raptors.com yesterday; we have a multi-millionaire with a Canadian wife and a Canadian grandfather that wants to become a member … a citizen … of our country but we’re dragging him through red tape and, possibly, not even granting his ‘bid’? That makes NO sense to me.Canada’s back court will look quite different as well … with Carl English sitting out this summer. English is resting and rehabbing BOTH of his ankles and is simply unable to suit up for Rautins this time around. This is the first time in 7 years that English has not play for Canada.However, his absence may have opened the door for the return of a ‘forgotten’ Canadian … Denham Brown. The UCONN product – who was drafted in the 2nd round by the (then) Seattle SuperSonics as well – fell out of favour with Rautins and his staff and did not crack the Canadian squad a few years back. But the falling out has been smoothed over and the swingman and coach are back on the same page again. Sources have said that Brown’s attitude has been solid and that he looks like a new ‘kid’.It’ll be interesting to see how Rautins and his staff — which now includes former Raptors assistant, Jim Todd — piece it all together and prep this team for a tough test in Turkey (Aug. 28 - Sept. 12).Team Canada’s Training Camp continues at the ACC this week.E. Smith
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