Report: Canada Basketball closing on Nash, Triano
Posted March 7, 2012 4:30 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Canada Basketball is close to getting the band back together.
The Globe and Mail reports that the organization is in discussions with Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash and former Raptors head coach Jay Triano about the pair taking roles within the organization.
Nash would take on a role similar to Wayne Gretzky’s with Hockey Canada, while Triano could return to the head caoching job he held from 1998 to 2005. Both men are members of Canada Basketball’s council of excellence.
“I think Jay’s a tremendous coach,” Wayne Parrish, the executive director and chief executive officer of Canada Basketball, told the paper. “And it was phenomenal, and is still phenomenal, that we had a Canadian head coach for three seasons in the NBA. I would love for him to be involved in the program in a more fulsome way. He has a greater involvement now, the last three years that he’s been involved in the council.
“If that developed into something further, I think that would be excellent for the program as well.”
The Canadian team has been without a head coach since Leo Rautins stepped down in September.
The future of the program has never looked brighter with Tristan Thompson (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Cory Joseph (San Antonio Spurs) being selected at last June’s NBA draft and a slew of young Canadian players like Kris Joseph (Syracuse), Andrew Nicholson (St. Bonaventure), Myck Kabongo (Texas) and Robert Sacre (Gonzaga) expected to follow suit.
