Kenny Mayne on Canada's influence on the NBA Draft
OK, I'll admit it. I'm a Kenny Mayne slappy and I enjoy his offbeat take on sports. A couple days ago he had a segment on Canada's influence on this years NBA draft which spotlights, of course, our own Nik Stauskus. I never knew that Dr. James Naismith, the inventor of basketball, was born in Canada.
I think there five Canadians among the early entrants this year, three of whom (Stuaskas among them) actually were invited to the Green Room this year, which is a superb showing indeed for our neighbors to the north (south, if you're actually in Detroit). I want to say that there were two last year and three Canadian-born players in 2012 that went in the draft, so there is definitely a presence.
Stauskas tweeted this video a few days ago, it's a good watch. I also like Kenny Mayne. But Stauskas is featured fairly prominently.
This is a multi-year trend and has been written about for several years, since the "next Lebron" hype for Wiggins really began and Myk Kabonga and Tristan Thompson were making waves as high schoolers. Probably peaked a year ago when Bennett went #1.
While you may not see quite as many top picks for a while, it's clear that Canada is a legitimate source of basketball talent. The days when Javon Sheperd types make the national team are probably in the past. Not that he's a terrible player, but I'd expect that national team to be mostly NBA players within the next decade. Even the backups should at least be high end international professionals (like Pangos could be).
They'll be a force to be reckoned with over the next decade at least...and fun to watch, since they'll have lights out shooting and not much defense.
I think for Stauskas this may actually be his greatest chance for glory, because he may be the national team's go-to scoring threat [if Wiggins is more Scottie Pippen than Michael Jordan], whereas in the NBA he'll probably be a complementary role player (just my opinion, I know many disagree).
Always nice to see some of my countrymen in professional sports. Now I would just like to see some of them turn into prominent players, which is rare. Steve Nash has been the best in a long time and hopefully Stauskas can even top his career (I'm hoping, not expecting in this case).
Dream Team Part Deaux!
It was a shame how many Canadians had no idea who Naismith was. I mean damn, how often does someone invent a game that captivates the entire world?!