Leo Rautins and Basketball Canada
Posted by Arsenalist on July 25, 2008
According to Michael Grange, Leo Rautins could soon be fired as head coach of the Canadian basketball team. His dealings with Dalembert reminded me a little of how Butch Carter caused a fuss when he sued Marcus Camby in the middle of the playoffs that one spring. Sure, Camby played for the other team while Dalembert was one of our own but the disruption caused by the events can easily be pointed out as one of the reasons why the team lost.
Grange isn’t blaming Canada Basketball’s pathetic record on coaching alone, he says:
There is talent in Canada, too. It needs to be well-coached, to be sure. But no amount of coaching can make up for the lack of nurturing, money, commitment and planning required to turn talent into wins internationally.
The problems with this program obviously run deep and if their going to be fixed its going to happen from a top-down approach rather than by firing the coach. To fire Leo at this point would indicate that he’s a large reason why the team failed which simply isn’t true, you can’t blame a crack in the window for letting air in when the entire thing is shattered.
There is talent in Canada, I’ve seen it myself. I’ve seen it in gyms, in high schools and even in Canadian colleges and universities. Expansive scouting is the key to building any good program in any sport and it’s there that the program appears to be failing the country. We shouldn’t need NBA players like Steve Nash, Samuel Dalembert or Jamal Magloire to qualify for the Olympics, we should be able to find enough intelligent and talented players that if they play organized basketball a few times a year they’ll be gelled enough to compete in international competitions.
The other major problem with basketball in Canada is the lack of a legitimate pro-league which leaves many Canadians hanging out to dry. European countries like Croatia, Russia and many more all have basketball leagues where the natives are abundant and which allow the national team coach to handpick players from a collective talent pool. In Canada, when a good college player graduates and can’t find NBA or European employment he’s forced to move away from basketball to earn a living thus killing potential that could’ve helped the national team down the road.
You can argue that Canada’s not enough of a basketball country to support a pro-league enough to make it survive or make it financially feasible. You might be right there but this is where the “money argument” holds merit. You need money for a project like this to happen and if Michael Grange is to be believed, we don’t have any. After seeing how the National Basketball League folded, investors will be weary of supporting any proposition that might result in a repeat financial disaster and who can blame them.
Some things need to get worse before they get better and Basketball Canada is one of them. We need to hit rock-bottom and only then we’ll realize the severity of the issue and how embarrassing it is for the nation that invented the sport to consistently miss key tournaments. Somebody in charge somewhere needs to reflect of just how bad this program has been and maybe then they can set the wheels in motion that will tear this ship down and start a new one from scratch.
July 25, 2008 at 11:32 am
Rock-bottom may be tonight versus team USA.
Anyone know if this train wreck is televised anywhere besides ESPN?
July 25, 2008 at 11:40 am
It’s on the Score at 10pm.
I agree that firing Leo is not the answer to anything but is something that would need to happen if we want a fresh start to the program. You can’t keep on blaming coaches for the failures of the whole program, that only flies for so long. Just like NBA jobs you got to fire the GM after at some point.
I think if you add Nash to this team it would’ve made a big difference and we would’ve gone farther. He chose to sit and we didn’t have anything at the 1 for this team. Talent goes a long way in intl games, its not all coaching and strategy.
July 25, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Creating a Canadian basketball league seems a little idealistic. I think the same effect could be achieved by pushing our younger players to play in the top European leagues. The challenge is to find that talent and support them instead of having them figure it out on their own.
I don’t think Leo’s a particularly good coach, but I thought Canada really was lacking in talent this tournament. Specifically, we had a huge hole at the point guard spot that was so evident anytime Jermaine Anderson stepped out.
July 25, 2008 at 12:36 pm
It is very idealistic not to mention financially not feasible to open a Canadian league. At the same time I think European leagues have started to become very competitive and won’t just take anybody who’s willing to play for them. They have rules such as a limit on number of foreign players which makes it harder for Canadian athletes to play there especially given all the talent around the world.
The idea is to develop and hone as much as Canadian talent possible so that you can find a few gems to play for your national squad and although Europe is a great destination for many Canadians, it is not the solution since it is far away from home and competitive enough to exclude many Canadians who might not be “Europe ready” yet. I also don’t know of any good national squads that don’t have their own domestic leagues so we’ll always be fighting against the odds.
July 25, 2008 at 12:50 pm
Canada is an effeminatized, socialistic country that pisses on our athletes. Our universities are stodgy, British-style institutions filled with pc professors and faculties that poopoo athletics and alma mater pride. Canadians athletes must emigrate to the US, Europe and even Asia to earn a living.
Canada is a CBC country … so obvious.
July 25, 2008 at 2:28 pm
I see what you’re saying Arse. Sort of like an intermediate league that can develop players who are stuck in that intermediate ground. I’d look at Australia’s NBL as a model to follow.
Of course, as FAQ pointed out, the problem is that there’s just so little support for amateur sports in this country. I find it so ridiculous that we’ll completely ignore anything outside of the “Big 4″ pro leagues, and then get up to whine and complain every 4 years when our teams don’t perform at a major tournament.
July 25, 2008 at 5:18 pm
personally, i think the league should be subsidized by the government. if there is a legitimate push from the powers that be to make this program successful, they have to lobbey the federal to setup maybe 5 teams (vancouver, calgary, toronto, montreal and halifax) and see if they can rally local support (both fans and business’) to build something.
no need to start big, and have 10 teams and infrastructure to support it. piggy back off what is there (all these cities have existing facilities that can support a sports league like this) and try to build critical mass.
as far as rautins coaching, i really don’t know if he’s a good coach or not (i haven’t watched any of the games, i will tonight though), but if his commentating is any indication, he can’t be that good.
July 25, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Hey guys, I looked at the team that Delfino & Garbo left us (BC Khimki) for and it’s a fucking Toronto Raptor asylum!!!
Take a look at the roster
http://en.bckhimki.ru/mainteam/teamstaff/
Carlos
Garbo
Moiso
Milt Palacio
and fresh from our summer league
Daniel Ewing
Pretty wild huh??
July 26, 2008 at 1:09 am
Canada will never have a great international basketball team, just like it will never have a great international soccer team, etc… The amount of resources and attention that are paid to hockey in this country preclude any serious attempts to have relevant teams in any other sport. Until the kids are in gyms playing basketball over the winter instead of in the hockey arenas we will simply not have a wide enough talent base to compete. This will never happen, hockey is and will always be Canada’s game and that is all there is to it.
July 26, 2008 at 2:42 am
Jack D and then Ken Shields coached the Canadian Men’s National Team Program to Gold Medal, Top 4, Top 6 and Top 7 finishes during their tenures in the 70’s and 80’s. There is no reason that the right head coach … and not someone named Jay Triano, or Gordie Herbert, or Leo Rautins … supported by the right administrative program could not accomplish a similar level of performance in today’s environment. It’s a people business … and to do it properly only requires a small amount of money and a small number of top flight players IF the RIGHT INDIVIDUALS ARE INVOLVED IN THE PROJECT and the wrong ones are on the outside looking in.
July 27, 2008 at 12:48 am
The beloved CBC receives $1 Billion directly each year and another Billion$$ indirectly, and for what? The CBC has a 5.8% market share and if you calculate that it comes out to somewhere between $1000 to $2000 subsidy per active user. The CBC is a failed fatcat entity that sucks money out of taxpayer’s pockets and pays itself generously in salaries and pensions.
Meanwhile athletic organizations are begging for funds and facilities while the Toronto-centric CBC builds castles in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Winnipeg to house itself in splendor.
(Btw .. a majority Conservative government would probably convert the CBC into a PBS-style broadcaster and that would drive the Liberal chattering classes in Toronto nutz. Stephen Harper is an avid supporter of sports in Canada, but without a majority government he is hamstrung by the anti-sport pro-gay socialists in the opposition.)
Sorry for the political rant, but Canada is just a ratshit country for athletics and you know it … and it’s a wonder the NBA is even here because the core basketball market is small …!!!
July 27, 2008 at 2:32 am
Hopefully the intelligent readers of this blog will be able to ignore an irrelevant political rant which is a red-herring, in regard to the ability of Canada Basketball to field a top notch men’s national team to represent this country effectively in Olympic Games and World Championship competition. Canada Basketball’s (CB) problems are NOT financially based; they are not politically based; and, neither are they “basketball-market” based. CB’s problems are PEOPLE based; and until this organization is abolished and replaced by a new group, run by the RIGHT PEOPLE, this problem will continue, ad infinitum.