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One modest step forward, who knows how many steps back?
All that's left after Canada was convincingly eliminated 83-62 by Croatia at the Olympic men's basketball qualifying tournament in Athens yesterday is the postmortem.
Three years ago, Canada finished a dismal ninth out of 10 teams at the Tournament of the Americas. Last summer, it improved to fifth against the same field, earning the opportunity to compete for a spot in the Beijing Summer Games at a last-chance tournament with 12 teams challenging for three positions.
The Canadians didn't get it done — not even close, really. But having the chance to play into the Olympics is not to be scoffed at, given the low ebb the team was at not long ago.
"The program is considerably farther ahead at the end of the quadrennial than it was at the beginning," Canada Basketball executive director Wayne Parrish said.
But not as far as it could be, and not necessarily because of what happened on the court this summer.
Head coach Leo Rautins gets points for assembling a staff of respected assistants and bringing in talented players who had never previously been part of the national team program. He's also been a tireless promoter of the cause.
But in the space of a month he alienated players Denham Brown, Juan Mendez and Samuel Dalembert with rather public rebukes. That they came in the context of keeping his son, Andy Rautins, a promising prospect who hadn't played since blowing out his knee last summer and struggled in the minutes he did get, on the team is only fuel for more easy criticism.
Calling out Brown, a repeat-offending flake who blew off training camp, was understandably tempting. But the former University of Connecticut star is the type of player who could have five years of Euroleague experience under his belt when it comes time to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics. It will be wasted unless there is some effort to mend fences.
Mendez was bounced in the wee hours of the morning after Canada was drilled at home by New Zealand in exhibition play, getting the boot the day before the team was going to Europe after a three-week training camp. Justified or not, it was late in the day to give a three-year national team veteran his walking papers.
Everyone knows about Dalembert by now: The Philadelphia 76ers centre — the face of Canada Basketball in the lead-up to the summer — got into a confrontation with Rautins on the team bus before their do-or-die game against South Korea on Wednesday.
These things happen, and it's not hard to read between the lines when Rowan Barrett, the 35-year-old veteran who is still Canada's best international player, says the national team can only move forward when all involved are properly dedicated to the cause.
"You need 10, 12 guys with experience, who know what it is, understand it and are able to deliver on this level," said Barrett, who said he hopes to work with Canada Basketball when his playing career is over. "[And] it's FIBA experience. NBA experience doesn't matter. It doesn't correlate. You can't say this guy's a $70-million player in the NBA, he should be great. It doesn't work that way."
No, it doesn't seem to. But was Rautins wise to provide a fairly detailed account of Dalembert's alleged prima donna ways on the radio the following day?
One national team official made reference to Dalembert travelling with a "posse" (an unnecessarily loaded term) in Greece, hanging out with them rather than the team.
According to Dalembert in a report in the Philadelphia Daily News, his "posse" was a close friend, his girlfriend, his former high-school coach and his wife.
"I don't have a 'crew,' " Dalembert said. "I have four nice people."
Regardless of where the truth lies, rather than celebrating modest advances Canada Basketball has a mess to clean up.
"There is conflict in every career. The question is how everyone handles that," Parrish said. "I think you'll see, in the weeks and months [ahead], conversations whose intent is to ensure that these players will be part of the future. I'm not sure how, but it's a worthy goal."
The knee-jerk reaction is to call for a new coach as part of the mopping up.
Rautins's contract is up at the end of 2008. The former national team player says he wants to continue, and is correct when he points out that the cupboard was bare when he got the team in 2005.
Now? Not so much.
There is a small core of young, international-quality players to build on. Rautins brought them into the fold. But can the group that didn't get it done in Athens find its way to London? Can the coach?
This is Canada. This is basketball. The answers are never easy.
