Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign welcome to the Canadian Basketball show, your go to spot for the latest news stories and analysis on Canadian basketball. I'm your host, Lee Ben Osman. This is the New Year's Resolution podcast, Canadian basketball edition. Happy 2026 to y'. All. I thought I'd start off the year going through a few New Year resolutions that I'm trying to see, hoping to see in the world of basketball in Canada and then go through what you can expect in terms of coverage, major events I'll likely be at and excited for this year. But before we get to the New Year's resolution for clean basketball and the podcast, I want to start the show by acknowledging and paying respect to Bob Mado, a legendary Toronto high school basketball coach and teacher that died this past week at the age of 74.
[00:00:55] Been speaking to those close to him. Coached for Almost, I think 50 years in the city at Bathurst Heist Emory and most recently at Newton Brook where he went to high school.
[00:01:06] Had guys like Phil Dixon, Denim Brown come through him and just chatting with people.
[00:01:13] He was much more than a coach.
[00:01:16] I think. One story I was told just about how he helped Phil Dixon get out of prison and gave him a home to stay and just chatting with some coaches. People looked to him as the gold standard when people came up in the space.
[00:01:32] So I just wanted to take a moment, give him a salute. I'll have a story actually coming out on on Bob on Mao. It might be already out when the podcast comes out, but just wanted to shout him out. A legend in Toronto, Ontario, Canadian basketball.
[00:01:49] And yeah, shout out to Bob Mado.
[00:01:52] Let's get to my first New Year's resolution. Canadian Basketball edition.
[00:01:57] And that is Kitchener's own Jamal Murray will make his first NBA All Star, which is kind of crazy to say. He probably was on the list of most snubbed over the years guy that probably deserved to be an All Star.
[00:02:17] Finally in year I think it's 10 now.
[00:02:21] Will be likely making his first All Star. He just came to Toronto, played the Raptors. I chatted with him for a bit and I felt bad for him. Jokic is out. Aaron Gordon just came back. Cam Johnson is out. Christian Brown just came back from injury. Jonas Valentunas went out against the Raptors. He got hurt. But despite all of that, Jamal's having the best year of his NBA career in year 10, which is insane. You, you wouldn't think in year 10 that he'd be having his best career to date. And just like going through his stats, let's go through it for A moment bro is averaging a career high at 25.5 points, 6.9 assists, 4.5 rebounds, and he's shooting a ridiculous 45.5% from three to 33 games. He's top four and made threes this season. And. And among the the group that's in that, that's out four. He's shooting by far the best percentage. I don't think it's close. And he's getting up a career high 7.7 attempts from 3.
[00:03:18] It should be guaranteed, I think at this point that he makes his first All Star game in la.
[00:03:25] I'm trying to think of who are locks for the All Star this year.
[00:03:29] Cor.
[00:03:31] Luca, Anthony Edwards. Steph Curry's probably in there too.
[00:03:36] And I'm talking about guards, of course. I think Jamal Murray's kind of in that mix afterwards, you know, so. And obviously this year is going to be the USA versus the world format. So it'll be cool to see him and Che team up once again. Probably more excitement now right after what happened at the Olympics, but it should be cool just watching those guys suit up and yeah, just having the best year of his career regular season wise, after a summer of just chilling. No requirement to play in the summer, obviously with Canada basketball the year prior. And I'll be honest, people got pissed at me for saying I think there's a possibility Jamal might never play for Canada basketball again.
[00:04:20] And then a story came out this past week from Sam Amick of the Athletic where he spoke to Jamal drink training camp a few months back. And I'll read you this quote that Jamal gave Sam, which kind of, honestly, to me, my point of I me saying I don't think he'll ever play for the national team again kind of stands to be honest. This is what he said, quote unquote, with Team Canada.
[00:04:48] It's in the middle of my summer where I go to decompress for a week after the NBA season trying to get in shape for Canada and then trying to decompress for the season.
[00:04:59] It was just. I couldn't do it. So the summer just being done and really being done was an incredible feeling. There was this first week of just doing nothing, then two weeks of doing nothing, and then I just worked out and I didn't really play basketball.
[00:05:14] Now he talked about just like not being in full shape training wise. And here's another part of the quote that he had that he gave Sam. I didn't have a great summer training wise overall. And. And that's what it was Said Murray. Now I get to come back fresh with a new mindset and I could leave all that ish. In the past. I was in a much more positive place. My body was already good and I already felt refreshed. I got the chance to decompress and fully go back with a good spirit instead of having to be like, oh, damn, I only have two weeks to rest. That was good. That was probably the best part. Just having no stress, no hoops to play.
[00:05:52] End quote.
[00:05:53] Very interesting.
[00:05:55] And I think that has more people wondering if you'll ever play again, right? If rest is very important to him, especially if he's dealing with nagging injuries or if Denver's making a deep run in the playoffs and he wants to rest a bit, maybe he doesn't play again, right? 2020 Olympics. Right?
[00:06:14] It's interesting just to keep in mind as we get into some important cycles, but like I said before, I think Jamal showing up this past summer, being at jam and being amongst the groups that was players that was there that played for the at the Olympics was a good sign.
[00:06:33] But might be tough to get a long term commitment from Jamal again unless he really, really wants to play.
[00:06:40] And I'm hoping wrong, honestly, I hope, I hope he does play. But you gotta understand, like, it's tough on these players, right? Committing and we'll see how Canada basketball goes about that kind of stuff and whether they ask for commitments.
[00:06:54] I've also not spoken to Jamal personally about this, so I'm not acting like I know exactly what he's thinking when he gave these quotes to Sam, but I just thought it was really interesting, you know, puts in perspective, at least for me, what we might expect from him ahead of 2028, you know what I'm saying?
[00:07:16] So, yeah, but yeah, shout out to Jamal, to me, he's a certified NBA all star this year.
[00:07:22] And yeah, I just want to leave those thoughts out there just about him potentially not playing 2028 Olympics. Let's get to our next New Year's resolution. I might get in trouble with this one, but I do think it's something a lot of people that go to basketball games in this country at every level, high school esports are tired of. I'll say it straight, we need better referees in Canada.
[00:07:55] I've seen games, championship games get lost because of bad officiating in this country.
[00:08:03] And I don't think we have much of a officiating culture in this country, to be honest with you, which is kind of sad. I'll go and watch. I'll Go to the States, I'll go and watch EYBL games. And there's literally long term referees, NCAA referees that are on the sidelines watching the games, taking notes and then at halftime going and speaking to these referees at these Nike YBL events and giving them pointers, talking to them, giving them suggestions, all that kind of stuff. There seems to be a developmental pathway for, for officials in the U.S. but in Canada, I wonder if there is. That's my biggest question. There seems to be a lack or a path or a future for refs in this country. And I could be wrong. There could be something in the works that's happening right now. I haven't done too much research on this and like what the state is right now, but just as a person that goes to these games and like watches these games, I feel like I've seen the same five refs at every single game. And no offense. That's kind of embarrassing when you think about it, right? It's like we claim to be this breeding ground, this country of basketball in Canada, but why am I seeing the same five refs at a high school game and the next week I'm seeing him at a esports game? Like, isn't that insane? Like, I shouldn't be going from a Wednesday seeing the same guy and then a Saturday see the next guy, you know, like, it makes no sense. That needs to change. There needs to be more opportunity. Maybe there's like, I don't know, maybe we're not paying refs enough and that's why we're seeing this, seeing the same like 5, 10 refs doing the same gigs. But I think we need to do better, man. We need to bear as a country. Because I'm like, I'm tired of watching like a game where it takes five minutes for three officials to decide whether or not this should be a call or they rule, make a call and then they backtrack. What am I watching? What are we doing? You know what I'm saying? Like, there needs to be, I feel like authority or establishment that helps these type of refs in this situation. I'm not blaming them, you know, I'm not trying to blame them, but it just feels like there's no guidance right? Where a decision is made and then I'm too tired. I'm like, why am I at this game where it takes five hours for a call to be made when it should, shouldn't be? You know, like the blocks, the charge, calls could go either way, but championships shouldn't be decided by what Refs, you get in a game and if they make the right call, like, it's embarrassing. There's probably a lot of coaches that will listen to this podcast and be like, yeah, I lost the championship because of the refereeing in Canada. And let's be real, people hold grudges, right? Like, there's going to be some refs that you have and you're like, this can be a long night for me, but that's something I want to see more discussed. If there is more movement on this front and I'm not aware, let me know. Shoot me a message. I'm just tired, I'll be honest. I'm just tired of seeing the same refs. I practically know them by name at this point, you know, like, it's that bad.
[00:11:13] So I guess they're probably tired too. You know, they're probably tired too, of trekking across the city.
[00:11:20] So I, I think it's something we need to, to work on as a country and, and, and fix. Yeah, let me know, let me know if there's, there's some works on that and. But yeah, officiating in this country, I can't see it's in a good place, sadly.
[00:11:34] Let's get to my next one.
[00:11:36] I want to see a new home for Scarborough's own Leonard Miller.
[00:11:42] I want to see Leonard get a fresh start and find some actual playing time in the NBA. I don't know if it's via trade in the coming months, but I feel like his development, to be honest with you, has been stunted a bit playing behind so many forwards in Minnesota. If you watched him at the FIBA Maricop this summer, I feel like he had some highs, had some lows, but potential still there. I just want to see the brother play.
[00:12:09] Like just. He's 22 years old.
[00:12:11] The size that he has, the way he moves, makes me think that there's definitely going to be teams interested in how he might look outside of limited minutes. Like, I'm thinking on a team that's rebuilding, where Lander gets to showcase his skills, maybe he gets a two way after this. But I just think the situation in Minnesota is tough, especially for a franchise that's trying to compete for a title, try to win games, there's not much of a pathway to minutes. Like, I'm just thinking of guys he's had to play behind like Nas Reed who got paid, Julius Randle who came in via trade. Carlanti Towns was there before playing behind those guys, Rudy Gobert and forgetting guys, McDaniels. Like, it's unfortunate. I'm obviously biased, too. I spent time covering Leonard when he was coming up and But I just want to see him excel. I want to see him get an opportunity where a team gives him that, you know, where there's a pathway to minutes. And I just believe that in Minnesota, there hasn't been so much. I think he's in his final guaranteed year of his deal and has a team option next season, so we'll see what happens. But a new home for Leonard Miller, that's what I want to see in the new year.
[00:13:19] Let's get to my next New Year's resolution and something I really want to see this year, and that is Canada's FIBA U17 boys meddling at the World cup this year in Turkey.
[00:13:37] Let me just read you some stats real quick. The last time Canada got a medal on the boys side at the FIBA U17 was 16 years ago, 2010.
[00:13:50] You know how crazy that is? That's. And they won bronze. That was the first ever FIBA U17 World cup event, and they haven't meddled since.
[00:13:58] On that team they had Andrew Wiggins, Kevin Pangos, Anthony Bennett. It was coached by Roy Rana, Jamie McNeely, Scott Morrison and that, like I said, that was an inaugural event. And since then, they haven't medaled. They've actually had their worst two finishes in the last two U17 World cup appearances, finishing in eighth place in 2024 and then in ninth place in 2022, which was their worst.
[00:14:28] On the girl side, it's a different story. Let's be real. They're coming off their best finish, winning silver in 2024, fourth place in 2022, ninth place in 2018, seventh place in 2016.
[00:14:40] So, like, you see this gradual improvement on the woman's side, you know, and the talent, the wave of talent, like we mentioned, like Canada on the woman's side, like college basketball, they're dominating, right? So it's kind of sad. But on the men's side, USA Basketball has won all seven gold medals. They have never lost on in FIBA U17, and obviously we've talked about it. They develop faster than any other country, and they will likely most definitely be the favorites again this year at the tournament.
[00:15:13] But everybody has been hyping up this 2028 class, this Canadian class. I'm raising my hand up. I'm one of those guys.
[00:15:28] I don't know if the FIBA U16 tournament lived up to that hype that we had, if I'm being honest. They still earned silver, but they still had almost some near losses to teams that you wouldn't expect, you know.
[00:15:44] But the names that I'm thinking that can play for Canada this summer, the fiber U17 has me really excited that they have a chance to medal.
[00:15:54] And just talking to some of these guys, no one's really scared of the US even though everyone should be scared of the US to be honest with you.
[00:16:02] And they're the favorites, right? But I really do think this is the best chance and maybe nine, 10 years maybe that they have to medal at the World cup for this age group.
[00:16:19] Chris Chang will likely lead them again. Canada likes to have the coach of the FIBA U16 carry on and Chang has coached the last two cycles, fiber U16 in 2023 and then fiber U17 in 2024 and then this past year fiber U16 so that the experience coming back and coaching at another World cup should help him knows what to expect. You speak to any player from last year's roster, they speak very highly of him. I even had a quick convo with him on the podcast and I just hope the program for this FIBA U17 roster, they're not stuck on having the same exact players that they had last year and are open to revamping that roster a bit.
[00:17:04] I do think it's crucial that they add a few players that sort of made a name for themselves this year and not bring back that exact same roster and give guys an opportunity. I think there's players on Canada's roster last year that could start that weren't even part of the fiber U16.
[00:17:24] Obviously the guys that I expect to be there, Isaiah Hamilton Canyon St. Louis, Isaiah Clark, Liam Mitaro. Those names, those guys all showed up. A lot of those guys, Jordan Fisher too.
[00:17:38] Some of those guys ended up going to the states playing over there, have got that experience playing top competition. I want to see a guy like Tristan Edwards, a name a lot of people probably aren't familiar with yet. I only heard about him recently. He went to Cedar Brae last year, led them to a city championship shout out to his coach, Abdi Ahmed, a pillar in the Orem park neighborhood. I have a story coming out of him pretty soon and a bit on Edwards game winning shot that that led them to city championships. But he's now playing in Georgia, making waves, playing at Wilson Academy, a young kid that may surprise a lot of people. You know Tylon Ennis, I mentioned him a bunch on his podcast playing it down in Houston, Alpeza the Mix.
[00:18:23] And if you get these guys, this might be the Most stacked FIBA U17 roster we've seen in years.
[00:18:31] But like I said, take that with a grain of salt. I'm not a scout, you know, I'm saying all this kind of stuff, like, I don't know for sure I'm going to have some people come on that will might validate, might contradict what I'm saying.
[00:18:44] But I think this is their best chance in years that I've seen to medal.
[00:18:53] So it should be exciting. Should be very exciting. They'll have an Easter camp. That's when we'll start to find out more details on who's in camp, what the final 16:17 guys will look like. So I'm excited for that. That's obviously in April, so got a few months ahead of that, but FIBU 17 Boys World Cup.
[00:19:13] I need a medal. I think we as a country, we need a medal. It's been 16 years.
[00:19:19] We need something from fiber U17.
[00:19:22] So don't want to put too much pressure, but if we're calling this the best class we've seen in years, there needs to be something that shows for it, you know?
[00:19:30] So, yeah.
[00:19:32] Next thing I want to see for Canada, basketball specifically, is a plan and a vision laid out for 2028 Olympics. We've been getting hints on the women's side. Canada identified their pool of like 25 athletes, I believe, for the 2027 World Cup. I don't think the men's did the same thing, but you'd assume the men's core is kind of the same and the senior team is kind of like, it's hard to get these commitments, I would say, similarly to the women's side of things, you know, and the women's side of things are going through a phase transition where new head coach and everything. And I do think not to say that the men are difficult to deal with, but you have Gordy Herbert, who's kind of doing things in the shadows right now. We haven't heard much from him yet, but he just recently also parted ways with Bayern Munich, which was interesting. Is that opening him up to more responsibility with the national team program ahead of the summer than anticipated? Will he coach in the next window? Will Nathaniel Mitchell coach? I don't know. My guess right now is, and this is not me speaking to anybody about this, so don't take this as gospel, but I assume they're going to want to introduce him this summer officially in the lead up to the next World cup in Qatar.
[00:20:50] They obviously still need to qualify, but we'll see.
[00:20:54] Herbert's vision, you Know what I'm saying?
[00:20:56] And whether it's different from what we've seen in the last few years. Will players need to be committed?
[00:21:04] Will a bunch of players have to be like, I'm here for the next two windows, and that's the core that they go with. Who knows?
[00:21:15] I don't think they should do that, to be honest, because, like I said, I've talked about it endlessly, just about the big man situation and how we need to fix that, but I'll probably talk about that in a second. But I just want to know Herbert's philosophy as a coach, you know, and. And what that looks like. It's kind of. It's kind of tough on the men's side of things, when you think about it, of, like, what the plan is. But I do think we'll start to get worried about that soon. On the woman's side, like I said, they're going through that transition phase, and they have a lot of college players coming out. Canada basketball. On the men's side, they don't really deal with college players that much, I don't think. I'm trying to think if they had, like, maybe Shay in them when they were younger, but now that you have NBA guys, it's very, very hard to see a guy from high school, from college, come straight to go play for the senior men's national team, you know what I'm saying? But on a woman's side, I feel like locking in roles early.
[00:22:08] We can probably expect that. On the men's side, it's a lot tougher, you know, so. But yeah, I believe this year is kind of the start, a road map to 2028 or Canada will hopefully have both the men's and the women's team competing. 2028 LA Olympics. Yeah. This summer should open a lot of eyes to what we should expect. So stay tuned for that kind of stuff, and obviously, we'll be covering it in depth. And, yeah, I just want to hear from Gordy Herbert, to be honest with you, you know, what's this guy doing in the shadows? That's kind of stuff I want. I want to hear, you know, and obviously he's probably taking a lot of meetings, probably traveling, visiting a lot of guys now that, you know, it's time at Bayern, it's kind of done, so we'll see.
[00:22:52] Bonus New Year's resolution. I want to add to this.
[00:22:55] You've probably heard me say this I want to see, and this probably will happen. To be honest with you, I'm just hopeful, thinking you know, I want to see people come together in this basketball community.
[00:23:12] Let's leave the politics out of it and just help these kids. Hopefully we can keep that at the forefront for 20, 26. Too many, I feel like too many stakeholders in this basketball space have issues with each other, whether it's ego, whether it's pride, or just people, like, let's be real, people just don't like each other, you know, and that's cool. You don't have to get along with everybody.
[00:23:40] But I feel like kids feel that dysfunction, families feel that dysfunction, coaches feel that dysfunction. And like I said, we don't need perfect harmony, but we do need, I feel like, a functional system where what's best for young players comes before what's best for individuals or any organization whatsoever.
[00:24:07] And I think it opposite like that. When people hear about this kind of stuff, the politics that's going on in Canada, all that kind of stuff, I think it shapes, like, who gets exposure, who gets support, who gets left behind. You know what I'm saying?
[00:24:19] You've heard me talk about it before, but.
[00:24:22] So I'm not going to spend too much time on it, But I think that's kind of like. It's a pretty simple New Year's resolution, but it's not easy. Less ego, less politics, less gatekeeping, more cooperation, more transparency, more accountability.
[00:24:37] That's what I want the podcast to be, too, you know, holding power to account and just sharing stories, you know, I think the greatest decision I made was becoming a journalist, to be honest with you, telling stories, because I have no horse whatsoever in this race. I don't get anything from. From this outside, maybe more listeners, maybe viewership. Winkin Basketball does well.
[00:25:04] So that's kind of like what I get. I just get is if things are going well, people will tune in more, you know, but outside of that, nothing really. Like, I don't get. I don't get money. I don't get nothing from this.
[00:25:14] And that's not my main goal.
[00:25:16] But I just want to document the rise, the success of basketball in Canada, you know, and if we can all come together and support each other, that helps everybody, you know, helps me, helps the coaches, helps the players, helps the families, and just helps basketball in Canada.
[00:25:36] So, yeah, that's kind of what I wanted to touch on kind of New Year's resolutions kind of stuff I want to see for this next year. And some of it's tough, some of it I think we'll likely see in the next year or so.
[00:25:51] But, yeah, just excited for 2026. I think it'll be a big year for this podcast and I just can't thank you guys enough. Like, I feel like the past few weeks listenership has been going through the roof. Had some great conversations on this podcast that I've really enjoyed. I think have opened people's eyes, people's ears just to, to what's going on. And kind of also this is what was needed for me, just to be able to like, tell stories that sometimes I thought, like, do people really care about this kind of stuff? But people do. People do in the space. But I'll take a quick break and talk about what you can expect in terms of coverage from the Canadian Basketball show this year and give you a rundown. Events I'll be going out to, key dates I'll be watching out for. And maybe you guys will send me some messages on stuff that I need to tap into this year. But yeah, we'll take a quick break. This has been the Canadian Basketball Show. I'm your host, Levin Osmond.
[00:26:53] Welcome back to the Canadian Basketball Show. I'm your host, Ivan Osmond. Want to discuss what you can expect from this year's show and some key dates, events I'm looking to attend. The first one is All Star Weekend in la.
[00:27:09] Almost a month away. I'm still debating on if I'll be going. To be honest with you, the only reason I would go, and it has nothing to do with All Star Weekend itself. That whole thing is a, it's a show, let's be real. That one is like, I've heard horror stories of people going out there and calling it the worst thing they've ever experienced, you know, And I don't, I don't really enjoy events like that where it's kind of rushed three days in and out. And it's not like you don't get meaningful time. You don't get to sit down with any athletes that much or that often.
[00:27:48] But the reason I would go is because of Basketball Without Borders camp. That always happens every year where they bring the top international players and they train for three, four days in front of a dozen NBA scouts. Executives go through drills, scrimmages, and they usually stream this stuff. And I've been watching it online, but I wanted to go in person for some time. So I'm still deciding on that. And if I do go, we'll do some live coverage in la.
[00:28:19] It's going to be, obviously this year will be the 2027 class of Canadiens, and there's some top guys that I'M excited to potentially watch in that game and follow and potentially get them on the podcast. You know, talk about their journeys and their rise, follow them closely, all that kind of stuff. But Basketball Without Borders is something I think like Will Riley blew up there. I think was it two years ago he blew up there. And from there, just now, look at him playing for the Washington Wizards. You know, the next thing on my list, obviously the All Canadian game. I'm hoping players actually compete this year. I spoke to some NBA guys that watched it and literally turned off their television after seeing that nobody was trying in that game, which is kind of embarrassing if you ask me. You know, like, like this is your one chance where scouts are watching you and you guys are all not playing defense. It's like the actual NBA All Star game where no one's actually trying. Like, we're mimicking that. Like, let's be real. We got. We got scouts watching, we're trying to make it and we should be taking this game serious. So I'll probably go out to that and then right after that I'll probably jump on a flight to. To go to the Nike Hoop Summit.
[00:29:27] This will be my fifth straight year going out there. First year I went was I think 2021 doing story on Lennon Miller and I haven't stopped since.
[00:29:36] And yeah, just my favorite. Spend a week there in Portland often go check out the. The Blazers games and that kind of stuff. And Nike store, Nike headquarters. Man, that, that, that whole Nike facility is insane. Like, man, you need like a.
[00:29:54] I need to get a whole tour. It's still like, I've been there for five years and I still haven't been to every spot. That's how insane it is. You know, they got the Serena Williams, like, facility, the Tiger woods facility. It's insane. There's going to be some topic playing in the Nike Summit this year. So I'm really excited for that after that. The NBA draft combine obviously is in May really fun, but that's probably like that trip I went to the combine last year. Most expensive trip I ever been on Uber multiple times in the Chicago is taxing, but unless I get word that a Canadian is getting an invite, I probably won't go this year. We'll keep an eye on that. There might be some G League Elite Camp invites at the combine where players like Ryan Nemhard worked his way, got an invite to the combine through the G League Elite Camp. Was covering him there last year. Was covering O'Reilly as well. Same with the NBA draft. Kind of crazy to say that for the first time since what, 2020.
[00:30:52] I don't know.
[00:30:53] Hopefully I'm right. Since 2020, there might not be a Canadian drafted, which is crazy.
[00:31:00] I don't know what that says about the development pipeline coming up in Canada, but obviously Coven impacted a lot of those things.
[00:31:08] Will Riley, who, if he didn't reclassify, he would be getting drafted this year. But obviously it's cool to see him play impactful minutes for the Wizards. Now, I've talked about the FIBA U17 World Cup. If I don't end up going to the combine, going to the draft, I might just. I might just book a trip to Turkey, man. Maybe, maybe to the World Cup. You know, I'm thinking of traveling there. Maybe will be a cool, fun experience covering that.
[00:31:35] Like I said, Canada might.
[00:31:37] This might be the best chance to medal. I might have to get a new hairline while I'm out there too. You know, we'll see. We'll see if it. We'll see if what happens. But I think the. I forgot what the dates are exactly. I think it's from June 27th to July 5th, around that time. So if I don't go to the draft, maybe I'll go to the Fiber U17 World Cup. We'll see the. We'll see the prices. I'm afraid to. I'm afraid to go to Google right now and see a flight ticket to Turkey because everybody is trying to get a new hairline, you know, like I've heard of. I've heard of people going to Turkey to get new hairlines, you know, and no names. But, you know, I might join that list soon, you know, depending if I hear good stories. But we'll see. We'll see if Turkey is on the list after that summer league, I'll go out there. I want to bring out the whole podcast crew. Hopefully they'll come out to the to summer league this year. Come out to Vegas. I don't think the dates are out yet for that, but I'll probably fly from Vegas, go out to Peace Jab. I might go actually early to summer league because I know there's some EYBL sessions in Vegas a few days prior. So depending on schedule, I might be in Vegas, the sin city of the world, a place that I hate honestly to spend more than five days in the summer. Worst place on earth I would describe to be. But NBA loves to be there, you know, so we'll probably head to. Head there and then go to Vegas, go to Augusta afterwards, watch this top talent and then after that there will be a lot of stuff happening in Toronto, in the city. Canada basketball probably have some qualifiers which will be fun.
[00:33:08] And then we'll definitely look to get a bunch of players on a podcast. Been chatting with a lot of guys and a lot of guys interested. Scheduling is kind of tough during the regular season. So once the off season kicks off and they're not busy with the grueling season, I'm excited to get some guys on, talk about the season, talk about their journeys, all that kind of stuff. And that's kind of like what the next six, seven months I imagine will look like.
[00:33:34] I'm also going to try and check out a bunch of prep school games in the next few months. Some good games, some obviously championships coming up in March, all that kind of stuff. OSPA games, all that kind of stuff. But should be a fun 2026 covering Canadian basketball, sharing stories, podcasting and yeah man, let me know if there's any events that's happening soon. I know the Hoop hall west just classic just happened. I was watching some Canadians play, play through there and watching guys like what Miles Saller, Paul Cerui looked good, Lewis Robinson, those guys watching them.
[00:34:13] And yeah, a lot of basketball doesn't stop, man. So these next few months will be crazy. Yeah, I just can't thank you guys enough for, for tuning in. This is what I expect will be like for the next few months. And yeah, just tap in with us, man. If you haven't already, leave a five star rating on Spotify, on Apple podcast, tap in with us on IG at the Canadian Basketball Store, start sending us messages. You know, like I said, we're going to be doing a mailbag episode coming probably later this month in January, answering some questions again. I think a lot of people really enjoyed that. So try to get back into the answer your questions on anything Canadian basketball related. And yeah, appreciate y' all for, for tapping in. Happy New Year. Let's have a good year within Canadian basketball and let's, let's build on what we're doing, what we're trying to accomplish as a country within basketball, you know. So this has been the Canadian Basketball show your go to spot for the latest news stories and analysis on K Basketball. I've been your host, Lee Ben Osman and we out.
