Roy Rana's journey to legendary Canadian basketball coach

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign. [00:00:04] Speaker B: 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 Ban Osmond. We got a special guest joining us in studio. A lot of Canadian basketball fans have been wondering where he's been. He's one of the greatest and most decorated coaches in Canadian basketball history. He's coached at Eastern Commerce, winning five provincial titles. He turned Toronto Metropolitan University, formerly known as Ryerson University, into a powerhouse youth sports basketball program before jumping to the NBA as an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings. Not to forget, he became the first coach to guide Canada to a gold medal at a basketball world championship in FIBA competition at the FIBA U19 World cup in 2017. He's since gone to coach internationally in Japan with Egypt senior men's national team and last year was appointed the head coach of Jordan's men's national team. It's lands down in bloor zone. Roy Rana. How you doing? [00:01:13] Speaker A: I'm good, thank you. I like the lands on the bloor part. It's important to me. [00:01:16] Speaker B: Yeah, I've been waiting to get you on. [00:01:18] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. [00:01:19] Speaker B: I got a lot of questions and I've gotten a lot of questions from people. When are you going to get Roy ran on the podcast? Where is Roy? We're finally giving the people what they want. We'll talk about your journey from C.W. jeffries Collegiate to the NBA to coaching internationally. Some questions and stories I've been dying to ask you about and I think our listeners will love to hear. But what I find fascinating every time I chat with you, whether that's during your youth sport days, whether when you jumped to the NBA with Sacramento, you only wanted to win a high school basketball championship. And now you're global internationally coaching and I think a lot of people consider you. I don't know if you would say this, but like one of the best coaches to ever come out of Canada. What do you say about that? [00:02:14] Speaker A: It's amazing. I mean, never would have dreamt that I'd be here and getting this type of intro and in a city that's important to me. Right. I mean, I love Toronto. Been part of this fabric of this city for 25 years before I left. So, yeah, it's, it's special. It's been a crazy journey for sure. But I'm honored. [00:02:34] Speaker B: Yeah. Was there a moment where you realized I can take this basketball thing further than Toronto? [00:02:41] Speaker A: Probably my, you know, in and around, maybe my second or third hoop summit when I was in Portland had a guy named Tommy Shepard, who was that time the general manager of Washington Wizards, he came up to me and he kind of said, hey, have you ever thought about coaching in the NBA? And I was just blown away. Like, I'd never really thought about coaching the NBA, but just that comment opened up that opportunity in my mind. Like, wow, if somebody's going to say that to me, maybe there is a chance. So that was probably the first time where I actually started to think, hey, this might be possible. [00:03:13] Speaker B: Yeah, C.W. jeffries, what do you remember about those days going back. How long has it been since. [00:03:19] Speaker A: Oh, Jeffries was, I think, 94.95, something like that. And what was it like? Yeah, it was amazing because, you know, I took the. I was. You. We were all volunteers, right. And I was kind of assigned that. That role by our principal. I was just told, this is what you're going to do. And I walked in the gym, and the amount of talent in that gym was incredible. I coached a junior team in year one, and we won a North York title that year. And I still have guys from that team that I'm connected to till this day. Right. Like, that have become really good friends. So, yeah, it was. It was wild. I mean, just, you know, to start that way in that community, that much talent. I mean, I had six great years at C.W. jeffries. And I'll share a story because I think it's an interesting one. [00:04:05] Speaker B: Let's hear. [00:04:07] Speaker A: You know, I don't think people understand what high school basketball was back in the day. So, you know, at that point in time, Jeffrey's part of Tri Cities, and that's how you qualified for afsa. And that was Etobicoke York, North York. There might have been a smaller, like, kind of suburb borough at the time, and 16 teams and two would go to AFSA, and that was Bathurst Heights, Runnymede, like, all these powers. And when we would take a road trip, we would go and play at Naqui, which is North Albion, because of the neighborhood rivalries. That was the first time we actually had, like, a police escort to a game. Like, we had a police escort to naqi. They stood on the court and they faced the fans like you would in, like, English soccer. You know, you have the security. And we played our game. We got back on the school bus and we got escorted out. And I mean, that's how much it meant at that point in time when I had just started, it was just a completely different reality. [00:05:03] Speaker B: Yeah, I think about prep schools now. [00:05:05] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:05] Speaker B: Like, how. How important was offsets back in the day for people that people remember, it was everything. [00:05:12] Speaker A: It may have been one of the most important competitions in basketball in the country. I mean, obviously, you know, U sports at that time, I think CIAU or cis, but after that, maybe the OCAA and ccaa, you know, there were some great programs there, but Officer was a big deal. It was a very, very big deal as far as basketball is concerned in the country. [00:05:34] Speaker B: Yeah. I know you're probably completely away from the prep school scene. Probably haven't watched a game in a while. But what are your thoughts on that? Kind of like that model changing where it's not. People are not going to regular high schools. You know, I'm hearing kids are getting paid to go to school to play for a certain team in Canada, which is completely different from. [00:05:55] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:05:55] Speaker B: What you were doing at the time. [00:05:57] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. I mean, listen, there's positives and negatives to everything. Like, I can't say that, you know, we have more and more kids playing at a higher and higher level. We have more and more kids being professionals now. We have more and more kids making money playing the game. Those are all good things, right? I mean, some. A talent development perspective. You can probably say that to some degree that's been a positive. Obviously there's downsides to all that business model. Right. But it has paid a price, I think, when it comes to, like, tradition and history and pride and community. I think those things have somewhat been lost because of the, you know, kind of. It's become more of a business. Right. It's become that. And that's global. It's not just only in Canada. But that's a. That's a sad price to pay. That. That what I think. Right. Like, you don't have those community rivalries anymore. [00:06:46] Speaker B: What was Eastern Commerce, Oakwood? What was those battles like? [00:06:50] Speaker A: Let me look at Eastern was like, you know, it was like being a Duke. It was like being in North Carolina. It was. It was serious business. Right. Like, there was. I mean, you guys know, you're from this community. You know, there was. Murray. Yeah, yeah, yeah. There was serious community expectation to win. Like, it was kind of like win or you're a disappointment. Right. So that was a different level of. I often say that's, you know, probably the most pressure I had in any job was when I left Jeffries. [00:07:15] Speaker B: That's crazy. [00:07:15] Speaker A: Right. At least I felt it that way. [00:07:19] Speaker B: What was it like? People calling you been like, you better win today. [00:07:21] Speaker A: You just had old heads like Donnie Williams, guys like that in the. In the community. Watching the games, you knew. You didn't have to say anything. [00:07:28] Speaker B: You knew. [00:07:28] Speaker A: And there was a tradition already when I came there, right. Because Jamal's teams with Simeon Mars, like those guys, those are some of the greatest teams in Canadian history. They had already won. So, you know, who's this guy coming in now? Like, I was kind of like, nobody really, but I was willing to take a risk, I was willing to take a shot. And it wasn't the way I had initially thought I would take that shot. But, you know, once, once I kind of took over, then I. I knew what the responsibility was. [00:07:54] Speaker B: Yeah, five provincial titles. What was that like during that time where it's like you're producing, you're winning. And it was also like, I felt like the chapter was like, could you see the writing on the wall where it's like, people might not be going to like. You made the jump to Ryerson after that. Right. But did you start to see like the signs of like these schools potentially showing? [00:08:17] Speaker A: Absolutely. And little first, you know, like that those five titles had a lot of people, lot of fingerprints on it. Jonathan Smith, who came with me, who's at Westview when I was at Jeffrey's, he had a huge impact on that program. Trevor Bullen. And I sat in the basement of that school for nine years. I don't know if I would ever have been able to have the success I had there. And then we had this rich, rich talent pool. And so like, we would have tryouts at 7am at Eastern and guys would ride their bikes from Jane and Finch and they were like stressed because they knew that the door would close at 7am and we weren't opening it. It was that type of program. We'd have 60, 70 kids trying out for the team. Right. Like, it was, it was like, it was amazing, really, but. And it was a lot of people that touched that. And obviously I. I can't forget. And I talked to him today. Kevin Jeffers, right? I mean, legend. Another legend in the city. Coach, he was with me for nine years, Right. He was like my right hand guy. And I said this to him today. There's no way we have the success or I have the success without him. So that those championships, they all had lots of different fingerprints on them. I was just blessed to be part of that. [00:09:19] Speaker B: It's crazy too, because his son is now a rising prospect coming up in Canada. [00:09:22] Speaker A: Yeah. Amazing. [00:09:23] Speaker B: And time flies. Yeah, time flies. How did Ryerson become an object? Because I covered you at Ryerson. [00:09:29] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:09:30] Speaker B: But I never knew how you Got there, yeah. [00:09:31] Speaker A: So again, you asked me a question. I kind of knew it was time to go at Eastern for a couple of things. I wasn't. I was a teacher, I wasn't a basketball coach, but I just loved basketball too much, right? So it was kind of like, okay, well, how do I. How can I make these two things continue to happen? When my passion was basketball, although I loved teaching as well, but I wanted to be in the gym, I wanted to be on the court. And we already, at that point in time, started to see declining enrollment in school boards. The environment was changing. You could feel that it was changing. And I remember going to a Ryerson game with Steve Morrison, who again, another legendary name in the city, and watching a game and saying, hey, man, I'd love to coach here one day. And it was a. They weren't very good. [00:10:18] Speaker B: They weren't. [00:10:18] Speaker A: Yeah. And why that? You know, it's probably a lot of different reasons, but in the end, it's. Wherever you win, it's. You gotta have great players, right? They had some great players, but I don't think they. They necessarily had the top level guys. And then they just, for some reason, never really maxed out those teams. Right. And when I got there, I kind of knew, okay, you know, it's going to take me like. Like for two years, I'm like, out of commission because I've got to, like, pour every ounce of energy I have. And I told my family this at the time, every ounce of energy I have to build this program. And in year three, we went to our first national championship, so it kind of worked, but it was a ton of hard work and great recruiting. I had some great players at Ryerson. [00:11:02] Speaker B: What were the challenges like early on, trying to turn Ryerson into a U sports powerhouse? [00:11:08] Speaker A: Yeah, you got to make people believe in you, right? You got to make people believe in the story that you're telling. You got to make people believe in this vision that you have, what you can build. You got to make it exciting. And then you got to make them want to be part of that. And that's players, that's coaches, that's community, that's administrators in the school. And I think we, we, you know, we. We painted a great vision and we chased it. And fortunately, I had enough guys like Jamal Jones, who joined me early, and Bjorn Michaels in that first recruiting class I had was incredible. Jordan Gauthier. And right away we started flipping it. And then, you know, we got Aaron Best the second year, and then we started to take off. Like, we Just knew that we were getting high level players. [00:11:48] Speaker B: When I got there, I just remember standing room only like you, you, you got to get there early just to get a seat to watch games against like Brock Carlton, those teams. Did you have a favorite year and like coaching? Because I'll tell you my favorite year was when you guys, you know, I don't bring up the heartbreak but the game against Calgary, I got to cover. I traveled and I covered that team and like seeing you guys, seeing Manny. Yeah, you know, and well, did you have a favorite year? [00:12:18] Speaker A: Well, that was a great year because we went on this. We weren't really expected. We didn't have a great regular season. We actually went on a late run and went all the way national championship game and you know, we lost that game on a just, you know, JV Manny miscommunication and heartbreaker. But incredible season. And we, you know, we all had our cry afterwards and then we came together and we had a meal and it was a celebration of an incredible season. I had a season before that a couple years when I had Adika, Peter McNeely and, and, and Aaron and Jamal. I mean I loved that season because we played such beautiful basketball. Like we were just, it was musical. Offensively we were really, really good and then we were tough as shit defensively. So I, I loved that team because of the way we played. I love that team with Manny and JV because of we had to overcome a lot and go on a late run. I think we won like seven in a row down the end of this, going playoffs all the way to the national championship game. So that was pretty special. [00:13:16] Speaker B: And I think Matty was dealing with injuries throughout that season too. And like I remember a game, I think he had like 40 against Ottawa, like 50 against York. Like he was putting up numbers. [00:13:25] Speaker A: It was, yeah, I would say this that, you know, people always tell me about, you know, who are the best players that you've ever coached. He might have been the most talented player I ever coached. Like he was an NBA guard. He had that skill set. You know, unfortunately for him, it's hard to do that coming out of Canada, especially at that time. And then he did have, you know, he had some injury issues that he fought through and he didn't give up, he didn't sit out, he kept going. [00:13:50] Speaker B: So correct me if I'm wrong, during that time too, you're kind of running the age group program with the Canada basketball at that time, I think from like 2009 to like 2017, throughout that entire time during that time, like, you coached what, U16, U17, U18, U19. Worked with nearly like every Canadian NBA player. [00:14:11] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:14:12] Speaker B: That we see now in the league, winning several medals, obviously, in the process. When you kind of took over overseeing the age group, what was that like? And what did you, like, walk into? And then what was also just kind of like the challenges early on. [00:14:26] Speaker A: Yeah. So I'll tell you how. [00:14:27] Speaker B: How. [00:14:28] Speaker A: What I walked into, because it's. It's a great. I don't think people would really know this, is that, you know, the reason why I got the job to coach the cadet team was because Mauricio Gherardini, who's now legendary, he was the assistant GM in Toronto. He's globally one of the most legendary figures. And he kind of stamped me. He kind of said, no, I think Roy is the guy for this program and gave us the team. And this was, I think, 2009. And it was. The staff was myself, Kirby Shepp, and Christian Vargas, who's still with the team. He's a therapist. Christian Sayer served as our therapist, but also our manager, because we didn't even have a manager. It was three of us. [00:15:07] Speaker B: Wow. [00:15:07] Speaker A: And we went to Mendoza, Argentina. We had Kevin Pangos, Nick Stauskis, Anthony Bennett, Negus, Webster Chen. We had a whole, you know, the talented group, but we didn't know what we were getting into. It was the first under 16 competition. FIBA America, they just started it. And we went and we finished fourth. We qualified for the Worlds, which was a complete shock because the way the team was picked is every province, basically, CP's, got to send a player. So I didn't get to pick the team. [00:15:33] Speaker B: Oh, I didn't know that. [00:15:35] Speaker A: Yeah. So we had Fergus Duke from Nova Scotia. We had Bryn Taylor from Alberta. We had all these guys from all around the country. But it wasn't really like, okay, let's get the best 12 guys and go. Right? It was. That was the model at that time. We qualified, and then the next year we changed it. And that's when Wiggins joined us and we went to Hamburg and that was our first battle. We won a bronze medal at a World Championship in 2010. That was the first medal that we won. [00:15:58] Speaker B: What was that feeling? [00:16:00] Speaker A: Oh, it was amazing because, you know, it was a team that was like. I mean, it was talented. [00:16:05] Speaker B: Do people expect it, though? [00:16:07] Speaker A: No, no, not at all. Nobody expected anything back then. Right. But after that, all of a sudden, the expectation changed. Right. Because all of a sudden we realized, hey, we got some really good young players here. Right. And we just did it because we just played harder than everyone. Like we just played so hard in that tournament and found a way to win a medal. [00:16:26] Speaker B: Yeah. Before that era, like canon wasn't really viewed as basketball power. [00:16:32] Speaker A: Right. [00:16:33] Speaker B: When did you sense that perception start to change, whether it's with the age group, team, that kind of stuff? When did you feel like, okay, people are taking us serious when we go to these, like international competitions. [00:16:48] Speaker A: That's a tough one. I would probably. That hasn't to be on, in my opinion. That hasn't been for too long, to be honest with you. It's probably been, you know, maybe after 20. The 20, 20 World cup, because we had some disappointment there. After that, I think is when, you know, when, when Jordy took that group to the World cup and made a bronze, like for that. That's our statement. I think that's for me, when it flipped. Up until that point in time, everybody respected us. But I think once you got to that group to beat the U.S. and won a bronze in the World World Championships, senior men, I think for me, that's when all of a sudden, okay, this pretty serious group. [00:17:26] Speaker B: What was Young Wiggins like? [00:17:28] Speaker A: Incredible. Incredible. I remember even in that summer that we brought him in, he was 15. I mean, he got off the bus and played and he was always kind of, you know, pretty quiet and just pretty chill and just, you know, we got off the bus in, I think we were in Madrid and we had traveled, we got off the bus, we played the same day at an exhibition against, I don't even know, it may have been Spain. And he just dominated the game defensively. Like he was blocking shots, rebounding, getting down the floor, you know, dunking, all that stuff. But you, you just saw that like, holy shit, this guy's got something different. When he turns it on, it's like it's over. So that, that was for me, my first kind of wow moment with him. And then obviously even in that tournament and when we won bronze, he was a dominant performer. He established himself in that tournament as an NBA prospect. There was no question after that tournament as a 15 year old that this guy was going to go to the league. Is he going to be number one? Where's he going to fall? All that craziness. But he was, he was amazing and a great, great young man. Great kid. Even now, like, unbelievable young man. [00:18:38] Speaker B: Yeah. You also coached one of my favorite basketball events of the year, Hoop Summit. And for people that don't know, it's an annual basketball showcase, features top American High school seniors against world international players aged 19 and under. I've been going for what, the last five years? And you coached it for, I think 10 years. Had guys like Nikola Jokic, Joel Embiid, Chae Gilgis, Alexander, Jamal Murray. I can go through the list like it's stars, superstars. How did that happen? Hoop Summit you talked about. I'm forgetting the name, but you mentioned, but Hoop Summit, where you're watching this wave of talent and then you talked about that's when you realized you could potentially coach in the NBA. But Hoop Summit is now this global thing where. And it was at the time too, NBA scouts, front office executives sit in front row. And some of these guys, in a year from now, they're going to be in the league. Like, who did I just watch? AJ DeBonsa? Like, he's in the league now. Like, who would I watch a couple years? All these Canadian guys. What was that like getting the call to coach? Did you realize like this was going to be like a lot of stars were going to come out? [00:19:51] Speaker A: Here's a funny story. I mean, look, I owe everything in. Lots of people have had huge impacts in my career. And you know, Mark Bain at Nike has been an incredible impact in my career because he's been a friend and he's also just always opened up opportunity for me. That's incredibly important for me. And then Coach Raveling, who, you know, passed George Raveling, was. I don't know if there's been a more important person in my development and as I my growth as a man. But look, Mark came up with the idea that, hey, maybe, you know, they're gonna look for a coach. I'll put your name forward. And I don't think any of us believed it would be me, but we, okay, why not? We'll throw my name in. And we almost had a little bit of a joke. We had a little joke saying because it was like Obama, it was around Obama's time. So we had this kind of like slogan. It was like, yes, we can. It was like, okay, like, you know, maybe we can make this happen. And fortunately enough he brought that to Coach Rav. And Coach Rav was like, yeah, that's the guy I want. And just like Maurizio had tagged me to be the cadet coach. Coach Rav gave me his blessing and wanted me to take that opportunity. And I got that opportunity, which was just blew me away completely. But it was an incredible 10 years with some incredible players. My first team had Kevin Pangos, Kyle Wilcher, Bismack Biombo Evan Fournier. [00:21:15] Speaker B: Bismack had like a. Was it a triple double? [00:21:17] Speaker A: Yeah. Crazy story. But yeah, he dominated. He went from nowhere in a year. He went from unknown to lottery pick and got a chance to be part of that story. And I still am connected with Bismack. Bismack and I actually went on a kind of humanitarian tour to the west bank, which was a crazy trip. And that was, I don't know, eight, nine years ago. So, yeah, I mean, the Hoop Summits provided me with some incredible stories, meeting people and we won, you know, we won four times and those were great wins. [00:21:45] Speaker B: Yeah. You mentioned George Ravlin, hall of Famer. Obviously people know him most, I think, for like recruiting Jordan to Nike. Did you have a favorite George Raveling story? [00:21:58] Speaker A: Yeah. So Coach Rav used to like, used to invite me to the Final Four and he would have a suite in the Final Four Four. And when he invited me to final four, he would basically have like a three bedroom suite and he would pick people and he would say, hey, come stay with me in my suite. Now he would always say, come stay with me in my suite. So I just got a chance to be. There's so many great stories, but that experience, I think I did it two or three times at the Final Four with him. You know you have Oscar Robertson walking in the room. You know you have Lenny Wilkins walking in the room. Like you legends know Nolan Richardson, like legendary African American coaches, like the Mount Rushmore were in the room. And I got a chance to listen to those stories and watch those guys interact and just learn about who they were. It was. It was amazing. He did so many things for me that I don't know why, but you know, he was just so kind and giving and he changed my life. [00:22:52] Speaker B: Yeah. Shout out to coach Ravlin at the Hoop Summit. Was there like a player that you saw that was like we now see as a staple in the league that you were like, oh my God, this guy is going to be a star. People don't know it yet, but obviously people look at Jokic like, did. Could you foresee that? Or like Joe Embiid? [00:23:15] Speaker A: I mean people. I've done multiple media stuff on Jokic. Yeah, no, I wasn't smart enough to think fussy that Jokic could be what he is. No, I had no idea that. But I'll tell you, the one guy that I knew would be like a big time pro and that was Jamal Murray. Because I kind of knew Jamal coming in. And when we. The first year that we had Jamal, it was. It was The Emmanuel Moudier show. Like, he was the guy everybody was there to see. Emmanuel Moudier. So when you're in the Hoop Summit, you have to be mindful, right? Like, hey, this is Nike. This is talent. You want to make sure you showcase the talent. You can't bench a guy because you think this guy's better. But I think we played, we played Jamal almost 30 minutes in that game. And minutes are a challenge in that game because everybody wants to play. They're all high level players. And then he came back the next year with Ben Simmons, and I played him 30 minutes a game, 30 minutes again. And he dominated. Like he was a guy that you just knew. Like, he might be quiet for three and a half quarters and then he could just blow up and win you a game. Like, he had that type of. That spark, that something special to him. He still has it. But that, that for me was probably the one where I kind of felt like, yeah, like he's got it. He's gonna be good. [00:24:23] Speaker B: Yeah. Joe Embiid, any favorite stories about Joel during that time? [00:24:28] Speaker A: And yeah, funny guy, 18, funny guy. You know, stark sunglasses, the hood on, like, you know, acting like he's, you know, not the most, you know, warm, but then you, you know, you just break through that you have, and he's just this big, smiling, happy guy. And I remember being in the airport with him coming back after the Hoop Summit, and he didn't have a passport. He, he had like some type of piece of paper. So I had to kind of stay with him. Oh, yeah. To help him. Yeah. So we, we had some fun moments together and he was. Had a great sense of humor and he still does. Just a good guy. [00:24:58] Speaker B: Yeah. I also wonder, like, during that time, how do you go about, like, getting guys on the same page? Like, I think a lot of national teams kind of deal with that age group teams kind of deal with that. Where you have a week. [00:25:11] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:25:12] Speaker B: And Hoop Summit's even difficult because you're, you have no continuity. You're bringing people from across the world. How did you go about bringing players from Ukraine, bringing players from Canada, from Cameroon together on a squad and getting them to gel in that short amount of time? Because you won a lot of games. I hope so. [00:25:30] Speaker A: Yeah. I think it's a combination. I think my, my experience as a teacher helped me here as well. Like, you know, when you're in a classroom, the first thing that kids are going to do is they're going to test you. Right. Like, how much can I get away with it's no different. They're young. Kids are coming in. Who's this coach? Who's this guy? Canadian guy, you know, brown guy. Like, what's. You know, let me see what this is about. So you have to come in, and you have to be able to control your environment right off the bat. Like, they got to be able to have some respect that you're going to hold them accountable. And then I think the other thing, too, was just really spending that time having those conversations, getting to know them and making them feel that you actually are here for the same reason that they are, which is to try and help them achieve their dream. Like, yes. Like, I remember telling Wiggins, I think in his second Hoop Summit, I said, look, like, the only thing that's going to piss me off is if you don't take more than 15 shots in this game. That was before he stepped on the court, because that's what he had to do. Right. And for me, that's what it was about. You know, if we won, it was great, but it wasn't really about winning. [00:26:32] Speaker B: Right. [00:26:32] Speaker A: It was about helping these guys get closer to their dream. [00:26:35] Speaker B: Did you have a favorite Hoop Summit [00:26:36] Speaker A: team, the one with Wiggins and Schroeder? I think we blew them out. Dennis was amazing. Like, we had a great team. We just played so well. We got up and down the floor. We just. It was. It was. It was a real good win for us. [00:26:48] Speaker B: Yeah. Did USA Basketball, I feel like they. Now. They take it very seriously now. Like, they use it as, like, training for their World Cups. Or was that the case during that time where they were trading the Hoop Summit? [00:27:01] Speaker A: I don't know, but I can tell you this. I was told that they. I think after we had won two in a row, and I think when we had went in to play them the third time, that they had a picture of our team from the year before in the locker room, and it was kind of like the bullseye. Right. Like, it was just to remind them. So they. They were. They weren't happy that we were winning, even as the World Team. So, yeah, they took it seriously. Yeah, there's. There's a lot. There every. A lot of competitive people. Right. I mean, everybody wants to win. [00:27:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:27] Speaker A: So that was a lot of fun for us. [00:27:28] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, it's my favorite event. I got to watch a lot of the Canadians coming up. There's usually one or two playing in it. For you, though, a lot of people know you for the historic first ever gold medal that you brought Canada FIBA U19, 2017, Egypt, Cairo. I think it's like, two weeks ago. It was like nine years from the date since you led that team. And from what I remember, gathering stories from people that were on that team, that roster kind of came together last minute. I want to hear the whole story of, like, what happened with that FIBA U19 in terms of, like, some guys, top guys are missing. Correct me if I'm wrong, I think Shea was not part of that team. Lou the key, Alexander Walker, 8, 8, 9, O', Shea, Brissette, Simon Shooter wasn't part of that team. [00:28:23] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:28:23] Speaker B: What do you remember about putting that part together? [00:28:26] Speaker A: Young, but yeah, what was. [00:28:27] Speaker B: Like, how did that come together? [00:28:29] Speaker A: I mean, it was crazy. I mean, I remember sitting in a coffee shop with Dwayne Washington and Shea and trying to make, you know, trying to convince Shay to play, and he chose not to play. And, hey, like, I didn't hold that against anybody. I remember being on the phone with Lindell Wington and his dad, like, a place day before we were leaving. Yeah, like, hey, like, we need you. And we convinced him to play and he came and he played. He came to training camp, and then he ended up going there and he got a concussion. So he didn't, you know, he got to sit out a bunch of games and. But it was that type of, you know, we just had so many rejections, which is the first time I'd ever had that. I'd never experienced that. But then we just took the guys that we had. We had a great training camp, and they came together. It was a pretty special team that had some incredible performances. [00:29:22] Speaker B: Did you expect, like, going into that tournament? We have a chance. [00:29:25] Speaker A: Of course. Yeah. So my goal is, always with the national teams were that that I had is like, let's get to the single elimination part of the tournament. We got to be in the final eight. We got to be in the knockout phase. And then how do we navigate the knockout phase? You know, sometimes you get the US early in the knockout phase, which is actually what happened to us. Right. So we lost. I think we lost Spain. Yeah, Right. And I remember going into the locker room after we lost to Spain and Abu Kab. Incredible story. I love the kid. He came into the locker room and he whipped his phone against, like, the wall, and the phone just, like, smashed into pieces, and he was pissed. And, you know, I kind of made a little bit of a joke about it. And then we moved on, but everybody was down because we knew now that we were going to have to play the U.S. in the crossover game, if we got there. And we had struggled. We had struggled in past tournaments to get past that quarterfinal. And then we beat France in the quarterfinal, which was a really big win for us, and then got the US and had that historic performance. And Abu Kab again. I mean, everybody remembers RJ Barrett's monster performance, and it was 38 points. It's one of the great performances in Canadian basketball history. Even though he was a young kid, but people don't realize that. Abu Kjab was incredible. And with about a minute and a half or a minute left in that game, if anybody goes back and watches the film, he vomits on the court because he's been playing so hard. And then he kind of tries to. Tells me to sub him back in. I said, and then he vomited again. And I sat him. He didn't play at the end of the game. [00:30:53] Speaker B: Wow. [00:30:53] Speaker A: Because he was so wiped out. He had given every ounce of what he had in that game. So it was special win. [00:30:59] Speaker B: Yeah. How important was it, losing to Spain? Was that kind of like a. Because some. Some people will be like, you know what? Losing in a. Before you get to that knockout kind of stuff is important. Did you feel like that kind of like, tell told guys like, yo, let's lock in. Or was it just. [00:31:14] Speaker A: I think it's too easy to say, yeah, I was good for. I mean, shit, we could have lost the next game and been out. [00:31:18] Speaker B: Right? [00:31:18] Speaker A: I mean, like. But, you know, the. The key is what it. What it tested was our resilience, our ability to, you know, fight back. And we had some tough guys on that team. We had some guys. Danilo Jura, Chich. We had some guys that, you know, our front court, like, these were like, not big names. Prince Aduro, right. [00:31:37] Speaker B: Jordan Henry. [00:31:37] Speaker A: Jordan Henry. Like, these guys. You know, I don't even know if there was too many high majors in that. [00:31:42] Speaker B: Nope. [00:31:44] Speaker A: But they were tough and they competed and they played hard as. [00:31:46] Speaker B: And. [00:31:48] Speaker A: And then RJ was, you know, the conductor, and he kind of made it happen. And Lindell was great, but like I said, Lindell got the concussion, and that kind of took him out of the tournament. [00:31:58] Speaker B: Like you said, RJ17 at that time, he averaged, what, 21.6, including that 38 point performance against the US in the semifinals. What was it like to coach him at that age, seeing the rise of his journey? [00:32:15] Speaker A: Yeah, it was good. I mean, I have to get on him a little bit. [00:32:17] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:18] Speaker A: You know, he. He had his times where maybe he could have been a little Bit tighter with time and all, but I have to get. I had to get on him and Jordan Henry. But, you know, the one thing was I didn't treat them any differently or I didn't treat him any differently than anybody else. Like, if he screwed up, he was gonna get it just like anybody else was. But he was great. He was tough kid. He responded. And again, like Jamal Murray, right? Like the best. When the light shine the brightest, they have that ability to kind of rise to another level. And we saw that in the playoffs this year with the Raptors, right? Everybody, oh, R.J. this, R.J. that. And then all of a sudden, in the biggest games, he manages to be one of the best players. So that's a special talent for him as well. [00:32:57] Speaker B: Going into that game against the U.S. what's the feeling? Because I don't think people realize who was on that roster. I'm trying to remember names. Cam Reddish, Payne Pritchard. Who else am I forgetting? It was a lot of NBA guys on that roster. I think there was like seven or eight guys that went to the league. What was that like? Did you feel any. Like, this is like a monumental game. [00:33:21] Speaker A: Actually, I felt pretty good because we had done a lot of work on that group. I know John Calpari. John Calperi is a guy that I consider a friend. Coach Rav was the one who connected us. Tremendous respect for Coach California. But I know that also leading into that with the hoop Summits as well, that we had a formula that was pretty successful in beating the US and it was really forcing them to think, not allowing them to play out of their comfort. And then also making sure that they weren't able to really pressure us in a way that they could just end up going on a massive run because you turn it over three, four times and now it's alley oop, three, four dunks, and then you're done. That's typically been the U.S. but, you know, Cal's teams didn't press. He didn't have it that with that group. So that helped us. And I knew that if we had changed defenses, you know, again, Jamie McNeely, who was my assistant, look, a lot of what happened in Canada basketball, I got to give him credit, like, he helped change the program. When we talk about age group programs and how that evolved, Jamie was a huge part of that. And yeah, like, we just. We had a game plan. We executed the game plan and it worked. [00:34:32] Speaker B: Yeah. After the game, John Calipari said, you out coached him. He said that. What was that like to Hear at the time, as a university basketball coach in Canada, from a guy that's done what he's done in the ncaa, I [00:34:49] Speaker A: mean, listen, you know, it's always a great compliment, and if you get to a certain level, it's a great compliment because you actually have empathy for that person who loses as well. Because it's tough business, right? Like, he. He got killed for that loss, some of it. I mean, he has to own it, just like I have to own it. But he had a tough group. Like, he. You know, and could he have done some things better? And on certain days, you know, you just. In a single elimination, anything can happen. And on that day, it was great for us, but that was the semi. That wasn't the final. We didn't win the world championship that game. We had to play another game. Yeah. [00:35:24] Speaker B: Against Italy. [00:35:24] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:35:25] Speaker B: I'm trying to look back at that roster. Who else was on it? Hamadu Diallo, Carson Edwards, Kevin Herr, paying picture. Like I said, Josh Aoji, Emmanuel Quickley was on our roster as well. Stacked. [00:35:37] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:35:38] Speaker B: Did you realize, like, how monumental that win was at the moment? I know you have to worry about Italy. You have to get it done still. But did you realize, like, how significant that win was? Like, what was your phone like? [00:35:52] Speaker A: Yes and no. Right? I mean, some of it is like, yeah, okay, you know, we just beat the. We're gonna go and play for a world championship, so. And then you start to hear back from home that the story's growing, people are, you know, jumping on the bandwagon, all that stuff. So, yes, it's a huge win. Right. And you're excited about it, but you don't have a lot of time because you're playing the next day. So I will share. Steve Konchalski, who's been a great mentor in my career, spent a lot of time with me in that age group, national team programs. I'm not very cocky. I'm just not. I try to be as humble as I can, but I said to him in the locker room after we beat the U.S. i said, or actually, this was before we played Italy the next day, I said, coach, we're going to beat their ass today. Like, they got no chance. And I said. And he kind of was a little bit uncomfortable with me because that's not who I am, but I just knew there was no way we were losing that game. Like, we were going to go out there and we're going to beat them. Good. [00:36:44] Speaker B: Yeah. 79 to 60, 19 point win. You win gold, and. Yeah, I'm just thinking about. Did you realize what I meant for Canada? You talked about the story. [00:36:58] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, of course. I mean, listen. I mean, that's the first. You realize it. You realize it. But look, when you're in it, it's a great euphoria, right? And then it dies down and you get caught up in a little bit because the media and all that stuff, but those things, they don't last long. Like, it's not like, you know, you're in this kind of, you know, euphoria for the whole year or whatever. Like, no, it's, you know, you have a great night. We had some fun together that night and celebrated a victory. And then, you know, eventually you come back down to earth and life moves on. It moves on even faster now than it used to back then because of the. Just the people's attention spans are pretty short. [00:37:38] Speaker B: I was going to ask you, though, like, do you feel like that team deserves more credit because it's not really talked about? I feel like it's. It's almost a decade later. There hasn't been another team that's won gold. FIBA U19s, FIBA U18s. They just won gold for the first time, and it took nine years for another gold medal. Like, do you feel like that team deserves more credit at all? [00:37:57] Speaker A: I don't know. Credit for what? You know, all, like. And I've been around, so it's like, I don't know whether it gets talked about or not. It was very special. It's an important win for the country. You know, we got a lot of credit. It's been nine years later. Do we need to still get credit? I don't know. We just focus on the next team. Let's keep trying to. Let's try to win the next one. [00:38:19] Speaker B: After that, you gradually move up to the senior men's national team. Was that kind of like, okay, hey, I did my. My role, I did my time, it's time for me to move up. Was that kind of, like, agreed upon for you? And like, what was kind of. [00:38:37] Speaker A: I don't know if that was how it kind of was agreed upon. What it was is. It was also some interesting timing, right, because we were just starting the windows format that was just beginning. So now that's new, and we're trying to figure that out. And again, because of the windows, you're now. The coaching pool that you can access is different, right? Like, Jay Trano was the head coach, but Jay Toronto couldn't do certain windows because of his NBA commitments. So now all of a sudden you have to think about how are you going to, you know, how are you going to approach that? And that provided me with opportunity. You know, we had won. I think the organization was at that time really trying to invest in me and my growth, which was amazing. And yeah, we had a great run. That was a look when we, when we played our last game, we beat Brazil. We blew out Brazil to qualify for the World Cup. In Brazil, they had Anderson Varejao Barbosa on that team. Like we, it was a crazy win because we had lost to Venezuela two nights before. But we had like a. Guys that on the team could tell you. I think it took us like 20 hours of travel from either Orlando or Miami to Caracas. And we checked in to our hotel at 7am because I remember putting the key into my hotel room at 7am and we played at 6 that night. So we didn't even do shoot around. We just watched film. Everybody slept. We watched film, went to the game and played. We lost and we lost by 8, 10, something like that. You know, their fans, their home court. And then the next day we fly to Sao Paulo, Brazil to play Brazil. Now Brazil's the favorite now and we kicked their ass. Like Kyle Wilcher was incredible in that game offensively. Dwayne noticed, like we had some guys, the dogs, and we beat him and we qualified. And from that point on till the end of our qualification, we just got better and better and better. So it was a, it was a good run. [00:40:19] Speaker B: And this is where a lot of people ask, where did Roy go? Yeah, you know, you like Canada. Like you said, 2019 World cup qualifying windows, 10 and 2 record without NBA guys. I believe during that time, like you mentioned Kyle Wiltshire, those guys. And I think around this time, G. Triano steps down as head coach. And you can correct me wrong, but I feel like at that time you interviewed for the position, they end up going with Nick Nurse. What was that like during that time where it's like interviewing for the process. Did you, was there plans for you to stick around with the program during that time? [00:40:53] Speaker A: Yeah, it was, it was interesting. Well, first of all, you know, it wasn't my 10 and two record, right. I think Jay had either two or four of those wins and Gordy Herbert had two of those wins. I think I was six and two maybe. Okay, maybe eight and two. I think six and two. Anyway, so we, we did that job collectively. That wasn't me on my own. And it was, it was messy, right, because Jay was the head coach, but Jay Was interviewing to continue be the head coach. And then I was interviewing because maybe I was going to be the head coach. And Gordy, I think, might have been in that process, too. I don't remember. Then there was a bunch of international guys and it just really, really drew out. It took a very long time. And they hired Nick Nurse and Raptors has just won the world title. I mean, like, okay, that's a good hire. Right? You just. You just got a world championship coach in the NBA to become your. The national team head coach. I get it. I had hoped that I would continue to be part of the program. It didn't work out that way. And that's when you kind of know that, you know, what kind of business you're in. Right. Like, it's. That's what it is when you're at the highest level. [00:41:55] Speaker B: Yeah. Because I get that question a lot. Why isn't Roy. It's been seven years. [00:41:58] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:41:58] Speaker B: I think people want to know, like, obviously how and why and did that kind of stuff. But during that seven years, was there ever communications about coming back? [00:42:08] Speaker A: Of course. Yeah. [00:42:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:42:09] Speaker A: Listen, I mean, look, I can share this. I have any time that I've been asked to help, whether that's, you know, John good Willie asking me for an advanced scout on a team that. Because at the time I was in Egypt and we had played, I think Lebanon or something like that was in there. But, hey, sure, no problem. You know, if it's about an athlete, no problem. Right. So I've tried to help any way I can. I've been in a conversation multiple times. I haven't gotten picked. I mean, it's just as simple as that. Right. And I can only control what I can do. Right. And that's. Keep trying to become the best I can every single day, try to help my teams win, try to empower and impact the players that I coach and the people that I work with. And that's what drives me. That's my constant. So it's not like I haven't been in conversations. And I'm here to help the country anyway I can. I mean, obviously, I want. Look, I mean, you know, I went to those two games that they just played and my. Yeah. And my highlight of that two games was like. And Mark took a picture of. This was a great hug with Dylan Brooks because, you know, Dylan and I have spent some time like Dylan. I clashed a little bit because, you know, he would take some crazy shots and we would get into it, but love him to death. Right. To see what he's become is amazing. So, you know, I want to see all those guys be successful. I mean, what an incredible group of players. [00:43:29] Speaker B: Yeah. You talked about Dylan Brooks. Yeah, I see Dylan as like probably the most give back in terms of community. Like. [00:43:37] Speaker A: Yeah, he's. [00:43:38] Speaker B: Every young player I talk to, they talk about Dylan Brooks has been in contact with them. He's giving wisdom. What was he like growing up? You talked about you guys buttheads and now you're seeing him become this guy that all the people that are trying to get to where he is look at him as like, Dillon Brooks is my leader. [00:43:57] Speaker A: Yeah, it's amazing. I mean, I mean, you probably should talk to Paul Melnick about the Dylan Brooks because he kind of had him in a car at a young age. And I mean, Dylan was unique character even as a young kid. Right. He had. He had a competitive fire to him that was different. He had a stubbornness to him that was at times challenging. But he was caring. He loved his teammates. He gave it everything he got. Winning was important to him. He conducted himself well. He wasn't doing stupidness. Right. Just sometimes, you know, he'd talk craziness and either in the game or in a practice, whatever it was. But I mean, I loved coaching him because he had those qualities that, that help you win. Right. I mean, look, I mean, I had all win bigby at Easter same thing. Like just fire to him that, you know, those guys are unique, but they're special. [00:44:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. It's great to see what he's doing. Now. What are your thoughts to. [00:44:52] Speaker A: Was it. [00:44:52] Speaker B: Was there a favorite player that you. That you coached, like within the Canadian system that you're like that you. That you loved or you're like, you know what, you love to see their journey or evolution. [00:45:04] Speaker A: No, I mean, look, I. I love so many of them. I still love so many, but. And you build different types of connections with each player. Right? Like, so it's really hard to say one and you know, like anything, sometimes they drop out of your life and then all of a sudden bound they're back in your life. Like, I hadn't talked to Dylan in a long time and then all of a sudden this summer we reconnected. It was amazing. Right? And you know, I saw Wiggins with, you know, I just saw Corey Joseph. I saw Wiggins in San Francisco, like, just randomly, like, you know, so it's, it's. I think it's more about that, you know, I don't have a favorite. No, they're all my favorites. [00:45:38] Speaker B: Yeah. What Are your thoughts? So, like, Wiggins is very. Keeps himself, you know, Jamal Murray is not part of the senior program. Now, guys that you coach, Hoop Summit, you had them coming up. What are your thoughts on, like, obviously I'm not sure if you're. You've chat with them or anything like that, but. Because there's always a perception, this conversation always happens in media. Like, why aren't these guys representing their country? Why aren't they, like, dedicated all the time there? What are your thoughts on that when it comes to. [00:46:08] Speaker A: Yeah, I think that's naive. Look, man, like, if. If I said to you in your job that you're going to work, you know, whatever, 10 months a year, and then every summer you're going to come and do this job. And if you don't do it, that means you're not patriotic and you don't, you know, you don't love your country. Like, let's be fair too, right? So many of these guys been doing a long time, you know, and giving and giving in situations, whether you're coming off of injury or they're injured or they're in a contract situation, like, it's not an easy thing to do. And some guys are just, you know, they're driven differently and means that they're willing to do more. But it doesn't mean that they don't love their country. It doesn't mean that they don't love playing for the country. Everybody's different, right. And you got to respect that and you got to continue to make it someplace that they want to be, that they really want to show up. And some of that is acknowledging and accepting when they don't that it's okay. [00:47:02] Speaker B: Yeah. No, I love that you said that because I feel like at times social media, like, it's just. Why aren't these guys showing up? Whether it's not even just dumb other guys, why aren't they involved? That kind of stuff. And I feel like there's always stuff behind the scenes that people don't realize, whether it's family stuff or whatever they're going with, they want to take a break. Injuries, contracts, like you mentioned, like, a lot of stuff. [00:47:20] Speaker A: Sometimes choice. Yeah, I just don't want to do it. [00:47:23] Speaker B: Yeah. I want to break. I play basketball for. Like you said. Yeah, I want a break. I want to go on vacation. I want to go to Jamaica. [00:47:30] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, everybody has their own reasons, but I think you got to respect them. [00:47:33] Speaker B: Yeah. What are you most proud of? When you kind of like consider what you helped build because I feel. I feel like what you've done with the program, like I mentioned a lot of guys that are in the league you coached, what are you most proud of when you look about your time with the program and what you. What you're able to do? [00:47:53] Speaker A: Well, I mean, look, Canada basketball is one program that I've helped build, and I've had another, you know, a number of different ones that I've also helped build. So I think, like, and I'm not even talking about international, I'm talking about high school. I'm talking about, you know, Ryerson. I'm talking about all those things. [00:48:10] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:48:10] Speaker A: I mean, look, it's the players and it's the people that you work with. So for from a Canada basketball perspective, you know, I'm proud of James Depot, who was my manager as an age group team and got a chance to go to the Olympics. I'm proud of Jay Meehan, who, you know, was like, without him, I don't even know if I'm still coaching because of how he cared for me when I was in Valdavia, Chile. Like, you know, Jamie McNeely, who, if he didn't expose me to what he was experiencing at Marquette at that stage in my career, much of what we took from what he learned and applied to the program, I'm not sure the program is what it is today. Right. So it's about that and then watching them thrive and watching them grow and watching people that you work with end up in the NBA or end up internationally or end up in the ncaa. I think that's a. That's a huge thrill for any coach. So I think it's about players and people. Right. And just trying to drive. It's, you know, there's a lot of heartache along the way. It's just a business that's in when you lead, but that's really rewarding. [00:49:14] Speaker B: Speaking of making the jump to the NBA in 2019, you leave Ryerson and you join the Sacramento Kings as an assistant coach and chief of staff. I'll be honest, during that entire time I was there, I kept wondering, when is he going to make the jump? When is. I'm guessing college coaches, NCAA was an option for years. What was that like, knowing when was the time to leave youth sports basketball, make the jump to the league? How did that even come about? Yeah, the job with the, with the Kings and. Yeah, when did they first call you? [00:49:51] Speaker A: So the. When to make the jump and there's two stories, but I would say that, you know, I had a lot of opportunity along the way. Part of it was I just didn't have the heart to leave my team. Part of it it was sometimes is the way the offer came. Like, you know, I had opportunities to leave and it just. The timing was too late. It was like in mid August, I'll leave and team season starts in September. I can't do that to my team. Some of it was with the places where I got offered jobs, do I want to move there? Like, I don't know if I wanted to live in McAllen, Texas, you know, that type of community. And some G league jobs that I had. I had a chance to go to Kentucky and work with Cal party. [00:50:29] Speaker B: Interesting. [00:50:29] Speaker A: And that. That fell apart because of. The NCAA basically squashed it because they wanted me to. They wanted Cal to not be able to recruit. Recruit any Canadian national team kids for a number of years. That was kind of like the condition. So that was out the window. [00:50:42] Speaker B: Wow. No call since. [00:50:45] Speaker A: No, no, no, no. Cal and I obviously, you know, we've stayed connected, but, you know, the ncaa, my career has gone a different direction. Yeah, but so there was always a lot of opportunity. And then in 2019, it was [00:51:01] Speaker B: like, [00:51:01] Speaker A: it was a random. It was like, you know, I got called and say, hey, you know, this might be an opportunity for you. Would you be interested in it? And it was an opportunity to do something that had never been done before. Right. Go straight from a U sport bench to an NBA bench. And I just. At that point in time, I just couldn't say no. It was like it was time to take a risk. It was the right time from, you know, for a lot of reasons. And listen, man, Northern California is not a bad place to live. [00:51:26] Speaker B: Yeah. What shocked you maybe about the NBA when you first got there and moving to Sacramento, what was that like? Preparing for the NBA season, getting over there and yeah. Adjusting to the NBA lifestyle because you also get into it. You coach in the bubble. [00:51:42] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, I coach the NBA bubble. Like, listen, I don't know if there was anything that shocked me, but I did have some crazy moments right off the bat because the first trip that we went to as a. As a coach with the Kings was we flew to India and we played that NBA India game in Mumbai. Obviously I'm Indian background, so all of a sudden, boom, I'm in the NBA and I'm going to India with an NBA team. Like, that was like, were in the. We stayed in Agra, which is where the Taj Mahal is. We stayed in like the hotels. You stay and like, it's the best in the world. Right? So, I mean, it was pretty crazy, right? And we were going on Drake's plane. Like, he had that ovo plane. We flew on the plane. And I remember being on the plane and, you know, guys are playing cards, and I'm having a conversation with Trevor Ariza on the plane going to India. Like, you know, three months ago, I was having a conversation with, you know, my guys in Ryerson, you know, so it was. It was surreal, and it was really, really cool. The whole. The whole time was surreal because then, you know, halfway through that first season, Covet hit. [00:52:37] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:52:37] Speaker A: And everything changed. So it was a really. It was a tough time to be in the league, but it was still pretty amazing experience. [00:52:44] Speaker B: What was the bubble like? And, like, obviously you mentioned they shut down the league, and then you go to. Was it this resort in Disney? [00:52:53] Speaker A: We were in Tampa. Yeah, yeah, yeah. [00:52:54] Speaker B: The Disney Disney resort. Yeah. [00:52:56] Speaker A: It was like being in a science fiction movie because of, you know, we were having daily testing. So I think we got tested like, 200 days in a row. You know, the nasal swab, you had the wristband that, you know, got you into certain areas, but at the same time, everybody was there. So it was kind of an interesting mix of being in a sci fi movie, but also having the whole league in one place. So you saw everybody all the time. You know, you could have a conversation with people that were on other teams that you could never see. And then, of course, you're playing this tournament, you know, playing out the season to try and win a championship. So it was. Yeah, it was. I don't think there'll ever be anything like that again. [00:53:32] Speaker B: I want to ask you this, because a lot of people look at that ring that the Lakers won that year, and they put an asterisk on it. But as somebody that lived in the bubble, how hard was it, the lifestyle did you look at it? Like, man, if this was. If people are under different markets, do we have another NBA championship? Or do you feel like that title run that the Lakers went on is as deserving as somebody that lived? [00:53:57] Speaker A: There's no asterisks. [00:53:58] Speaker B: Okay. I wonder if they won. [00:53:59] Speaker A: Like, they won wherever. Wherever they won. They won in the bubble. They won in wherever. Wherever they had to win, they won. And I don't think people understand. It's like, you know, when we first got there, the first thing that we had to do was, I think quarantine for, like, was like 72 hours. It was almost three days. So, like, heroes, you get to the bubble and you're in your hotel room. You can't even leave your hotel room for three days because they didn't want any spread. Right. So for a lot of us, after a little while, like, it's cool, but you want to get out of there. So think about this. You know, you keep winning. You keep winning. Now you're two months in the bubble. Like, that's. That's a hard thing to do. So to win that championship, there's no asterisk. They won the championship. Just mad like they couldn't control. Wasn't like they chose to be there. Everybody chose to be there. We had to be there. So, yeah, I give him full credit for winning that title. [00:54:45] Speaker B: Yeah. How would you describe your tenure, like, in Sacramento, favorite moments, coaching? Like, maybe before the bubble happened, like, I don't know, walking at the Staples Center. [00:54:55] Speaker A: Well, I'll just share, you know, like, we were trending in a great direction. We had started the season 05. We went on that India trip, came back, and we just got off to a bad start, and it wasn't good. And the Sacramento fans were really hard on Luke Walton. And Luke Walton was an. And was and is an incredible man. Like, you're not going to find many better people than him. But because he was a Laker and it was Sacramento, and there was all that history between the two organizations, they were really hard on him. And we were trending in a. In a great direction. We had New Orleans at home, nationally televised game, one of the only nationally televised games that we had all year. And we're on the court warming up when I think it was Woj announced that the league was shutting down. [00:55:38] Speaker B: Yep. [00:55:38] Speaker A: And we all went to our phones and we walked off the court. And it was again, another surreal moment because we're walking off the court like, season's over. Like, what, What's. We didn't know what was next, so, I mean, that's a strong one. Playing in Madison Square Garden was magical. Right. You get a chance to be in some arenas that are. You dream of when you're watching tv. Yeah. Amazing experience. But, like, again, lots of challenge, lots of hard things that we had to go through as a group. [00:56:07] Speaker B: Yeah. After Sacramento, you end up in Japan. [00:56:12] Speaker A: Actually ended up in Germany first. [00:56:14] Speaker B: Yeah. Obviously coaching the Tokyo Olympics. What was that similar bubble experience, too. [00:56:20] Speaker A: Yeah. We're in Tokyo. We're in a. Again covet Olympics. 2020 Olympics that take place in 2021. Amazing. You're in the Olympics. I don't care what kind of Olympics it is. You're in the Olympics, right? I mean, I'm in the Olympics, so that was cool. That was a great run. Our qualifying run, we went 50 because we went through the Olympic qualifying tournament. So we had to win to get in. And we went 50 when we beat Brazil to get into the Olympics. And then we went to the quarterfinals. We lost to Slovenia, I think. In the quarterfinals of the Olympics. [00:56:50] Speaker B: Yeah. Now this is your second stint in Japan, coaching in the main league, the B league. How did that come about, going to Japan? The opportunity there? Japan's on my, like, buck. I need to travel there. [00:57:04] Speaker A: Yeah. So we had a. When I was in Sacramento with the Kings, we had a. A Japanese professor come and visit. He had actually gone to Golden State and watched the warriors practice. He knew Rod Adams, legendary coach in, in Gold State. And his interpreter, a young guy. They reached out because, you know, SAC in San Francisco is pretty close. Hour and a half drive, hour, 20 minutes. Can they come watch practice? And in my role, like, most of the communication came through me. So they basically said, hey, we have these two guys. Can you set them up on a tour? Can they, you know, let them? One said, sure, no problem. So I kind of hosted them. And the interpreter, who's now been my assistant for four years, was the guy that, you know, he was Japanese and he started sharing information on Japan and I started sharing information on the NBA. We started talking. Young guy. And. And then when I went to Tokyo for the Olympics, now I'm in Japan again. I'm starting. Okay. You know, this is really interesting. And I had floated it out to my agency that I would be willing to look at Japan as an option for my next job. And immediately I got some hits and ended up in Kyoto in a absolutely incredible, magical city. [00:58:14] Speaker B: Yeah, Kyoto. Under your watch, the team went from what, 25 win rate to the best record in your final season since what, 2016? [00:58:24] Speaker A: Yeah, we had a dip in the mid year. That was really hard. We weren't good in year two, but we were really good in year three and trending in a great direction. So we flipped that program around. That was a low budget. Don't get relegated. Build us to a certain level. And I think we did that. And I feel pretty proud of that experience as well. [00:58:42] Speaker B: What was it like completely going to a foreign country because you build up all these programs from like we talked about it, Ryerson, Easter, Carmen, going there and narrating there. Gotta stay competitive, you know, like with the national team, the age group stuff, and then going to a completely different Market, foreign country. What was that like? Adjusting to that and then getting there and trying to figure out how to, you know, build from there. [00:59:13] Speaker A: So I'll share a little bit more about me and then you'll understand why. For me, that's always been kind of something that I've really kind of enjoyed building. Yeah. And also international. So like my real goal was when I was in university, when I went to York, did a poli sci degree, I was thinking, okay, you know, I want to be in the foreign service. In the foreign service, you're like kind of, you know, in that ambassadorial, you know, being an ambassador, a diplomat, council general and you. They basically live this incredible life because they get placements internationally. [00:59:40] Speaker B: Right. [00:59:40] Speaker A: You spend four or five years in a country, then you go to another country. That was my dream job. I was thinking, shit, man, I'd love to do that. That sounds really cool. I just wasn't smart enough or disciplined enough academic. You got to be really smart and you got to like, you got to like study and be ready for the exam. I wasn't doing that shit. So I have, I've ended up doing that. Through basketball, I've had a chance to travel the world. I've had a chance to live different places, experience different cultures. Egypt was incredible. It's a place that's very dear to my heart because I won a world championship there and then I helped the senior men go to a world championship. So that has been cool. So yeah, for me it's, it's. I love travel, I love new culture. I love that feeling of being a little bit uncomfortable when you first get there and you don't know, like, hey, how is this going to go? That for me is exciting. And Japan is like super high level living. Like it's one of a very select few countries in the world where you can have that quality of life experience. [01:00:39] Speaker B: How different is the basketball culture is? Is it like, did you notice that? And how much do they love basketball? [01:00:45] Speaker A: Well, I'll tell you, I was completely naive because I went there and I thought my shit would be good. And then you get there and you get humbled pretty quickly because the league now has, I think, you know, we move into this new league next year. But I think 16 of the 26 coaches are international coaches and there's some of the best coaches in the world that are in that league from all over the world. So it's a very high level league. The style of play, the quality of play is really high. It's not an easy league. So it's. For me, it's the ultimate challenge is a head coach. Can I build success there? Not an easy place to do it. [01:01:20] Speaker B: Yeah. Heading back there. What excites you? Just about leading Nagoya Diamond Dolphins. [01:01:28] Speaker A: Yeah, I think there now this opportunity is a little different because now we're Mitsubishi owned, so we're a big budget team. We've got a brand new arena, you know, like it's one of the best arenas in Asia. We've got our own practice facility. You know, I think I'll have a staff of coaches and performance people that it's, you know, matches what you would get in a high major program in the ncaa. Not quite as big as an NBA staff, but it's pretty big. We'll probably have a group of 12, 14 people that are attached to the game and attached to coaching or performance. So it's, it's legit, like it's no joke. Right. And you get to try to again, Right. Roster construction. Right. You're signing international players. [01:02:13] Speaker B: How do you go about that? [01:02:16] Speaker A: I ask a lot of questions from people that are in that business in the NBA. Obviously I've had some front office experience as well. I mean, that's a big question, right? I mean talent identification, talent acquisition, those are two different things. And you have to have a process and you got to trust a lot of different opinions and you got to watch a lot of film and you got to look at a lot of numbers and you got to do a lot of digging so that you can make the best decision you possibly can to sign the right player who's going to help drive performance. Right. This team that I'm taking over right now returns 10 players. They only lost two. So we've made two new additions and it's a veteran team, so it'll be a different challenge. [01:02:53] Speaker B: How do you go, like you talked about transactions, acquiring players. Have you ever like wanted picture interest about front office, that kind of stuff at all? [01:03:03] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know that, that's a fascinating world, but you know, I'm not really, I'm not willing to be. Not in the fight right now. [01:03:12] Speaker B: Right. [01:03:12] Speaker A: Like when you're a coach, like you're in the fight, you're on the, you're on the court, right? You're like in it, you're part of it. And in the fight, sometimes that fight is within your own group. Sometimes it's, you know, obviously you want to be fighting against the other team. That's what the, where the real fight is. But I'm not, I'm not done with the day to day with that grind, but certainly that roster construction piece. Even some things on the business side are really interesting. I'm always trying to learn. I'm pretty curious as it is, but I know where my true passion lies. And right now I'm still ready to get on the court and grind. [01:03:44] Speaker B: Yeah. You mentioned obviously built help Egypt qualify for the World cup. And now you're running the Jordan. [01:03:51] Speaker A: So that's done. I'm no longer doing that. [01:03:53] Speaker B: No longer. [01:03:53] Speaker A: I'm only doing Japan, only June Japan. [01:03:55] Speaker B: So tell me about that. How did that come about? And that was wild. [01:03:59] Speaker A: That was just, you know, like now all of a sudden I have people reaching out, hey, would you be interested in this? And I had, we had coached against Jordan in the last World Cup, Egypt. So. And I had, I had a lot of respect for their program. And the nice thing about Jordan is in Egypt we couldn't naturalize a player. Right. The politics of the country, it's a basically military rule. Very, very difficult for you to get somebody a passport. Canada is pretty tough too. It's hard to do it in Canada. Jordan, it's a lot easier. So that was interesting for me because I got to naturalize a player. I got Jalen Harris. [01:04:31] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:04:32] Speaker A: When they're blowing up for us. And that was fun. That's a great part of my story and you know, of our story together. And then what was interesting for me was, you know, now I've coached in FIBA Europe, I've coached in FIBA Africa, I've coached in FIBA Americas and I've coached in FIBA Asia. So I think I'm one of a select few that's coached in every FIBA zone globally. And for me it was an opportunity. Okay, let me learn about Asia now. Right. Because now we're playing China, we're playing India, we're playing Iran, we're playing Lebanon, we're playing Saudi Arabia, we're playing. You know, so you're getting this, you're getting a window into basketball in a different part of the world, which is really cool. And Asia is exploding, right. It's a, it's a great place for sport. [01:05:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:05:14] Speaker A: Is there. [01:05:15] Speaker B: You talked about just doing Japan now. Right. Is there interest to getting back into that feeble world, coaching with the, with the national team? And where does that stand for you right now? [01:05:26] Speaker A: I'd say it's probably the first time in my career that I would say no, just because the job that I have now is, is so it's important that all my energy goes to that Would I say that I'm done coaching, you know, international teams? No. I mean, I don't know, like, what's going to happen down the road. I love it. You know, I'll share a quick story of Egypt. You know, I mean, look, I was on the bus, you know, usually, you know, coaches, you sit on the front of the bus, right? So I've been on the front of the bus with 30 Egyptians behind me on the bus, driving in traffic in Dakar, Senegal, going to the arena to play Senegal on the road in their own building. You know, like, that's. I mean, you can't beat those experiences. They're unbelievable. [01:06:11] Speaker B: Yeah. I want to ask you too. When it comes to international basketball, what do you love about it the most? [01:06:24] Speaker A: The people. Right. Like, for me, being the head coach of Egypt, when I would walk into practice and five or six people on our team would bend and pray, you know, like facing Mecca, like, that's pretty powerful for me because I'm. I'm. I'm part of a different culture, right? And now we're in a different part of the world who has different values and different. But it's beautiful. They're absolutely beautiful people. So giving. So I get to experience that in international basketball that, you know, I didn't experience. I could never experience that in the NBA. Now there's powerful moments in the NBA. Obviously, we had lots of turmoil. Even when I was there with, you know, George Floyd, there was protest in the league that I was, you know, I got a chance to be part of. I was pretty powerful. But the international pieces has a cultural element to it that is. It's just very different. Right. You get to experience the world. [01:07:18] Speaker B: Yeah, you talked about it. You're at the Hamilton game. What's that like seeing a lot of talent you coached now represent on the senior level and a lot of pressure, I feel like, on for Canada now to bring home a medal. Do you see it as, like, now that you're away from it being like, oh, man, it's getting like. There's a lot of talk, you know, it's like, you gotta get a medal. What are your thoughts on watching that team? Do you think that team has the ability to get it done? [01:07:43] Speaker A: Yeah, of course. I mean, look, there's no question that that team can walk in any international tournament and is a threat to win gold in any international tournament now. Doesn't really mean a lot because that's like. That's your potential. Right? Can you get there? I think we can. Yeah. Look, I mean, and pressure is what we signed up for now we're that good. So that's part of the deal. Like it's, you know, you can't say, oh well, there's too much pressure. Like we got the greatest player in the world. You know, we have a collection of the greatest players in the world, but we do have the reigning two time mvp. Like, yeah, we should win. You know, that's, that's just what it is. So I think, you know, that that's, you know, it's going to be part of their journey into the World Cup. They'll get to the World cup easy and then from there, you know, to the Olympics. And can you, you know, I think the organization is saying it out, out in the open as well, right, that they're in there for gold medals, so. But it's a pretty good place to be in, right, when you got a chance. Every time you, you play. [01:08:44] Speaker B: What's like for you, like watching from afar now? Is it like, oh, wow, it's cool. [01:08:51] Speaker A: I don't know. I'm not looking at it like I'm looking at it as a fan, but I'm not looking at it as a fan because I'm also a national team coach. I'm a coach, I'm in it. So I'm kind of watching it for a lot of different reasons. One is because you just love watching the players, right? You love to see the people that you know and you've had a relationship with and you want to see them succeed. Some of it is, hey, what are they doing? Like, you know, what is Gordy doing? What is he putting in? What are they running? That's just the coach in me, right? And, and then some of it is, yeah, like, wow, like, look what this is now. [01:09:18] Speaker B: Right? [01:09:18] Speaker A: Like, it's amazing. So it's, it's all positive for me. Like when I go to watch, it's like I'm going to watch to try and have some fun, see some people, maybe learn something. But I'm still not a fan. It's, it's really hard for me to be a fan. [01:09:36] Speaker B: Yeah. Did you foresee, like how far the program would come? Because I hear stories people would, they're bunking, you know, during the early days, I remember stories you have just like what the budget looked like back then to where it is now and like playing at a TD Coliseum, you know, and seeing like, yeah, from afar, like what the. How things have kind of changed. [01:09:57] Speaker A: Well, they were kind of already changing. I had the team in Montreal, all with Tristan Thompson. Thompson And Corey, Joseph and Kelly and they were already changing because even at that point in time, you know, we had hundreds of millions of dollars contracts on the team. So it already started changing. Now it's just scaled up even more. The opportunities are greater, right. You got some of the most marketable athletes on the planet now on your team, but also the demands are greater. Right. They've got to be treated a particular way. They have a certain experience level that they're going to expect. So it's all part of growth. But like we're now, you know, I think we're ranked five. [01:10:38] Speaker B: Yeah, it just came out. [01:10:40] Speaker A: Yeah, that's. [01:10:40] Speaker B: What do you think about that? [01:10:41] Speaker A: No, we're three. I think we're three now. Maybe arguably Spain, Serbia. So maybe look, there's probably eight countries in the world in the mix, right? Maybe, maybe 10. I don't know. I haven't really studied it because I've been looking at the lower, you know, I'm trying to take Egypt to whatever. Right. But that's a pretty good group to be in, especially when, you know, every time you step on the court, you got a chance to win a gold medal. That's amazing. [01:11:06] Speaker B: Do you at all pay attention to youth sports? Basketball? I did this year. [01:11:10] Speaker A: Yeah. This year. [01:11:11] Speaker B: What are your thoughts on like this talks about the product not being the same. I had Dave Devera on the product. He said like when you guys were doing it, it was like it nothing matches to win. You guys, what are your thoughts on that? And just like, well, I, I think, [01:11:27] Speaker A: you know, listen, I'd share this about you sports 1. I think there's really good coaches in you sport. Like so still some of the same guys I was, you know, battling against back in my day are still there. There's some really good young coaches that have moved into that level. So I think the level of coaching is higher, gotten better. But what I would say is it's kind of like double sided talk about the product, right? Because in Canada we have to understand like we can't rely on like at Ryerson, I didn't rely on my ad to build a product. We built the product ourselves. Come like with what we wore to how we move to the dj, to the sound, to the feel. All that stuff was stuff that we created. [01:12:02] Speaker B: Yeah, right. [01:12:04] Speaker A: I think it's hard right now because I think you sports coaches sometimes shoot themselves in the foot, right. I mean, I think if they were to invest even more time and energy in their programs, what would that product look like? Because it's not just about, you know, the style of play or the level of talent. It's all that stuff. Like, even when I was at Eastern, like when we walked on the court at the Humber College Classic at Eastern, like what we were wearing, we might have been better when the Raptors were wearing, like and. But it was part of what we were doing. Right. We wanted to have that impact when we. That was important to me. That was important to me at Ryerson. Right. So I, I think, look, it's a coach driven league. It's not a department driven league. Departments don't have the resources, human and capital resources to take this to another level. If it's going to get to another level, it's going to be on the backs of coaches as far as I'm concerned. And that's what it was when I was there. Right. Dave Smart was, they had built a, you know, greatest, whatever you want to call it in new sports history. Right, right. D in Ottawa was doing great things. I mean, De was at McGill at the time, Chris Oliver's at Windsor. Like we, they were putting a ton of energy into their programs. I'm not sure if that's the same type of energy that's going in now because there's a lot of other things. [01:13:24] Speaker B: Yeah, nil, all that kind of stuff. [01:13:25] Speaker A: Pushing cbl, nil, national team, the transfers, the eligibility, all that stuff. [01:13:32] Speaker B: What are your thoughts on all that from afar? [01:13:34] Speaker A: Look, listen, if I'm in youth sport, I got no excuses. I'm trying to build the best program I possibly can in all areas because I'm not just trying to win championships, I'm trying to make sure that it's standing room only. Like that for me is important. Right. [01:13:48] Speaker B: I miss those days. Yeah, I miss those days. Do you miss it at all? Do you like think, oh man, maybe miss it or what do you miss about it? [01:14:00] Speaker A: No, I don't miss it. I mean, listen, what I do miss is I was walking to work, I had a great job, exciting Toronto, great sports city, you know. But Canada is limited, right? It's limited. It's a, from a basketball perspective, it's still a small basketball country. We have one NBA team. So like for, for coaches that aspire for more, it forces you to leave. If you want to go do something else, chances are you got to go somewhere else to do it because there's just not enough in Canada. So I don't miss it. I do feel sentimental. I still feel like a connection to it. I'd like to see it be strong. But yeah, my time Was great. I don't see myself doing that again. Maybe when I'm 70, if I'm still [01:14:49] Speaker B: able, maybe come back, give one more year. Yeah. [01:14:51] Speaker A: Well, listen, Jim Calhoun did that when he was at UConn. He left Yukon. Coach, like a D3 program gram or something like that, close to home. I mean, that's kind of cool. [01:14:58] Speaker B: But maybe, I don't know, come back, coach a high school team, a preps team. [01:15:02] Speaker A: That would be cool, too. That would be. I would probably do that before. A prep team. [01:15:06] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:15:06] Speaker A: I'd go to Jeffries again or go to Westview or coach a community team and get back and give to kids in the hood. Then I would go, I don't want to be in the prep game. [01:15:14] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:15:14] Speaker A: I just want to help kids. [01:15:15] Speaker B: Yeah. I was gonna ask, because you kind of touched on it before I let you go. What's your advice to coaches that see your journey? Because you went from C.W. jeffries to the NBA to international. [01:15:28] Speaker A: So it's. It's probably two things now. And I get. As I get to this stage of my career, one, you got to be willing to risk it all you. For. So for me to leave Jeffries and go to Eastern and walk in the building at Eastern, and, you know, you got guys like Simeon and this community that was incredibly influential and respected and powerful in basketball, saying, who the hell is this guy? And you're putting your hand up and saying, okay, I'm going to lead this program. Like, obviously, you know, we had a guy, Lucy Altus, who's our principal there. He put his trust in me. But I put it. That was a risk. Leaving teaching. I gave up, you know, my pension and all that stuff that make the. Makes education a really attractive career. I left. I left it all behind to go to Ryerson, and then I left. I understand. To go to the US and see what I could do. So you got to be willing to take a risk if you want to kind of experience something different. And you got to win. Like, unless you're a former player or you have a certain relationship, you got to figure out. You got to figure out how to win, because that's. Winning is attractive, right? Winners. If you. If you win. People. People see that. [01:16:40] Speaker B: Yeah. A lot of people, like I mentioned at the top, call you one of the greatest coaches to ever come out of Canada. When you hear that, what do you say? [01:16:49] Speaker A: I mean, I think it's incredible that you would even say that, because it's beyond my wildest dreams that I would be in that conversation in any Way, you know, I went to Kent Junior High School. I played a bloor. Like, you know, like, I'm a city kid. Right. And yeah, I mean, it's, it's. I don't know what to say about that. Really, I don't. Other than, look, I'm not done yet. And I'm key. Continue to strive for greatness every day. Try to be the best I can, try to help my teams win. And I still love it. [01:17:21] Speaker B: What do you want your legacy to be when it's all said and done? [01:17:24] Speaker A: I don't know about that. Legacies for others to decide. I, I just. Just keep trying to do the best I can. Every time I. I have a group in front of me, try to impact the people around me. Try to, you know, give to my friends and all that legacy shit. I mean, that I'm, you know, I'll probably be dead then. So what am I going to do? I don't know. Like, what's my legacy going to be? You can decide that. [01:17:47] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, we will decide that. The media will decide that. [01:17:50] Speaker A: You know. Sure. [01:17:52] Speaker B: Last thing before I let you go. What's next for Roy Rana? Heading to Japan? What's next? [01:17:57] Speaker A: So, yeah, no, I head to Japan very shortly. We just signed our last player on our roster. So now we have a complete roster. My coaching staff now put in place. I get on the ground, we'll get on the court. We'll start to put our stuff in. We'll start to meet as coaches. We'll start to, you know, set the vision for what we're building. We'll start to, you know, communicate all of those pieces as an organization. And then we begin a 75, maybe 80 game season September 26th. On the road. [01:18:28] Speaker B: It's hard to catch games. The time zone difference. [01:18:30] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:18:31] Speaker B: So I might try to watch a game. [01:18:33] Speaker A: I'll tell you, the B league has got to do a better job of being able to open up international audience. It's kind of funky. It's hard to get the games. Yeah, they do some games on YouTube. It's not great. That's an area where I think, you know, Japan, the basketball in Japan can grow. But I think for anybody that watches the game, I think they'll be surprised. [01:18:52] Speaker B: Yeah. I'm gonna ask you for a link to a game. [01:18:54] Speaker A: Yeah, for sure. [01:18:55] Speaker B: Watch a Japan game. And Roy, I can't thank you enough taking the time to come here. People have been eager, like I said, to hear from you. Like I said, one of the greatest, most decorated coaches in Canadian history. I can't thank you enough for just taking the time and chatting with us. [01:19:10] Speaker A: Yeah, well, listen, I'm going to thank you because you're the kind of story that I take a lot of pride in. Not because I really had anything to do with it, but I know where you've come from, I know the community that you represent and look what you're doing. It's pretty amazing. You know you're gonna have a pretty good legacy yourself at some point in time. [01:19:29] Speaker B: I hope so, man. Not as close as to you but you know, man from Esplanade. We're trying. Yeah, we're trying. Shout out to the team here. Like I said, Roy, can't thank you enough. If you enjoy this podcast, leave a five star rating and review. This has been the Canadian Basketball show your go to spot for the latest news stories and analysis on Canadian basketball with my guy Rorana and we out.