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Howard Kelsey: Uncovering the Past, Present, and Future of Canada Basketball
What would it be like to take a captivating journey through the history of Canada Basketball, guided by none other than Canada Basketball Hall of Famer Howard Kelsey? It's your lucky day as we have Howard, also known as the Indiana Jones of Canada Basketball, sharing his profound insights about the sport he cherishes. His dedication to preserving and celebrating the rich legacy of Canada Basketball is truly inspiring. We delve into the so-called Little Brother Complex to the United States in basketball and observe how it has evolved over time.
The conversation gets more intriguing as we talk about the legendary Jack Donahue, the Godfather of Canadian basketball, and his profound impact on the game. We also discuss some key players who have been instrumental in shaping Canada Basketball. We unravel some incredible discoveries, including the 1936 Olympic bronze medal, made possible by the power of serendipity. Also, we touch upon the Dream Team's influence on the sport and the role of FIBA rules in creating a level playing field.
Towards the end, we shift our focus to the future prospects of Canada Basketball. We highlight the rise of talent like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and discuss Canada's impressive performance on international platforms. We further engage in a conversation about NBA, FIBA, the World Cup of Basketball, and even speculate on the potential greatest Olympian ever. So, tune in, as we celebrate the glorious past and exciting future of Canada Basketball.
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You're listening to the Weekly Biz Tape. On today's episode, we're bringing in Canada Basketball Hall of Famer Howard Kelsey, aka the Indiana Jones of Canada Basketball, to talk about how he was able to build a culture from the ground up and how, through preserving and documenting the rich legacy of Canada Basketball, which is some of his friends, he was able to help others see the important role their country played in the history of the game of basketball. Thanks to many of the folks like Howard, canada Basketball now ranks the top of the globe in the power rankings, with their sights locked in for their very first gold. With that, let's play the track.
Speaker 2:I'm excited to talk to you today. You were a guest of mine on my very first podcast. But for fans who are listening today and they want to say, okay, you're passionate about Canada Basketball, take us back to how you fell in love with Canada Basketball.
Speaker 3:So I'm in high school and I'm a decent high school player. For those that don't know, Jack Donahue was the coach at Power Memorial High School and he had a very famous player that came out of there named Karim Abdul-Jabbar. At that time it was Luhel Sindor.
Speaker 2:I've never heard of him.
Speaker 4:Ben Schwimmer.
Speaker 3:Well, you might have heard of him, because LeBron just broke his scoring record.
Speaker 2:Oh, lebron LeBron, yeah, that guy, that's right.
Speaker 3:So I'm back, going to the 70s. Guys. This goes all the way back. And he picked me out of high school and basically he was brought to Canada by Canada Basketball, which had no stature in the world whatsoever before the 70s, getting ready to host the Montreal Olympics in 1976. The only time Canada had ever gone to the Olympics by qualifying was 36 Olympics. We came with a bronze medal when the James Nathemith used a volleyball outside in the rain in a mud game. We've actually got pictures and some film for that. So that's how far Canada Basketball goes back.
Speaker 3:But it was not prominent until the 70s when we had to play in the Olympics and we wanted to show well. So they brought in who they felt would be the best to change our country and he literally scoured our country for talent. We had a reasonable showing. We came fourth in the 76 Olympics. So that sparked a lot of interest in Canadian basketball. From there myself, the coach of the Raptors, jay Treano, leo Routens, who was all Big East at Syracuse, first Canadian drafted in the first round Other prominent Canadians began to play and do well on the international stage.
Speaker 3:So in 1980, we had to qualify for the Moscow Olympics. We didn't get to go the way that Montreal did because they hosted it. When you host, you're automatically in, so it's a lot harder. Obviously, to qualify in the Americas you have to beat Cuba, which was a defending bronze medalist. You have to beat Puerto Rico, brazil, argentina.
Speaker 3:We all began to get better and better and Canada actually went quite strongly. We came fourth in the LA Olympics, we came sixth in the solo Olympics. So we began to build a nation of pretty good basketball players and then we've had a tremendous amount of immigration and also sons and daughters of NBA players. Many of them were born in Toronto playing for the Raptors, such as Steph Curry. So we now have, if you can fast forward till today, which will now make it more relevant to your modern day audience we have, next to the United States roster for an Olympics, more top NBA players than any other country. First answer Jack Donahue is known as the Godfather. The inventor of basketball was James Naysmith, but the Godfather of Canadian basketball men and women he coached the women's team as well was Jack Donahue, who's tied to Power Memorial at New York City and most prominently known, apart from what he's done for Canada, the fact that he coached Kareem, which was then Llewell-Cindor at Power Memorial. So there's some history there.
Speaker 2:With your personal connection with him. You lived with this guy for a minute, right? This was like you were talking about someone who helped co-invent the game with James Naysmith.
Speaker 3:Coach Donahue was literally a second father to me, picked me out of high school and I had 11 years, from 77 to 88, two Olympic cycles, the 80 Olympics. We qualified as the top team in the Americas, tied with Puerto Rico, but because of the boycott we didn't get to go. So then we had to say okay, we're going to forego our lives. Back then pro basketball wasn't as big of a deal as it is now. Are you going to be able to keep playing, which we all did through 84? We ended up losing the bronze medal by six to what was then Yugoslavia, before Serbia and Croatia split. So Divač and Petrovic were your main headliners then. We had beaten Yugoslavia multiple times in years prior, but anyways, we ended up losing the bronze medal. Us was Michael Jordan, pat Ewing your biggest headliners in 84, coached by Bobby Knight, and then Spain won the silver. We lost to Spain by one.
Speaker 3:So we had pretty prominent history and Coach Donahue, to me again, was a second father because he shaped my life from high school. Andrew Wiggins, martin Reilly, myself and Leo Routens are the only ones that came out of high school to play for Canada straight from high school a pretty good company to be in, and he had major impact on us. Plus, canada has always had the Little Brother Complex to the United States in basketball. Not anymore. No offense, because we beat three times On my tenure, we won three times and again, us is still the best basketball nation in the world, but now it's not a 50-point game. When you had Barcelona in 92, those were 50-point games. They're not 50-point games anymore, they're very close and I would say Canada right now we'd be within with the roster we have. We would be probably betting line would be 10.
Speaker 2:With. I mean you've obviously got a lot of history and done a lot of research and everything. I heard that you might have done something with that knowledge base that you have and I believe that you've started a museum.
Speaker 3:Sure, the easiest part is with the people we know. We're literally now second and third generation. So the person that introduced me to Broadwick it's Greg Wilcher, the father of Kyle Wilcher. Kyle played at Kentucky. They won a national championship with Anthony Davis in 2012. Kyle then transferred and made first team All-American at Gonzaga. Greg's one of my closest friends. He was just inducted last Thursday in Toronto to the Canadian Basketball Hall of Fame.
Speaker 3:All of our network got together and said, hey, well, somebody needs to document this stuff If James Naysmith invented it. We went to the Naysmith Family Museum, which is in Almond, ontario, and we connected there with John Gasse, the curator, and said, hey, all the stuff you've got we need to modernize, because 36 is a long ways away and one bronze medal with no important finishes until 76. And then after 2000, which was Steve Nash's seventh place year, we haven't qualified since then, which is an embarrassment for our country. We literally have not placed in a men's Olympic championship games since the 2000 Olympic in Sydney. So you had a gap between 88 and 2000,. And you have a gap between now 2000 and what's going to be Paris 2024, 24 years. We should make the Olympics next summer. That's a pretty safe assumption to make. That's your point.
Speaker 3:We went and put together the NBTAA National Basketball Teams Alumni Association you can just go nbtaacom and we literally started on our kitchen tables. It starts with the how to eat an elephant. Well, guys, get a fork and go one at a time. We literally started from A American C, canadian, z. We go A to C on all men, all women that have represented our countries on the A team, of which some of us all have. I'm a K, wilchers, a W. We just go down the line back to 36, took a lot of research and then we gradually brought in more and more professional people Jason Beck at the BC Sports Hall of Fame. Then, as we went along the way it was fascinating thing because we didn't have any budget. It's just people we say, hey, have you got pictures of any of these people? Have you got pictures of when you played? We just start putting them together Again. This is before Zoom calls. This is before all internet was highly connected. This is going back 10 or 15 years. Sometimes you have to get a shifty in the mail or FedEx or whatever, but anyways, little by little, we start amassing it.
Speaker 3:Now we're in front of our provincial, which would be your state and our federal government. Luckily we have a heritage Canada. It's a very simple sell to your federal officials when you go hey, how is it possible? To the country that invented basketball, which we did James Snathameth is a Canadian, even though he did do it in Springfield, massachusetts he is a Canadian that invented it Doesn't have a national basketball hall of fame, either virtual or physical.
Speaker 3:I've been pushing that boulder up the hill for a while with the names I've said, and now we have Glenn Grunwald, who was our former CEO. Our CEO now is Michael Bartlett, their hand in glove. We have Ron Foxcroft, who you interviewed last week, literally inventing the whistle. So you have the whistle of the Canadian. You have pretty good performance and record in men and women at the international stage. We have the Raptors, winning the NBA championship several years ago. So we need to archive that and now we're finally getting the groundswell of support that we need. We still have a ways to go, but the good news is it's much easier now because with all the NBA guys, you literally just phone their PR office and they'll Fed exit to you with an autograph within 24 to 48 hours. Where try tracking down some guy that played in 1936 or 1940 or 1944. You got to find out where they live, what surviving family members there may be, and do they have any artifacts that might be well enough preserved that we could use them?
Speaker 4:Now you talk about, you're fairly confident you guys are going to make an appearance in the upcoming Olympics here and seems like you're optimistic about how you guys are going to perform. Do you have concerns that I'm assuming a lot of the athletes you would put forward to present are currently in the NBA? Do you have concerns that they may not have any interest in going to the Olympics? I know that's been a problem for us in the last eight years as some of our top NBA athletes just didn't want to go, either for COVID concerns or Zika or things like that. Does that worry you at all?
Speaker 3:That's a great question. It used to be a big worry from post-Nash. After Nash left, there was a void there for 10 or 15 years when many of our better players did not want to come. But the current generation, led by Corey Joseph, Joel Anthony, Tristan Thompson, now Shay Gilgis, now Jamal Murray they've now the pendulum has swung back and they generally all seem to want to go. But again you learn as an athlete, he who talks walks. Don't talk too much before, because last time in the pre-Olympic in Victoria, we had great players we had Wiggins, we had Joseph, we had Dwight Powell, we had RJ Barrett and we did not qualify. That's one of the worst embarrassments in our history. So it's not just the names but, to your point, the names we have now are so strong and it appears they are committed.
Speaker 3:And again, when you have a sexy place to go like Paris, or a sexy place to go like LA no disrespect to other parts of the world, but guys and women sit around and go I'd like to go there. I think a lot of people will like to go to Paris. So I think we'll be well represented, and mostly NBA players. Kyle Wiltser is not an NBA player. Melvin Edgams not an NBA player. The two scrub brothers are not NBA players.
Speaker 3:But if you look at our roster, that's declared for the World Cup which will be here in a couple of late August. We're going to have next to the US, which it's safe to assume that you'll always have a very strong roster, Even if you guys send your B team that's still an awfully marquee name late in roster. Our roster will have probably the most marquee names after the United States. France will have some, but generally we'll have a pretty strong roster and that's to go to Singapore and Asia, which, no disrespect, is a lot farther away and it's less attractive for NBA players to go there than it is to go to Paris. So I think we're going to have a very good roster.
Speaker 3:And again, we can't shirk this we need to medal. We can't just show up and have a participation medal here. We need to actually come in bronze, silver or gold, because we've already come in fourth place in 76. We already came in fourth place You're looking at one of them in 84 by six points. So we must improve in our achievement, which will be Canada will demand a medal. If we don't get a medal in Paris, we'll fall.
Speaker 2:In short, Now thinking about it. I mean I'm in marketing and obviously podcast production and stuff. A big part of what I do is help folks find a way to tell their story. Maybe they're passionate, but they don't know how to put together and what. You have no problem with that. If you know how to tell your story, you're extremely passionate about it. You know your stuff. But a big part of marketing is being able to paint that picture for other people to buy into so they get it.
Speaker 2:So my question for you, howard, is, as you're putting all this together, as you're getting artifacts and you're finding I mean we'll talk about your experience finding a medal. I think you were down in Mexico when you found it. I mean going all over the world to find things to get people excited about what you're doing. Tell me about that and how you're able to get something that it seems like I said, especially when you started this, a lot of people just didn't care and how you're able to get people to turn around and buy in and want to invest in this thing, whether financially, giving their time, whatever, but for them to share your vision and make the Canada Basketball Hall of Fame a real thing and a place people can physically visit and experience.
Speaker 3:Sure, it's only hard in the beginning. Indiana Jones or any adventure starts with a vision, and then the beginning. They think you're crazy. And then they start to go along and say, okay, they're still standing and they're still going ahead and all these things fall. The word is serendipity. So on, serendipity, life is serendipity. Things happen for a reason.
Speaker 3:How do I run into you, broderick? Because you interviewed Wilt Wilt's, one of my closest friends. We've been playing. He played at Parkland High School, I played at Point Crane. It's like, hey, you talked to Broderick. He's got some great interviews going. So you'll be shocked.
Speaker 3:It's not all about the money. Everybody thinks in the beginning. It's about the money. We did this off our kitchen table and paid it out of our pockets because we felt somebody should actually get this going. So it's very easy now. So to the metal part.
Speaker 3:I have a tournament that we've been running for 33 years. We hosted the Sheraton Bougainvilleos in Porto Vallarta, where I used to play professionally. In Guadalajara I played with Jay Triano, who coached the Raptors, and Jimmy Zoot. Some of you may not know, but he played for the Hawks. He's 7-2, played at Kent State, great player for Canada and the 80 Olympics, but my connection with Mexico is strong and by putting on the tournament and putting on our website they go oh, our grandfather played in the 36 Olympics and he's got the bronze medal. I said you got the bronze medal from Mexico from the 1936 Olympics. Can you bring it to me? Yes, we brought it to the press conference. So we have the silver Canada. So Misty Thomas' father has one of those. He has the ball from the game, which is amazing, and the US has the gold. Also playing in that tournament was Ron McManson, who had a coach that did their doctoral history from Purdue on the history of USA Basketball.
Speaker 3:I asked him for the rights to just download the book because I didn't have to do the history of USA Basketball, which your history, you guys is all over the front page of everywhere. Everybody knows generally who's the dream team from literally the beginning of time, 1936. You can go and find out who played for Team USA from the very first Olympics, which was 36 in Berlin, and men and in women. For us it's beautiful because the very first women's Olympics was 76 in Montreal. So it's easier for me to download that stuff and find it because we hosted it. So all these people start coming out of the woodwork to go oh well, my this relation, or one of my friends or one of my neighbors, we need medals. If you have the ball from the 36 Olympic Games, how do you find that? It's amazing, they just come your way, roderick, and you just keep chipping away and it's an adventure.
Speaker 3:But now we're getting ready to turn it over to professional curators. So John Gassay did the Almond Ontario Naismith Hall of Fame. He's got the artifacts from way back. We've got Jason Beck at the BC Sports Hall of Fame. We tapped on the door of the Naismith Museum. That's at Kansas that Dr Naismith had there where he coached.
Speaker 3:So all of these things start to come together. And now, with modern technology, it's so much easier. We're sitting on a zoom right now and I'm looking at the front of my house in Vancouver where you guys are looking, and we can easily interchange things, whereas before you literally didn't have this type of technology to track it down, and I don't even know what AI means to the future of this. But that's a whole other ball game that wasn't here two years ago and again three years ago we didn't even have zoom. So the answer is it's getting easier and easier. We're not pushing a boulder up the hill anymore, and it's not me running it, I'm just the guy that started with the pickaxe and a few other people and we started chipping away at the dam and now we got all kinds of industrial equipment and the dam comes down. Because history has to be told, it has to be true and we have a fascinating story, because he invented it In Springfield, massachusetts, at the home of the of the YMCA.
Speaker 3:Yeah that's, that's how it started. And Look at what you guys did. You took it from Kansas to look at what the NBA has done today. But the NBA is not FIBA we're we're a FIBA country. We were FIBA country long before we had the Raptors and the Grizzlies. And now all that history needs to be told, and it's not just that it's passionate, it's pretty fascinating. Connecting the dots, if you like to sleuth.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's why I call you the Indiana Jones of Canada basketball. When he told me the metal story for the first time, he's like I just had this thing and it belongs in the museum. I'm like, see, that's, you're Indiana Jones. I'm just that's just for me, that's. That's a compliment. He's not enough.
Speaker 3:I'm not gonna think it's cool. That's a good analogy of chasing stuff around and other people are chasing stuff. There's a lot of adventurous people that are with me. Don't think I'm by this by myself anymore, and now it's. It's kind of like when force gump started running. There's a whole lot of people following now.
Speaker 4:How does it frustrates you that? I mean you know you guys are well into your country's history. Does it frustrates you that you had to be kind of the guy to take the initiative to start documenting this and Preserving history and putting it on display so people could have, I guess, a sense of like patriotism and pride in your guys's basketball history?
Speaker 3:I think it's a great question. It's. It's not frustrating at the beginning, because in the beginning it was like I must have heard a hundred people Well, somebody should do that. I sat in. The many rooms were well, somebody should do that. I go. Well, okay, somebody should. So we'll try, let's go get some people.
Speaker 3:The frustrating part comes when you have to wait for funding, grants or processing Documents to get the necessary funding to take it up to the next level. But the good news is, when we've actually been one of the players, it's very easy for us to sit in front of federal or provincial or municipal Leaders and go well, did you put some money down yourself? Yes, did you actually play there? Yes, do you have all the artifacts? Yes, do you want to see our website? Yes, how did you guys do that? We paid it out of our pocket on our kitchen table. Can you know, please, take it and make it up into the world-class level that everybody around the world can enjoy this. And then they go Okay, well, now we're prepared to fund it. Because if you come with an idea and you've never done anything or you never were there yourself, I was literally there from 1975, but we started in 36, long before I got there.
Speaker 3:Foxcroft. Foxcroft ref Michael Jordan's very first game at North Carolina. I have his picture of the game on the website. He he ref the 76 olympic gold medal final between the us Men and Yugoslavia. They were Yugoslavia at the time. They weren't split. I mean, we got iconic people. Coach kinchalski Steve is the brother of tom Tom kinchalski is the co-founder, with Howard garfinkel, of what's probably your strongest and ours Basketball camp, which is the five-star basketball camp. When you bury into all this history and coach don he was coaching kareem Abdul Jabbar it's like whoa, isn't this amazing stuff? And these are the people that I grew up with. So Now I'm at the other end, 50 years later, and I'm looking back and I'm going okay. Well, the next generation looks really strong. We've got a lot of great NBA players.
Speaker 3:No doubt they're going to be well documented. It's very easy. There's not going to be anything about jamal murray that isn't well documented. Or shea gilgis it isn't well documented or tristan topson.
Speaker 3:The documentation frustration part goes between 1936 To about the year right before steve nash came in, because once steve came in, the light came on the country again and they came seventh in the sydney olympics, but the embarrassing part for us is that we didn't qualify again since 2000 until now, which will be 2024.
Speaker 3:So there's not a whole lot of canadian basketball history on feeba scale between 2020 and 2024, so that the documentation is not that hard to find. The hard part is to go back between we. Let's go 1984, where we were fourth, and let's go back into the 60s, 50s and 40s. But that's where we need the government support. And also it's not just a canadian thing, because the history of basketball it's basketball is an american game, even though it was invented by canadian. I think we have to accept that because it's america, as they do the best, are the best sports promoters in the world, and look at what you've done with basketball, from a peach basket to what we watch every day on on nc double, a div one or or the olympics, or let's talk about the dream team, or let's talk about the nba finals.
Speaker 2:Yeah nobody can rival that and something you said in there that are the same family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and something that you said in there that I think applies to a lot of our audiences here are entrepreneurs. You said, if you just come up with an idea and you present that to somebody, a lot of people are just going to like scoff, roll their eyes and say, okay, ideas are great, but going out and doing something and proving that hey, there's something here that works, it's a great way to get somebody bought into that. And so I thought that was a really interesting nugget that you know most entrepreneur people that I know, I should say that want to be entrepreneurs, a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs. They do have that. They're like, wouldn't this idea be so cool? But the application of just getting that to happen at least in my experience, is so Hard more often than not. And yes, you have yourself, you might have a small team around you, but it just takes nights, weekends, blood, sweat and tears to take something that's an idea and make it real, and so I think it's so cool that you're able to do that and actually make a change here Now, leading into change and seeing basketball on a global scale.
Speaker 2:I'd be remiss as a spurs fan not to bring up the soon-to-be best player of all time, victor Wemby, from France, and so, yeah, he's going to represent, obviously, in France and play for the Paris team and, I guess, win in front of his hometown, because he's the next Michael Jordan is what they're saying.
Speaker 2:So my question for you, though how exciting is it to see again? You played basketball as your career? Obviously, canada, basketball of fame us has been number one for a long time, but Now we look at it. You have guys like luka donchich, you have the two best players of the team that were on the nuggets that wanted all aren't from the us, and yokech and murry, oh and, by the way, mike malone, their coach. There's a lot of candidate ties there too. So what are your thoughts, as you've seen the game of basketball change so much, from 1992, where it was us and then everybody else, to where it is now, where, if we look at the top 10 best basketball players in the world I would bet you, most of that list are not us citizens.
Speaker 3:The us deserves all the credit Because if it wasn't for them, people forget. They have a very short memory and they have a very selective memory. But if it wasn't for the United States leading basketball men and women, we'd still be in the dark ages. No disrespect to any other countries, but it's true. They are the target that's been chased since the 36 Olympics, in every Olympics, because if you can beat the United States team, that is a huge thing. My era we were lucky to do it three times. People don't even know that that happened, but it did, but to the point. What happened is when the Dream Team was brought into the mix and they shifted from amateur to anybody can play.
Speaker 3:Not only did you get the platform, but the 50-point drubbings that happen basically every game also began to shrink Because you realize that they're human. One, two, we're playing FIBA rules. Fiba rules benefit greatly. Less are physical specimens, because you can't clear like you do in the NBA. Nba, you touch them, it's a foul. It's a rugby game in FIBA and you just clog up the lane and put two oak trees down there and see if nobody can get through the lane. All of a sudden, you better learn how to shoot the ball fellas. So the United States no disrespect has never been the number one country in producing the best shooters in FIBA. You've got exceptions with Lillard, you got exceptions with Curry, you got exceptions with Clay Thompson, but historically you've had great shooters that are slow, non-athletic people that can fill it up. That's the difference between FIBA and the NBA. So now what's happened is all those overseas players that are between 6'6 and 6'10, instead of playing down in the post, working with their back to the basket. I've watched many games now where they don't even know what the paint is. They sit out at the three-point line with a seven-footer and he has not gone down and even visited what used to be. Where Will Chamberlain? Let's go with the big name Will Chamberlain, kareem Abdul-Jabbar, shaquille O'Neal None of those people are shooting outside of the key guys. Now where are they? They're standing outside pot and threes. So the FIBA players now international players. They have a great opportunity and now it's changed all the game.
Speaker 3:But in the end of the day, fiba rules are not exactly what the NBA guys like. That's where there's always a chance for countries to beat them. If you're playing NBA rules, it would be a lot harder to do it, not saying that it wouldn't happen. But the NBA decided strategically under Dave Stern, after they lost in 88, let's be honest, they didn't like losing and they didn't want to have it be faced again from what happened in Seoul. So they convinced it was named Boris Stankovic at the time, if you want to know. The president of FIBA at the time said hey, what are you going to do? You're going to keep bringing all these Soviet players that are paid. Are we going to get to bring our guys? We'll bring our guys and we'll market it and look at what it's become. So that was the trade-off and we still have to give the credit to the NBA and USA basketball because look at what they brought to the table in terms of worldwide exposure.
Speaker 3:And the original, because everybody's now called the dream team. It's just a matter of which number of dream team, but the original dream team was the 92 Barcelona Olympic team, which I got to sit there every day for Team Canada, watching and playing, because I was sitting there and the stands watching. I wasn't a player. Then I came up to Washington, portland, and I'm like, oh, this is awesome, I get to sit front row and watch this every game. So that's where it changed, broader it, and it seems to have made a blessing, except for the fact that now the US knows they can't just show up and there's a gold medal waiting for them. They actually got to earn it and in Paris it's possible that the US may not win.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I mean the last go around. I know the US might. They really struggled with Paris as well, and if it wasn't for Kevin Durant, as you said, lanes get clogged up and, thankfully for the US, there's a guy, seven footer, who could shoot over people. But without Kevin Durant I don't think they were winning that last go around.
Speaker 3:So as we're wrapping up. You got France, you got Wembley on a better play in Paris next summer. But I'm telling you straight we're not a slouch for France to get past. France will not want to see Canada with our roster. We have a very good roster, as Australia does. There's a few other countries in the mix here.
Speaker 3:It's not just US gold and everybody else battle for silver, but they'll bring their best. It's not disrespect to the World Cup, because the World Cup of basketball is not the same as the World Cup of soccer. Let's be honest. It's the Olympic Games, nba Championship number one, ncaa Championship and the Olympic Games. Those are your big three. World Cup may come in their fourth. They don't send their best rosters to the World Cup. They send their best rosters to the Olympic Games. Everybody knows that, not the A, the B, the C or whatever team it may in between. All you got to say is Olympic Games and look at the roster and you'll see. Ok, unless there's some political reason or somebody was injured, every country sends their best players. That's what always happens. And don't tell me that in LA and 2028, you will have your guaranteed best roster because you're playing in LA. I guarantee it. Every NBA guy will come, and that's women and men.
Speaker 2:So I want to end this interview with a fun question, and so what I'd like to ask is who was the greatest athlete of any Olympian ever? And basically, I feel like right now we're debating between Michael Jordan and Michael.
Speaker 3:Phelps. I think he's going to win. It's a difference between who was the most successful, that's easy. Michael Phelps is irrefutably by the number of medals and the color of medals that he's got on the men's side. I'm not an expert on the women's side so I couldn't respond to that, but I can respond to the men's. Nobody in the history of the Olympic Games has won more or higher ranked medals than Michael Phelps. Fair, so it's not relevant to the sport who's the greatest athlete to ever play in the Olympic Games. I think that's too hard to address because every athlete's specimen in their own area that they play.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, Victor hasn't played yet. Is the problem?
Speaker 3:I'm not going to be disrespecting this first. But on game one and what I saw, he's got a long ways to go. He's got to get working. The hype's got to come with the delivery first.
Speaker 2:He's got to just practice with Tim Duncan.
Speaker 3:But he's got to. I didn't see Karim Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O'Neal or Wilk Chamberlain on the first night out on the court that night. The second night he showed progress, but the first night he did not look like those guys did on their first night. So we got to see some delivery, and you and I will be watching Paris, Canada, France, I'm pretty sure.
Speaker 2:That's going to be so wild. Well, okay, how about this? Another question that this one's probably even easier what is the greatest Olympic basketball team of all time? I feel like most folks are, by default, going to say the 92 dream team, but I'd be curious to hear what everybody thinks.
Speaker 4:What was the 80. I don't know that Lithuania team when they had the skulls, what. I just remember that being iconic, but I don't know. I would say the dream team. Yeah, that'd be why.
Speaker 2:The Lithuania. Okay, now I'm going to look this up.
Speaker 4:It's like pop culture? I don't know.
Speaker 2:What about you, Howard? What do you think is the greatest Olympic basketball team?
Speaker 3:I think the 92 is the most notorious, like they shone the light. But if you look at 2008, they had Kobe and Shaq and a pretty good team and they had the rent. I believe that's pretty good. And also it's hard to compare intergenerational teams because some things change over that period of time. But the other day is it's definitely one of the US teams.
Speaker 3:I don't think anybody can compare historically with what you have produced, especially in men's basketball. I'm not an expert in women's I've watched lots of women's basketball but the other day is the men's dream team. Let's be honest If it wasn't for the dream team, we might still not have the same level of interest and who knows where the NBA would beat today with international players. So they deserve the credit and they've earned it over since day one. So in day two, you've got to go back and start in 36. You've got to go back. Always follow your roots. It started in 36 when you won the gold medal and if it wasn't for Springfield, we might have invented it in Canada. But we're not the promoters and the entrepreneurs that you are. Historically, we have had some Canadians out. Do Americans, but if I had to bet, americans have always seemed to take things and move it into the stratosphere in terms of success levels, and that's what you did with the game of basketball To where it is today.
Speaker 2:That's what an amazing journey I remember that 08 team really, really well. I think it was only the only Olympics I really glued into because I'd been really getting into basketball at that age of my life and seeing Kobe there, kind of really as the leader for that team, come in because they had lost and gotten bronze before, because, you know, spurmono Janobly was too much to handle in 04. So 08, they're all together LeBron, dwight Howard, chris Paul, darren Williams, chris.
Speaker 3:Bosch, jason Kidd, jason Kidd yes, he was still great.
Speaker 2:That's a pretty good backboard, guys. I mean, still, that was a phenomenal, phenomenal team. And even when they all came together, I remember when they got to play Spain in the finals, I was thinking, okay, they got this young kid, ricky Rubio, and then the two Gasol brothers, who are good, but they're like they're not stopping this team. But the way FIBA has played, as you said, about how it really forces people to shoot wow, those Gasol brothers I mean they took it to the US and I thought they came down to the wire and so for me, those are my favorite games I've seen to this point. But I am really excited to see where Canada basketball, just how it continues to grow. I mean I don't think I don't know how many people were expecting Shai to blow up, certainly not the Los Angeles Clippers. You know, we'll see what they think 20 years from now with that fall Georgia trade. But thank you so much for coming on to this week's episode of the weekly biz tape.
Speaker 2:Any final thoughts you want to leave our listeners with?
Speaker 3:Tell them to go to nbtaacom and keep following and add it to history. Whatever you can bring to the table that helps the history, then we'll add it wherever we can. Thank you for driving me on and I appreciate it very much.