Nash: Golden age of basketball in Canada (VIDEO)

Toronto — The buzz has been building for years, starting as names like Tristan Thompson, Cory Joseph, Andrew Wiggins and many more got whispered about, Tweeted about, YouTubed and ranked when they were in their early teens.

Canada is coming.

The buzz got a jolt just over a year ago when Steve Nash came on board with Canada Basketball as the general manager of the men’s senior national team. The hum got louder when Anthony Bennett became the first Canadian to be taken first overall in the NBA draft last month and Wiggins became the most talked about non-NBA player in the world this past year and the leading candidate to be the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft in 2014.

Sports Illustrated noticed. ESPN has noticed. The world has noticed. SportsNet.com

Summer League Rookie Standouts; Poised for 2013/14 Season

Victor Oladipo – ORL – AVG: 19 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 5 APG – Efficiency Rating:
+17.25

Victor Oladipo has been one of the consistent bright spots for this year’s
NBA Summer League. He has embraced the point guard position the Orlando
Magic has attempted to try him out with and he did not disappoint.
Obviously as a rookie he still has a long way to go in terms of elevating
his entire game. With the Magic in a rebuilding season Oladipo is
defiantly a start in bringing back excitement to the city and pass the
along with the likes of Maurice Harkless and a young core team. As for
this upcoming season its more than likely they will try Victor as a PG,
because he has already showed his versatility and athleticism. Both of
which are keys to a young team like the Orlando Magic, being successful as
they strive for relevancy.

Cody Zeller – CHA – AVG: 16,3 PPG, 9.3 RPG, 1.5 APG – Efficiency Rating:
+17.25

Although Cody Zeller was only able to play four games due to the tournament
style of the Summer League, he put up great, and more importantly,
consistent numbers. He has shown his potential to being a regular
double-double player in the league. He will defiantly bring life back to
the Charlotte franchise, but does not make them a playoff team by any span
of the imagination.

C.J McCollum –POR – AVG: 21 PPG, 4..0 RPG, 3.4 APG – Efficiency Rating:
+12.40

Similarly to last season’s Rookie of the Year, and now teammate Damian
Lillard, McCollum is a player that creates instant offence and scoring into
the lineup off the bench. If he is able to continue playing at a steady
higher pace C.J will see himself having more playing time and creating a
high scoring one-two punch with Lillard.

Kelly Olynyk – BOS – AVG: 18 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 2.4 APG – Efficiency Rating:
+21.40

The Canadian native Olynyk was a significant piece of the offence for the
Boston Celtics. Being a 7-footer who can run the floor and shoot the money
ball, he can play as a center for the Celtics, but would fit better as a
stretch power forward and create mismatches for opponents. Due to the
departure of the most significant weapons in the Boston offence (Garnett,
Pierce and Terry) it would only make sense that Olynyk gets immediate
playing time as the Celtics also enter into their restructuring process.

Akim B