Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray are ready to play together for Canada — finally

TORONTO — Shai Gilgeous-Alexander answers questions the way he answers defenders. He doesn’t let himself be pushed around. He looks at the field, thinks and gets to his place.

On Saturday night, he was at the OVO Athletic Centre, where the Canadian men’s basketball team is holding its training camp. The two-court gym was packed not only with his teammates, but also with several of the 49 former Toronto Olympians who represented Canada between 1976 and 2000. Team general manager Rowan Barrett wanted the city’s alumni to give the program a sense of authentic lineage, which is understandable given the quarter-century between the men’s team’s Olympic basketball tournament appearances.

“They haven’t really said it, but they all feel like this is the best time of their lives,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “And oftentimes, you have so much going on in life that you tend to tune out or look forward or look back. And I think it’s going to be important for us to stay in the moment and really enjoy the opportunity. I think if we do that together, we’ll make the most of it.”

It’s no wonder the Oklahoma City Thunder star can dissect what’s in front of him so well. As much as the experience gives current players a glimpse into the past, it’s also a chance to show veterans what their hard work from previous generations has yielded. They’re looking at a Canadian team with a good chance to become the country’s first men’s team to win an Olympic medal since 1936. That possibility starts with the star backfield of Gilgeous-Alexander and Jamal Murray. While both have signed three-year deals with the program in 2022, they haven’t played together for Canada the past two summers due to Murray’s injuries and his long playoff run.

Touch wood, that will change this summer. This reality reminds us that Gilgeous-Alexander, as patient as he is, also has a dynamic first step.

“I drive, he pulls,” Gilgeous-Alexander said of their duo. “It’s as simple as that.”

“I would say he’s on point,” Murray said a day later.

The two backs will power Canada’s attack at the tournament and are the main reasons why if any team wants to beat Team USA, Canada looks to be the biggest threat. The Americans will have at least a dozen of the world’s top 35 players on their roster, with no other country in that stratosphere. They will score in bunches and have more than enough excellent defensemen.

However, Gilgeous-Alexander led Canada to the top offense (and a bronze medal) at last year’s FIBA ​​World Cup. While Germany’s Dennis Schröder won the tournament’s MVP award, Gilgeous-Alexander was the tournament’s best player, averaging 24.5 points per game on 54.4 percent shooting. He added 6.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists per game and had the biggest moments in the comeback win over Spain that clinched Canada’s Olympic berth.

Canada has also struggled to create when he’s not on the court, with him playing 34 minutes or more in each of Canada’s last four games. FIBA ​​uses 40-minute games, as a reminder. Canadian coach Jordi Fernández has often criticized the team’s relatively poor defense at the tournament, saying he relied too much on his best players, making them run the floor. With Murray, it’s easy enough to imagine the coach staggering the two players, each running the show for 10 minutes a game and sharing duties for the other 20.

It’s one thing to say that now, and another to do it in real time when it feels like a game is slipping away from us. Murray gives Canada more margin for error, an answer when possessions are going nowhere.

“He can be fit and he’s a guy that can make things happen with Shai,” said Canadian forward Nickeil Alexander-Walker, whose Minnesota Timberwolves beat Murray’s Denver Nuggets in seven games in the second round of the NBA playoffs in May. Alexander-Walker had some of the defensive workload on Murray. “So (Murray) just adds another dynamic piece to our team, a three-level scorer, a guy that’s been doing it for a long time now and has had success in the league. And I think any time we can add a piece like that to the team, we’re going to take it, use it. We know what we have in him.”

It helped that Murray has been in training camps in recent years while still recovering from injury. However, it takes more than just game reps to build chemistry.

The two guards are different enough (and talented enough) that they can find their groove. Basically, Gilgeous-Alexander is more of an isolation scorer while Murray operates more in the pick-and-roll. Gilgeous-Alexander took 75 catch-and-shoot three-pointers compared to 194 pull-up jumpers, while Murray took 141 and 184, respectively. Murray was quite efficient this year despite his injuries, shooting 58.6 from the field. Gilgeous-Alexander was at 63.6 percent. He suffered a slight dip in the playoffs, but that was mostly due to shooting just 79 percent from the free-throw line. He still put up metronomic production.

“That’s one of the things that makes him so special — the things he does, he does them every night,” said Canadian forward Dwight Powell, whose Dallas Mavericks eliminated Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder in six games. “He’s extremely consistent and it’s a little frustrating to see how consistent he is when you know exactly where he wants to go. You know his spots, but he finds a way to get there. So it was a frustrating series for that, but also quietly exciting knowing how important he is to this team and our plans for the summer.”

There’s more to Canada than just two players. Canada was weaker defensively at the World Cup and won’t be able to count on Zach Edey to provide some basket protection as a backup. Edey announced Sunday night that he’s focusing on his rookie season with the Memphis Grizzlies.

Murray is a relatively weak defender, although Canada has no shortage of outside support in Alexander-Walker, Luguentz Dort and Dillon Brooks. Canada has a versatile team, but one that will likely play aggressively on defense rather than casually.

Outside of the United States, no country can afford to have a great version of every type of player. Regardless of who fills out the roster, this will be the deepest team Canada has ever sent to a major international tournament. Still, the backs will be the offensive focal points, and that should give Canada a sense of order.

There is no doubt that Olympic veterans who have followed the program are familiar with the dominant debate. Time and again in the years between Olympic appearances, many have wondered whether Canada could have even one NBA player to play for. There was discussion of Steve Nash, Jamaal Magloire, Samuel Dalembert or Andrew Wiggins. It seemed that those were the only discussions that mattered.

Now, finally, Canada has two stars signed up and ready to make music together.

“I feel like everybody else,” Alexander-Walker said. “It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be cool. As a teammate, I just have a better view.”

(Top photo: John Leyba/USA Today)