Jay Triano’s day job is with Hornets, but team is OK with his passion being elsewhere

Go find something to love the way Charlotte Hornets lead assistant Jay Triano loves Canadian basketball.

The former Raptors coach is back in Toronto for Monday’s game. Triano, who grew up on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, has a book coming out on his lifelong love affair with hoops and Canada. He’s in his second stint as men’s national team coach.

“I always say coaching (in the NBA) is my profession, but the national team is my passion,” Triano, 60, told the Observer. “It’s been fun my whole life.”

He has just about devoted that life to shepherding hoops in a country where most of the attention in the winter is devoted to pucks, ice and hockey sticks.

However, there is a maturing generation of Canadian players who have both the talent and depth to make Canada a world power. Talent such as Minnesota Timberwolves forward Andrew Wiggins and Miami Heat big man Kelly Olynyk (who flew to the Bahamas during the All-Star break last February to root for Canada in a World Championships qualifying game).

And a North Carolina connection in Duke freshman R.J. Barrett, who is on track to be one of the top picks in the 2019 NBA draft.

It used to be a challenge convincing Canadian basketball players to commit to the national team for a variety of reasons, including contractual issues with former North Carolina player Rick Fox and Hornets big man Jamaal Magloire. Now, Triano says, the core of Canada’s next generation grew up together as AAU teammates and make playing for Canada more of a priority.

The Canadian GOAT

It helps that the Michael Jordan of Canadian basketball — two-time NBA MVP Steve Nash — just happens to be Barrett’s godfather. Nash and Barrett’s father, Rowan, both played for the Canadian national team and remain close friends.

Nash no longer has the formal role of general manager of Team Canada, but his gravitas is still key.

“If he asks you to play, it’s the same as having Wayne Gretzky asking you” in hockey, Triano said of Nash, who was born in South Africa before growing up in Victoria, British Columbia.

Nash’s success set the course for Canada’s basketball emergence, as did the NBA expanding to Toronto and Vancouver (the Grizzlies later relocated to Memphis). The Raptors — and particularly former North Carolina star Vince Carter — grabbed Canadians’ imagination, then Nash showed kids north of the border could compete at the top level.

“Steve Nash changed the perceptions among Canadian kids of what they could be,” said Triano, who played in the 1984 and ’88 Olympics.

“The most dominant players do tend to come from that Toronto-Hamilton area, but it’s spreading: The B.C. (British Columbia) kids are starting to do things, and Montreal is the next untapped area. The young kids now have the Andrew Wiggins and the Kelly Olynyks to emulate. There are now 13 Canadians in the league.”

An accommodating situation

Triano coached the Raptors from 2008 through 2011. He was interim coach of the Phoenix Suns most of last season (after Earl Watson was fired) and has been an assistant with the Suns, Raptors and Portland Trail Blazers.

When Triano became available, after the Suns didn’t retain him, new Hornets coach James Borrego aggressively pursued Triano to be lead assistant.

“I wanted someone who had been in that (head-coaching) seat. Jay is a tremendous coach and I’m very fortunate to have him. I didn’t think we could go get him,” Borrego said. “Not (just) for the day-to-day (decisions), but he gives me a long-range perspective. He can look ahead of the schedule, he knows what the season is like. For me, a first-time head coach, you get caught up in the day-to-day.”

To acquire that resource, Borrego will accommodate Triano’s Canadian commitments.

“It’s not an issue; we’re addressing it as we go,” Borrego, a former San Antonio Spurs assistant, said. “I think it’s great for our coaches to coach other teams. You learn about other systems, other players. It’s something we always valued in San Antonio,” where Gregg Popovich is now Team USA coach.

Triano sees great things on the horizon, his passion coming to fruition.

“There is a sense of a brotherhood,” Triano said. “They all have something to prove.”

This story was originally published October 21, 2018 at 2:10 PM with the headline "Jay Triano’s day job is with Hornets, but team is OK with his passion being elsewhere."