Halford & Brough in the Morning - What Are The Odds Canada Medals At Basketball?

Episode Date: August 6, 2024

In hour two, guest hosts Jamie Dodd & Israel Fehr chat with Canadian Press Olympics reporter Gemma Karstens-Smith live from Paris on the latest around the games (1:40), the boys discuss how confident Canucks fans are with management after the season they just had (15:25), plus they speak with Sportsnet's Arash Madani, also at the games, as Canada Basketball gets set for a big quarterfinals matchup today versus France (24:27). This podcast is produced by Andy Cole and Greg Balloch. The views and opinions expressed in this podcast are those of the hosts and guests and do not necessarily reflect the position of Rogers Media Inc. or any affiliate.

🎵 Welcome back to Halford and Ruff here on Sportsnet 650. Jamie Dodd and Israel Fair filling in. I've been informed by ADOG that this qualifies as big band. Which I don't know about. We've expanded Big Band Tuesday to be very broad and it goes into like seventies game show music. Yeah. It's,

it's sort of opened up because of, well, there's only so many big band songs. You can pick, there's a woodwind instrument. There's an infinite number of big band tracks you could choose from. It's not like people are like listening to me like, Hey,

wait a second. They played that three months ago. People are actually, you know, our listeners. They played that three months ago. People are, actually. Do you know our listeners? Yeah. You'd be surprised. We are coming to you live from the Kintec studio. Kintec, Canada's favorite orthotics provider, powered by thousands of five-star Google reviews.

Soar feet. What are you waiting for? Halford & Brough is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. This hour of Halford & Brough is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer. Meticulously brewed for quality and taste, Primetime Craft Beer is full flavor without compromise at a liquor store near you or visit the brewery to see how it's made.

Now joining us, she's from the Canadian press. She is covering the Olympics in Paris, a regular on Canucks Talk. She is Gemma Carstens-Smith. Gemma, thank you for doing this. How are you? Bon matin, as in me. Oh, wow. All right. You've really taken to it. I think it's getting pretty good. Thanks, guys. I think there are several million French people who would disagree, but, you know, we're here. Did you take French growing up in high school? So I gave it up, like, partway through high school.

And don't tell my mom. I kind of regret it. My mom was always like, don't you dare give it up today. More drama classes. And I was like, Mom, I do what I want. Anyway, just a little peek into my psychology. Your mom was like, you never know. You might be covering the Olympics in Paris one day, and you'll need to know.

That's right. Yeah. I think she said that you should take it because you might want to be prime minister one day. Absolutely not. But covering Olympics in Paris, if I'd had that glimpse into my future, I would have perhaps stuck with it a little longer. So how's it been so far? What's it like, not just in Paris, but covering the Olympics for the Canadian press? Guys, it is so cool.

I'm not even going to try and be nonchalant about it. This is such a neat assignment to just see this level of athleticism on a daily basis is absolutely incredible. To talk to these athletes face-to-face, to hear about their process and what it's taken for them to get to the absolute pinnacle of their sports is such a treat to tell these stories. And I'm feeling very, very lucky. We're just over halfway through the games now, Gemma. What's been your favorite assignment so far? Ooh, my opening night assignment was covering beach volleyball in front of the Eiffel Tower. And it had rained for like two straight days.

And just as the game was about to begin, the clouds parted. And it was the most epic sunset that you have ever seen in your life. And just the court was lit up by the floodlights. The Eiffel tower sparkled they've got these little lights that do this like little sparkly dance and then there was a sunset and i was just like what even is my life yeah it was pretty cool so what yeah not bad a pretty good assignment as as these things go um one of the things we always joke about when the olympics are on right is you know you sit down to watch like fencing or diving or whatever hammer throw.

And it's something you've never really paid attention to before and you don't really know anything about. And then 10 minutes later, you know, you're outraged that the judge gave a deduction or whatever. Like, oh, that guy really screwed up his technique. All of a sudden you're an expert. But for you actually covering it, like professionally covering it, what's the process of just preparing for this like right because there's so many different assignments so many different sports how do you kind of go about making sure you know you have the requisite kind of base of knowledge to uh to cover all of these different events it is a little bit wild because there are days when i think i'm doing one thing and then go do something else entirely. I was supposed to cover the rugby sevens, the women's

group stage games and it just so happened that we had a fencer who was doing really well so I got sent off to fencing. I've never covered fencing. I have no idea. Did you know there are different classes of fencing based on which swords they use? I did not. Do you know the scoring system? I do not.

You really and truly learn on the fly. The nice thing about the Olympics is that they're so good about giving you information um they've got everything on their this fancy website that i guess it's not that fancy the website that they uh use they have all the rules of the sports and often uh an athlete's previous results and all that kind of stuff so they make it as easy for us as possible because we're not all the sharpest tools in the shed. But it's wild because, like you said, I am no expert. I just play one on the radio, I guess. We opened the show with the idea that watching at home,

watching here, Summer McIntosh has obviously been a massive story and it feels like a story that extends beyond our borders. It's not just a Canadian story. It's an Olympic story. Being on the ground in Paris, do you get that sense as well? Absolutely. Absolutely.

She's 17. Yeah. She's 17. It's absolutely crazy. The summer of summer is real. It's a golden summer. All the cliches. She's just phenomenal. She's a phenomenal athlete. And all Canadians should be really excited about her future because I think it's incredibly bright. I think that she's going to she physically is still going to develop in other ways that are going to be so huge for her power and um i think that's so exciting when you look ahead to the 20 uh 28 olympics in la yeah that's that's the wild thing right is this not just it has the potential at

least not just to be a one-off for summer right we could see you know performances like this in the future from at least one more games uh if not multiple for her, which is a pretty wild thing to think about. So, OK, the big thing happening today, of course, is the men's basketball game. And I do want to touch on that. But before we get to the men's side of things, I did want to talk about the women's basketball, both elements of it, right? The standard basketball and then the three-on-three team as well. And, you know, on the standard side, I guess the five-on-five side, very disappointing performance for the women's team for Canada. What went wrong for them at this tournament?

Yeah, so I was talking to Nadia Chonla about this earlier this morning. She's a four-time Olympian. She's hanging up the jersey after 16 years with Canada basketball, played her last game in that loss to Nigeria. And she was saying that they don't really know at this point. It'll take some time for her to settle in and review. From my perspective, they could not hold on to the ball. The turnover has absolutely killed them.

Victor Lepenia was saying after the game against Nigeria that there was two quarters that really killed them. There Le Pen was saying after the game against Nigeria that there was two quarters that really killed them. There was a second quarter against France and a third quarter against Nigeria. He's not wrong. If you're going to let a team go on a 22-0 run, probably not going to win that game. If you're going to turn the ball over,

I think it was 26 times, probably not going to win that game. So I think that's it. And I think part of that is that this is a team that wasn't all together until they got here in France, because there's four women who play in the WNBA and couldn't be there for some of the other training camps. But then you've got a team like France, where they spent the previous two months together. And you can see how cohesive they are, and how connected and how they know each other and where each other is going to be. So I think that's part of it.

But it's a team that doesn't lack for talent. So it was a huge, huge disappointment for not just the players themselves, but the the women fell just short of a medal had a pretty tight game against a u.s team in the in the the bronze medal game uh it's a different type of of basketball it's uh also pretty new to the olympics as well what what was the impression there for uh the way that the canadian women's performed in the in the three on three well first of all i don't know if you guys have ever watched a three on three basketball game live in person. It's wild. I've watched it on TV, not in person, but it looks pretty awesome on TV.

It's they have a DJ going the entire time. It's crazy. It's absolute madness. And also it's so physical. Like there were some rugby moves being thrown there. Some, some high tackles going down on the basketball court, but it was super entertaining. I really, really enjoyed it, something that I didn't know much about ahead of preparing for these Olympics.

The Canada's team also has such an interesting story in that the Ploof sisters, who are twins out of Edmonton, they were with the senior women's national team back in 2019. They'd come up through the Canada basketball program and played in the Olympics for Canada and all this. They both played in Rio. In 2019, they decided to go their own way and start a three-on-three program for the Canadian side.

And they self-funded. They booked their own travel. they recruited their own teammates. They really like started it from the beginning. So the fact that they even made it here is incredible. The fact that they finished fourth is actually pretty amazing. To come all that way in that short period of time is phenomenal. They actually like, they had such an entertaining game against the Germans in the semifinals, and Germany went on to win gold.

But the game against Germany in the semifinals was tied at 16-16 with one second left. And Germany scored like a buzzer beater. It was just such a heartbreaking win. And I think that that just sucked all of the energy out of it for them. I don't think they had much left against the U.S. They really did their best, but it was a real heartbreaker emotionally and physically. They played 10

games in 7 days. That's absolutely bananas. It's wild. Disappointing result, but as you said, really impressive story for the 3-on-3 team and a really impressive performance at the games. And, you know, Gemma, I did just want to touch quickly on the men's basketball.

Of course, we're just less than two hours away from them taking on France in the quarterfinals. I believe you were at their practice yesterday. What were the vibes like? What were your impressions from practice as they get ready to take on France? Yeah, I'm here at Berursi Arena now, and the Serbia-Australia game is going on. It looks like Serbia's up, in case anyone was wondering.

Or maybe that's a spoiler alert, and I shouldn't tell you that. Anyway, yeah, Canada's jazzed, right? They think that they really have what it takes to compete at this top level. They know holding Wemby in check is going to be a tough assignment. Looking at you there, Dylan Brooks. But they performed well across the preliminary stage. I think that should probably go without saying because they had 3-0. But even in this main game, when they bent a little, they didn't break.

And they feel like they have more to give. So they're stoked going into tonight's game. Jamie mentioned earlier in the show that a big factor will probably be the home crowd since you've been at some of these events. What has the pro-France crowd been like? Are we in for a very, very pro-France crowd that's going to be trying to throw the Canadians off their game tonight? Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It's going to be trying to throw the Canadians off their game tonight. Oh yeah.

Oh yeah. It's going to be loud. It's going to be one of those games where players can't hear calls. Players can't hear whistles. Players can't hear the coach. Guys, the French like sports. Like it's bananas.

I was at Stade de France for the rugby when the Canadian women won silver for rugby seven and the the French women were playing in the placing games even though they were like well out of the medal contention that stadium had 70 odd thousand people and they're just going wild like absolute bananas they're they dress up they're just they're just crazy it's uh yeah it's the vibes are high here in france jemma really appreciate you taking some time i'm sure it's been a pretty wild schedule for you so thanks for doing this fun to check in and enjoy the rest of your time in paris thanks so much guys talk to you soon thanks jemma that is jemma carston

smith from the canadian press and of course typically covering the Canucks and the rest of the sports scene in Vancouver. But she said pretty hyped to get the assignment over in Paris, and she'll be in the arena when the Canadian men take on France in basketball in the quarterfinals, coming up in about an hour and 45 minutes. Halford and Brough here on Sportsnet 650. I did have to laugh.

Gemma mentioned the physicality of the three-on-three women's basketball tournament just three-on-three basketball in general do you remember hoop it up did you ever do hoop it up of course the big 303 basketball tournament down at science world like i guess there's stuff there now but it used to just be parking lots yeah they're around science world it brought back some memories the um some elbows running high frequently at hoop it up or it's like i hope i don't run into this guy at the mcdonald's after this is uh we're getting pretty and it's like hot out there you're on the black top and it's just you're playing shirts and skins at this event the referees have no idea what they're doing you're barreling over guys

Fun times, fun times at Hoop It Up Formative experiences Very, very formative Explains a lot, Jamie Explains a lot about you Well, I have said this before on air But one time at a basketball camp in high school In the summer

And they gave out NBA comps to you at the end They give you a little report card or whatever And they included an nba comp and mine was bruce bowen so you are the modern day dylan brooks yeah basically now it would be dylan brooks now it would be dylan brooks like i was built to play that physical hoop it up style uh of basketball i was in my element absolutely uh okay 650 650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. We can get more into, and we will get more into the basketball side of things with Arash Madani coming up here at seven 30.

But I wanted to mention this, Izzy, your, your primary job, your real job when you're not hanging out with us here at sports at 650, of course is at the athletic as an editor. Very interesting piece just dropped this morning from you guys at The Athletic,

which is the front office confidence rankings in the NHL. So how fans feel, how confident fans are in their front office. And also just so ranking, you know, your own team, but also other teams around the league, how confident you are in the front office. The Vancouver Canucks fifth in terms of confidence, fifth in terms of confidence in the NHL. That's all the way up from 30th last year. And that's not just the fan base getting dramatically more excited about the team, which, of course, is a big part of the story.

That's also people around the NHL taking a look at it and fans around the NHL and saying, hold on. This is very, very different than what was happening here in the past. I think that's just look, it's just one poll. It's, you know, after coming off a great season, of course, people are going to be more confident. But that turnaround to go from 30th in the rankings, where you're one of the most kind of questioned, people are skeptical of you in the league, to top five up there with recent Stanley Cup winners, with Stanley Cup contenders in the Dallas Stars,

that's a dramatic, dramatic turnaround for the Vancouver Canucks. It is, and the bulk of it is within the fan base. There is a disclaimer at the bottom of the graphic for the Vancouver Canucks who come in as an A- front office that the change in confidence from last year within the fan base, 97%. That's what last season did for this management group. And it's because of hitting on all the different aspects of it. The first full season with Rick talking.

Phillip Aaronic season. I know maybe toward the end that that wavered a little bit, but ultimately you, you have to be pretty happy about his production throughout the year. Getting Elias Patterson side. Now that I don't mean to incite the text box so early in the morning but that was a big let's get into it that was a big question mark would they be able to get this contract done they end up getting you know the max term deal

and the team was really really successful the team had a really good season now how these expectations play into next year how this change plays into what people are hoping to see next year is going to be really interesting to me. This, this pretty much cements the idea that they have to build off of next year. Anything, anything less is going to be a pretty major disappointment, but I mean,

that's, that's what they're getting paid for that. That's what they're striving for. Well, yeah. And you think you go back to this time last year, right? When they ranked 30th. And so so you've rick talk it's been hired but as good as the results were down the stretch we'd just come off a similar experience with bruce boudreaux right you had no idea how much it was going to carry over to the following season

and of course the process of getting rick talking to the door was really really messy did not exactly inspire confidence you had uh the philip ron, and he played, what, four games here, so there were still a lot of questions about what he was going to do, and you'd had what looked like at least a low-risk free agency, but you had no idea what that was going to translate to on the ice. So there was some good, there was some bad, but there were still just major, major questions about what was going to happen with the team, what they were actually going to look like.

And then you look at it and basically everything they did going into last season worked out, right? I mean, Rick Talkett, obviously winning the Jack Adams, just having a transformational effect on the way the team played, the character of the team, all of it like worked out about as well as a coaching hire could have worked out. Philipip ronick again as you said slowing down a little bit towards the end of the season but phenomenal chemistry earlier in the year with quinn hughes and you know i think a big part of why fans will have confidence in this management group does come back to the way they managed their money and made smart but low risk additions additions in free agency, right, which was just something that was so lacking for so long. The fact that they were able to get Ian Cole on a one-year deal, Teddy Bluger on a one-year deal, Pew Suter on a cheap two-year deal, and all of those guys became key contributors.

All of them worked. All of them fit. We were so used to having the opposite happen, right? In Vancouver, where it's like, oh, we're overpaying for this guy. And then he's not even that good. He doesn't even really fit once he gets here. So I think just that impact is a huge, huge part of why there's so much more confidence in this front office.

And I think that's, to me, one of the most interesting things is, did they repeat that this year? Because I can look at all the signings, and obviously the Jake DeBrusque one's in a different category. That's a much bigger deal. But you go down the list of some of the other ones, right? Danton Heinen, Daniel Sprung, Derek Forbort, Vinny Desjardins. Very similar. Low cost, cheap, short-term bets on guys who could end up being really good glue guys for your team, if they hit at the same rate as they did the previous summer, I think they're going to justify the confidence that people have in them. And I think the team's going to be really, really good again if they're able to hit at that rate. Yeah, it does appear that they're on that track. And that was last year, maybe those signings sort of flew under the radar because there was so much discussion about everything else around the team. This year, the focus was squarely on, wow, every single depth move here ticks all of the boxes.

And even the sprung one, which happens later in the summer and was a guy that for a couple of weeks before the signing, that rumor was popping up of, hey, this guy might be a fit and mover. What's that going to look like? And ultimately, you know, that gets across the board. And to hear him talk about the impact that a conversation with Rick Talkett, you know, it all comes full circle. It's, okay, here's the coach that they identified as being the right one for this group.

That played out. And they had to, you know, Rick Talkett, for really no fault of his own had a pretty uphill climb and that is the one area i think where that management group uh they did not handle the bruce boudreaux situation all that well put talk it in a difficult position but the thing is you start winning you can erase a lot of those you can erase a lot of those concerns can erase a lot of those concerns really fast it's fascinating because the transition from boudreaux to talk at probably the lowest moment of fan confidence in this front office and it turned out ultimately to be their best

decision not the way it went down but the decision to bring in rick talk it specifically because i think at a certain point the writing was on the wall for bruce boudreaux he wasn't going to be here long term. But the decision to hire Rick Talkett has been their best decision, their most impactful decision that they've made. And it is just fascinating, again, how it came from probably the low ebb of confidence and now the biggest driver of having this renewed confidence that fans do have in what this front office is going to do.

By the way, I just scrolling through the list quickly. I noticed the LA Kings dropping all the way to 31st in terms of front office confidence from the fans after the Pierre Luke Dubois experience. Ouch. Okay. 650, 650 is the Dunbar lumber text line. We got what we learned coming up in about an hour here at eight 30.

So get your submissions in for that. We will continue to preview Canada basketball going up against France in the quarterfinals here with Arash Madani from Sportsnet. That is coming up next. Get ready for the ultimate sports fan trip to Michigan from September 27th to October 1st. Experience games at the Big House, Comerica Park, and Ford Field. Contact Neil Chark at neilc at uniglobecarefree.ca.

For details, Arash Medaniough here on Sportsnet 650. It's Jamie Dodd and Israel Fair filling in for Halford & Brough here on Sportsnet 650. It's Jamie Dodd and Israel Fair filling in for Halford & Brough this week. Halford & Brough is brought to you by the Dilawri family of Honda dealers. Experience the Dilawri difference today. Visit your nearest Dilawri Honda dealer today. This hour of Halford & Brough is brought to you by Primetime Craft Beer, meticulously brewed for quality and taste. Primetime Craft Beer is full flavor without compromise.

At a liquor store near you or visit the brewery to see how it's made. 650-650 is the Dunbar Lumber text line. The Bridge Street Dunbar Lumber in Ladner has moved to Progress Way in Tilbury's Industrial Park. More room, more product, more awesome. Details at DunbarLumber.com. industrial park more room more product more awesome details at dumbar lumber dot com now joining us live from paris where a big big game is just about 90 minutes away from sportsnet he is arash madani arash thank you for doing this today how are you i'm doing great boys i'm just on the other side of the bridge about to walk back back into Bercy Arena, but figured I'd step outside and do it in the sunshine with you guys.

Well, we appreciate it very much, and yeah, we're hyped here. This is the biggest Canadian men's basketball game in a long time. I'm sure you're hyped as well. 24 years. 24 years. Biggest one since Nash and those guys. Yeah, against France in the quarterfinals, actually, and very different-looking lineup in terms of NBA talent for Canada at this one.

And, you know, they win their group 3-0. Now they go up against the home team in France, the Gobert and Wemby Yam of frontcourt. What's your sense of how Canada is going to approach this quarterfinal matchup? Well, the featured attraction is Wemby. And right away, they're going with Dylan Brooks on them. Like, they're not messing around. And I wonder how much of this is an attitude thing. I wonder how much of this is Dylan just try to get under his skin,

try to get the crowd hostile. And the crowd's going to be nuts. I was in Lille when they played Japan. And 30 minutes before the game, the crowd was going to be nuts. I was in Lille when they played Japan, and 30 minutes before the game, the crowd was doing their chants and the yale, le, ble, all that kind of stuff. But I spoke with Brooks yesterday. I said, so what's the deal?

He said, I just got to crawl up in his space. I got to make him make shots. I got to out-hustle him. I got to do all the little things, the details. And then I asked Shea Gildress Alexander, who, by the way way is the best player in the tournament in case anyone was wondering um i asked shea about dylan he just said look man this guy has the ability to defend anyone in the world so how long brooks is going to be on wemby is

going to be interesting the different looks they're going to give wemby yama is going to be interesting because the issue with the canadians is they don't have a lot of size so if this can turn into a guard play kind of game advantage canada with sga jamal murray and andrew nembard france is going to try and use gobert and wambi is their two seven footers so game on you mentioned brooks arash as being the guy who sets kind of that attitude and that aggressiveness for this team. I think so far in this tournament and going back to the World Cup last year, this group has shown that they're not afraid of the moment. You know, SGA, that guy is ice cold. He is so smooth.

How do you think that can translate to the hostile environment, a team that has a really defined strength in the two big guys. How can they translate that to tonight's game? So it's a good question. And I think what these players have that a lot of people watching don't is a supreme confidence in themselves. They don't have any of the wounds and scars of the last 24 years of the Canadian men's national basketball team. Maybe RJ Barrett from when they lost to the Czechs in Victoria in 21.

That's it. That's it. Like Shane knows he's the guy. Everybody on that team knows she's's the guy jamal just won an nba championship a couple of years ago this canadian team is a top two if not top well top three if not top two team in this tournament and the two teams that are the best i don't know what ended up happening in serbia australia it's going over time going over time there you go it's's U.S., Serbia, Canada.

And Australia is giving Serbia everything they can handle. Canada's really, really good with really, really good players, and they should smash France by between 9 and 12, for those of you into this kind of thing, at plus 475. That's what I think. Canada, like, they're better than them. Last year in the World Cup, sure, different team, no Wemby, but also no Jamal.

Canada held France to eight third-quarter points. They smashed them by 30. Why can't they do it again today? Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, certainly they've got the talent, and so much of it starts with Shea Gilgis-Alexander. As you said, at this point, he's one of the best players in the world, right? You look at what he's done in the NBA the last couple of years, where he's finishing in MVP voting, all NBA teams, and now his performance at this tournament.

I am going to find it interesting because one of his superpowers is his ability to get into the paint, right? He is so good at attacking the basket. Obviously, scoring once you're there becomes a little bit more difficult when you've got Wemba Nyama and Gobert, a couple of seven-footers plus, and Gobert, of course, defensive player of the year. How do you expect SGA to kind of change his game or change how he's attacking? I have full confidence that he can do it. No, no.

But I'm curious to see what it's going to be. I disagree with that. I fully disagree with that. We see Gilgis Alexander do that. We also see him get buckets from mid-range. He also is probably the best three-point shooter on the Canadian team, Ian R.J. Barrett. There is not a flaw in Shea Gilgis-Alexander's game.

We're talking about a top three player in the world. If Shea Gilgis-Alexander was playing in New York or L.A., there would be larger than life billboards of him in Times Square and all over Hollywood. He's just in this outpost in Oklahoma right now, and he doesn't play for the U.S. team, so he doesn't get the attention that an Anthony Edwards in Minnesota would get. There is not a better finisher. There is not a more clutch player in the NBA than Gildas Alexander.

And nobody has in the history of the NBA has had more 30-plus point games in a season than SGA had this past year. He is him. He is it. He is the guy that's going to get Canada on the podium this year. And he is, it's not just a, okay, he's a really good penetrator

and France can slow him down that way. The fact that he's got Andrew Nembhard and Jamal Murray alongside as running mates, too, like, he's got two Robins with him. So that's going to have to keep the defense honest, which is going to open up space for SGA. And the other thing that struck me about Shea Gilgis-Alexander watching this tournament, it's the scoring in big moments, but there's also, you know, I think about the closing moments against Spain when that game got close,

right? And they can inbound the ball to him and they have full confidence that he's going to make the right decision. He's going to, you know,

withstand whatever pressure the defense throws of him. And, you know, in late game situations in these tournaments, it's so important to have somebody who just is completely calm

in full control at all times in those late game situations. You just know, Hey, we get Shay the ball and it's going to be okay. We're not going to make a mistake. We're going to do what we need to do to win this game.

And he did it over and over in the world cup last summer too, to get Canada here to begin with. They're, they're strong there. To me, the question becomes Canada size. Rebounding was an issue against Spain. How is this kind of tail of the tape going to go on the glass

when you don't have much of a presence with your bigs? Like, Kem Birch is getting quality minutes at 6'9", a guy who was basically at a basketball the last two years recovering from an injury. So to me, the bigger question here is, with France's frontcourt, what are the second-chance opportunities going to be for France compared to the second-chance opportunities for Canada? Yeah, yeah, that makes a lot of sense.

But the strength for Canada, we saw in the last game against Spain where Andrew Nembhard had some unbelievable finishes at the rim and was a driver for this team in a way that lessened Jamal Murray's role. We've seen him at his best be a guy that has changed games in the NBA finals. He's got the championship pedigree.

He's got the ability to hit big shots. Based on what you've seen from this Canadian team, what is the ideal role for Jamal Murray with this group right now now i think he's just starting to cook now like here's a guy who didn't play last summer he missed a bit of camp showed up late to europe when they were playing exhibition games only now is he really integrating himself into the mix he's coming off the bench for now i doubt that changes to be honest be honest. Look, if you have Jamal Murray as part of your second unit, advantage Canada.

And here's the thing, which, and this is what makes this tournament great. What have we seen already? Forget Canada for a minute. Jason Tatum did not play in one of the Team USA games. DNPCD did not play coach's decision and the the guy who didn't make a big deal out of it was jason tatum like everybody is bought into we not me the collective there's a trust i asked him all the other day about the whole dynamic and and murray's answer was look

we can say whatever we want to each other and nobody takes it personally because we just want to win. Like, they only have another week together. That's it. And then it's back to reality. It's back to your day job, et cetera. So I think he's going to end up having a monster game tonight. I think Murray's going to be the lethal shooter that they need, and I think this is going to springboard him into the

semifinals against Germany where the Germans don't really have much of an answer from a matchup standpoint on him to me Jamal Murray while a non-factor the first three games of this tournament in the preliminary round becomes the factor now that it's the knockout stage. And that's where this is going to get really interesting. And it's going to be something for Jordy Fernandez to manage and his coaching staff as well, Arash. And what have you thought overall about the job that Fernandez has done navigating Canada, you know,

leading into this tournament and then through the tournament so far? Well, here you have somebody who's with the Spanish national team who understands, who's also now an NBA head coach, but a longtime assistant who understands. And the players have bought in, again, in large part because they know it's a compressed time. Jordy can yell at them, he can call them out, and nobody seems to care.

But they always seem to have an escape hatch. There's a plan B and a plan C, and from the jump, it's all been about a defensive-first mindset. And Fernandez, from the day he took over as the national team coach, told the guys, if we don't have a defensive-first mindset, we're doing a disservice to one another. Canada's not going to win games in this tournament 101-100, 114-112. You have to limit your opponent.

That's how Canada is going to win, and the guys have bought in on the defense event. Again, we'd be in a conversation talking about Brooks. Brooks and Lou Dort have been so instrumental in this entire run because they've bought into that defensive first mindset that Fernandez has instilled. Moving on to another Canadian team that did reach the quarterfinals in their tournament, but went no further than the Canadian women's soccer team. A pretty disappointing game in the quarterfinals for them against Germany. Really unable to score and pretty deflating, I think, after there was a lot of attention and a lot of controversy around uh their their play in in the group stage uh obviously a weird situation overall

with the the entire drone uh scandal that that is probably going to still play out for a little bit but is is this even with the deduction and and the fact that they were able to overcome that, and you add on the controversy, it has to be seen as a bit of a disappointment for this group. Yeah, I mean, they won bronze in 2012, they won bronze in 2016, and they're the defending gold medalists, and they don't medal for the first time. And I think that once the preliminary round ended, the focus really flipped the page on the whole drone thing because they got through. But I do think that where the drone, where the six point deduction really made an impact is that all three matches became must win.

Right, right. and so your substitution patterns and the minutes that you had to give your stars in those three matches your strategy changes altogether and i didn't think they ran out of gas even with 30 more minutes of extra time against germany and they got to penalties and um you know it's 50 50 from there they were the better team probably They just didn't score the goal. Overall, yeah, disappointing that you don't medal. But to me, this now only gets started on where Canada soccer is going to go, and I have no idea what this external review and investigation is going to lead to. Yeah, it's going to be fascinating to monitor where that one goes, Arash. On the positive side for Canada, really the story for Canada at these games so far,

Summer McIntosh and what she did in the pool. And we've talked about it a lot on the show today. Obviously, it's getting a ton of recognition, deservedly so, here in Canada. I mean, what's your takeaway from what we witnessed from Summer McIntosh at these games? Maybe witnessing one of the greatest Canadian athletes ever, already has established herself as the next Canadian superstar. Three gold medals and a silver at her first Olympics at age 17. Chased down some of the best swimmers in the world to win that last gold medal. Outright dominance in the 400 individual medley, winning it by five seconds.

Checks every box you would think that a star athlete would have and you'd be blown away that she's only 17 and only getting started and badly wants to win. Um, competitive as all hell, you know, it's, it's all those things. Like when you talk about the great athletes in Canadian history,

there's, there is a real conversation possible eight years from now that summer mcintosh could be in that mix who's to say she can't be the next what katie ledecky and michael phelps are to u.s swimming why can't summer mcintosh be that for canada yeah and she i mean you mentioned some of those moments and you know dominant fashion and the comeback to win the final gold. And those are indelible moments that Canadian fans, Canadian Olympic fans will remember, but also I think elevated to a global stage. And then there's, you know,

Andre de Grasse was a guy that he won the gold in the 200 in Tokyo. He had those moments with Usain Bolt at the games in Rio where he also was, you he also got that global attention, that worldwide platform. He had a disappointing day in the 100 on Sunday, not qualifying for the final, and now does have in his sights his top event, although it does seem that the 200 will still be a difficult one, given the way that the other guys ran in the heats yesterday.

Where is DeGrasse at at this point in terms of contending for and trying to defend his Olympic gold? I don't think physically he's 100%. This is somebody who has shown over the last two Olympics that he's the best finisher in the game in the 100. And everything he worked towards coming into Paris was the start. The start was great in the semifinal.

At the midway point of the race, he was right there with the field. And just as you expected, he was going to turn on the afterburners. He didn't. So he doesn't qualify for the final for the first time at an Olympic. Then yesterday, in the opening round, when I talked to DeGrasse before the Olympics, he said, just coming around that

bend, coming around the turn, is going to be the most important thing. He took such a wide turn. And yeah, he qualified. He was just right behind Noah Lyles. But it was a very cautious very conservative don't push it i just wonder if something isn't right with him physically and there are some people who kind of question what you know his lead up to these games the

training blocks some around the track program are wondering how healthy the grass is i think they're they're valid in the in that wonder arash uh really appreciate it so thanks for doing this you know i'm sure it's a pretty wild and busy schedule for you over in paris so thanks for taking some time to chat and enjoy canada and france man should be a good one in a bit here thanks guys thanks that is sports nets arash madani, who is in Paris and getting set to cover what should be not just a big game for us, but as you said, like the French fans, or as Arash said, the French fans are going to be at another level for this one against Canada in Paris.

So that's going to be a fascinating thing for Canada to deal with. I do think, like, Dylan Brooks is going to embrace that. We know he is, right? We know Dylan Brooks is going to be a fascinating thing for Canada to deal with. I do think Dylan Brooks is going to embrace that. We know he is. We know Dylan Brooks is going to be into it. He's not scared of LeBron. Do you think he's scared of a bunch of French fans? Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

That matchup, him versus Wemba and Yama, is going to be fascinating. Because Dylan Brooks is listed at what? Like 6'5", 6'4"? Wemba and Yama is listed at like seven three seven four so we're talking almost a full foot of height advantage for wimpy now strength wise brooks might still have the edge there right because wimpy pretty thin hasn't put on that muscle yet to me this could go one of two ways one is that wimpy's basically like look i'm a foot taller than you i'm gonna dominate i'm gonna get in the post i'm'm a foot taller than you. I'm going to dominate. I'm going to get in the post. I'm going to have all times of, you know, I'm going to be easily able to shoot over you and do that.

And you're going to have to switch things up. Or like this. How many big games is when we played it? You know what I mean? This is a big, big game with the pressure of doing it at home on his shoulders. Can Dylan Brooks agitate him and use his strength and use his ability to be a pest, his ability to be annoying and just completely get under Wemby's skin and throw him off his game? Push him away from the basket. Make him a perimeter player.

Rattle him. I can absolutely see that in the cards. And I think if you've got a rattled Wemby, like I think Wemby needs to be really, really good for France to win this game. If Dylan Brooks can do enough to push him off his game, that could be the difference for Canada in advancing here. I think so. And like Arash said, Brooks is the one that sets the tone. And this is, we don't know if this is just going to be a start of the game thing

of kind of try to get into the young guy's head and try to be aggressive and physical with him and give him this this different look from a guy who you know when he's guarding wing players is is a really really strong wing defender this is a bit of a different challenge but to get wemby going that is a methodical get it into the big man and he could go out and have an all-time game and continue to build out this legacy that he's already building as one of the or i guess you know the next great basketball player certainly at the top of that list right now but what canada has is they've got sga who with the ball in his hands is about as

good as anybody in the world right now and i really like the way that arash framed the jamal murray thing you know i i thought i was maybe being a little bit nice by, hey, you know, this guy, he's had some big moments in finals games. We know what the top end is, but we haven't really seen that yet. He took it to the flip side of, look, this guy is getting himself in a position. Basically, don't doubt him. And he could change a game. If you get Canada out in the fast break, you know what Jamal Murray can do

really well in the fast break? Hit threes spot up dagger daggers buckets against the team that is going to have to play a bit more of a methodical game that's canada's advantage here start out strong try to rattle wemby a little bit so it's not you know he's not feeling comfortable to start the game and we saw it in in spain a team that was not scared against a spanish team that was not just playing for its olympic life because it was win or go home for them but really the end of an era for that that spain group you know that team that was the gasols are gone ricky rubio's not playing anymore but you know the rudy fernandez it's still the spanish program that was they win games in international basketball.

That's what they do. Yeah, and that's a team that's had these highs. They were not going to go out easy. And the Canadians, it was a 10-point lead, and Spain would get it back to five, and then Canada would go back, and then it ends up being a little bit closer at the end. But what did Canada do?

Totally not wilt. No. Hit their free throws, make big stops. They're going to have to be the ones that are pushing the pace here. And that's really exciting. As someone who's waited for this moment for a long time, it's very exciting to see Canada in the driver's seat for this game. Yes, there's the challenge of Wemby.

Is he going to be building off of this game? Is this going to be a platform game for him? It could be but canada does have a lot going in its favor and it's exciting it's not like watching canada soccer at the copa america hoping they might get a goal against argentina and maybe some chaos reigns no like they have a chance here to really set the pace and set the tone early in this one and gergite texan brooks guarding wemby is going to be like that Zion Williamson meme when he was in high school,

where a kid a foot and a half shorter than him was guarding him. Hopefully it goes a little better for Dylan Brooks on Wemby that I'm sure it did for that kid against Zion Williamson in high school. Get ready for the ultimate sports fan trip to Michigan from September 27th to October 1st experience games at the big house Com, Comerica Park, and Ford Field. Contact Neil Chark at neilc at uniglobecarefree.ca for details. Final hour of the show coming up. We'll do what we learned.

But up next, Bola Combo, BC Lions linebacker, joins the show here on Halford & Brough Sportsnet 650.