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Canada Basketball hopes Pan Am Games is significant step towards bright future

Andrew Wiggins, Canada Basketball (Sam Forencich/Getty Images)
Andrew Wiggins, Canada Basketball (Sam Forencich/Getty Images)

The goal is to get to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro  and the road to get there for Canada's men's and women's national basketball teams begins with the Pan Am Games in Toronto.

As unbridled optimism swirls around the future of the men's program, head coach Jay Triano expects to have a full complement of NBA talent at his disposal for July's Pan Am tournament. Canada was drawn into Group B along with Argentina, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic

"Every player that I've talked to has indicated that they want to play in both Pan Ams and the qualifying tournament," said Triano. "Had the Pan Ams been somewhere else, we would have had a different story, but the fact it's in our backyard, these guys are pretty excited."

A starting lineup that includes Andrew Wiggins, Tristan Thompson, and Cory Joseph would be a good start, while fellow NBA players Anthony Bennett, Kelly Olynyk, Nik Stauskas, Tyler Ennis, Robert Sacre, and Andrew Nicholson are all in the mix to make the team and make an impact.

The anticipation grew on Thursday, when Wiggins reiterated his intentions to wear the red and white this summer.

"It’s exciting to have the Pan Am Games in my hometown of Toronto," said Wiggins. "Having the opportunity to play at home is very special for Team Canada and the country."

Playing meaningful games together should help prepare the squad for the FIBA Americas Championship that follows a month later. The top two teams at the tournament earn a spot at the Olympics, an event the Canadian team hasn't played at since Steve Nash led them to the quarterfinals at the Sydney Games in 2000.

The women's team will also use the Pan Am tournament as a platform for growth. Canada will face Cuba, Argentina and Venezuela in Group B action.

"We compete in relative obscurity, people don't know who our team is, so to actually be in Canada and be in a huge market like Toronto will be so good for this team and the program, and some of the players who have been in the program for a number of years," said head coach Lisa Thomaidis.

Coming off a fifth place finish at the FIBA World Championships last summer, the hope is to carry that momentum at the Pan Ams and ride it all the way through the FIBA Americas tournament in Edmonton, where the winner qualifies for the Rio Games.

Having two high-profile tournaments on Canadian soil gives the Canadian women a tremendous opportunity to grab the nation's attention.

The men's program is asking for an unprecendeted commitment from an unprecedented pool of Canadian NBA players. The women's program is shooting for an unprecedented level of national exposure.

Between the two teams, this summer has the potential to be the start of something special for basketball in Canada.

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Israel Fehr is a writer for Yahoo Canada Sports. Email him at israelfehr@yahoo.ca or follow him on Twitter.