Nick Nurse '100 percent' committed to coaching Canada despite Olympics postponement

Although the Summer Olympics have been pushed back to 2021, the commitment from Canadian Men’s Basketball coach Nick Nurse remains the same.

Nurse spoke to reporters for the first time since the International Olympics Committee officially rescheduled the Tokyo Olympics to between July 23 and August 8th of 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He assured that him and his staff, comprised mostly of coaches from the Toronto Raptors, will represent the country when sports can safely resume.

“Hundred percent committed. I'm really looking forward to it, you know again just like hopes and prayers that things will be rolling by next summer when we're gonna be able to to go to Tokyo and play, you know, as I'm expecting,” Nurse said in a conference call with reporters on Friday.

“There's there's lots of calls with the Canadian national team Olympic Committee. Just talking through things and plans ... we're touching base with the players. We're getting ready to have them all along on kind of a team-wide call altogether here first part of next week, and just again just to touch base and, and keep some connection, and keep people together a little bit and just talk about that we're still planning on going forward,” Nurse said.

When Nurse was hired as the head coach of the men’s team last summer, his deal was rumoured to run only two years through 2020. However, circumstances have obviously changed with the Olympics being postponed, and that arrangement will remain intact through 2021.

However, there are more hurdles to be crossed. For one, the indefinite suspension of the current NBA season could create a scheduling conflict with the Olympic games. In Canada’s case, there’s even more of a time crunch, as they would still need to host and win one of four Olympic qualifying tournaments just to get into the games. On top of that, there’s the forever tricky issue of turnout from top Canadian players in the NBA, who may see it as unfavourable to play so many games in such a short span.

But while there are certainly challenges in terms of basketball and the world of sports, Nurse made sure to keep everything in perspective. Health and safety comes before all, and Team Canada will be ready to play when that is ensured.

“It's disappointing, but I can wait. Let's put it in perspective, it's not nearly as disappointing as what's happening you know around and just daily life. So push it back a year, we'll be okay,” Nurse said.

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