Spent a delightful night at the Ontario Basketball Association’s gala on Saturday night. They do a great job over there delivering programs to kids throughout the province and the one thing I like better than anything? They really seem to stress the need for better coaching at the youngest levels. If there’s one part of the sport’s development that needs improving more than anything else, it’s good, dedicated coaches at the youngest levels. We know the kids want to play, they just have to be given more fundamental instruction more often. I understand there’s a big – and I mean BIG – clinic coming up, more details in the next couple of weeks – that once again underscores the desire to improve coaching for all levels. Speaking of that OBA dinner, -- or Ontario Basketball as it may now be known with its nifty new logo – Maurizio Gherardini stuck it out for one very important reason. And that’s aside from picking up the award the Raptors got for their involvement with the organization. One of the six inductees into the Hall of Fame was former national team icon Romel Raffin, the 7-footer who played on four Olympic teams in a rather impressive international career. Seems Raffin was the reason Maurizio made his very first trip to Canada, to recruit the big man for the Forli team Maurizio was running in the Italian league at the time. So, the Canadian ties for Maurizio go back a bit further than many of you thought, I bet. - Not sure what this meant, actually, but the tables were named after great current Canadian players and they somehow sat me at the Samuel Dalembert table. - Visiting with Ontario Basketball and seeing a couple of familiar faces from Canada Basketball in the crowd got one to thinking: What’s up with them? Well, as far as I can tell from quick, private conversations, the due diligence on the coaching situation and the structure of the senior national teams program is still going on and it might be a few weeks before there’s any movement. As regular readers will recall, I think it’s necessary to put in place some kind of “advisory board” to oversee the national team program and I would presume all of CEO Wayne Parrish’s various conversations over the summer are aimed at doing something like that. I know there has to be a place for a guy like Jay Triano to come back and I am certain that a good basketball mind like Gord Herbert, repatriated now with the Raptors, has to be involved somehow, too. We, as they say, shall see. http://thestar.blogs.com/raptors/.
It was very nice having Doug around Saturday night. Always nice when we get a shout out from one of the big guys. It was a great night - fantastic group of people. Paul Jones MC'd and Jay Triano was the man (as usual). I'll post pics of the new logo shortly - but it's hot!
