Basketball: Dort ready if road to Olympics gets a bit rough

Lu Dort has proven himself to be a tough, young basketball player, more than willing to bang and hit and defend with a physicality that has allowed him to thrive in the NBA. If there is one debutant with the Canadian men’s team who should love playing under somewhat relaxed international rules, it’s the 22-year-old from Montreal.

“I think I’m a pretty physical guy already, so I don’t think it’s really going to bother me,” Dort said after Canada practised Saturday at the Raptors facility in Tampa, Fla. “But it’s going to be a good experience to go through it and see the different type of game (under FIBA rules). I’m really looking forward to it.”

When Canada begins its quest for a final berth in the Tokyo Olympics later this month in Victoria, there’s every reason to think Dort will play a key role if the team is to have any success.

Coach Nick Nurse wants to construct a roster predicated on tough, versatile defence, one of Dort’s long suits. The FIBA game is officiated a bit more leniently than the NBA game, veterans of international basketball know how to get away with the odd hit away from the play and aggressive defence on the ball.

The six-foot-three, 215-pound Dort seems made for that style.

“I already play hard, so I can’t go harder, (or) I will,” he said. “I’m really looking forward just to experience it and see how, like, games are reffed and all that. That’ll be good for me.”

With less than a week of practice with a new mix of Canadian players, Nurse said he has been on a voyage of discovery, learning what their strengths and weaknesses are, who fits best together.

“We’ve really learned a lot through some practice, through some scrimmage time, through some film work, taking that back to the court off the film room and seeing a lot of improvement,” Nurse said. “It’s a teaching and learning and information phase right now, that’s for sure.”

Nurse has a small level of familiarity with just about everyone in camp, either through coaching against them in the NBA or having led Canada at the 2019 FIBA World Cup. But the accelerated nature of this “season” — about a week of practice before the pressure of the six-team Olympic qualifier — is unique. Canada won’t have any exhibition games before it plays Greece on June 29 in Victoria, making this an odd preparation phase.

“I hope we’re good teachers, we find a streamlined way to teach it so they can learn it quickly, and we just got to rep it,” Nurse said. “It’s a smaller package and we’ll just see how much we can build out on it and go from there.”

Dort, for one, has come as advertised to Nurse, who knows him only from Raptors-Oklahoma City NBA games. The youngster’s reputation for hard work and physical defence has not surprised his coach.

“He’s really good, man,” Nurse said. “Defence, a lot of it’s desire, right? He has a lot of desire to play and that goes along with the gifts he’s been given, physically, to do it and he matches those up together very well.”

Dort has never played for the Canadian senior side and the allure of the Olympics is what made him commit perhaps two months of his summer to the program.

“I felt like it was a great opportunity for me to come out this year and to be able to represent my country,” he said. “Growing up, I’d never see myself being able to have a chance to go to the Olympics. And my family was just really proud of me.”

Given his skills, and the style of play Canada will have to develop in a short period if the men are to qualify for the Olympics for the first time in more than 20 years, Dort will be a central figure.

“Defence has got to be one of our primary strengths, it really does,” Nurse said. “I think we’ve got the personnel, the athleticism, the length, all those things to be disruptive defensively. It’s got to be one of our focus areas. I believe in that anyway, it’s what really good teams are made of, in my opinion. It fuels offence, in my opinion.”