Creating winning culture top challenge for new Canadian men's basketball coach

Canadian men's basketball head coach Jordi Fernandez wants his team to get one per cent better every day in advance of the World Cup.

"We have 25 days until we play the first game," he said on the first day of training camp in Toronto in early August, "so we have a chance to be 25 per cent better. And then that championship game is in 41 days. So if you think about it, we have a chance to be 41 per cent better."

But the challenge for Fernandez, who was hired in June after Nick Nurse's exit, is that his team essentially started at zero.

After Canada lost a heartbreaker to the Czech Republic at an Olympic qualifier in Victoria ahead of Tokyo 2020, the organization made a three-year plan leading into the 2024 Paris Olympics that included 14 players and a coaching staff showing up at every opportunity when available.

The plan took a hit when Nurse abruptly exited in June. Of the 14 core players, nine will be at the World Cup. Denver Nuggets star Jamal Murray is the most notable absence.

The Canadians, who have been placed in Group H at the World Cup, will play France on Friday, Lebanon on Sunday and Latvia on Tuesday, Aug. 29 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

It's on Fernandez, the 40-year-old Spaniard, to bring it all together. Canada must finish top-two amongst Americas teams to book its ticket to Paris.

"He's just got a great way about him," said Jay Triano, the Tillsonburg, Ont., native who coached the last Canadian men's Olympic basketball team in 2000 and is currently an assistant with Fernandez on the Sacramento Kings.

"I think the players are going to jump onto his enthusiasm and as soon as that happens, I think that's how you start building a team."

WATCH | Triano confident Canada will 'do well' at World Cup:

General manager Rowan Barrett, who played on that 2000 Olympic team, said Fernandez has a blank slate to lead the team as he chooses.

Kyle Alexander, of Milton, Ont., wasn't part of that core 14, but has quickly become a key big man off the bench in exhibition games under Fernandez.

Alexander, whose previous Canada experiences were under Nurse, gushed about the job Fernandez has done in just a few weeks.

"He's been great. I think what he brings to the table is a European aspect to things. He understands the FIBA game. He understands the European game," he said. "Great guy. I mean, sense of humour, cool dude. Off the court, just has a real genuine vibe to him."