The Tall Blacks’ Olympic Odyssey ended on the weekend as the kiwi team went down 78-72 to Canada in the semi-finals of their qualifying tournament. Canada went on to lose 83-74 to France in the final. So, no, we won’t see Corey Webster or Mika Vukona at Rio next month but beneath the immediate disappointment of that is one hell of a promising international basketball team.

NZ was always at long odds to come through a tournament that included those two nations in particular, as well as tough Turkey, Senegal and Philippines teams. They gave themselves the best possible shot with a strong team missing only a couple of major US-based names (none of the other teams were at full strength either, if you were wondering) and a long build-up tour that ensured they would be as well prepared as any of their rivals. But claiming the single available Olympic spot at this tourney was going to take something special.

And they almost achieved that. They held a solid fourth quarter lead over France in their pool game before collapsing in that last frame, the French stepping it up as the kiwi offence faded. Even against Canada in the semi, they were in that game right up until the last minute of action. Isaac Fotu was injured in the first half and didn’t return, costing them their one real physically asserting big man and they still kept battling. Ultimately the team was a second scorer away from being able to withstand those lads.

What you got from these Tall Blacks was the same in every game. They shot well from three point range but they relied on that as their lack of size and professional nous meant they weren’t really able to manufacture shots outside of their screen game on the perimeter and the odd dash to the hoop by a fella with Webster on his jersey. Full commitment was a given and with that there were rebounds being hauled in that they had no right to get but they were also susceptible to long periods where they couldn’t score the ball. Defensively they lacked in athleticism compared to their opponents yet they played hard and clever. It was your blueprint underdog performance, just short on the extra dose of luck that sparks the miracle.

New Zealand held the lead with 6:02 remaining against Canada, a Mika layup putting them up 66-64. A Tristan Thompson three-point play was cancelled out by a Rob Low treble, same goes for a Thomas Scrubb two and an Abercrombie dunk. Foul trouble was messing with the kiwi rotation and Thompson made a couple free throws for a 73-71 Canada lead with 3:19 remaining. Corey Webster missed a layup, then a three. He had another shot blocked. NZ went down another possession and they simply couldn’t respond. Melvin Ejim forced a turnover off of Corey with a nice defensive play before making a crucial layup with 20 seconds left after an offensive board, taking a foul in the process. Canada too good in the end but damn it was close for a long while there.

Considering though that Canada had multiple NBA players in that team – including a reigning champion – and the rest all solid pros in Europe, compared to NZ’s largely home-based team, you get an indication of how far this team punched above their weight. Corey Joseph and Tristan Thompson are superb players, each on significant long-term contracts in the NBA, while Anthony Bennett is a recent number one overall pick and Tyler Ennis a promising up and comer at the Milwaukee Bucks. That right there is one more NBA player than New Zealand has managed in its history. Joel Anthony was in that squad as well but only really for leadership – he didn’t play.

And yet check out Shea Ili’s defensive work on Corey Joseph, guarding the fella like he had his dancing shoes on. This a legit NBA point guard. Ili made a few errors, sure, but a guy who up until a few months ago was a development player on a professional team based out of New Zealand shouldn’t be competing with the sixth man of the Toronto Raptors. Check out the way that Corey Webster was consistently able to score against all oppositions – he scored at least 21 points in all three games – and check out the stuff his younger brother got up to as starting point guard. Tom Abercrombie had flashes. As did Isaac Fotu. Now consider that Everard Bartlett (a depth player, really) and captain Mika Vukona were the only players older than 30 years of age, with seven of the 12 man squad aged 24 or younger and you get the idea.

These guys really gelled around a highly impressive young coach, Paul Henare, and will form the core of a very decent Tall Blacks team for the next decade. A large chunk of them are making their living under Henare for the NZ Breakers which is also a slept-on factor. The thing with international basketball is that it’s near-impossible to get all your NBA players free to play. You need to treat them as luxuries rather than anything else unless you’ve got that many to choose from that it doesn’t matter. Canada and France could do that. NZ obviously not.

The key, then, is to expand that pool of players as wide as possible. It doesn’t mean getting 15 guys into the NBA, but having more than roughly 20 players on contract in competitive leagues is a goal. And it’s one that’s coming true more and more with every year. There are nearly 20 kiwis currently aligned with US college systems, including Michael Karena and Tai Webster who were in this squad. Tai Wynyard (Kentucky) and Jack Salt (Virginia) were not in this squad. Young guns are knocking on the door.

Maybe one or two of them will get a chance at an NBA summer league or D-League team. Maybe. A few others will be able to follow the Isaac Fotu route and make a living in Europe. Perhaps one or two might even make their way back to the Breakers or the NBL. More will take their place in American colleges as they leave.

Those are your three main foundations right there. The college players may find their way into the odd squad but they’re as of yet unaffiliated. Really what you want is a small group of Breakers players that you can build around. They bring the familiarity, they set the culture. The coach is included in that. Then you add in an array of European players to fill out those specific positions that you need. Like Fotu bringing a bit of size. Maybe someday we can add a defensive maestro of a wing and another scoring guard to that list. A few alternate bench options too. And then the icing on the cake is an NBA player or two that lift everything to the next level.

Right now we have only one NBA player and he’s a little busy trying to hold together the fabric of his franchise as a quite possible top three player in the league just took a mad dash to a rival team, leaving them in rebuild/contend limbo and promoting Steven Adams to the second best player on that squad and arguably the most important with Russell Westbrook a free agent in 11 and a half months. That particular occurrence is a crazy one but circumstances like that are gonna be common. Say we had five NBA guys though, it ain’t out of the reckoning that two would return for a tournament like this, maybe even three for an Olympic or World Cup main event.

For example, Australia just named their team for the Olympics and it is crazy strong. They’re shooting for a medal, no doubt about that. Of their eight current NBA players, seven of them are selected and only the recently drafted Ben Simmons is absent. Cam Bairstow, Andrew Bogut, Dante Exum, Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova, Aron Baynes and Joe Ingles all selected – Bogut subject to health, naturally. David Andersen, Brock Motum and Ryan Broekhoff are all based in Europe at the moment. Adam Gibson, Kevin Lisch, Brad Newley, Nate Jawai, Chris Goulding, Cam Gliddon and Damian Martin all from the NBL in Australia. The team that beat NZ in 2015 to qualify had four NBA players, five European based guys and three blokes outta the NBL – though to be fair, that includes Newley and Jawai who were then in Europe.

Point is: international basketball is a tricky thing. Only the American team will ever be full of NBA players so the future of NZ basketball on that stage isn’t about that. The MVP of the qualifying event in the Philippines was France’s Nando de Colo, who pays for PBC CSKA Moscow in Russia (who did once play 119 NBA games for the Spurs and Raptors, if we’re being totally candid here). For the Tall Blacks to grow themselves into the kind of team that is constantly qualifying for these events and not only that but beating good teams, they need to flood the world with kiwi ballers.

Which is happening as we speak. Never has NZ basketball been in a stronger position, with more players coming through. And by the look of the guys that just played, the right kind of players too. We have a potentially great coach, we have a strong leadership core, we have young players looking to make a mark and we have an established tradition of punching above our weight on big stages. Hey, they may not be chilling at the Olympic Village in Rio but the future is bright all the same.