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TSN Raptors Reporter

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TORONTO - Andrew Wiggins, Canada's most celebrated basketball export, was just 15-years-old when he first put on the red and white to represent his country.

Playing alongside Anthony Bennett - his future Minnesota Timberwolves teammate and fellow NBA first-overall pick - the Vaughan, Ontario native got his initial taste of international competition at the 2010 Under-17 World Championships in Germany, helping lead the team to a bronze medal finish.

Wiggins wasn't the household name he is today. He had a relatively quiet tournament, as you might expect from a player two years younger than most of his opponents, until exploding for 20 points in 22 minutes of action against the United States. He was dominant when suiting up for Canada again in 2012, winning another bronze with the junior national team.

The last half decade has served as a hype machine, not just for Wiggins but for the influx of young Canadian talent making its way up the ranks.

Individually, you know the names and you're familiar with many of their stories. Wiggins was the most highly touted Canadian to ever enter the NBA. Bennett, currently on the road to redemption after a couple of disappointing seasons in the league, was a draft-night surprise when the Cavaliers took him with the top pick a year earlier. Kelly Olynyk redshirted as a junior at Gonzaga before growing into his 7-foot long frame and trademark hair. Pickering's Cory Joseph once asked to be sent down to the NBA Development League, working his way into the heart of famed Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. Nik Stauskas became a YouTube star, draining three-pointer after three-pointer on his backyard basketball court in Mississauga.

Many of them go way back, some playing AAU ball together, others sharing the court for Canada's various junior teams. Olynyk says he first played with Joseph when they were 4-years-old.

But on Thursday, for the first time ever, they all came together as members of the senior men's squad. After years of anticipation and excitement, Canada Basketball's future has finally arrived.

"We've got the most talent we've ever had in Canada in a gymnasium at one time now, which is great," head coach Jay Triano said Friday following his team's first full day of training camp at the Air Canada Centre in preparation for next month's FIBA Americas Olympic Qualifying tournament in Mexico City.

"I want to win, I believe with all the talent we've got, I believe we're the best team," said Wiggins, now 20-years-old, with the quiet confidence he's become known for. "We've just got to go in there and fight. We were the last team [in the tournament] to get together, so we've got to work hard in practice, get the chemistry built, and go out there and give it our all."

Their confidence is not unfounded. The 16-man training camp roster - which will be cut down to 12 by next Thursday - includes nine players with NBA experience, six of them first-round picks over the last five years. None of the other nine teams competing for a trip to Rio in the upcoming Americas tournament can say that, though almost all of them will hold a decisive advantage in the experience column, having logged more playing time together.

To qualify for an Olympic berth - what would be their first since 2000 - the Canadian men must win gold or silver and despite their impressive pool of talent, it won't be a walk in the park. With a youthful core, they'll have a week of training camp and three exhibition games in San Juan, Puerto Rico to learn the nuances of the international game. Should they advance to the gold medal game in mid-September, they'll have played 10 games in 12 days, something many of them have never experienced, certainly not at this level.

Their ace in the hole is Wiggins - a player capable of rising to the occasion, one that is no stranger to daunting expectations.

"I think every level he's played at teams have leaned on him, even as a rookie last year in the NBA, playing all the games he did and the possessions that he gets," said Triano, who kept a close eye on the young forward last season as an assistant coach with the Portland Trail Blazers. "We're going to make sure we give him the basketball and we expect him to be a big player for us."

"[Having him here is] huge," said Olynyk, the Boston Celtics centre. "It just gives us so many options. He's so explosive on both ends of the floor, he can make things happen. Those guys are tough to handle and to have that guy on your side is way better than playing against him."

Wiggins is the face of this program for as long as he wants to be and with him on board, others will continue to follow suit. Developing high-level talent is one thing - Canada has done and is still doing it - but getting those players to sign up for national team duty is another. Although that could become more challenging as they get older, their contracts get larger and preserving their health is prioritized, it hardly seems like an issue right now.

There's an excitement around Canada Basketball, more so than ever before. Tristan Thompson, unavailable to play this summer due to his ongoing contract negations with the Cavaliers, was in attendance, supporting the team as they opened camp Friday. Tyler Ennis, sidelined after off-season shoulder surgery, cheered them on as they won Silver at the Pan American Games in Toronto last month. Wiggins, like his teammates, seems proud to represent his country, with the intention of getting the resurgent program back to the Olympics.

"Definitely is [surreal]," he admitted, "but at the end of the day, I'm just doing it for pride, for Canada really. I want to be in the Olympics, something that I haven't got a chance to witness or experience. So that's what I'm looking forward to really, just trying to win this, to qualify to make it to the Olympics."

"There's a lot of pride in playing for your country, a lot of emotion, passion that you sometime don't see at different levels because you can get traded any day," Olynyk said. "It's hard to, I wouldn't say it's hard to, but it's different to really feel attached to one place in the NBA if you're just bouncing around. But with Canada, obviously they can't trade me to Germany, they can't trade me to Argentina. So when you're out here for your country, it's something very powerful, that passion, that love of the game and just fighting for your country, getting your country to that plateau."