As promised, here is our last installment from NBA Jam Session Canada 2010's Halifax tour stop. Romy Aquino, DJ Plaeboi, and myself, Sean François, had the pleasure and opportunity to interview Atlanta Hawks' centre and NBA All-Star, Al Horford.

We got the chance to chat about his role as an ambassador of the game, the Atlanta Hawks, the upcoming NBA season, and again an always important topic, the Halifax donair!

An extra big thanks to Jonathan Chang & Sharolyn Kenworthy of NBA Canada, and Carolyn Abbass of Paradigm PR for helping make all of this happen!

We're continuing with more exclusive footage from the NBA Jam Session tour stop here in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

We had the pleasure to chat with four members of the Toronto Raptors Dance Pak; co-captains, Kat & Candice, along with Char & Sophia.

We discuss their involvement with NBA Jam Session, the upcoming Toronto Raptors & NBA season, their new blog, Raptorspace, and the most important topic...donairs! It was great to be able to talk with these wonderful and talented ladies. To see them in action and to follow their adventures be sure to check out their brand new blog!

Keep checking back for our final exclusive from the NBA Jam Session: our interview with Atlanta Hawks' center and NBA All-Star, Al Horford!

Thanks to our Bloguin friends at Project Spurs we're bringing you an exclusive interview they did recently with one of the Toronto Raptors' newest acquisitions (and likely to be one of the bigger contributors this coming season), Leandro Barbosa.

Fellow blogger, Jeff Garcia, got the opportunity to chat with Leandro Barbosa after the Brazil-Puerto Rico exhibition game during the recent World Basketball Festival at the world renowned Rucker Park in Harlem, NYC.

Enjoy! (Thanks Jeff!)

Two of the 'Young Gunz', DeMar DeRozan (@DeMar_DeRozan) & Sonny Weems (@Sonny13), got invited via Twitter last week by a Raptors fan to play pick up hoops in an open run in the Greater Toronto Area at The Pavillion gym which is located at 407 and Dufferin in Thornhill. The response? Invitation accepted!

Jeff Landicho, producer extraordinaire, of Raptors TV went along with DeMar & Sonny to record the action and the reaction of the fans when they arrived. Based on the videos you're about to see and by accounts from some of the attendees chatting on various Raptors forums, this was a nice surprise and a great way for these young players to continue to immerse themselves in the community and reach out to their fans.

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Check out 'Part 2' after the jump :)

As promised, we're rolling out the individual interviews and discussions we had with various basketball and NBA personalities from last weekend's NBA Jam Session Canada 2010 tour stop here in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

First up is our interview with one of the world famous Harlem Globetrotters, Anthony 'Buckets' Blakes. It was great to get his thoughts on various topics ranging from being an ambassador for the game of basketball, the importance of education, and his personal watch collection!

There are a few points where some questions we ask are partially drowned out by the background sound of the other Jam Session events going on, but Buckets Blakes answers the questions well so the information still gets across.

Thanks again to Buckets Blakes for taking the time to talk with us.

We hope you enjoy, and keep watching for more of our interviews from NBA Jam Session Canada 2010, Halifax tour stop, this week.

This past weekend, NBA Jam Session Canada 2010, got started here in Halifax with their cross Canada tour. Romy Aquino, DJ Plaeboi (viralmixtape.com) and myself, Sean François, were on the scene to enjoy the great festivities on the Halifax Waterfront.

Basketball personalities in attendance were Anthony "Buckets" Blakes from the Harlem Globetrotters, members of the Toronto Raptors Dance Pak (including the host of Raptorspace on RaptorsNBATV and Dance Pak co-captain, Kat), Coach Jack Armstrong, Detroit Pistons mascot, Hooper, NBA All-Star and Atlanta Hawks center, Al Horford!

Check out our 'teaser'/trailer video below from the events and stay tuned for some exclusive interviews with some of the aforementioned basketball personalities.

Big thanks to Jonathan Chang and Sharolyn Kenworthy of NBA Canada!

To the frustration of many basketball fans in Canada, the national team has had very little success in international competition. Whether it be the Olympics, the FIBA World Championships or any junior level competition, the Canadian team has consistently struggled against their foes from around the world.

All the while, European and South American teams have become increasingly powerful on the world stage in the past decade. Spain, Greece, Argentina and Brazil all field very competitive teams, and the vast majority of their players are honoured to represent their country. That is part of the problem for Canada, as Steve Nash has not represented the true north strong and free in years, Samuel Dalembert didn't last more than a week under coach Leo Rautins, and there are simply few other Canadian players in the NBA.

In 1992, Grassroots Canada was founded in Toronto initially as a program to give inner-city youth the chance to compete at the highest level of basketball. There was the hope that this would in turn give them the exposure necessary to receive scholarships from major American schools. While it took some time to develop a successful program, the travelling AAU Grassroots Canada team has recently burst onto the summer circuit as a team to be reckoned with. However there has been some criticism of the way in which some of these players have gained their exposure. Citing the lack of competition and exposure playing high school ball in Canada, many players from Grassroots Canada have headed south to play for prep high schools in an attempt to further increase their exposure.

In my last post I was hoping that one of the Canadian sports networks would step up to the plate and carry Canada's Senior Men's National Team games in the upcoming 2010 FIBA World Championship taking place in Turkey beginning August 28th.

Well, it looks like Canada Basketball was working hard to make it happen. It was announced earlier today that Canada Basketball & TSN2 have partnered up and have a 2 year broadcasting agreement which will bring us the 2010 FIBA World Championship tournament that starts in just one week's time!

This agreement also includes TSN2 bringing us the 2010 FIBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP FOR WOMEN, 2011 FIBA AMERICAS CHAMPIONSHIP and the 2011 FIBA AMERICAS CHAMPIONSHIP FOR WOMEN.

TSN2’s broadcast schedule for the 2010 FIBA WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP is as follows:

• Saturday, Aug. 28 – Canada vs. Lebanon at 11:30 a.m. ET
• Sunday, Aug. 29 – Canada vs. Lithuania at 9 a.m. ET
• Tuesday, Aug. 31 – Canada vs. France at 11:30 a.m. ET
• Wednesday, Sept. 1 – Canada vs. New Zealand at 9 a.m. ET
• Thursday, Sept. 2 – Canada vs. Spain at 9 a.m. ET

Additional games to be confirmed.

Here is the full press release from Canada Basketball: http://www.basketball.ca/en/hm/inside.php?sid=1&id=4420

This news definitely helped start my weekend off even better!

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(Head Coach Leo Rautins speaks to the media after their first win vs. France in the Jack Donahue Classic in Toronto)

Canada's Senior Men's Basketball Team is now in Athens, Greece preparing for some additional tune up games before the 2010 FIBA World Championships start on August 28th.

After dominating 3 exhibition games against China and France, (check out my man Ray Bala's recap & reflections on Canada's success in these games) Canada is definitely looking good going into the world tournament. Head Coach Leo Rautins has these men focused and committed to the defensive end of the floor, showing they're ready for the strong talent they'll be facing in Izmir, Turkey during their group stage play: France, Lebanon, Lithuania, New Zealand and the reigning world champions, Spain.

At this time there is no slated/confirmed television coverage in Canada, as is the case for a lot of international sporting events, so we'll have to rely on the internet grey market once again it seems...

There's less than 2 weeks until the tournament starts but I'm still holding out hope that The Score, TSN, or Rogers Sportsnet will pick up the games to air here in our great nation...any channel except Roger Sportsnet One (sorry) :) .

Be sure to follow and support Canada Basketball's Senior Men's Team as they begin their journey for the 2010 FIBA World Championship! 

Canada Basketball on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/canbball and Ray Bala for the best overall coverage of Canadians in the game of basketball: http://www.twitter.com/canballreport

Since the Raptors hired Bryan Colangelo as General Manager in 2006, the roster has undergone multiple overhauls in an attempt to build a winner around former franchise player Chris Bosh. Soon after being hired, Colangelo brought in Mauriziho Gheradini and Masai Uriji to his basketball operations team, and they set out to develop an identity for the franchise. Gheradini, the former general manager of Italian club Benetton Treviso, came with years of international experience and expertise, and was also coincidentally running the club that produced first overall selection Andrea Bargnani. Uriji, a Nigerian native, was previously the head of international scouting for the Denver Nuggets, and prior to that did some international scouting for the Orlando Magic. So the knowledge of the worldwide game of basketball was evident in the executives that Colangelo brought on board.