Melvin Ejim joins Canada men’s basketball team
By Brian Spaen
It’s a busy summer for Melvin Ejim. After participating in the NBA Summer League with the San Antonio Spurs, Ejim joins the Canadian men’s national team and heads to Europe today.
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The Toronto native joined the roster of 14 total players that will be playing in Europe for exhibitions between July 24th and August 12th. The team did not qualify for the FIBA World Cup that begins on August 30th. You know, the world cup event that the USA actually has a chance to win in.
Here’s the full roster for Canada (via Basketball.ca — and yes, the alternate spelling of center gets me everytime, too):
| Name | Position | Hometown |
| Jordan Bachynski | Centre | Calgary, AB. |
| Jordan Baker | Forward | Edmonton, AB. |
| Junior Cadougan | Guard | Toronto, Ont. |
| Melvin Ejim | Forward | Toronto, Ont. |
| Carl English | Guard | St. John’s, Nfld. |
| Brady Heslip | Guard | Burlington, Ont. |
| Cory Joseph | Guard | Toronto, Ont. |
| Owen Klassen | Forward | Kingston, Ont. |
| Andrew Nicholson | Forward | Mississauga, Ont. |
| Kelly Olynyk | Forward | Kamloops, B.C. |
| Dwight Powell | Forward | Toronto, Ont. |
| Robert Sacre | Centre | North Vancouver, B.C |
| Philip Scrubb | Guard | Richmond, B.C. |
| Thomas Scrubb | Guard | Richmond, B.C. |
| Jevohn Shepherd | Guard | Toronto, Ont. |
The head coach is Jay Triano, and he’s joined by assistant coaches Dave Smart, Phil Handy, and Greg Francis. Triano is the former head coach of the Toronto Raptors and is now an assistant on the Portland Trail Blazers. He’s also played twice on the Canadian men’s national team in the Olympics.
Since they missed the FIBA World Cup, they’ll have an 11-game exhibition slate through Canada that will prepare them for the 2016 Summer Olympics.