The Detroit Pistons could have another Olympian in Tokyo; almost had two

Cory Joseph still looking for that first Olympic appearance

Like Jerami Grant and Jahlil Okafor, Cory Joseph was looking to play in his first Olympic Games. The difference is, he has been trying for 10 years, and now he will have to wait another three to try again.

Canada was knocked off by the Czech Republic, 103-101 in overtime, on Saturday, in the semifinals of an Olympic qualifier in Victoria, Canada. As usual, they lost in dramatic fashion.

Canada rallied from a nine-point deficit with 45 seconds left to send the game into overtime. They also held a five-point lead with 2:34 left in OT, but lost on a shot in the final seconds.

Unlike Grant and Okafor, there was no doubt Joseph was going to make the Team Canada roster. The veteran point guard is a starter and team captain.

However, despite a bunch of NBA players on this year’s team, Canada extended its streak of not qualifying for the Olympics in men’s basketball to 21 years .

Joseph has been on the national team since he graduated high school. There were a lot of other near-misses the past few Olympic qualifiers that he has suffered through.

Although Canada won its pool with a 2-0 record, only the winner out of six teams in the qualifier get to Tokyo.

With fellow NBA players like R.J. Barrett of the Knicks, Andrew Wiggins of the Warriors, Lu Dort of the Thunder,  and Dwight Powell of the Mavericks on the team, this might have been the Canadians most talented squad in a while (the Czech Republic had one current NBA player, Tomas Santoransky of the Bulls).

Joseph never took winning for granted, as he said at the introductory press conference, according to SI.com:

“In my mind, we haven’t done anything yet,” Joseph said . “We put together a great group of guys, but like you said, I have been here for a while, I’ve had talented groups before and we couldn’t get the job done. So we got to be extremely focused and put it all together and get out there and just play extremely hard.

“… “I think our country is kinda thirsty for it. I’m definitely thirsty for it.”

Joseph was a pleasant surprise for the Pistons. Basically thrown in to match salaries in the Delon Wright trade, he showed a surprising scoring touch. He averaged 12.0 points (almost double his average with the Kings) to go with 5.5 assists in 19 games with Detroit.

Having played for coach Dwane Casey in Toronto, Joseph already knew the system. When rookie point guard Killian Hayes returned from a three-month absence due to injury, he helped mentor the young Frenchman along with rookie point guard Saben Lee. Both Lee and Hayes played much better at the end of the season.

Do not think Casey and general manager Troy Weaver did not notice, both his fine play and leadership. If Detroit does select Cade Cunningham in the upcoming draft, that is another young guard who will need mentoring.

Joseph turns 30 in August, so he is not part of any youth movement. However, he has a ring from his time in San Antonio and, if anything, is currently playing his best ball.

Joseph has a $12.6 million contract for next year, but Detroit will only owe him $2.4 million if he is not on the roster by August 1. If they keep him, that is a lot of money for a reserve guard, but his contract expires at the end of the season.

Oh, and we did we mention the Pistons might be adding a rookie guard who needs some mentoring?

If Okafor make it, that will give the Detroit Pistons two players in Tokyo. Counting Stewart and Bey, and Joseph fully one-third of its roster will have been either on a senior USA Basketball team, a country’s national team or played in the Olympics this summer.

It looks like the world might be appreciating the players the Pistons already have.