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Bryan Colangelo has lived in Toronto six years as Raptors president and general manager. Raised in Phoenix, schooled at Cornell, he has started the application process to become a Canadian citizen. He gets national pride and how it connects to the only NBA team in a country with six time zones and a reach from the Pacific to the Atlantic to the Arctic.

Having a player from Canada on the team from Canada, in a prominent role for the long term, would be a big deal. Toronto's own Jamaal Magloire is there now, but with limited duty as a short-timer at age 33. And as much as the skies would open to thousand-mile rainbows and dancing unicorns if Steve Nash, the Nashional Hero, signed on, it would still be a relatively brief visit. Nash is 38. This is about younger players.

The Raptors are in building mode at the same moment the country suddenly has an uncommonly high profile in the Draft, with Tristan Thompson and Cory Joseph going in the first round last year and Myck Kabongo a possibility for the same in 2012 (if he leaves Texas). Gonzaga senior Robert Sacre is a potential second rounder. Kentucky's Kyle Wiltjer, from Portland but the son of Canadian Basketball Olympian, is also on the radar.

To read the entire article by Scott Howard-Cooper from Nba.com press here

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