Powell could be a difference maker for Canada He might not be the biggest name on Team Canada’s roster, but as TSN’s Josh Lewenberg writes, lanky power forward Dwight Powell has been a valuable and versatile piece off the bench at the Tuto Marchand Cup,

Josh Lewenberg TSN Raptors Reporter Follow|Archive

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO - Dwight Powell got more out of his first NBA season than an exorbitant amount of Air Miles.

His rookie year was a whirlwind, a crash course in professionalism. The Toronto-born forward learned as much about the business of basketball as he did about the game itself.

Selected in the second round of the 2014 draft, Powell was traded twice before even playing a game, and then a third time later in the campaign, ultimately settling in Dallas. Overall, he made 12 trips back and forth from the D-League.

For most casual fans, the long and lanky power forward was an afterthought when Canada Basketball announced its talented, young roster for the upcoming FIBA Americas Olympic qualifying tournament. Andrew Wiggins, Cory Joseph, Nik Stauskas, Anthony Bennett, Kelly Olynyk - all of them former first-round picks - would steal the spotlight. Powell is not yet a household name, but that could change in a hurry.

Through two exhibition games, it's Powell that leads Canada in scoring, despite coming off the bench. He both looks and feels like he belongs, a credit to the work he's put in over the last 12 months.

"I definitely feel a year better," the 24 year old told TSN earlier this month. "I think I took a lot of time to work on my game this past season, and some of the things I saw and some of the things I experienced throughout the course of the NBA season I think helped me a lot as far as growing up in the game and becoming more of a pro."

"I think that's what it's all about is becoming more of a pro and more consistent as a pro. So I think I definitely took steps towards being better at that and improving that."

Longer, quicker and more athletic than almost all of his competition at the Tuto Marchand tune-up tournament, Powell has been a spark plug with the second unit. In just over 17 minutes per game, he's averaging a team-high 14.5 points and 6.5 rebounds, missing just one of the eight shots he's attempted from the field.

He's also been to the line 20 times in two contests and leads Canada with seven offensive boards. The most impressive of those rebounds came in the second quarter of Monday's decisive 80-64 win over Brazil. Powell was boxed out, but skied well over his defender to steal the rebound and give his team a second possession.

That's where he can be a real difference-maker as the games become more meaningful, on the offensive glass, where he's been a terror early on. Despite his slight frame, Powell has a nose for the ball. He goes after it, a quality that should serve him well as he looks to establish himself and find a niche in the NBA.

"You just have to want it more," Powell said. "You just have to be intent on going for the ball, finding it, just being aggressive and kind of having that mindset to go get it."

His numbers in 29 games last year - 24 of them with the Mavericks - were modest. He scored 3.1 points and grabbed 1.7 rebounds in eight minutes per contest. Still, his recent play with the national team hasn't come as a surprise to head coach Jay Triano, who has watched the young forward develop with the program and in the NBA.

"[It's] nothing that surprises me," Triano said after Monday's win. "He's been in our program for the last three years. He keeps working and getting better at his game. He's relentless at crashing the glass. He keeps going after rebounds. He keeps balls alive."

"He's probably one of the more familiar players with our program and what we're trying to do at the defensive end, so he's in the right spot, deflects basketballs and just brings a great energy. We praise [Anthony Bennett] with the way he runs the floor and when we go to Dwight he does the same thing for us, so it's great to have those guys flatten defences for us."

Like Bennett and a lot of these young Canadian players, Powell has an opportunity to use this time with the national team to blossom and help further his professional career. Although power forward happens to be their deepest position, the absence of Tristan Thompson - who is locked in a contract standoff with the Cleveland Cavaliers - clears a path for Powell to make an impact off the bench.

Offensively, Andrew Nicholson - the Orlando Magic forward and Canada's leading scorer at the Pan Am Games last month - brings more to the table, while Lakers centre Robert Sacre has more experience and defensive savvy. But neither player possesses Powell's versatility and upside.

Wisely, Triano has gone all in on the program's youth, hoping to capitalize on the advantages it brings. It has been clear here that if Canada is going to have any success against these older and more experienced teams on the world stage, it will come from using their young legs and their athleticism to set them apart. That's where Powell could prove very useful, an X-factor on a team with a lot of talent, aiming to earn one of the two Olympic spots that will be up for grabs in Mexico City.

"We're here to play and we're here to win, and we have a very clear goal in mind, it's to make the Olympics," Powell said. "I think we're taking that very seriously, so I think the kind of surreal feeling ended once we all got here, once we started our medicals and stuff and we started to lock in and look around the room and be appreciative of the talent that's here and know we need to take advantage of it. We have a responsibility too."

A four-year player at Stanford, Powell is a cerebral person, both on and off the court. Coercing a smile out of him, let alone a laugh, is no easy task. He'll make you earn it. He's serious, bordering on intense. It's that focus and dedication to his craft that Team Canada is banking on, and it's what has the Mavs excited going into his second NBA season.

"The biggest thing for me is for this next month, or however long it is, is to win," he said. "I think through that comes so many great things. It [brings] confidence, it [brings] that feeling of accomplishment, and if we can accomplish the goals that we set out to I think that'll do wonders for the year to come."