MEXICO CITY—They are enduring images of the last great era of Canadian men’s basketball, styles and skills etched in the mind’s eye of everyone who had a chance to see them.

Steve Nash finding Rowan Barrett on the break with some magical pass; Nash running high screen and roll with Mike Meeks to set up the gifted power forward for a basket; Greg Francis spotting up for one of his silky-smooth jump shots and Jay Triano beaming on the bench.

They were, to coin a phrase, the Fantastic Five of a bygone time and here they all are again, ushering in the so-called Golden Era of Canada Basketball while trying to ensure the country remains in the upper echelon of international basketball for years to come.

It was their friendships and shared experience that has drawn them back, a chance to build something special as a way of giving back.

Nash is the general manager and face of Canada’s senior team, Barrett is his right-hand man as the executive vice-president and assistant general manager and Triano is back for a second stint as the team’s head coach, solely because Nash insisted he return.

Meeks is the manager of youth player development and an assistant coach of the under-17 team while Francis is Canada Basketball’s manager of men’s high performance and a de facto coach for the coaches charged with keeping the pipeline filled with talent.

It is an unprecedented commitment to the next generation from men who starred in a previous one.

“I think it simply says that we care about Canada and basketball in our country,” Nash said this week.

It is no accident that the group has reunited now that Canada stands to make giant gains internationally. They have known each other for years, the patriotic tug is too great, the opportunity to build something long-lasting is too important.

“I always knew when I was playing in Europe that eventually I would be back,” said Meeks, a prototypical stretch four who, it could be argued, was Canada’s second-best player behind Nash in Sydney. “This is an opportunity to give something back and be part of the future.”

One of the unique aspects of the cabal that now runs the men’s side of the program is the variety of their experiences. They played different positions and roles, had varied professional experiences as players and have a give-and-take relationship.

“We all bring something different and that really helps,” Francis said in a telephone interview a day before he and Meeks were involved in a talent identification camp in Toronto. “We can coach and teach every position and we haven’t had that in Canada before. We can reach a lot of players.”

The bodies may no longer be willing, but the minds are sharp and the beneficiaries of their experience and knowledge are not only the men chasing a 2016 Olympic berth here this week, but the teens who hope to follow them.

“I think for the four of us, the debate and the conversation is always ongoing,” Nash said. “We’re always trying to figure out what’s the best way and I leave it up to those guys to take their experiences and our conversations back for those age-appropriate lessons and to the coaches.”

The 2000 Sydney Olympic Games represented the high-water mark of the 30 years for Canadian men’s basketball and it was, until this group was assembled, generally considered one of the most talented to ever represent the country.

Canada shocked host Australia and beat Angola and Spain before losing to Russia. And in a game Triano counts as one of the top two Canadian victories he’s ever been involved in over a 30-year span, Canada upset global power Yugoslavia to win its preliminary group.

A quarter-final loss to France was painful and left Canada with a seventh-place finish despite a 5-2 record that was the third-best in the tournament.

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And now five friends are reunited to try to build a program that can consistently outshine that team.

“We’re lucky, our young guys . . . have guys who have been there and done that and played at this level and coached and experienced the game at a very high level and can offer their expertise,” Nash said.

“It’s invaluable.”