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Jay Triano’s day job is with Hornets, but team is OK with his passion being elsewhere

Go find something to love the way Charlotte Hornets lead assistant Jay Triano loves Canadian basketball.

The former Raptors coach is back in Toronto for Monday’s game. Triano, who grew up on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, has a book coming out on his lifelong love affair with hoops and Canada. He’s in his second stint as men’s national team coach.

“I always say coaching (in the NBA) is my profession, but the national team is my passion,” Triano, 60, told the Observer. “It’s been fun my whole life.”

He has just about devoted that life to shepherding hoops in a country where most of the attention in the winter is devoted to pucks, ice and hockey sticks.