Nurse is in Perth ahead of Canada's warm-up games against the Boomers at RAC Arena on Friday and Saturday night.

The 52-year-old coached the Toronto Raptors to last season's NBA Championship and now he's been entrusted with bringing glory to Canada at the World Cup.

But it won't be an easy feat.

What should have been a squad brimming with NBA talent has been reduced to a mere shadow of that.

Miami Heat big man Kelly Olynyk became the latest big-name player to pull out after suffering a knee injury.

He joins Andrew Wiggins, Jamal Murray, RJ Barrett, Tristan Thompson, Dwight Powell, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chris Boucher and Nickeil Alexander-Walker as other Canadian stars to miss the World Cup.

It's left Sacramento's Cory Joseph and Orlando Magic big man Khem Birch as the remaining NBA players.

Nurse was only appointed as coach of Canada less than two months ago.

He said the warm-up games against the Boomers and US would be crucial as he attempts to bed down a game-plan with his second-string squad.

"The biggest thing is this is a much newer situation for me," Nurse said of being coach of a national side.

"I know it was my first year as coach of the Raptors, but I was there five years as an assistant so I knew the pulse and the heartbeat of the locker room.

"Here I'm in a much more of a clean slate type of situation.

"I'm trying to get to know these guys, they're trying to get to know me. And we have to do it quicker. These games are going to be here in a few weeks so it's an accelerated pace."

When the Raptors went on their Championship-winning run last season, the whole of Canada got behind them.

Nurse hopes he can now bring the nation some joy on an international stage and he feels Canada is a team on the rise.

"What happened with the Raptors was really cool," Nurse said.

"It almost felt like a national team playing in the pro league because every city in the country was watching every second of all those games.

"I think Canada is at an interesting, pivotal point in its basketball career."

While the Boomers fancy their chances of snaring an elusive World Cup medal, Canada will be lucky to even get close given the sheer amount of pullouts.

Australian Associated Press