Will the NBL make it?

Well, the end is in sight.  The end of the first season of the National Basketball League of Canada.  We have a few weeks left in the regular season and then two rounds of playoffs.  The season will be capped off with the All Star celebrations the weekend of March 31 and April 1^st in Halifax.  Our detractors said at the first of the year that we wouldn’t make it this far which I guess means that year one is a success.  Alex J. Walling from TSN would likely say that the fact that a game hasn’t been cancelled puts us ahead of other leagues but hopefully we aspire to more than that.

I think year one can only be judged a success if it sets the stage for year two and beyond.  We have certainly had our imperfections but most have been overcome.  Moncton clearly struggled on the court early in the season but a coaching change led to drastically improved product.  Even with those struggles, attendance has held steady at nearly 1,500 people per game which is very impressive when you start 0-10.  Oshawa has had attendance problems but a Rogers game with free tickets for the community has started a turnaround.  Quebec has suffered with attendance at an unsuitable facility but will be moving to a more suitable building for some of its final games.  So imperfections aside, we have made progress.

I think it would be naïve to think that there won’t be changes in the offseason.  Everyone involved has learned a ton, ourselves included.  There could be new owners involved as teams look to solidify their finances.  The league has a slow growth model as do most of the teams.  However, that requires enough capital to be patient so you could see new owners stepping into teams to provide the support they need.  I think you can also see some changes in management as teams focus more on sales and marketing in their management and less on basketball.  The quality of the play in the league is self-evident but success in the business side takes the skill and discipline that success in any business requires.

Is this unhealthy?  Of course not.  This happens in business all the time.  Businesses take on new investors.  They change management to find the most skilled and appropriate people.  These are actually signs of growth and sustainability.  So will the NBL make it?  Certainly it looks like it will and the changes that we could see this offseason will be part of building for the future.

Catching up

Sorry it’s been awhile since I posted.  Things have been incredibly busy and there is so much to talk about I’m not sure where to start.  On the court, we had a fantastic start and now a losing streak.  We’ve had great crowds.  We’ve had guys in so many community events that I’ve lost count and the reception has been fantastic.

We’ve gotten so much feedback for standing at the door thanking people for coming.  Okay, full disclosure.  It’s a ton of fun but it wasn’t our idea.  It was Billy’s.  We’ve heard everything.  I’ve had feedback on the music.  I’ve had plays drawn (I admit, I didn’t give it to coach Salerno.  Sorry).  But the overwhelming thing that I’ve heard at the door is that people are having fun at the game.  The atmosphere has been great and it seems that people feel they are getting their money’s worth.  At every game, there are people I haven’t seen before mixed into what are becoming familiar faces.

The one conclusion that we’ve come to is that professional basketball can work on Prince Edward Island.  While we have so much work to do on so many things, we’re convinced that the community wants and enjoys the product on the floor.  Now, onward and upward.

So I’m going to try to update you more frequently.  Sorry it’s been so long.  Thanks for all your support.

Thank You West Prince!!!!

The fans of West Prince and Westisle Composite High School were wonderful hosts for the Summerside Storm this evening.  Lots of fans came out to enjoy the evening.  Thanks to West Prince Minor Basketball for organizing a wonderful event.  The Storm players had a great time playing with the kids and signing autographs. 

It was also a great opportunity for the guys to get a run in under some game like conditions.  After a week of intense practices, the guys came out strong on both ends of the floor.  Highlights were Justin Garris’ breakaway dunk and some hot shooting by Xavier Hansbro.  Halftime featured some fun activities for the kids and the first Storm slam dunk contest.  The second half continued with some great action including a solid dunk by UPEI product Doug McKinney.

Thanks to our refs Rick, Dale and Todd for helping out.

Signing a McDonald’s All-American

We’ve already announced that we signed Mike Williams as our first major signing.  Mike was a McDonalds All-American which means he was one of the best 30 high school players in his class.  He played in that game with people who are household names in basketball circles like Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic.  Mike played at the University of Texas before transferring to the University of Cincinnati to finish his career.  At Texas he was in a final 8 in NCAA March Madness.

If anyone’s been listening to us, this part won’t surprise you.  He’s a great guy.  He played for Coach Salerno in Vermont and Joe thinks he’s a great guy.  He’ll be a great addition to the Island community.

So how do you recruit a guy like this to PEI?  Well, it’s complicated and competitive.  Several other NBL teams were interested in Mike, and one in particular was pushing hard.  What people might not know is that the NBL has a standard player contract for all players so all the basic terms of signing a player to any team are the same.  Doesn’t leave you much to negotiate on.  Like so many things in life, what it comes down to is relationships.  His relationship with Coach Salerno was the critical factor.  So, maybe our big recruit came before our big recruit.

We are continuing to sign first rate players.  We think this establishes us as a serious contender in the first season of the NBL.  If anyone had any doubts about the calibre of basketball in this league, they should be gone.  Can’t wait to toss it up and get started.

Draft Weekend

What an incredible weekend!!!  I’m thrilled to get the guys we got.  I think they are all excellent players and guys with deep character that will be positive additions to the Island community.  It was an exciting process to go through.  We were a little mystified that when you watch a draft on TV, some guy is always on the phone.  We couldn’t think of any we should be calling so Billy was going to order a pizza J.

I’m also very pleased that Sherone Edwards from UPEI went in the second round.  He played really well at the combines and I was hoping to get him, but he’ll be great for Quebec.  This league will be ideal for someone like Sherone who can take the ball to the basket.

I have to admit that I was a little disappointed in the Canadian group at the combine.  Not that the session didn’t feature some great players.  It did.  But there are a ton of great Canadian players that didn’t show up.  Take the guys from X.  Will Silver and Charlie Spurr were there and both played really well and worked really hard so I don’t want to take anything away from them but they aren’t Christian Upshaw.  Christian, or more commonly T-Bear is a former conference MVP and one of the great players of the last few years in the AUS.  So where was he?  The list of guys that should have been there is long, and I know some like Joe Schow from Dal already committed overseas.  But I think that the fact that not a single Carleton guy was on the floor says something.

This is a problem we need to solve.  I think the league should have the requirement to have more than two Canadians per team.  We’re going to need some of our Canadians to step up and play well this year to make that case.  The Canadian Football League requires half of its roster to be Canadian.  The reason there are only two required on each roster this year is that teams needed as much flexibility as possible to get 12 players and be able to play at a high level.  But if we are going to be part of growing the game in Canada and provide opportunities to Canadian players, we need to figure out why the best Canada had to offer wasn’t in that gym on Sunday.