United, they stand at Mohawk

Hamilton United debuts in the new Canadian Basketball League

This will be the third level of basketball Xzennis Brereton will play in Hamilton and he wants to make it work.

The former St. Thomas More and Mohawk College star will be on the roster Friday and Sunday when Hamilton United makes its debut in the brand new — and delayed by a year — Canadian Basketball League.

United, one of five teams in the CBL, will stage an open house at its home gym, the Braley Athletic and Recreation Centre at Mohawk College at 7:30 p.m. Friday night, which will feature a scrimmage against the Wellington Gryphons followed by kids being allowed on the floor.

Hamilton begins its regular season against Durham, Sunday at 1:30 p.m., also at Mohawk.

“We want to build up the league,” says Brereton, a shooting guard, “I think it’s high calibre, the players are from everywhere and there are a lot of talented people on this team.

“I know a lot of people who might come out to watch. They’ll recognize a couple of the names, Kojo and I, and they’ll want to see a new league. ”

Kojo is Kojo Afari, a forward who was Brereton’s teammate at Mohawk College.

The CBL is the brainchild of Butch Carter, who coached the Toronto Raptors from 1997-2000, leading the team to its first playoff berth and helping develop Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady into NBA stars.

The league, designed to develop younger (especially Canadian) players, was supposed to get off the ground last year with three teams — in Hamilton, Waterloo and Ottawa, and perhaps a fourth in Scarborough — but couldn’t finalize owners and arenas in time to mount a full season. Waterloo is no longer involved after the Titans of the National Basketball League of Canada moved into Kitchener for the 2016-17 season.

Scarborough, which will play out of the new Pan-Am Centre, and Hamilton made it to the inaugural season. Carter says the league is still waiting to schedule games in the Ottawa area, so they’re not yet listed on the CBL schedule. Wellington will play out of the new athletics facility at the University of Guelph while Durham calls Oshawa’s Durham College home.

Carter and his old high school teammate Bruce Helsel own the Wellington team and the league owns Hamilton and Durham.

“It’s hard to get an owner without a 2,000seat arena because you can’t make money with the ticket prices we want,” Carter told The Spectator, noting that capacity at Mohawk is only about 800. “Hamilton is not optimized yet. We couldn’t get time at Mac, which we’d hoped for.”

Carter had talked last year to McMaster but the Burridge Gym doesn’t have enough floor time during the winter months to accommodate a full schedule.

The hope seems to be is that the league will grow in popularity over time and with that, United will be able to afford to purchase time at a larger arena, as well as attracting an ownership group.

The CBL will play by FIBA (the world basketball umbrella organization) rules, with a 10-player game roster and two more players who are on the roster but not playing that particular night. As well, there will a “young Canadians” group who practice with the team. The league eventually wants to have a Canadian ‘ratio’ of six players per team.

Brereton and Arafi are currently on United’s 10-man roster and will play on the weekend.

The league is professional — “There is no such thing as semi-professional,” Carter says — with a salary cap of $125,000 per team per season. ROSTER: United is coached by Mark Anderson, from the American junior college ranks, and is managed for the league by Rob Bowden, president of Ancaster Basketball Club.

“I’m really optimistic,” Bowden said. “Hamilton is a great basketball city, there are 15 rep clubs in the area.

“I think we’ll do very well. The basketball will take a little time to showcase, we know that. In looking at the quality of players we do have I believe the community will get behind the team.”

Hamilton United is scheduled to play 11 home games at Mohawk between this weekend and April 1 when the schedule ends.

Tickets start at $13, with a courtside high of $29. There is a centralized box office for the league at cbltickets.com or 844-225-5886.