It’s a Raptors 905 reunion with Honey Badgers
Three local high school grads are also on Hamilton’s CEBL roster
Three former Raptors 905 teammates and three local high school grads highlight the Hamilton Honey Badgers’ 2020 roster released Wednesday.
MiKyle McIntosh, the team’s first selection in the 2019 CEBL draft, and Duane Notice, also taken in the summer pro league’s inaugural draft, both played briefly for the Honey Badgers late last season.
They’ll be reunited with new Hamilton head coach Ryan Schmidt, and Derek Cooke Jr., who was drafted by the Honey Badgers last year but opted to play in Italy’s top pro league. Schmidt had all three in Mississauga where he has spent the past three seasons as developmental coach of Raptors 905, the Toronto Raptors’ NBA G League team.
The roster also includes Hamilton’s Jean-Victor Mukama, who played at Académie Catholique Mère-Teresa before starring at Ryerson, and Mike Hamilton, who was at St Jean de Brébeuf prior to his post-secondary career at Olds College. A third local guard, Caleb Agada out of Burlington Assumption, played in two games with Hamilton last season before departing to join the Nigerian national team and then playing pro in Spain.
Fan favourite and veteran pro Mike Fraser is the one returnee who played the full season for the Honey Badgers, who were runners-up in the CEBL final.
Hamilton also confirmed its signing of Justin Jackson, the first NBA-drafted player (43rd overall in 2018) inked to a CEBL contract.
“Justin was only able to play in 10 games the past two seasons due to injury and was on the verge of completing his rehabilitation work and returning to action when the coronavirus shut down the NBA and NBA G League,” his agent Mike George said in a release.