Team-building begins on Day 1 for River Lions
Training camp for the Niagara River Lions’ fourth season in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) tipped off Monday with the lineup already set for the upcoming spring-summer season.
While a total of 16 players will be taking the court for two-a-days throughout the week inside Canada Games Park in Thorold, the only drama is in the audition for the lone spot on the pro team’s practice squad spot.
In the off-season, the River Lions signed the 11 players they hope will help them net their first CEBL championship. Ten are already in camp, with Phil Scrubb expected to join them later.
Co-general manager-head coach Victor Raso said, because the 20game regular season begins next week, the focus is to use the limited time it has available to build team chemistry.
“The goal is to prepare for the first game and for the season. That’s the reason I don’t want to bring in 16 guys all competing for 10 spots because I want to be ready for Game 1 with a base that’s set for the whole season,” he said. “I want these guys to start to build team cohesion right off the bat.
“If we pick our team two days before the first game, then I feel like we’ve wasted a few days of camaraderie and teaching moments.”
Players who are filling out the training camp roster, essentially providing the River Lions with a “third team,” include four members of the men’s team at Brock University, one returning for another year at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S., and another who just graduated from Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, B.C.
“They understand their purpose in camp. They’re the third team, they’re here for an experience,” Raso said. “We will keep one of them as a practice player for the whole year.”
He said training camp is a “massive development opportunity” for the players filling out the roster at training camp.
“Although they won’t be with us for the rest of the year, they’re going to get seven days of two-a-days against pros trying to win every single day and then take that back.”
Raso, who is back for a fourth season as the head coach of the St. Catharines-based team, suggested emphasizing team chemistry in a development league used by players hoping to land pro contracts for the fall-winter season isn’t as counterintuitive as it appears at first blush.
“Those two things seem opposite, but they’re directly tied together. The more understanding you are of your teammates, the better basketball team you are, the more you can showcase what you can do,” he said.
“If you just showcase what you’re able to do and you’re not a good team, it’s going to look bad and you’re going to lose.”
Raso has found that being a “team player” is a box that general managers check off when squads are recruiting players.
“I asked the players on Day 1, ‘Every single person who is going to hire you from here on out is going to want to do what?’ And they all said they’re going to want to win,” Raso said.
“Your ability to contribute to winning is your most-coveted skill. That’s literally the only one you have.”
And contributions, he said, aren’t limited to what is reflected on the scoresheet.
“If you can contribute to winning by hitting shots, then people might sign you,” Raso said.
“If you can contribute to winning by hitting shots and being a great teammate, being early all the time, doing all the stuff, you’re more hirable.”
Expansion into Toronto, where the Scarborough Shooting Stars will begin play this year, didn’t adversely affect the River Lions recruiting efforts.
“I think other teams found it easier to recruit because of us,” Raso said.
“I’ve heard from many different players and many different agents the pitch is ‘We’ll get your guys to the G-League, we’ll get your guys to go to the NBA.’ ”
He said no one thought Javin DeLaurier, now with the Wisconsin Herd of the G League, would sign with the 2020-21 NBA championship Milwaukee Bucks, or that Xavier Sneed would use the River Lions as a springboard for signing a two-way contract with the Utah Jazz.
“And we did that. I hear other people saying, ‘What you guys did last year has made it easier for them to recruit players to their teams,’ ” Raso said. “We’ve had more people from our team go on to play pro than any team and I think it’s because we are team-oriented. That allows them to be the best version of themselves within a team setting and they understand the culture here is about ‘team, each other, getting to the next level.’
“They know that we want them to do that.”
Niagara opens the regular season Wednesday, May 25, in Saskatoon against the Saskatchewan Rattlers and plays on the road against the Edmonton Stingers on Friday, May 27; and the Guelph Nighthawks on Tuesday, May 31; before hosting the expansion Montreal Alliance on Friday, June 3, at Meridian Centre.