Crowning the best in Canadian hoops
Summer pro-am circuit puts a charge into the basketball community
Duane Watson stuck his head outside Toronto’s Kerr Hall Gymnasium on a Friday night last summer to gauge the growing lineup. It was still well before the first Nike Crown League game of the night would tip off, but knowing some fans would surely be turned away as the old gym’s seams stretched to capacity, people showed up early.
“Jay Triano (Canada’s men’s head coach) was like the 10th person in line,” Watson laughed.
Part basketball game, part party, part summer reunion, the Crown League is the place to be for basketball’s who’s who for five consecutive Friday nights in the summer.
Now in its fourth year, the Crown League was spearheaded by Nike’s Charles Yearwood both to give Canada’s best players a place to play in the summer, and to showcase the game in an intimate community set- ting.
“Delon (Wright) and Norm (Powell) played last year in the finals, and if you’re a kid and you’re in a gym and you’re within five feet of Delon or Norm, that’s a big deal,” Watson said of the Toronto Raptors teammates. “It’s giving that platform to showcase the talent that exists, especially if you’re a guy overseas, you don’t get an opportunity to play in front of family and friends. And it’s also showing Toronto at large that there’s a ton of high-level guys who can play at a high calibre in this city.”
Watson is the commissioner of the six-team pro-am league, which pits a handful of NBA players against college kids and others plying their trade in pro leagues abroad. It culminated in Friday’s finale between Brady Heslip’s 1Love T.O. and M.A.D.E., featuring Raptors 905 guard and former Ryerson standout Aaron Best.
The third-place game saw 6Man playing Northern Kings. CIA Bounce and ACE were the league’s other two teams.
“It’s nostalgic for me, it feels good to go back,” Best said of playing at Kerr Hall, part of the Ryerson University campus. “It’s like a reunion playing against everybody, seeing everybody who’s been overseas for a year, guys you haven’t played with or played against in a while … it’s like going back to your old high school, except everybody’s grown up, you get to catch up with everybody.
“And it gives a chance for the younger guys coming up to get out and have a chance to play against some pros, and people who want to be pros. It’s just all around a good basketball environment.”
Nike provided the marketing muscle, dressing up the gym in downtown Toronto with theatre lighting against a dramatic black background. “Claim Roy- alty” is splashed in giant letters across one brick wall. A DJ pumps music. The blue bleachers rumble with every big play. Admission is free.
Miami Heat forward Kelly Olynyk played last summer, stuffing people’s Instagram stories when he banked in a three at the buzzer to send his team to the semifinals. Fresh off playing with the L.A. Lakers in NBA summer league, Xavier RathanMayes had 43 points for CIA Bounce last week. The Raptors’ Pascal Siakam has played. NBA rules prevent Crown League from promoting its players. That only adds to the intrigue.
“No one really knows (who’ll show up to play), so people always come not knowing who to expect,” said Watson, the league’s commissioner since Day one.
Said Best: “The second week … we had Jermaine Anderson and Jevohn Shepherd, two legends in the Toronto scene. Watching them take over the game and see them just flourish in the environment and the competition and eventually help us win the game was just something special.”