Brown relishes CEBL experience
One of the best aspects of the new Canadian Elite Basketball League is the inclusion of a returning U SPORTS player on the roster of every team.
For the Niagara River Lions, that player is 6-foot-1 Brock University point guard Tyler Brown, who is coming off his fourth season with the Badgers, where he averaged 11.8 points and 3.5 points per game.
“I thought it was a pretty cool opportunity to allow one player from each team to be a returning CIS (U SPORTS) player because it gives you the experience of playing at the pro level, you get to learn a lot of things and then bring it back to your team at university,” the 22-year-old Hamilton native said.
He feels he has already taken a lot of strides in his four years at Brock.
“I shot the ball better this past year than I did in my first two years and I want to continue doing that,” he said.
Brown participated in two-a-day skill workouts last week leading up to the official start of trading camp this past Sunday. He admitted to having a few butterflies when camp officially opened.
“Before we started, we had a meeting to discuss what to expect and I was getting a little nervous, but as soon as I got on the court the nervousness sort of went away and it was just play and try and be competitive,” he said.
In most aspects, he feels like he can compete up with his older and more experienced teammates.
“My athleticism is good because I am pretty fast, but I need to work a little more on my IQ for the game and stuff like that,” he said. “The way they see and read the game is a lot higher than mine.”
Brown knows his physical stature will provide some challenges to overcome.
“I am a little small and I have to get stronger because these guys are big and strong and I don’t want to get bodied around.”
Even at the Ontario University Athletics level, Brown took a pounding.
“You just have to get back up and do whatever you can,” he said.
He is looking forward to what lies ahead.
“I would love to play, but whatever my role is on this team I will embrace it,” he said. “Even if I don’t play at all, training with these guys in practice will help me a lot and I am going to learn whatever I can from them.”
Getting better is his only goal.
“I want to learn as much as I can and see how the players at the highest level are thinking and playing because I want to eventually go on and play pro,” he said. “I want to be a smarter basketball player and I am going to ask a lot of questions, learn tendencies and what to do in different situations.”
Niagara head coach/GM Victor Raso loves having Brown on the team.
“Tyler is awesome,” he said. “He is just a great kid and he competes like he is a professional. He has one year of university left and the growth in his game is going to be awesome over the summer.”
Niagara has divided into three teams for training camp and Brown is the point guard on one of the teams.
“He doesn’t back down from anybody,” Raso said. “Guys go at him in practice and our practices are super competitive because we play a style that is play to your strength or attack their weakness.
“He’s relentless, he doesn’t care and he is just going to get better because of it.”
Niagara’s training camp roster is made up of Brown, Ryan Anderson, Trae Bell-Haynes, Guillaume Boucard, Julian Boyd, Yohanny Dalembert, Gilbert Gyamfi, Miroslav Jaksic, Alex Johnson, Kregg Jones, Nem Mitrovic, Josiah Moore, Anthony Ottley Jr., Dorian Pinson, Cassidy Ryan and Fil Vujadinovic.
