River Lions open camp Sunday
The Niagara River Lions are getting down to business.
The Canadian Elite Basketball League franchise will officially open its training camp this Sunday at Niagara College and Thorold District Secondary School.
The team will practise at Niagara College in the morning (9 to 11 a.m.) and in Thorold in the early evening (4 to 5:30 p.m.).
“It’s a really good setup,” head coach/GM Victor Raso said. “We have a sponsorship with Coventry Transportation so they will pick us up every day and drive us to Niagara College and back to Thorold.”
Morning practices will involve inputting team philosophies and systems, contact drills and teaching while evening practices will focus on competing.
“It will be mini-games and practise, and a lot of five-on-five stuff,” Raso said. “It’s giving guys ample opportunity to play together in our short window here.”
There is not a lot of time to get ready with official practices starting Sunday and the first league game scheduled for Thursday of the following week (May 9).
“We don’t even have two weeks to get ready,” Raso said.
There will be 15 players when camp opens and notable absences will include Canadians Kaza Kajami-Keane, Kassius Robertson and Ryan Wright. They are all finishing out their pro seasons elsewhere.
Among the notable players who weren’t drafted by the River Lions, but will be attending camp are: Canadian point guard Trae Bell-Haynes, a two-time player of the year at Vermont, who played in the First Division in Germany and is coming off a year in the NBA G League; Ryan Anderson, an American shooting guard, who has been a member of the National Basketball League of Canada’s London Lightning for the past four or five years; and small forward/power forward Dorian Pinson, an American player who just won forward of the year in the German second division.
Raso has been dying to get started for weeks.
“I’ve been waiting for this for a long time, but we’ve had six or seven guys come in as early as Tuesday of this week and we have been working out in the morning and again at night,” he said. “The guys we brought out all want to work out and be in the gym.
“We have been going at it already and I am just excited to have all the guys in and finally be able to put guys on the floor and get our team going.”
Season ticket holders can get their first glimpse of the team at an open practice on Sunday, May 5 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Boys and Girls Club in Niagara Falls.
Niagara opens on the road May 9 in Saskatoon and May 10 in Edmonton. The River Lions will host the Edmonton Stingers in their home opener Thursday, May 16 at 7 p.m. at the Meridian Centre
