River Lions roster set for Thursday’s CEBL opener
The Niagara River Lions are ready for the start of the Canadian Elite Basketball League’s inaugural season.
Named to the roster for the team’s first two games, Thursday in Saskatoon against the Saskatchewan Rattlers and Friday in Edmonton versus the Stingers, are Tyler Brown, Ryan Anderson, Trae Bell-Haynes, Guillaume Boucard, Yohanny Dalembert, Alex Johnson, Nem Mitrovic, Dorian Pinson, Fil Vujadinovic and Sam Muldrow.
For head coach/GM Victor Raso, getting down to 10 players was a difficult proposition.
“It wasn’t a pleasant experience,” he said. “These guys were awesome. Everyone bought into the fact that it was a tryout for a limited amount of spots and we had to get prepared to play this weekend.”
Raso made sure the candidates for the limited positions knew what they needed to accomplish.
“I told the guys if they come in here and try and do something outside of what they can do or outside of the role that we need, then it is not going to go well for them.”
If a player was trying to make the ninth roster spot on the team and was shooting the back all the time, that athlete wasn’t going to be successful. That final roster spot ended up coming down to Vujadinovic and former Brock Badger Cassidy Ryan.
“That was a difficult decision because Cassidy and Fil were both playing well within what they do,” Raso said. “It came down to in that ninth sport we needed someone to just do the role we needed.”
Vujadinovic has spent his entire career at Ryerson as a ‘pick and pop four man’ who wasn’t relied on to make plays.
“He knows how to be the fourth option and he naturally does the little things,” Raso said. “He defends very well and rebounds very well.”
Ryan has been a main scorer for most of his career and needs work on becoming a role player at the professional level because he won’t be the best player right away.
“If I had to pick a match up or a guy to play through, I would have taken Cassidy,” Raso said.
For the team’s first two scrimmages — Thursday in Guelph and Sunday against a team of free agents — Niagara’s starting lineup was made up of Bell-Haynes, Boucard, Pinson, Mitrovic and Muldrow.
Muldrow is filling in for Julian Boyd for the first two games.
“When Julian comes on Sunday, then Sam will likely fit into the role that we will see him in,” Raso said.
That role is a hybrid position that will see Muldrow serve as an assistant coach, mentor and player when needed.
Boyd just finished his season in Iceland and was named the championship MVP.
Niagara is also awaiting the arrival of Kaza Kajami-Keane and Kassius Robertson. Kajami-Keane was backup point guard on Team Canada last summer and is playing for Zwolle in Holland. Robertson was a First Team Southeastern Conference at Missouri and is playing in top division in Germany with Medi Bayreuth of the Basketball Bundesliga League.
“Kassius will be the first one to come because his season ends on Sunday,” Raso said. “He should be here by our fourth game but definitely by May 31.”
The River Lions fared well in both their scrimmages and Raso feels his squad is ready for action.
“We are as ready as we are ever going to be,” he said. “We had a really good camp, but it’s tough. We had a week and a half to get prepared to win a game when you don’t know anything about the other team.
“I know who they (Saskatchewan) brought into camp and I have a good idea of their final roster, but we don’t find out the final roster until 24 hours before the game.”
The River Lions play their home opener Thursday, May 16 at 7 p.m. at the Meridian Centre against Edmonton.
