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League completes successful tour across the border, as Canada is introduced to Central Basketball Association

08/28/2014, 2:30pm CDT
By CBA Staff

Last weekend, twelve players from the Central Basketball Association, alongside two coaches and two league management officials, traveled across the border to introduce the CBA to both the Canadian minor league basketball system and professional basketball league. 

On Friday, on the campus of McMaster University, the home of the largest college in Hamilton, Ontario, the CBA All-Stars played a highly competitive and exciting match versus the top players of the North of the Border Basketball League (NBBL), ultimately falling in the final minutes, 100-92. The NBBL is Canada's premier minor league organization and serves as an excellent summer league platform for international coaches and general managers to properly scout Canadian talent. The most notable player to play in the NBBL this past season was Brady Heslip, who was the most prolific three-point shooting guard in Baylor University history, member of the Canadian National Team, and was signed by the Minnesota Timberwolves this past weekend after playing on their summer league team in Las Vegas in July. 

By working collaboratively with the NBBL, the CBA was able to attract scouts to view the all-star game Friday night to see how the American basketball players of the CBA could compete on a high-level with the Canadian basketball players of the NBBL. During the game, the CBA All-Stars had five players scoring in double digits, led by six-foot-three guard Rockie Robinson (River City Panthers) and six-foot-eight forward Antonio Wilson (Fort Wayne Flite). Although this was the first time Head Coach Nathan Thompson (Bowling Green Hornets) and Assistant Coach Alondray Rogers (Memphis Soul Kings) were able to view and coach the players together at the same time, it was very promising to see them manage such a competitive game without much prior chemistry or practice with one another as coaches or with the players themselves as a whole. 

After a rest day on Saturday, which consisted of various player and coach meetings, the twelve CBA All-Stars proceeded to Orangeville, Ontario to participate in the 2014 National Basketball League of Canada Pre-Draft Combine. The NBL-Canada is Canada's most premier professional basketball league, and is considered one of the fastest growing professional leagues in the world. Consisting of eight teams (Windsor, London, Mississauga, Brampton, Halifax, Moncton, Saint John, and Prince Edward Island), the NBL-Canada has been an active proponent in providing a North American platform for top basketball athletes in the world, coming behind just the National Basketball Association (NBA) in world prestige in the Western Hemisphere. 

During the combine, which consisted of eighty aspiring American athletes, including the twelve from the CBA, players were divided into twelve different teams, in which they participated in nearly five hours of competitive action. While each athlete was participating in the scrimmages, coaches, general managers, and owners of the various NBL-Canada teams evaluated the talent in front of them. The day before, they had done the same, but with only aspiring Canadian athletes. At the conclusion of the combine, the NBL-Canada announced the top 20 athletes from the day's combine, who would then join the top 20 athletes from the prior day's Canadian-only combine, and be eligible for the 2014 NBL-Canada Draft later that evening. Out of the top 20 Americans selected as being eligible for the 2014 Draft, four CBA players were chosen as being the best of the total group of combine participants: John Paul Nyadaro (Bowling Green Hornets), Tyrell Hursey (Memphis Soul Kings), Ronald Lucas III (Fort Wayne Flite), and James Humphrey (Fort Wayne Flite). Following the combine, however, many coaches and general managers approached the other eight CBA All-Stars and discussed invitiations to each of their respective team training camps in October, even though they were not selected as eligible for the draft. 

Finally, later that evening just outside Toronto, the twelve all-stars attended the NBL-Canada Draft event, supporting the four eligible players and hoping that at least one of them would be selected by any of the eight Canadian clubs. After almost an hour of anxiety and impatience, the Saint John Mill Rats selected John Paul Nyadaro (Bowling Green Hornets) with the fifth pick of the second round, causing an eruption of cheers and smiles from the CBA players, coaches, and management officials. A trip, that started with nearly a dozen hours of traveling, with the hope of having at least one CBA player starting their professional career in Canada, concluded successfully with Nyadaro donning his new Mill Rats jersey and conducting interviews under the banner of his new team. 

For the sixteen individuals on this trip, the Canada All-Star tour may have ended, but the work continues to go on, as the eleven undrafted free agents work hard to receive an invitation to a NBL-Canada team's training camp and ultimately making the 12-man roster of any of the eight clubs. And for those that are unsuccessful in that particular task, the work proceeds forward in landing a contract on another international team's roster, especially with the European and Asian leagues commencing in early Fall. 

The CBA players and coaches may have been in Canada for just four days, but they took back with them a lifetime of experiences and lessons. For the nearly 100-plus CBA players that did not participate on the trip, it provides them motivation and aspirations to work hard during the 2015 CBA season and head to Canada next summer. And for the league as a whole, the CBA successfully made a name for themselves north of the border, and look to continue to strengthen and build their relationships with NBL-Canada and their eight teams, as well as the NBBL. For all parties involved, the trip was an enormous success, and the CBA thanks the officials of both the NBBL and NBL-Canada for their hospitality, generosity and encouragement.       

Photo courtesy of: http://aerialpromotions.tumblr.com/tagged/cba

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