Another summer of Winnipeg Sea Bears basketball is near as the club opened training camp with just a little over a week to prepare for their season opener.
The Sea Bears had a lot of new faces on the floor at the Sport For Life Centre to start their third season in the Canadian Elite Basketball League. Of the 16 players on the Sea Bears training camp roster, only three are returning from last year in guards Alex Campbell, Emmanuel Akot and Mason Bourcier.
In their first two seasons, the Sea Bears were led by MVP type candidates in Teddy Allen and Justin Wright-Foreman, but Sea Bears general manager and head coach Mike Taylor took a different approach to build this year’s roster as they look for more team chemistry instead of individual achievements.
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“The first two summers we had the star mentality with the team,” said Taylor. “We were really built around Teddy. And Teddy was a fantastic talent, and did a lot of good things for us. And then when we replaced Teddy — we brought in Justin. And Justin, you talk about two guys, MVP candidates in the league, two guys leading the league in scoring.
“But I think if we want to have that ultimate team basketball success, the best teams that I’ve been a part of, the championship teams that I’ve been apart of, the World Cup team that I’ve been apart of, are all about team basketball. So we’ve tried to change the roster in a way that we’ve got guys that are, let’s say, team oriented.”
Taylor said he got a good first impression from their first practice on Thursday.
The Sea Bears already have a berth at the CEBL Championship Weekend as this year’s hosts with a free trip to the final four, but Campbell, whose former teams have hosted in years past, believes you can’t coast your way into the semifinals to have success at the end.
“I think it’s just coming out of the gate playing championship basketball,” said Campbell. “It’s kind of a setup. Guys get into this comfortable state and then just kinda glide through the summer. And then try to ramp up closer to the championship game.
“But I think it’s just about attacking every game knowing that we’re building for something great at the end and keeping that consistency throughout the summer.”
The Sea Bears will play their season opener next Friday against the Edmonton Stingers at the Canada Life Centre starting at 7:30 p.m. All the home games can be heard live on 680 CJOB this season.
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