Steve Milton: One thing’s for sure, Hamilton Honey Badgers are here to play
Hamilton Honey Badgers open their first CEBL season at home on Sunday against Edmonton
The idea is to play, so they can keep playing.
And they can even do it at three in the morning.
The 13 players currently with the Hamilton Honey Badgers, who begin their season in the brand-new Canadian Elite Basketball League
Sunday against the visiting Edmonton Stingers (4 p.m. FirstOntario Centre), are here for at least 13 different reasons. But most of them funnel down to this: they want to improve their skills and court intellect through actual competition, professional coaching and medical attention with access to a top-flight training centre rather than spending the summer trying to pull all that together on their own.
An extra paycheque on top of the one most of them made in other leagues earlier in the year doesn't hurt either.
"You're going to get paid to compete, learn the game and improve and that's going to get you a better contract for Europe," says Badgers' head coach, Chantal Vallée.
The Badgers have been training at McMaster and Mohawk and about half of them will spend the three-month season in residence at Mohawk, with 24-hour access to the college's nearby gym and weight rooms. Can't sleep? Get up and work on that three-pointer.
"I knew it was a great opportunity to come home in the summer, stay in shape, work out and play against some of the top Canadian guys," says 26-year-old point guard, Justin Edwards, a former OFSAA champion with Whitby's Anderson CVI. "I played most of these guys in high school and I wanted to play against them again. One of the main reasons I wanted to be in this league was that I can work out in the gym whenever I need to.
"I'm not really worried about the money. I'm just really looking forward to staying in shape, playing and being ready for wherever I go next."
Like so many of the Badgers, he's not yet sure where that will be. Ranked No. 8 among all Canadian high school players in 2011, he went on to play at Kansas State and has been with the Toronto Raptors NBA summer league team and in pro leagues in Hungary, Italy, France, Korea and Isreal.
He considers himself a natural "two" (shooting guard), but several pro teams, including some in the NBA, have told him he should be a "one", so one of his goals here is successfully making that transition.
CEBL teams are allowed to dress nine players and a developmental player who still has U Sports eligibility. A second developmental player may be dressed for home games. The Badgers' development duo are forward Connor Gilmore of the McMaster Marauders and Windsor's Thomas Kennedy. All but three players must be Canadian.
Badgers president John Lashway says rosters will tend to be fluid, and league rules were structured to accommodate that, so players have an opportunity to attend NBA mini-camps, or play in the 10-day NBA summer league.
Additionally, he says, some "really good players" under Hamilton control are still involved in other pro league playoffs.
The three Americans in the Badgers' lineup Sunday will be: Anthony Lee Jr., 28, out of Ohio State, who's played pro in eight countries in four years; Ricky Tarrant, 26, who finished his college career at Memphis and has played professionally in Turkey, France, Venezuela, Hungary and in NBL Canada; and Demetrius Denzel-Dyson, 24, out of Samford University who will start at forward.
Denzel-Dyson was an interesting find. Last October, he signed with the NBA's Indiana Pacers on an "Exhibit 10" contract, a short-term deal which provides a significant bonus if the player report's to the team's G League affiliate if he's waived, which Denzel-Dyson did, with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants.
"I'm preparing for the summer league," Denzel-Dyson told The Spectator, "And then I'll come back to help us win the championship here. I'm hoping for an NBA contract for next season. The Pacers discovered me late so wanted me to develop and I'm learning a lot from coach Chantal.
"She has a great IQ and I take in everything she's teaching me."
The Badgers' broad Canadian content includes Burlington's Matt Marshall, who played high school at Notre Dame then at Nelson before his university career at Ottawa and Brock. He turned pro in September 2016 with the NBLCs Niagara River Lions, now a regional rival in the new league.
Marshall, 6-7 "stretch four" forward, played with the Lions and with their European partner Spisska Nova Ves in the top Slovakian pro league. He also played for Wolmirstedt in Germany's third division.
"It's the excitement of being home and playing in front of family and friends again," Marshall said of the CEBL. "Being only 20 minutes down the highway from Burlington. To meet more players, to experience another level of basketball is unbelievable. It's something that we as Canadian players have been waiting for for a long time. To have the ability to come home and do this is incredible."
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