Know Your Team: Bruce Massey Jr

Cape Breton Highlanders

6’3

Guard

From Germantown, Maryland

1xAll-NBLC

The 2017/18 NBL Canada season had plenty of surprise packages. One of the biggest - or for those from eastern Nova Scotia, the biggest - came in the form of Cape Breton's late signing Bruce Massey Jr.

Massey first turned heads during his time with the Dodge City Conquistadors, where he lead his team in steals per game (3.9), which was also the third-highest in all of America.

From there, he moved on to become the starting shooting guard for the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders, averaging 6.4 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists in two years. He was named Sun Belt conference Defensive Player of the Year as a senior, and would play with the Blue Raiders in the 2013 NCAA Championship, though they lost in the first round to the St. Mary's Gaels.

Massey was then drafted by the NBA D-League team Springfield Armour, later the Grand Rapids Drive. He played 36 games in his first season, averaging 5.0 points and 2.7 rebounds. He would play two more years with this team, with two stints with the Erie Bayhawks in-between, before being released in November 2017.

After a brief spell with Caballeros de Culiacan in Mexico, Massey signed with the Cape Breton Highlanders. In what would be a stand-out NBLC debut season, he averaged 21.8 points in 31 games, the third-highest scoring average of the 2017/18 season. His 6.9 rebounds per game would be the eleventh-highest, and he would also finish in the top 20 in steals and points total. He earned All-NBLC second team honours.

Having found a new home with the Highlanders, Massey will be hoping in his second season with the club he will be able to lift them to their first NBL Canada post-season berth.

Picture: Vaughan Merchant