Know Your Team: Diego Kapelan
St. John's Edge
6’3
Guard
From Bihac, Bosnia and Herzegovina
The St. John's Edge found themselves with one of the biggest sensations of the 2018-19 NBL Canada season in high-scoring, reliable and highly experienced Diego Kapelan.
Moving to Vancouver at an early age, Kapelan was the MVP of King George High in each season he played for the team. He then made the move to the McNeese State Cowboys in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
The Cowboys' leading three-point shooter in freshman year, and scoring average leader as a sophomore, he was made a starter in the next two seasons with the team. He was the second-highest scorer in junior year and named to the 2011 All-Southland conference second team as a senior. He had averaged 11.7 points per game at the end of his time with McNeese State.
Kapelan then turned professional and returned to the country of his birth, joining Zrinjski in the Bosnian BiH Liga. In 2012 he joined Apollon in Cyprus, competing in both the Cypriot League and the EuroChallenge tournament, before finishing the season with Kolossos in Greece.
He began the following season with Kolossos, but moved on to Wohnbau in Germany, where he averaged 17.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists on 52% field shooting. 2014 saw him join Wels in the Austrian Bundesliga, where he averaged 13.4 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game in the 2014-15 season.
Following which, he spent two years with Ourense in the Spanish second division, averaging 14.1 points and 2.1 rebounds in his first season and 11.9 points and 2.2 rebounds in reduced minutes during the second. He remained in Spain for the 2017-18 season, appearing in 48 games for Melilla and averaging 11.3 points.
His duel Bosnian-Canadian citizenship made him eligible to represent Canada at the 2017 William Jones Cup in Taiwan. Averaging 18.0 points and 4.4 rebounds and 53% three-point shooting, Kapelan helped the Canadian team to capture the title and scooped up tournament MVP honours for himself.
Kapelan began the 2018-19 season with Siauliai in Lithuania, but left after the team failed to qualify for the Basketball Champions League and subsequently opted out of the second-tier Europe Cup. He then signed for the St. John's Edge in November 2018 - and wasted no time in making his presence felt.
Averaging in 10.4 points in seventeen games, fifteen of which he came off the bench, Kapelan ranked in the top ten across the whole of the NBL Canada in three-point shooting and three-point percentage. Even with another half of the season still to come, he has already proved himself to be among the best newcomers to the league in the 2018-19 season.
Picture: St. John's Edge
