Know Your Team: Jaylen Bland
Sudbury Five
6'3
Guard
From Reseda, California
Jaylen Bland has never looked back after hitting the ground running with the Sudbury Five and continues to make a big impression in his first NBL Canada season.
Named to the All-Ohio First Team while playing for Cleveland High School, in 2012 Bland joined the Murray State Racers in Kentucky. He played on average just over six minutes per game, but reached the third round of the NCAA Division 1 tournament with the Racers.
Bland then moved on to the COC Cougars in Santa Clartia, California, where he won the Western State Conference championship and was named to the state's first team. The following season he stayed in California, but returned to the NCAA, joining the UC Riverside Highlanders.
In just two seasons with the Highlanders, he set the team record for made three-pointers with 213, 118 of which were made in senior year alone. This total in itself was a team record, and saw him finish third in the nation for threes, as well as leading his team in scoring and steals the same season.
Bland's professional career got off to a good start, as he was chosen fifteenth overall by the Salt Lake City Stars in the 2016 NBA D-League Draft. He appeared in 39 games for Salt Lake City in the 2016-17 D-League season, starting in 10, and finished on 5.7 points and 2.1 rebounds per game.
Bland then split the 2017-18 season with Culiacan in Mexico and Contern in Luxembourg, for the latter he averaged 24.2 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 20 games.
2018 saw him make his NBL Canada debut with the Sudbury Five, making an incredible statement with 43 bench points in his first appearance. After his thirteenth game with Sudbury, he is the team's second-highest scorer, with 20.4 points per contest, and third-overall rebounder with 4.9 average total boards. His 64 threes, meanwhile, is the third-best record of the whole league.
Bland was a key component in Sudbury's high-flying start to the season, and will continue to be a highly important player for the team as they strive for success in the remainder of the year.
Picture: Cameron Young
