Sudbury Five: NBLC Team Previews
The Sudbury Five impressed in their inaugural NBL Canada season, showing levels of confidence and competency most newly-created franchises don't. Though they finished short of where they would have liked to, they head into their second season with the belief they can
Ahead of the new season, the team welcomed back reigning NBLC MVP Braylon Rayson, hoping for a repeat of the 24.2 average points he led the league with last season. Rayson returns alongside the dependable, hard-working Jaylen Bland and coach Logan Stutz - a trio that already makes this an outfit to be feared.
Backing them up will be reliable rotation players from last season, Joey Puddister, Georges Serresse and Dexter Williams, who will be looking to build on the promise of the 6.4 points and 4.2 rebound averages he posted in 2018-19.
So far so similar for the Sudbury roster, but could this be a case of familiarity breeding contempt? Will the fact that so many familiar faces on in the line up give the other teams an early idea of the Five's game plan and how to play against them?
To address this, a lot of new faces will be coming to the 705 as well: in one of the biggest moves of the off-season, a trade with the Halifax Hurricanes has seen them secure the services of Malcolm Duvivier. The 2019 rookie team member impressed in his debut season in Nova Scotia and will be hoping to build on his 7.7 NBLC career scoring average as a sophomore in Sudbury.
In addition, the Five will also see two new CEBL champions - Jelane Pryce and Marlon Johnson - join their ranks. Innisfil native Pryce is still making the switch from 3x3 basketball, having previously competed on the World Tour for Winnipeg, while Johnson has applied his trade in Spain and Portugal before making the move to Canada.
Rounding off the roster are guard Josiah Moore, making Sudbury his fourth NBLC team in as many seasons, and forward JR Holder, who will be making his NBLC debut off a season with the Leicester Riders in the UK.
The 2019-20 Sudbury squad looks impressive and has plenty of pedigree, and their pre-season results indicate there is a lot of promise to be had. Of the three fixtures played, they have won two and their only loss came against the Moncton Magic in OT.
All this points to another successful season for Sudbury when their regular season gets underway on December 28th, when they take on the KW Titans.
