St. John's Edge: NBLC Team Previews
They have only been in operation three years now, but the St. John's Edge have already established themselves as a hotbed of basketball in the NBL Canada. Last season they showed they have the belief they can reach the , making the finals for the first time, and though they felt short hopes are still high for the team in the 2019-20 season.
There's good news and bad news for the Edge this season, the good news being the move from the Central to the Atlantic Division will alleviate travel problems. The bad news is they have lost some of their biggest stars of the last season, including Carl English, who now serves as general manager, as well as Glen Davis and Desmond Lee to free agency.
Returning, though, are highlight players from their 2018-19 season Junior Cadougan, winner of the Most Improved Player award, and Murphy Burnatowski, a highly impressive late signing who averaged 15.8 points in 22 games. The team have also secured the services of Tyrone Watson, who has long established himself as a front court force in the NBLC.
This leaves gaps in the roster, the team have opted to fill with players experience in both the highest levels of NCAA basketball and various leagues from across the world.
These include record-setting UNC Asheville Bulldogs guard Ahmad Thomas, who has also seen professional playing time in the UK and Luxembourg; highly decorated guard of both the Sacred Heart Pioneers and Cincinnatti Bearcats Cane Broome; and centre Mike Edwards, who will be playing his first pro season after graduating from the Georgia Bulldogs this summer.
A number of newcomers have also played at some of the highest levels of basketball. Maverick Rowan has played for four different NBA G League teams, including the Austin Spurs, with whom he played in the FIBA Intercontinental Cup.
Forward Karrington Ward, meanwhile, has seen spells with the Erie BayHawks, Oklahoma City Blue and two seasons with the Windy City Bulls. Guard Montay Brandon's resume includes playing for the Charlotte Hornets in the 2016 NBA Summer League.
That is just one level of experience this season's new players are bringing. Desmond Williams averaged 23.7 points per game last year in Luxembourg for Larochette, having previously played in Finland and France. After four years with the West Virginia Mountaineers, Elijah Macon has gone on to play in Hungary as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina, while Ryan Richardson had an average 13.8 points per contest playing in the Netherlands last season.
The remaining roster prospects are forward Noel Moffat, who was last seen playing for the Windsor Express in the 2016-17 NBLC season, and Jesse Jones, who led the way for the Edge in their only pre-season game with 16 points against the Moncton Magic.
A complete departure from the squad seen last time out, though this rosters has yet to be really tested, there is a good amount of pedigree in this season's Edge team which should see them be as successful as they have ever been. It will be hard to replace their outgoing big names, but any one of these twelve have it within them to be the new face of the franchise.
Steven Marcus's side first regular season match-up will be against the team they lost out the title to, the Moncton Magic, on December 27th.
