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If you’ve never heard of the National Basketball League of Canada, you’re not alone.
It’s an 8 team league that has 4 teams in Ontario, 4 in the Maritimes, and only a few are making money. So the survival of the league as it stands, is anything but a slam dunk.
While some teams in the National Basketball League of Canada have as many as 2,000 fans in the stands, the Mississauga Power only had about 300 out to their game against Windsor on Tuesday night.
Hamilton native Tyrell Vernon is currently ranked second in the league with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 8 to 1. While he’s disappointed with the attendance,
he says his team does one thing very well:
“Compete. We compete. Sometimes we say we’re the smallest team in the league, but we fight.”
Head coach Kyle Julius played at Cathedral High School for one year, and led the team to an OFSAA victory. He’s played in the OUA and the NCAA; he played for the Canadian national team and professionally in Europe.
He knows how difficult it is for Canadians to crack the pro ranks, which is why he’s glad to be a part of the NBL. “There’s very few Canadians that you get an opportunity to watch in the NBA, now this year there’s 12, there’s more than normal, but this league has some incredibly high level basketball and some incredibly high level Canadian players.”
This year the NBL increased its mandatory Canadian content from 3 to 4 players per team.
Michael Allison is an alumnus of the National Elite Development Academy at St Mary’s. He went to the University of Maine, and commutes to Mississauga from his home in Lynden, but spent last season playing in the United Kingdom.
“I think it’s very important. When I was coming in there was nothing in terms of pro leagues in Canada and we were one of the only countries that didn’t have a pro league.”
The Mississauga power franchise is only two years old, in a league that’s only four. The NBL showcases what it believes to be some of the best talent in North America; perhaps all they need is some time for their fan base to grow.
