RDC Kings basketball head coach Clayton Pottinger got an opportunity to see the majority of his players for the 2015-16 Alberta Colleges Men’s Basketball League season in one place during the weekend and he left with a smile on his face.
Pottinger had 13 players on hand at RDC Saturday, including five returnees in guards Matt Johnson and JP Leblanc and forwards Tyler Wise, Matt Mateur and Dallas Hancox. The six-foot-seven Hancox, who played two years ago but sat out last season, wasn’t on hand for the scrimmage in the afternoon as he had a touch of the flu
Pottinger did have three Americans at camp with a fourth — point guard Kelvin Omojola of Henderson, Nev. — not arriving until later in the month.
Guard Ian Tevis of Seattle and forward Rodney Teal of Oklahoma City have signed for next season and both impressed.
“Ian looked good at both the one (point guard) and two (shooting guard) positions while Rodney killed it in the fitness testing and still had the legs during the scrimmage,” said Pottinger, who also had inside man Craig Johnson of Baltimore on hand. Johnson played briefly two years ago and has yet to sign for next season along with Khurram Sultan of Edmonton, who played at Lethbridge College three years ago.
Guard Braeden Koteck of Regina, Michael Gini of Vernon and Spencer Klassen of Lindsay Thurber were also on hand as was six-foot-five Anthony Ottley of Pickering, Ont.
Returnees Benny and Henry Bankazo will also arrive later in the month.
“Overall I was impressed,” said Pottinger. “You see the guys on paper and I have seen a few of them individually but it was nice to finally see them on the court together. We have a lot of good athletes.”
Pottinger would be satisfied to go into the season with his current roster, but admits if the opportunity arises he’ll add a bit more depth.
“We have some size up front in Matt, Tyler, Dallas and possibly Craig, but that’s one area we would look to add to,” he said. “But I’m sure everyone is looking for that one forward to take them over the top.”
The majority of the U.S. players have moved to Red Deer and will work out with some of the local players until the end of the month.
“We’ll have another full camp on Aug. 24, so it gives the guys a couple of weeks to work on their bodies and get their game together,” added Pottinger. “Today was just a snippet of what we have. It will be nice to see everyone in camp and we can see the hand that we were dealt.”
The Kings and Queens will officially open camp early in September and play a number of exhibition games before opening their regular season Oct. 30 at home against SAIT.