The first ever season for the Winnipeg Sea Bears of the CEBL is coming up fast. Their home opener is slated to be on May 27th, and it will be the first professional basketball action since the Winnipeg Cyclones departed the city in 2001. In my life time I have never been privileged to experience professional basketball based in my home city. This will be different than the two preseason NBA games that have come to the city, and the Canada National Team game that was hosted here in 2019. A city with a growing popularity for basketball has a team once again to call their own, and hopefully it is here to stay for good.

This article will be essentially the first part to a two part series I will be doing getting everyone ready for the inaugural season for the Sea Bears and the fifth overall for the CEBL. In this part, I will be giving you of an overview of the first head coach in the franchises’ history, and the players that make up the roster. As I initially write this piece, there are currently 10 players signed to the roster, and I will be updating this piece as they continue to add players, even throughout the season. This will be a place where you can get up to date information about the players, their play style, and where I think they fit into the roster. But before we tackle the roster, we must first talk about who is captaining the ship for the Sea Bears first season.

Mike Taylor

The man at the helm for the franchises first season is a coach who has a plethora of experience all over the world. Mike Taylor has coached at the collegiate level, the professional level, and even the national level. His most notable jobs have been coaching in the NBA G-League with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers (as an assistant) and being the head coach of the Maine Red Claws. He also spent eight years as the Poland national team coach, and last season as the coach for the Vancouver Bandits (then called the Fraser Valley Bandits). As the CEBL plays with the FIBA rule set, his experience with Poland, and of course in Vancouver will be his biggest asset with helping this team having any sort of success. I have watched some film from his time with Poland, and a playoff game from last season with the Bandits to get an idea of what his philosophies are, and his teams playstyles. Here is what I have found:

Offence

Taylor has an interesting approach to the style of offence that he runs. There isn’t a singular action that he is constantly trying to use to get open looks. Neither does he only run traditional sets, or only use modern concepts. He instead has a seemingly intertwined system that has many different wrinkles of traditional and modern. Be prepared to see some old-style back screens, flare screens, and screen the screener (most of the time for bigs for back door lobs). Not only that there will be high pick and rolls, and the occasional sighting of zoom action. There were really no two possessions that looked the same, unless they were simple high ball screens. It will be interesting to see if he has a one style approach with this roster, or continues to mix it up.

Defence

When it comes to the other side of the ball, much of the defence I saw was simple man-to-man. Tight on ball defence, trying to suffocate the ball handler. My only concern is when it comes to ball screen defence. It is all going over the screens, and hedging the ball handler. The reason I have concern with this is in 2023, it has been proven that switching screens is the way to go because of the trend in which the style of play is going. Too many times I saw in the film that the high hedge defence led to easy looks for the offence. I hope that Taylor either has a way to counter to combat the issues that hedging can create, or will change his philosophy for this season.

Having now looked at what we can expect to see from Mike Taylor, now let’s take a look at each of the members of the 2023 Sea Bears.

Chad Posthumus

We will begin with the teams first ever signing. It felt like a no brainer: hometown player to get the public on board and attached to the team, and he has experience playing in the league. Posthumus will bring inside scoring, and very good rebounding. Be prepared to see many double-doubles in the scoresheet next to his name. My initial thoughts were for him to come off the bench. But as the rest of this roster has filled out, it is becoming more apparent that he will most likely start.

Shane Osayande

We will stay with the big men and talk about Shane Osayande. A similar type mold of big as Posthumus, Osayande will bring inside scoring and rebounding. The only difference is that you can expect Osayande to run the floor more, and for most of his points to come off offensive rebounds, putbacks and fast break buckets. If it means anything, he has also won a CEBL championship.

Stephane Ingo

This will be Stephane Ingo’s first year as a professional. He played this past season with Marist College. Not sure if I have huge expectations for the big man, other than he will protect the paint. I would expect him to come off the bench.

Michael Okafor

Moving onto the guards, we get to Michael Okafor. Having played for the 2022 champions, Okafor brings good size, speed, and exceptional on-ball defence. Be prepared for him to get out into the open floor and attack the rim. If he can have a better shooting season, be prepared for him to break out for the Sea Bears.

Glen Yang

I am really excited about this signing. Glen Yang is a 6’4” guard who can shoot and dish. He will be on double-double watch every single game. My assumption is that he will be given the keys to the offence to start the season. I believe his shooting at the guard spot will be pivotal for the Sea Bears in spacing the floor.

Teddy Allen

Bucket-getter. Teddy Allen knows how to score. He’s done it in college, the CEBL, and now the pros. I am not certain about what the level of play is in The Basketball League, but to score close to 30 points a game in any league is very good. Everyone be ready for a big coming out party for Allen.

A.J. Hess

This signing brought up the season’s floor for the franchise. A.J. Hess is a flamethrower from deep, who has experience in many different leagues around the world. He has played in the G-League, and had success for the Guelph Nighthawks last season. He is a wing who will essentially just shoot it from deep and not provide too much else on the stat sheet. His shooting and spacing will be important though for the rest of the roster.

E.J. Anosike

The third and final American signed onto the Sea Bears roster is E.J. Anosike. Another 6’7” forward who is versatile, and with a high motor. Anosike will provide more rebounding, and inside scoring. There seems to be a style and type of player Mike Taylor is trying to build this team with.

Jelani Watson-Gayle

Coach Taylor announced on the Winnipeg Sports Talk podcast with Andrew Paterson that Jelani Watson-Gayle would be the Sea Bears Global player on the roster. Watson-Gayle is a guard who played this season in his home of England. He shot around 40% from three and put up 12 points a game. Not too sure where he stands on the roster, but could be the bench back court mate to Okafor.

U-Sports Draft Selections

I am going to lump the first two draft picks in franchise history together. The reason for this is because I could not tell you at this moment what sort of roles each of them may have. Their first round pick Simon Hildebrandt had a fantastic freshman season for the University of Manitoba Bisons, but is he ready for pro basketball? Second round pick Tyler Sagl is older and with his shooting ability might be able to contribute sooner. Either way, we will have to wait and find out to see what contributions both players will make.

*Note: Coach Taylor said on the Winnipeg Sports Talk podcast that Hildebrandt was going to be given every opportunity to succeed. That signals to me that he will be the sixth man off the bench, or may even start to begin the year. For Sagl, Taylor knows he will have an impact on the floor with his shooting. But he made it sound as though he will most likely only play significant minutes if there is an injury.

As I said above, I will continue to add to this list as the Sea Bears sign players to their roster. I will be posting a complete league-wide breakdown of each team and giving my thoughts on how the Sea Bears inaugural season ends up closer to the opening game of the year.