Sea Bears see positives in training camp progress

Kevin Cross Jr. is still getting familiar with his surroundings.

The 25-year-old landed late on Thursday night as the Winnipeg Sea Bears’ last off-season signing and hardly had a chance to unpack his bags before he was back to work with his new team in training camp.

It’s Cross Jr.’s first time in Canada. He has no idea what Tim Hortons is, and, more importantly to the product of Little Rock, Ark., had never played a basketball game on Canadian soil.

While Cross Jr. figures to have many opportunities to do that this summer, he received a tease of what to expect as the Sea Bears held a two-hour inter-squad scrimmage at Investors Group Athletic Centre on Sunday.

Playing in front of a crowd of season-ticket holders, the 6-8 forward offered a taste of his skillset as he scored 13 points in the session and made a few crafty plays on both ends of the floor along the way.

“I’ve gotten to know the team pretty well,” said Cross Jr., whose young career has already taken him to the NBA G League, Germany, Mexico and China.

“I feel like (the scrimmage) helps. We have a lot of young guys, a couple of older guys, so it’s just being able to find that mesh.”

No one would’ve blamed Cross Jr. if he were a bit sluggish in his debut.

He was on the court nine days earlier with the Tianjin Pioneers in the Chinese Basketball Association, but has done a nice job of quickly shifting his focus to the Sea Bears, who are preparing for their regular season opener in Edmonton on Saturday.

“It’s nothing new. I’m honestly pretty used to it. I just finished the season about a week ago, so it’s just consistently running for me,” he said about the challenges of being back on the court so soon.

“It’s probably not my first summer, having to go through this. So just take it for what it is, and keep pushing through.”

Players switched between Team Teal and Team Black throughout three quarters and a Target Score Time period, as head coach Mike Raimbault and his coaching staff got a good look at the different lineup combinations he could deploy throughout the summer.

From an intensity standpoint, the exhibition had the feel of a competitive scrimmage for the most part. As quarters flipped and the players grew fatigued — owing in part to several signings still needing to report to the team while they finish their winter seasons — there were certainly some lulls, especially in the third quarter.

The Target Score period began tied at 91-91, with the first team to 100 being the winner. Once that started, the scrimmage instantly grew to its most intense stretch of play.

Raimbault, who asked players to play as if it were a real game to improve their chemistry on the court, said he was pleased with the intensity, even if the players’ fatigue led to a few possessions that were less than ideal.

“I thought for the most part, really, really positive. I mean, we’ve only had a few days of practice, so we were really hoping to see the few things that we’ve been working on for the first three days translate into gameplay,” the first-year bench boss said.

“For us, it really gives us a chance to look at the film, correct some of the mistakes, look at situations that we can clean up in the next few days, and just kind of keep the momentum going forward.”

With four days in the books, Raimbault said there is still a long list of things to work on, notably his players’ conditioning, which was tested greatly with short benches.

“I think you want to see everybody in a game situation. And some guys are a little bit more gamers than practice players, potentially,” he said. “The one thing we really tried to do today is see a lot of different lineups, different people playing with different personnel, and just trying to look at all of our options.”

Teddy Allen led all players with 31 points, while Davion Warren and David Walker scored 21 and 17, respectively. Jeremiah Tillmon poured in 15 while showcasing his rim-protecting ability with three blocks.

Winnipeg-born centre Kyler Filewich had eight points and scored the game-winner on a put-back.

Most importantly, the Sea Bears appeared to escape without any injuries.

Xavier Moon, Emmanuel Akot, Nathan Bilamu, Simon Hildebrandt and Isiah Osborne were not present for the scrimmage. The two Manitobans — Hildebrandt and Akot — are expected to join the team on Monday.

The club’s U Sports signings — Mason Kraus and Kato Jaro — and training camp invitees — Daren Watts, Ramogi Nyagudi, Ryan Luke and Elijah Mensah — received some more playing time in their absence, on a court they’re all extremely comfortable on.

Nyagudi, a homegrown forward who is entering his second year with the Manitoba Bisons, led the group of young guns with 12 points and captured the crowd’s attention more than once with a highlight-reel dunk.

Kraus, the Bisons’ graduating guard, said he felt more like he belonged on the court with professionals than last year, when he debuted as a U Sports draft pick.

“Thank God I was at U of M. We got a few of my shots to fall in,” said Kraus, who scored seven points.

Kraus, who finished up a strong university career this past winter, has transitioned into a full-time pro now, fighting for every contract he can get. He signed with EPG Baskets Koblenz of the German BARMER 2 Basketball Bundesliga ProA, which begins in the fall.

Despite this being his livelihood now, he said that he feels a strange sense of comfort entering this next chapter in his career.

“Honestly, it’s weird. I felt more pressure last year than I do this year, where last year I felt like I had to prove more that I’m one of the guys and I’m not just a U Sports guy,” he said. “This year, I feel like I’m now accepted as, ‘He’s actually a pro.’ So I feel like with just from that standpoint … gives me confidence in my game.”

Raimbault, who has coached for and against his U Sports players as head coach of the Winnipeg Wesmen, said he’s pleased with the early returns on his young additions.

“I thought they were great. I mean, they’ve been really good in all of our practices up to this point. They’re thrown into the fire a little bit today, and some of the game experience, and really that’s part of the benefit of them being here in training camp,” he said.

“They’ve been good at picking things up in training camp and competing and making us better. So, without them, it would have been hard to even have a game today.”

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