‘The sky is definitely not falling’

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 08/07/2025 (402 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The CEBL season is past the midway point and the Winnipeg Sea Bears still have more questions than answers about their roster.

The club was dealt a huge blow Monday as their third highest scorer, guard Tevian Jones (16.6 points per game), asked for his release to pursue other opportunities.

“I think he was a little frustrated with the fact that we brought Jalen (Harris) in and the team structure changed. That’s about as much as I’ll get into,” said head coach and general manager Mike Taylor after Tuesday’s practice at Canada Life Centre.

“It’s a part of basketball, guys have to learn to play with other great players.”

The move came a week after starting point guard Terry Roberts (Brooklyn Nets) and forward Jaylin Williams (Dallas Mavericks) took off for Las Vegas to play in the NBA Summer League. Roberts and Williams are expected to return once the NBA’s off-season competition wraps up July 20, but there are no guarantees.

“That’s the nature of the league. You’re going to sign some players, and some players are going to finish the season, some players are not,” said Taylor.

“There’s a lot of change on other teams as well, and it’s just something we have to deal with… We’re not as far off as people think. I mean, it’s natural roster change.”

The Sea Bears are getting kicked while they’re down as they’re currently on a four-game losing skid that has dropped them to 5-9. They head to Saskatoon to take on the Saskatchewan Rattlers (4-11) Friday night in a battle between the two worst teams in the Western Conference.

It’s a good thing Winnipeg is hosting this season’s championship weekend (Aug. 22-24) because right now they don’t look like a group that could reach the final four on their own.

In their past four outings the Sea Bears have allowed opposing teams to score 99.5 points on average.

“The sky is definitely not falling,” said star centre Simi Shittu. “Every team has their own adversity.”

The Sea Bears brought in some reinforcements by signing a pair of imports on Tuesday: forward Trevon Scott and guard Will Richardson. They’ll remain with Winnipeg until the NBA Summer League concludes and could possibly be asked to stay longer depending on how they fit and whether Roberts and/or Williams come back.

Scott, 28, is no stranger to the CEBL as the six-foot-eight athletic big played 12 games with the Calgary Surge in 2023 — with Shittu — and averaged 11.6 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. He also spent this past NBA G League season playing alongside Terry Roberts on the Long Island Nets where he put up 11.6 points per night. The University of Cincinnati product appeared in two games with the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers in 2021-22.

“I affect the game in every way, scoring, rebounding, defending,” said Scott. “Everywhere I go, I become a fan favourite, some would say. No matter how long I’ll be here, I plan on doing that also.”

Richardson has spent the past two years with the Grand Rapids Gold of the NBA G League after five seasons at the University of Oregon. The 25-year-old averaged 11.0 points, 3.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists in his most recent campaign in Grand Rapids.

He finished his NCAA career ranked top 10 in Oregon’s program history in assists, three pointers made and steals.

Scott and Richardson, who both hail from Georgia, will suit up Friday.

“We grew up playing against each other. Tre is probably like 15-20 minutes down from where I’m from,” said Richardson. “It’s pretty cool, it made the decision easier to come play (here).”

“It’s a chance to come compete in a good league, against some great competition and get some good summer run,” Richardson added.

The Sea Bears still have an open import roster spot to fill, and they’re determined to bring in a wing that can shoot and defend.

What about giving 2023 CEBL MVP Teddy Allen a call and seeing if he’s interested in a reunion?

“Ha! That’s a great question. I didn’t think about that. You know, we’ll see. We’ll see what the possibilities are,” said Taylor, who cut Allen during the 2024 season.

“At this point, we are pretty wide open. There’s a handful of guys that I think are pretty good, but you know, like our standpoint is, we want to be about the team. Teddy was a great part of it for the first year. The second year, he kind of got off the tracks a little bit. But I think everything is open at this point. We won’t take anything off the table.”

The Sea Bears return home to host Calgary (9-5) on July 17.

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca