Teddy Buckets returns to Sea Bears

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This article was published 14/05/2024 (521 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Teddy Allen was exhausted Tuesday, but he was in Winnipeg and that’s what mattered.

Less than 12 hours removed from a full day of travel, the Canadian Elite Basketball League’s reigning most valuable player was back with the Winnipeg Sea Bears for Day 2 of training camp.

Allen, 25 spent Monday on a plane from England — where he spent the winter playing for the Leicester Riders of the British Basketball League — and soaking up the last of some well-earned R&R after the Riders were eliminated from the playoffs on May 5.

“I’m a little jet-lagged,” Allen said after practice. “But it’s definitely exciting to be here, seeing all the familiar faces and people I call friends and family. It’s good to see everyone, for sure.”

In England, Allen continued his stellar play from last summer, averaging 22.5 points and 6.7 rebounds while firing at 40.8 per cent from beyond the arc.

An early wake-up call for Tuesday’s morning session was tough, he admitted, but didn’t stop him from getting to the gym. After working individually on the sideline, Allen got in a lift with his new teammates and was back for the afternoon session.

“I mean, yeah, it’s difficult,” Allen said of the quick turnaround from the British season to the CEBL season. “But it’s part of the game and I pride myself on being a hooper, so I’m always ready to go.”

The Sea Bears star, known affectionally as Teddy Buckets to his fans, lived up to his nickname last summer as he averaged 27.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.7 steals per outing while leading the league with 72 three-pointers.

The 6-6 guard quickly became the focal point of the Winnipeg offence en route to a playoff berth in the franchise’s inaugural season, and an encore became the No. 1 priority for head coach Mike Taylor in the off-season.

Allen obliged by signing a new contract in February.

With Allen back in the fold, Taylor worked to surround his showcase player with a high-calibre supporting cast. That included players such as Alex Campbell and Mason Bourcier in the backcourt, and Darius Days and Byron Mullens in the frontcourt.

“Through our conversations, in terms of recruiting the players and building the team, Teddy was a central part of that,” Taylor said. “We signed him immediately and everybody knew that Teddy was coming back and he’ll be a central figure, the face of the franchise.”

Days and Mullens, in particular, possess a key ability to space the floor with their three-point shooting ability, which made them so desirable to Taylor, he said. Their presence alone could unlock another level for the offence as a whole and Allen, who, at the height of his MVP summer, faced double- and triple-teams from defences.

“A lot of things that happened last year, teams put bodies on Teddy… they tried to really shrink the floor, pack the paint and make it difficult for Teddy to operate or get to the rim. This year, we’ve got much better three-point shooting, we’ve got some bigs that’ll space the floor, so theoretically, there should be more space for Teddy to get to the basket,” Taylor said.

“I think we’ve got the potential to be a much better offensive team, a much more versatile offensive team. I hope that we’ve become more difficult to guard, I hope it becomes a little bit easier for Teddy, but at the same time, these are the things that are exciting.”

Allen gave a thumbs-up of approval for his coach’s off-season acquisitions after seeing the team in action for the first time.

“I think we upgraded in certain areas,” he said. “We looked big, strong, athletic — energy. I was only watching… but everybody looks good, everybody’s got a good vibe and it seems like everybody’s working hard, so, off to a good start.”

joshua.frey-sam@freepress.mb.ca

X: @jfreysam