J. Cole, Drake and NBA talent: Why the Shooting Stars are proof of CEBL’s growth

The slogan across the length of the north end of the gym said it all:

“One time for the Ends” – where ‘ends’ is slang for your neighbourhood, where you’re from, how you grew up. For Niko Carino, home is Scarborough, specifically, Deane Park, which centers on the intersection of Meadowvale Rd and Sheppard Avenue East. He attended Pope John Paul II Catholic Secondary School and rode what was then the Morningside 116 bus between the two destinations, hatching big dreams on the way.

Now in his mid-30s, the co-founder (with Drake) of the OVO lifestyle brand is still listening to his teenage self.

“I’m trying to do whatever 16-year-old me would do,” he said to me on Saturday night. “What would inspire a kid like me?”

How about bringing professional basketball to his hometown? How about having an internationally acclaimed hip-hop artist take the floor to add some buzz? How about having NBA talent run up and down alongside local talent that has made good?

It all came together for Carino as the Scarborough Shooting Stars – one of three expansion teams joining the surging CEBL this season – took the floor for their home opener against the Hamilton Honey Badgers at the Toronto Pan Am Sports Centre, a short bus ride from his childhood home and within walking distance of his old high school.

In the lineup for the Shooting Stars? J. Cole, the Grammy Award-winning recording artist, who came off the bench behind the likes Jalen Harris, the former Toronto Raptor who is hoping to work his way back to the NBA after sitting out a year for violating the NBA’s drug policy.

Courtside – arriving fashionably late, of course – was Drake, who was preceded by about half an hour by the recently crowned NBA rookie of the year, Toronto Raptors wing Scottie Barnes. Toronto Blue Jays ace Alek Manoah was on hand, as was Nickeil Alexander-Walker of the Utah Jazz.

Carino – who owns the team along with Sam Ibrahim, president of the Arrow Group – could only stand back and enjoy another vision come true.

“You’re more successful doing things you loved to do, and I love basketball and I’m very passionate about my neighbourhood and where I grew up that kind of molded me into me, which is Scarborough.”

The game itself was likely not how Carino drew it up. The Shooting Stars fell 84-69 to the Honey Badgers in a game that wasn’t particularly close, though you couldn’t tell by the energy in the crowd, estimated at 2,700.

J. Cole had zero impact in his six minutes of floor time – literally. He took no shots, grabbed no rebounds, and committed no fouls – the highlights in a box score entry that was full of zeros, save for the -11 in the plus-minus column. It wasn’t that he looked out of place – he certainly competed defensively – it’s just on offence both teams looked entirely happy to have him stand in the corner and ignore him.

It wasn’t a great night for Harris, who was 1-of-9 from the floor for nine points but moved well and looked fit enough that there’s a likely NBA Summer League invite waiting for him after his suspension is lifted on July 1.

But on this night, the results were secondary. The seats were full. The crowd was live. The basketball was good. It was a Scarborough basketball celebration.

“I grew up playing at the [Scarborough] YMCA,” said Xavier Rathan-Mayes, the Florida State product who played this past season in Australia and who led the Shooting Stars with 28 points. “Being able to go out there and represent a whole culture meant the world to me. Obviously we didn’t get it done tonight but it made my heart happy to be here.”

It may not have been the greatest night for J. Cole, who is using his music connections to further his basketball passions (he has previously played professionally in the Basketball Africa League), but it was another step forward for the Canadian Elite Basketball League, which is entering its fourth season and has taken a big leap after a pair of campaigns that were hampered by the pandemic.

The Shooting Stars – who joined expansion entries in Montreal and St. John’s, Newfoundland to bring the league to 10 teams this season – are the first team to be owned by individuals. The other franchises in the CEBL are league-owned, but that model will be phased out as the league continues to gain momentum.

“It’s the evolution of our business,” said CEBL commissioner and chief executive officer Mike Morreale. “The idea was we’d create the brand, we’d tell the story, we’d get the league started and spread ourselves across the country and grow thoughtfully, to the point where we could attract some local partners in certain markets.

“Scarborough is the first local ownership group and the results of that are exactly what we intended it to be. We can take it so far, from our centralized office, but once we get the local groups involved they can really dive in and create those connections with the local business community and fans.”

And while Morreale wasn’t going to look past a gift like the publicity a celebrity like J. Cole can bring to an entertainment enterprise, in some ways it was the presence of Harris that was a more important signal of where the league is headed.

Last season five former CEBL players made their NBA debut and the fact Harris is using games with the Shooting Stars to prime him for an NBA comeback (the Raptors still hold his NBA rights) as he tries to get his career back on track is proof of the CEBL’s growing credibility in elite basketball circles.

It’s already proven a place for Canadians to get their feet wet in the professional game at all levels – former national team stars Jermaine Anderson and Brady Heslip are the general managers of the Honey Badgers and the Shooting Stars, respectively, and six players on every roster have to be Canadian, with two on the floor at all times.

The plan now is for the CEBL to demonstrate it’s the kind of professional league that can launch a career.

“I under-estimated the power of J. Cole. I didn’t grasp the full explosion of interest, so that’s tremendous,” said Morreale. “But J. Cole won’t be in the CEBL (long), but players like Jalen Harris will. It’s those types of players that we’re looking to attract, that can make the jump to the NBA like five of our guys did last year.

“We know our players are good; it’s the best basketball played in Canada outside of the Raptors, but what really propelled us forward – even prior to the J. Cole news – was the five players who went to the NBA … sitting in my chair, that meant different types of agents are calling and different kinds of players are looking and different coaches are interested and different partners are putting their hands up and that’s before any of the more recent news.”

The presence of owners like Carino is more proof of the league’s sustainability and future possibilities. And while having another owner with his cultural cachet and connections might be a tall order, it’s what Carino represents that the CEBL is hoping to replicate: a local figure who has made good, has basketball in their veins and wants to give something back to their communities.

“I think when you look at the cool factor of Scarborough and who’s behind it, there are like-minded people in other parts of the country who want to do the same thing,” says Morreale who cites Winnipeg and Calgary as possible cities for further expansion. 

“There’s not a lot of ‘old money’ in Canadian basketball, but there’s a lot of new money, and not just from former players, but there’s a lot teens playing basketball now, and their parents are of an age where they’re successful, and they’re seeing their kids migrate towards basketball and basketball has become part of the fabric of their family and they have the wherewithal to invest or perhaps become an owner and we’re getting a lot of those calls, which didn’t always happen over the years.”

In a world where junior hockey franchises can trade hands for tens of millions of dollars, Morreale believes that owners hoping to follow in Carino’s footsteps will have to dig into their pockets to have an entry in a league where the players’ costs are reasonable (team operate with 10-man rosters and a salary cap of $8000 per game).

“If you want a franchise, you’re going to pay for it,” said Morreale. “… it’s [going to be] in the millions. There is proof of concept now, going into year four, with revenue stream and broadcast and national partners and that will only continue to grow this year and into 2023.

“I think you’re going to see bigger partners come aboard, broadcast deals with sports dedicated stations and that’s going draw awareness and drive value.”

For now, for Carino, the value is that it actually happened; that he was able to bring a professional basketball team to Scarborough, to his ends.

His 16-year-old self would be proud. 

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