The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE New Providence Basketball Association is set to get its preseason underway next week and president Keith Smith said he expects it to be the “biggest season to date” for the country’s top basketball league.

The NPBA is scheduled to return to the court with a preseason tournament at the AF Adderley Gym on September 30. “We expect this to be an incredible season,” Smith said. “We have some major things in place we plan to implement in terms of marketing, exposure and promotions to take the league to another level from an administration standpoint. So we are excited about it and the public should be as well.”

The 12-team tournament will take on a double elimination format.

The Rockets and Cleaners are slated to tip off the tournament at 7pm, followed by the Giants and Pros in the nightcap at 8pm.

The preseason initiative will give players and coaches an opportunity to get in sync headed into the season. “We know it is difficult for many teams to get in the practice time and player evaluation that they would need over the course of the off season so what this represents is an opportunity for teams to iron out the kinks before the season gets underway in November,” Smith said.

“The coaches are excited about it because they get an opportunity to see where they are with a lot of their players and perhaps implement some new things before the games count toward the standings.”

Teams will be allowed to carry 15 players on their preseason rosters before they have to trim the number to 12 for the regular season.

Smith said it will create a more competitive environment as players vie for final roster spots.

“We have to improve our product on the floor. The Bahamian public is very basketball savvy so they demand a higher standard of product on the floor, so that is where everything begins. We have to continue to improve the way we present the league and the standard of play night in and night out,” Smith said. “Based on what I have seen from a lot of the guys, they are hungry. It has been a very active summer for many players in various tournaments and in the Summer of Thunder. The level of play has been intense and last year many young players experienced the playoffs for the first time so they got a taste of what winning is like so we expect even more out of them this season.”

The Mail Boat Cybots will look to repeat as NPBA champions after closing out the Commonwealth Bank Giants in a three-game series win.

The series came down to a thrilling finish when Brian “Tucker” Bain made a pair of free throws down the stretch to complete the comeback from a 23-point deficit.

In was yet another chapter in the saga between the two teams as they also met in the 2011-12 championship series when the Cybots could not close out the Giants despite a 2-1 series lead and the Giants stormed back to win their third straight title.

The Cybots ended a dominant season in fitting fashion when they went on to capture the Bahamas Basketball Federation national title in April. They claimed the BBF’s national championship with a 91-90 thriller over the home team, Mega Hit Stars, in Grand Bahama.

The defending league’s MVP of the regular season was league scoring champion Lenny Oscar of the Double L Cleaners who finished with a 33.3 point per game average.

Adorn Charlow of the Premium Food Rockets was the league leader on the boards at 15.1 rebounds per game while Adrian Miller of the Giants and Freddy Lightbourne of the RBPF Crimestoppers shared the assist title at 6.1 per game.

Moses Johnson of the Woodside Petroleum Conquerors was the Coach of the Year.

Named to the All-NPBA First Team were:shooting guard - Michael Bain (Commonwealth Bank Giants), centre - Adorn Charlow (Premium Food Rockets), point guard - Lenny Oscar (Double L Cleaners), small forward - Mitchell Johnson (RBPF Crimestoppers) and power forward - Gamaliel Rose (Commonwealth Bank Giants).

Named to the All-NPABA Second Team were: shooting guard - Lorenzo Carter (BTC Digitals), centre - Eugene Bain (Mail Boat Cybots), point guard - Floyd Armbrister (Real Deal Shockers), small forward - Abel Joseph (Woodside Petroleum Conquerors) and power forward - Bathlette LaFleur (PJ Stingers).