CHARLOTTETOWN, P.E.I. – As playoff time approaches in the National Basketball League of Canada, the Island Storm are aiming to make sure the club reaches the post-season.
To that goal, the Storm signed six-foot-two guard Roshun Wynne Jr. for backcourt depth and some defensive tenacity while trading swingman Torrence Dyck Jr. to the Niagara River Lions for six-foot-eight, 250-pound forward Carl Hall as a bolster to the frontcourt as the league’s trade deadline expired early Tuesday morning.
Dut Dut, the former UPEI Panthers centre, was released to make room for Wynne.
For Storm head coach Tim Kendrick, Wynne should help defensively against the tougher guards in the league like Moncton’s Anthony Anderson and Halifax’s Clifford Clinkscales.
“He’ll be a one or a two (guard). I think he can even guard the two or the three (small forward). He’s a tenacious defender,” Kendrick said of the former G-League player from Oakland, Calif. “He’s a bigger, stronger guard and will help Andre (Stringer) and Franklin (Session), who are a little smaller. We’ll be alright.”
Kendrick sees the former teammate of Session in the Drew League coming off the bench and hopes to have the Cal State East Bay University alum in practice Thursday.
Hall, who went for 14.8 points and 4.6 rebounds a game with Niagara, automatically bulks up and adds punch to the Storm frontcourt. He had a season-high 26 points in a game versus Kitchener-Waterloo last month.
For Kendrick, it’s very hard to coach size. But it’s a good problem to have and the reason the Storm moved Dyck, who played shooting guard or small forward.
Kendrick now has Hall to add six-foot-six, 225-pound Chris Anderson and six-foot-eight, 245-pound centre Meshack Lufile in the stable of bigs to trot out against Atlantic Division opponents.
“We have multiple guys can play the three, not many can fill the six-foot-eight, 250-pound spot. He’s a big strong guy, good hands and good touch on the basketball. It gives us different look. Moncton is bigger, Halifax is big. We need two or three guys that can defend and play the bigger guys,” Kendrick said.
Forward Brad States comes off concussion protocol Thursday and Kendrick hopes to have him at practise and ready for Sunday’s game in Sydney, N.S., versus the Cape Breton Highlanders.
