By Dan Plouffe
There may not be many more pleased to hear that a National Basketball League of Canada team is coming to town than Achuil Lual, a former pro player who now coaches with the Ottawa Phoenix community club and the Algonquin College Thunder.
“It gives kids the hope that the goal and the dream is attainable,” says the Ottawa-bred talent who starred for the Acadia Axemen the year they ended the Carleton Ravens’ run of five consecutive titles with a double-overtime semi-final victory at Scotiabank Place.
“As a kid, you look up and you’re like, ‘oh my goodness, Michael Jordan, he’s got to be super-human,’” Lual adds. “Now to see that that guy is human and he lives down the street from you or goes to St-Laurent Shopping Centre, that gives you a lot more hope.”
Or if you happen to be a 30-year-old veteran who’s played professionally in Germany as well as in a handful of Canadian cities with other Canadian clubs, a team arriving in your hometown might just reignite that desire to play.
Lual attended the Nov. 21 announcement that unveiled Ottawa’s yet-to-be-named pro basketball team to get a sense of the buzz around the new club, and to potentially scope out job opportunities.
“I still have the hunger to play,” notes Lual, who works out with other local players who have been overseas such as Garry Gallimore and Osvaldo Jeanty. “I’m probably in better shape now and am able to play more positions because I went into the gym and perfected my craft.”
The NBL club’s arrival in time for the fall 2013 season is the latest of many pro or semi-pro teams to make plans to come to Ottawa, after football, soccer and baseball.
As he experiences first-hand working with teenaged players from the Phoenix club, Lual feels that Ottawa’s strong grassroots local sports communities are a key reason why these pro teams are setting up shop in Ottawa since they know there’s a solid base to back them.
“If you go to Europe, they’ve got a lot of soccer and basketball – their kids are into sports at an earlier age and they’re a feeder system, almost like a factory line,” Lual highlights. “It’s nice that they’re coming back and opening doors for other sports in the national capital area. It’s huge.”
Boost for area’s best
An NBL team provides an especially great opportunity for recent university graduates to stay at home while advancing their careers, he adds. Lual would like to see the club hire a local coach and keep more than the required three Canadian players on their 12-man roster, which carries a total salary cap of $150,000.
“If I can do 12 Ottawa players, I would,” shares owner Gus Takkale. “I would love to strengthen the Ottawa community. But I don’t have an answer – we haven’t even thought about the actual team and the players yet.”
Takkale started seriously thinking about operating a pro basketball team in Ottawa two years ago. The Orleans resident who coaches his son’s Gloucester-Cumberland Wolverines bantam team was thrilled to see the franchise officially come alive, although much work ahead remains, he notes, including hiring a coach with a successful track record and who will give back to the community by springtime.
“I’ve always wanted to do something in the sports world,” explains Takkale, whose local basketball roots come from D’Arcy McGee High School in Hull. “I love basketball and Ottawa is a great place.”