Trades, Signings and Identity
Before the season started, I was worried about the Edge roster. We had a bunch of wings who could shoot, a few point guards, and nobody to rebound the ball or play defence in the key. Our first few games showed that when we could hit our shots we were not going to lose, but if we missed we were giving up the rebound and had no plan B. The promised speed on offence did not materialise, and there was just no chemistry.
The changes were quick in coming. Glen Davis was the obvious key addition, but Obie Oleka has made a huge difference on the boards. Despite some clear duds on the bench, the team seemed to be turning around with a pair of hefty win streaks. They did. however, coincide with the absence of Carl English from the team. His return took out a lot of the ball movement that had led to the teamâs success. Weâve had that conversation though, and this is more about roster moves.
First came the mind-boggling trade of Guillaume Boucard for Brad States. While I will be the first to admit that Boucard was not living up to his hype (at least the hype I had placed on him), and his hands in the paint were particularly concerning. That said, Brad States has shown precisely nothing of value since coming on board, and Boucard at least was scoring at a decent clip off the bench. Did he ask for the trade? Thatâs possible, and since moving to the Island Storm he is averaging over 17 a game. We could really have done with that version of Guillaume here. On the off-chance that he wanted more playing time (his points are coming in 33 minutes per game) and therefore asked to be traded, weâll let this one slide.
Then came the cutting of Kevin Zabo and Keith Wright. While Zabo had not seen the floor, Wright was making meaningful contributions defensively and on the glass. With Davis starting to ramp up his minutes, one of the starting bigs had to be relegated to the bench. Wright was the obvious choice, but why he couldnât stick around at the expense of Satnam Singh is a mystery to me. Satnam is huge, slow, and largely useless. You have to be pretty bad to be that big and not on an NBA team, and heâs proven that to be true. He doesnât rebound, he doesnât block shots, and heâs easily beaten on defence. The rumour was that these cuts were to enable a bump to Big Babyâs salary, which Iâll admit is important, but would rather have seen come from Satnam and Carlâs pockets.
The Tad Kapita signing was next, and as yet I have seen nothing that tells me why he was signed. He doesnât look particularly big, he looked lost on the floor, he didnât look like a shooter and from what I can see he isnât known as a rebounder. Time will tell here, but he saw 8 minutes of time across two games, and some of that was in garbage time. If that isnât a sign that Coach Plumb has little faith in the new recruit, I donât know what is.
Then came the most puzzling of these moves: trading Maurice Jones for Russell Byrd. Jones has been our most consistent player all season, carving up defences and creating opportunities at the rim that the rest of the team seemed ill-suited to create.He was fast, a great passer and a scorer. While Byrd did light us up on the Island Stormâs visit to St. Johnâs this year, he hardly did that last season for us. I did yell to him that we missed him when they visited, but I donât know that I wanted him back this badly. Jonesâs departure came after being relegated to the bench for the first Halifax game, and he then sat out the second game. Did he ask to be traded too? If he did, thatâs two veterans in one season wanting to leave a team with a great fanbase and an excellent shot at the playoffs. That does not bode well for us. Byrd needs to be able to keep up his scoring this year, though whether that is off the bench or as a starter remains to be seen.Â
Olu Ashaolu signed this weekend, and from what I could tell online heâs a big who can both take it to the rim and hit the occasional shot. He was a good scorer in the Philippines, which we sorely need. Bringing him off the bench ahead of States and Satnam will add some points to the second unit, with any luck. However, itâs another move that doesnât seem to fit the team philosophy. What is this team? We have a lot of shooters, personified by Carl English and Jared âpoints totals in multiples of 3âł Nickens. We have Glen Davis as a force down low. We are now slim at the point, as Jerryn Skeete hasnât maintained the high level of play he showed late last season. We have a parade of bigs on the bench, none of whom really seem to be offensive threats. Diego Kapelan is a nice piece but an inconsistent one. Ashaolu looks solid, but is neither a bruising rebounder nor a shooter. How exactly he fits in remains to be seen, but with the bad moves weâve made so far he really needs to be a big difference maker.Â













