2018–19 NBL Canada season

Sports season

2018–19 NBL Canada season
League	National Basketball League of Canada
Sport	Basketball
Duration	November 15, 2018 – March 31, 2019
Number of games	40
Number of teams	10
Draft
Top draft pick	Miles Seward
Picked by	Moncton Magic
Regular Season
Top seed	Moncton Magic
Season MVP	Braylon Rayson
Playoffs
Atlantic champions	Moncton Magic
Central champions	St. John's Edge
Finals
Champions	Moncton Magic
Runners-up	St. John's Edge
NBL Canada seasons
← 2017–18 2019–20 →

The 2018–19 NBL Canada season is the eighth season of the National Basketball League of Canada. The regular season ran from November 15, 2018, to March 31, 2019.

League changes

The league originally intended to move the St. John's Edge to the Atlantic Division following the addition of the expansion Sudbury Five. However, after the NBL lost the Niagara River Lions and was back to four teams in Ontario, the league decided to play as a single table for the regular season schedule to ease the Edge's travel. The league still uses each team's overall record in a divisional table for playoff qualification as done in previous seasons.

Offseason coaching changes

The Cape Breton Highlanders hired Bernardo Fitz-Gonzalez, a former Colombia national basketball team player, after former coach Rob Spon left the team after one season.
The St. John's Edge hired Doug Plumb after former coach Jeff Dunlap left to become an assistant at California State University, Northridge.
The Sudbury Five hired Logan Stutz as its inaugural head coach and general manager.

Midseason coaching changes

The London Lightning fired Keith Vassell following a 4–4 start to the season after leading the team to a championship the previous season. He was replaced by Elliott Etherington.
The St. John's Edge head coach Doug Plumb resigned in March 2019 and was replaced by assistant Steven Marcus as interim head coach.

Teams

Division	Team	City	Arena	Capacity
2018-19 National Basketball League of Canada
Atlantic	Cape Breton Highlanders	Sydney, Nova Scotia	Centre 200	5,000
	Halifax Hurricanes	Halifax, Nova Scotia	Scotiabank Centre	10,500
	Island Storm	Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island	Eastlink Centre	4,000
	Moncton Magic	Moncton, New Brunswick	Avenir Centre	8,800
	Saint John Riptide	Saint John, New Brunswick	Harbour Station	6,603
Central	KW Titans	Kitchener, Ontario	Kitchener Memorial Auditorium	7,312
	London Lightning	London, Ontario	Budweiser Gardens	9,000
	St. John's Edge	St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador	Mile One Centre	6,750
	Sudbury Five	Sudbury, Ontario	Sudbury Community Arena	4,640
	Windsor Express	Windsor, Ontario	WFCU Centre	6,500

Map of teams

Highlanders

Hurricanes

Storm

Magic

Riptide

Titans

Lightning

Edge

Five

Express

Atlantic Division

Central Division

Regular season

Standings as of 31 March 2019:

Atlantic Division	GP	W	L	PCT	GB	Div
z — Moncton Magic	40	27	13	.675	—	18–7
x — Halifax Hurricanes	40	25	15	.625	2	13–11
x — Cape Breton Highlanders	40	19	21	.475	8	13–9
x — Saint John Riptide	40	17	23	.425	10	10–15
Island Storm	40	12	28	.300	15	7–19

Central Division	GP	W	L	PCT	GB	Div
c — London Lightning	40	22	18	.550	—	16–11
x — St. John's Edge	40	21	19	.525	1	7–7
x — Sudbury Five	40	21	19	.525	1	14–14
x — KW Titans	40	19	21	.475	3	14–12
Windsor Express	40	17	23	.425	5	10–17

Notes

z – Clinched home court advantage for the entire playoffs
c – Clinched home court advantage for the division playoffs
x – Clinched playoff spot

Attendance

As of the end of the regular season

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	St. John's Edge	75,884	6,080	2,156	3,794	+11.6%
2	London Lightning	60,799	8,024	1,324	3,040	−27.7%
3	Halifax Hurricanes	41,894	4,473	1,123	2,095	+7.0%
4	Sudbury Five	40,952	3,480	1,299	2,048	n/a
5	Saint John Riptide	31,453	4,012	471	1,573	−16.5%
6	KW Titans	26,022	5,036	499	1,301	+2.9%
7	Cape Breton Highlanders	24,762	4,108	576	1,238	−8.6%
8	Island Storm	24,482	1,825	899	1,224	−34.7%
9	Windsor Express	23,056	1,624	650	1,153	+18.3%
10	Moncton Magic	23,048	1,964	862	1,152	+7.6%
	League total	372,352	8,024	471	1,862	−7.1%

Source:
Notes:
1: New team.

Playoffs

Division Semifinals

Division Finals

NBL Canada Finals

Moncton

Saint John

Moncton

Atlantic Division

Halifax

Halifax

Cape Breton

Moncton

St. John's

London

Kitchener–Waterloo

Kitchener–Waterloo

Central Division

St. John's

Sudbury

Bold Series winner
Italic Team with home-court advantage

Statistics

As of games played 31 March 2019

Individual statistic leaders

Category	Player	Team	Statistic
Points per game	Braylon Rayson	Sudbury Five	25.0
Rebounds per game	Bryce Washington	Saint John Riptide	11.25
Assists per game	Cliff Clinkscales	Halifax Hurricanes	6.80
Blocks per game	Ty Walker	Windsor Express	2.23
Three pointers	Jaylen Bland	Sudbury Five	4.54

Individual game highs

Category	Player	Team	Statistic
Points	Braylon Rayson	Sudbury Five	49
Rebounds	Obinna Oleka	St. John's Edge	24
Assists	Cliff Clinkscales	Halifax Hurricanes	18

Awards

Player of the Week award

For games in week ending	Player of the week		Canadian player of the week
For games in week ending	Player	Team	Player	Team
November 18, 2018	Jaylen Bland	Sudbury Five	Gentrey Thomas	Moncton Magic
November 25, 2018	Bruce Massey	Cape Breton Highlanders	Jamal Reynolds	Cape Breton Highlanders
December 2, 2018	Gabe Freeman	Halifax Hurricanes	Tyler Scott	Island Storm
December 9, 2018	Maurice Jones	St. John's Edge	Joel Friesen	KW Titans
December 16, 2018	Doug Herring Jr.	Moncton Magic	Grandy Glaze	Sudbury Five
December 23, 2018	Joel Kindred	Halifax Hurricanes	Aaron Redpath	Cape Breton Highlanders
December 30, 2018	Bruce Massey (2)	Cape Breton Highlanders	Garrett Williamson	London Lightning
January 6, 2019	Mike Poole	Halifax Hurricanes	Junior Cadougan	St. John's Edge
January 13, 2019	Bruce Massey (3)	Cape Breton Highlanders	Guillaume Boucard	Island Storm
January 20, 2019	Juan Patillo	Windsor Express	Garrett Williamson (2)	London Lightning
January 27, 2019	Cory Dixon	Sudbury Five	Tyrrel Tate	Windsor Express
February 3, 2019	Glen Davis	St. John's Edge	Terry Thomas	Halifax Hurricanes
February 10, 2019	Mike Poole (2)	Halifax Hurricanes	Mamadou Gueye	Sudbury Five
February 17, 2019	Frank Bartley	Saint John Riptide	Junior Cadougan (2)	St. John's Edge
February 24, 2019	Trey Kell	Moncton Magic	Junior Cadougan (3)	St. John's Edge
March 3, 2019	Braylon Rayson	Sudbury Five	Guillaume Boucard (2)	Island Storm
March 10, 2019	Chris Jones	Windsor Express	Yohanny Dalembert	Sudbury Five
March 17, 2019	Frank Bartley (2)	Saint John Riptide	Alex Campbell	Island Storm
March 24, 2019	Braylon Rayson (2)	Sudbury Five	Terry Thomas (2)	Halifax Hurricanes
March 31, 2019	Marcus Capers	London Lightning	Jamal Reynolds (2)	Cape Breton Highlanders

Coach of the Month award

Month	Player	Team
November	Joe Salerno	Moncton Magic
December	Bernado Fitz-Gonzalez	Cape Breton Highlanders
January	Bill Jones	Windsor Express
February	Mike Leslie	Halifax Hurricanes
March	Joe Salerno (2)	Moncton Magic

End-of-season awards

Source:

Most Valuable Player: Braylon Rayson, Sudbury Five
Canadian Player of the Year: Guillaume Boucard, Island Storm
Newcomer of the Year: Jaylen Bland, Sudbury Five
Defensive Player of the Year: Rhamel Brown, Halifax Hurricanes
Rookie of the Year: Frank Bartley, Saint John Riptide
Sixth Man of the Year: Jamal Reynolds, Cape Breton Highlanders
Most Improved Player of the Year: Junior Cadougan, St. John's Edge
Coach of the Year: Joe Salerno, Moncton Magic

Draft

The 2018–19 NBL Canada Draft and Combine was held on August 25–26.

Rnd.	Pick	Player	Nationality	Team	School / club team
1	1	Miles Seward	Canada	Moncton Magic	Harcum College
1	2	Aaron Jackson	United States	KW Titans	East Carolina
1	3	Charles Boozer	United States	Cape Breton Highlanders	Iowa State
1	4	Brent Arrington	United States	Saint John Riptide	Morehead State
1	5	Darnell Landon	Canada	Saint John Riptide	Mayville State
1	6	Gabe McCray	United States	Saint John Riptide	South Carolina State
1	7	Edward Asamoah	Canada	Moncton Magic	Bridgeport
1	8	Funsho Dimeji	Canada	Sudbury Five	Durham
1	9	Chris Early	United States	St. John's Edge	Chattanooga
1	10	Jonathan Wallace	Canada	London Lightning	Guelph
1	11	Davon Eley	United States	Halifax Hurricanes	Lakeland
2	1	Miroslav Jaksic	Serbia	Windsor Express	Oklahoma Christian
2	2	Matthew Hart	United States	KW Titans	George Washington
2	3	Benjamin Batts Jr.	United States	Cape Breton Highlanders	LSU–Shreveport
2	4	Marcus Jones	Canada	Cape Breton Highlanders	Windsor
2	5	David Atkinson	United States	Saint John Riptide	Salem
2	6	Daniel Dooley	Canada	Windsor Express	Guelph
2	7	Aaron Edison	United States	St. John's Edge	Santa Monica
2	8	Jameel Williamson	Canada	London Lightning	St. Francis Xavier
2	9	Donell Tuff	United States	Halifax Hurricanes	Albany State

References

"NBLC's 2018-19 Schedule Features Strong Rivalries & Classic Matchups". NBLCanada.ca. September 10, 2018.
"Fitz-Gonzalez named Highlanders coach". The Chronicle Herald. September 24, 2018.
"Jeff Dunlap Accepts New Coaching Role". NBL Canada. 23 May 2018.
"Doug Plumb Named Edge Head Coach". St. John's Edge. July 5, 2018. Retrieved November 1, 2018.
"Logan Stutz Named General Manager and Head Coach". OurSportsCentral.com. 9 August 2018.
"Lightning dump coach Vassell after lack-lustre start". The London Free Press. 11 December 2018.
"Edge Head Coach Doug Plumb Steps Down, Steven Marcus Named Interim Head Coach". St. John's Edge. March 19, 2019.
"2018–19 NBL Canada Standings". NBL Canada. Retrieved 14 November 2018.
"NBLC Awards".
"NBL Canada 2018 draft results". November 14, 2018. Retrieved November 14, 2018.

External links

NBL Canada website

National Basketball League of Canada

Teams

Seasons

Drafts

Awards

Others

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