For some time now, there has been little expectation Glen Davis would be returning to the St. John’s Edge for a second season, but according to the former NBAer known as “Big Baby,” there were never any real discussions about the possibility of his being back with the National Basketball League of Canada team.
“Seems like I didn’t do enough to get a call back … to not get a call back breaks my heart,” read parts of a weekend posting on Davis’s Instagram account (gbbabydavis).
When Davis joined the Edge in mid November, the 33-year-old Baton Rouge, La., native, who had won an NBA championship with the Boston Celtics, instantly became the highest-profile player in the NBL Canada’s decade-long history.
In 41 regular-season and playoff games with St. John’s, Davis averaged 17.3 points and 7.4 rebounds per contest as the Edge went all the way to the league final, where they were swept by the Moncton Magic.
They did so despite a coaching change in the late going, with Steve Marcus taking over from Doug Plumb with two games left in the regular season.
At the time, the team announced Plumb had resigned to pursue other opportunities, but according to Davis, that wasn’t the case.
“… we made it to the championship even tho ownership fired our coach,” wrote Davis on the Instagram post.
Plumb was hired as head coach of the NBL Canada’s London Lightning last month, and there have been suggestions Davis could follow the former Edge coach to the Lightning.
Player turnover is a given in the NBLC. Last season, the St. John’s roster featured just three players — Dez Lee, Jarryn Skeete and Carl English — who been with the team in 2017-18, the team’s inaugural campaign.
It’s already known Lee, who was arguably the Edge’s MVP last season (the team didn’t hand out an official award), has signed to play with a team in Qatar, and Skeete reportedly won’t be returning as well. Two other Edge players from the last season’s playoff roster — Russell Byrd and Olu Ashaolu— have also signed overseas.
And there is certainly no guarantee the 38-year-old English will be back. This past summer, Marcus — who was recently named the Edge’s permanent head coach — told The Telegram he had good discussions with English, adding he was hopeful the Patrick Cove’s native and 2017-18 NBL Canada most valuable player would be back for a third season. Marcus also noted the Newfoundland guard had been late in deciding to return for the 2018-19 campaign.
But speaking to Telegram Sports Editor Robin Short earlier this month, Edge majority owner Irwin Simon was far less committal about the possible return of English, who was limited to less than half of St. John’s games last season because of injury.
“Carl is a great person, a great athlete,” Simon said at the time. “He is St. John’s … he was the anchor of our team.
“I think the big thing is, as I’ve said, is a team is made up of a group of individuals and not one person. And he had a tough year last year from a medical standpoint.”
It’s s also worth noting that during the 2018 off-season, even while fans were waiting on English to decide if he would be returning as a player, he had been heavily involved in working for — and promotion of — the Edge as the team’s interim general manager.
It’s been entirely different through this summer and fall. On English’s Twitter site (cenglish23), for example, there has been almost no reference to the Edge in recent months, with a concentration on his CE23 basketball camps.
And the roster-building is being done by Marcus and Trevor Simon, the owner’s son. So far, the Edge have announced the re-signings of Canadians Junior Cadougan and Murphy Burnatowski, and the addition of guard Cane Broome out of the University of Cincinnati. And the team promises there will regular revelations of more signings in the weeks leading up to the start of the 2019-20 season.
As for Davis's comments, this is what Marcus had to say in an email to Short: "As an organization, we are committed to building out this roster with unbelievable men both on and off the court, that the city of St. John’s can get behind and be excited about.
"Sometimes, change is good. We have failed in our goal of winning a championship here and we are doing everything we can this off season to win a championship. We are going to be a team this season, One through 12 on our roster, we are going to be a team. Every team, no matter how strong or successful, has turnover year over year. I am confident the men we bring in this year will build upon the prior successes of this franchise and get us closer to our ultimate goal. I am focused in on my goal as the head coach to bring a championship to St. John’s."
St. John’s will open its schedule in Moncton, N.B., against the Magic on Dec. 27 with the first game of what will be a six-game road trip. The Edge’s first home game at Mile One Centre is Jan. 7 versus the K-W Titans.
And as was the case at the start of the 2018-19 season, it will involve a mostly new-look lineup.
“We’re going to build around a solid team,” Irwin Simon had told Short. “ Will there be one or two ex-NBA guys? Yup, it’s a possibility. But we’re going to sit back and evaluate and make sure we have the right combination of players.
“We don’t want to be a team of one or two individuals. It’s a team this year.”
Twitter: @telybrendan
