Kimball Mackenzie is the latest signing for the Niagara River Lions as the squad looks to defend its Canadian Elite Basketball League crown.
“I’m very excited,” the 28-year-old Oakville native said. “Niagara has developed into and has always been one of the premier organizations in the CEBL. They have a winning culture here and hopefully I will be returning to a great group of guys who will be looking to defend our championship.”
Mackenzie feels last year’s team was special for a variety of reasons.
“First off, we were talented but a lot of the teams are very talented. We cared about each other we cared about winning, we were close and any winning team has a bond that goes beyond the basketball court. We checked all those boxes and that is why we were ultimately successful.”
At the conclusion of last season, the players talked about trying to get everyone back for another run at top spot.
“Absolutely. When you have a good group, everyone wants to run it back. The tricky part is that this is professional sport unlike university where guys are often there for four years. It can be a little more uncommon in the pros to have that type of continuity,” the former scholarship player at Bucknell said. “What brings guys back to Niagara is the winning culture and on top of that the care for skill development and your life outside of basketball.”
Mackenzie averaged averaged 6.2 points, 1.9 assists and 13.8 minutes of playing time per game for Niagara last season and was willing to whatever role he was asked to fulfill.
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