Sea Bears announce 2024 Training Camp Roster

WINNIPEG – The Winnipeg Sea Bears of the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL) begins their pre-season training camp Monday morning at the Sport Manitoba complex in downtown Winnipeg, Man. The team also announced their training camp roster, which brings a combined 55 years of professional experience in the NBA, CEBL, NBA G League and overseas professional leagues.

The team will welcome back CEBL MVP Teddy Allen for season two. Allen averaged 27.2 points last season en route to the league's top honour. The Phoenix, Ariz. product saw similar scoring success overseas in the British Basketball League (BBL) this winter, pouring in over 22 points per game with the Leicester Riders in an effort that earned him a place on the league’s Team of the Year. Allen returns to the Sea Bears looking to build on a season in which he tied the CEBL single-game records in scoring (42 points June 2 at Scarborough) and three-pointers (nine June 15 vs. Brampton).

Byron Mullens and Darius Days are two additions to watch, both bringing NBA experience with them to Winnipeg. It marks the first time the Sea Bears have rostered players from the NBA. 

Days, a Florida local, has played nearly 100 games in the NBA G League with the Houston Rockets affiliate Rio Grande Valley Vipers. He was named to the G League’s second team and all-rookie team in 2022-23, earning him a call-up to the Rockets that lasted four games.
 
Mullens was selected 24^th overall in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Dallas Mavericks, who traded his draft rights to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Boasting nearly 200 career NBA games, his most productive years came with the then-Charlotte Bobcats, where he averaged double-figure scoring in 2012. Mullens most recently played with the New Taipei Kings of Taiwan’s P.League+, where he averaged 19.9 points and 13.7 rebounds over three seasons.

A strong contingent of Winnipeg pros join these three. Headlining the local talent are professional veterans Jarred Ogungbemi-Jackson, Chad Posthumus and draft picks Simon Hildebrandt and Shawn Maranan.

Ogungbemi-Jackson is returning to Winnipeg from one of the top overseas leagues, VTB United, where he ranked second in points per game with 18.9. Posthumus, the 2023 CEBL's top offensive rebounder, returns after representing Canada in FIBA 3x3 tournaments this offseason.

Hildebrandt, the reigning CEBL U SPORTS Player of the Year, comes off a strong sophomore collegiate campaign that made him the first player in Manitoba Bisons program history to earn back-to-back Canada West First Team All-Star honours.

Maranan joins the team through the draft this year after spending time on the Sea Bears practice squad last season. The University of Winnipeg Wesmen star led his squad to a nationals Final 8 appearance and was named the Wesmen Male Athlete of the Year. 

Winnipeg's training camp roster features eight local products in total. Lamar Everd, Noah Simpson, Donald Stewart and Daren Watts have all made marks on their respective U SPORTS teams, with the latter two featuring prominently in the Manitoba Bisons (Watts) and Winnipeg Wesmen (Stewart) rivalry. 

Elisha Ampofo suited up for Manitoba's third U SPORTS school, the Brandon Bobcats. The guard from Milton, ON averaged 13.4 points per game this past season.