Upshaw vying for spot with Rainmen
Christian Upshaw shrugs off any notion he might be lugging extra weight on his shoulders as the only Nova Scotian auditioning for the Halifax Rainmen.
"It’s more like fun," the former St. Francis Xavier X-Men star says with a smile.
"I’ve always played in Nova Scotia and it’s my dream to obviously continue playing here for as long as I can, so I don’t feel pressure ’cause I know that, win or lose, I have my family and all my friends will still be behind me."
Upshaw was one of 17 players on the court Friday at the Canada Games Centre in Halifax as the National Basketball League of Canada squad opened its weeklong training camp. He’s one of three Canadians vying for a berth on the team, which like others in the new circuit must carry at least two Canucks on its roster.
Better known as T-Bear, the 25-year-old is aiming to become the first Bluenose hoopster since 2007-08 to see regular-season action with the province’s only professional sports team.
The six-foot point guard from Halifax averaged 18.1 points a game with the X-Men last season when he was an Atlantic conference first-team all-star. He completed a dazzling five-year stint at St. F.X. second on the school’s all-time scoring list with 1,586 points, a total that ranks ninth-best in AUS history, and was the league MVP in 2009 and 2010.
"Christian Upshaw is a kid that I’ve liked since he was a freshman in college," Rainmen owner/GM Andre Levingston said Friday as he oversaw the team’s first workout.
"He can flat-out play basketball. We’re excited to have him in camp and I think T-Bear’s gonna be a good player in our league."
Two other guards — Papa Oppong of Pickering, Ont., and Lucas Goltz of Vancouver — are also fighting for the Canadian slots on the team. Oppong, a former Eastern Kentucky Colonel, was Halifax’s second-round choice in the NBL draft. Goltz, a former Queen’s and Trinity Western player, earned an invitation to camp from Thursday night’s open tryout.
"I think my chances are pretty good if I just come out here and work my butt off, you know, leave everything on the court and just do what I’m told within my game," said Upshaw, a St. Patrick’s High product whose long-range daggers and explosive slashes to the hoop made life miserable for AUS opponents.
He poured in 43 points against the Saint Mary’s Huskies in March in the AUS quarter-finals in a game in which he had five three-pointers, five assists and five steals. He dropped nine treys on the Cape Breton Capers in a 2008-09 contest and had eight in an outing against Dalhousie the next year.
The Rainmen haven’t had a Nova Scotian play in a regular-season tilt since Dennie Oliver and Derico Wigginton-Downey suited up for the squad’s one and only season in the American Basketball Association in 2007-08. Devon Norris of Upper Tantallon spent the 2009-10 season on the practice roster but never saw any game action.
Upshaw is a good friend of Garry Gallimore, the Ottawa native and former X-Man who was one of two Canadians — current national team member Jevohn Shepherd was the other — to play with Halifax in ’09-10.
"I used to watch him practice every now and then," Upshaw said. "He used to tell me things I should actually improve on if I wanted to play at this level, so since then I’ve just been working hard and trying to get ready for this day."
The day has now come for Upshaw, who spent the summer training but had moved to Toronto to begin a new job before getting the invite to attend camp.
He admitted the possibility of playing for his hometown team was a pretty big deal.
"It would mean everything. . . . It would just be huge for my community and obviously my family and it would just mean a lot to me. I’ve dreamed of playing pro since I was so young and now that I got the opportunity, I mean, (it’s all) in my hands."