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Destroyers Begin Tryouts For Mid-Michigan Team

Elite, Talented Players Battle for a Place on the Roster

November 28, 2008       Leave a Comment
By: John Keuvelaar

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Sunday afternoon, November 23, the Mid-Michigan Destroyers held their first of two try-out camps at Western High School. Fifteen players went through a vigorous four hours of conditioning, drills and at the end, a scrimmage in hopes of being invited to the next try-out camp referred to as the veterans camp. Two of those participants were draft picks Luke Lloyd and Odgra "Bobo". The caliber of talent invited to this camp confirms that this will be a very exciting and talented league to watch.

General Manager, Jere Shockey, explained that this was not an open tryout. These players were invited to attend after an exhaustive search and evaluation of each invitee. Coaches were called and backgrounds were checked to insure that these young men possessed not only top quality basketball skills, but also top quality team character both on the court and off. Judging by the effort and level of play displayed, the Destroyer staff has done their homework.


This player is working on his form during drills.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

Cornelius looks to get a shot off against Luke Lloyd.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

Even simple layups are not taken for granted in tryouts.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

Taking it too the hoop hard during drills.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)



Much like a baseball's farm system, these players are looking for a chance to prove themselves at a highly competitive level in hopes of moving on to the NBA Developmental League or the European league. From there, they are only a breath away from an NBA career. Soon, Mid-Michigan will soon be treated to watching players with NBA skills at a local and personal level -- beginning this January.

The Destroyers compete in a division featuring teams from Detroit, Battle Creek, Chicago and Rochester, New York and will even be playing teams from Augusta, Georgia and Wilmington, North Carolina.

Head Coach TJ Newsham ran a well-organized camp leading off with some serious conditioning. Utilizing the game clock, both coaches and players knew exactly how long they had to perform their drills and get their work in. It proved to be a very efficient way of running things. Conditioning not only tested their present condition, but put them in a game mode of fatigue to evaluate their performance.

After conditioning, players moved into individual drills like two ball dribbling, setting imaginary picks and rolling to the hoop for a shot and high speed shooting drills. This progressed into adding teammates for flow and rhythm shooting. The "big men" even added defense as they would crash to a spot on the floor and battle for the ball, then go one on one.


The "Big Men" drilled on some physical one-on-one drills.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

6 foot 6 McGraw shows he can take it to the hoop.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

Luke Lloyd gets an outside shot off as 6 foot 10 inch Williams puts a hand in his face.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)


For the scrimmage, Coach TJ Newsham explained that this league and this team is a lot different than the structured offenses of college basketball or the shoot-em-up recreation leagues. "They have to be able to read not only their teammates, but their opponents and react to that read," Newsham said. Newsham went on to explain that each player will have a role, a certain job that they will be expected to do. For some, it will be scoring. But for many others, it will be setting the scorer up, defense or rebounding.

Coach Newsham stressed that in the scrimmage, he wanted to see what they knew about the game of basketball. Not just who can score, but who can see the floor, who can read their players, who knew when to give it up and who can play defense. He wanted to see "team" ball players. With this the players responded and put on an entertaining exhibition.

The players immediately flowed to "their" positions. It was quickly evident who were point guards and who were leaders on the floor. They ran, they shot, they no-looked passed and they played hard. Running fifteen minute segments of non-stop basketball, they went at it and in the process put on a real show.

They might have been playing for an invite to a second camp, but they were also playing for love of the game. The way that they read each other, cut, passed, gave up good shots for a quick pass to a better shot was impressive. The observers has to remind themselves that these players were playing without having any kind of an offense yet, without knowing each other and yet, they looked like they had been together for a while.

As GM Jere Shockey explained, they expected to invite about six of these players back for the second camp when the other "vets" from the other leagues. "These veteran players will have Continental League and the European league experience," Shockey said. "And will be arriving to show what they got," Shockey added.

Shockey went on to say that the emphasis will be on Team play not just an individual show. This will be a fast pace, high energy league and this team will fit the mold. Judging by this first camp, there is no doubt they are headed in this direction and it is clear, they will be FUN to watch.

The Destroyers' season kicks off January 3, 2009 with a game in Augusta, Georgia. Their home opener is January 10, 2009 at Western High School. GM Shockey noted they are looking for sponsors for Game Day activities as well as supporting the team. For more information, Jere Shockey can be reached at (989) 224-1156 or by email at sportdevelopmentgroup@yahoo.com.


McGraw is heavily defended as he looks to make a pass.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)

"Bobo" shows his quickness as he goes baseline.
(MyBayCity Photo by John Keuvelaar)



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John Keuvelaar

John Keuvelaar is a college student at Midwest Photography Workshops and Delta College.

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