2025 CEBL Lineup Projections: Calgary Surge

Will the third season be the charm in Calgary?

We’re keeping the Lineup Projections going with the other half of the CEBL season opener, the Calgary Surge.

Entering their third season since relocating from Guelph, this version of the franchise has seen for more success than its former iteration, making the finals in 2023 and the conference finals last year. Looking to finally get over the hump, the Surge are fielding a nearly completely different lineup, including a new head coach.

As always, a few important things to note before we get into things:

1) These projections are made with the assumption that teams have their whole roster available to them, not necessarily what they will look like on game one when most teams are still awaiting players to finish their seasons overseas.

2) Lineups have to follow CEBL roster guidelines, meaning that there must always be at least 2 Canadians on the floor, and teams cannot dress more than 4 import players.

Now that’s all settled, lets get down to business.

The Starters

PG – Khyri Thomas

One of three Surge players with NBA experience, Thomas looks poised to be handed the reigns to this new Calgary offense.

The former Piston and Rocket has proven to be a three-level scorer in both the G-League and FIBA competition as well as being a fierce on-ball defender, twice being named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year while playing college hoops at Creighton.

Thomas has a plethora of experience at the highest levels which should play a big part in helping a team with limited familiarity come together quickly. He has all the skills necessary to not only put the team on his shoulders but be in consideration as a pre-season MVP candidate.

SG – Sean Miller-Moore

I know I’ve said previously that these breakdowns are in large part to help newer fans get introduced to the players, but there’s not much more to say about Miller-Moore than what’s already been said.

A walking highlight-reel and perhaps the best dunker the CEBL has ever seen, no one does a better job rejuvenating his teammates and fans than the man affectionately known as “Rugzy”. He’s gotten better at finding opening teammates on his drives and has put significant work into his jump shot, though his three-point shooting has still yet to come along.

Much like his backcourt partner, Miller-Moore should be a pre-season award candidate as Best Canadian.

SF – Greg Brown III

The second member of the Surge to have spent time in the NBA (he actually holds the advantage over Thomas, having played 70 games to his 39), Brown is another player that his sure to quickly work his way into fans hearts.

Much like Miller-Moore, Brown is known for his propensity to attack the rim and finish with some degree of violence. At 6’7, his frame is more inline with that style than his undersized teammate, and his athleticism makes him an above average rebounder and shot blocker as well. He’s worked on adding a three-point shot to his repertoire with mixed results but still hits them with enough regularity to keep his defenders honest.

PF – Gabe Osabuohien

One of only two players to return from last year’s squad (Miller-Moore being the other), Osabuohien will look to re-inject his patented mix of energy and defensive tenacity into this year’s lineup.

Osabuohien was the heartbeat of last year’s squad. While the team made the mistake of tasking him with too much to start the year – he was the main facilitator on offense on top of being tasked to defend the oppositions best player – the team was much more successful when they allowed him to settle into more of a Draymond Green-type role. With a plethora of offensive talent around him, you can expect more of that from the Toronto native this season as he’ll look to set up his teammates and lock things down on the defensive side of the court.

C – Stefan Jankovic

With a number of in-the-paint scorers already at their disposal, it makes sense that the Surge went out and found a floor spacing big in Jankovic to plug in at center.

Long been a guy I’ve had my eye on to join the CEBL, longtime fans of the league will be interested to note that Jankovic and well-traveled veteran of the CEBL Negus Webster-Chan spent four years as teammates in the NCAA, as they both went the Missouri to Hawaii route during their collegiate careers. That fun tidbit aside, Jankovic has since had a long and successful career on the FIBA scene, playing in some of the top leagues outside of the NBA and even earning multiple invitations to Summer League with the Miami Heat and Orlando Magic.

A pick-and-pop big, he knows how to use his size to create space for teammates and can knock shots down from deep when defences sag off him. It’s a rare mix of size and skill that few possess and a skillset that could play a big role in the Surge claiming their first championship.

The Bench

Jameer Nelson Jr. will lead the Surge offense off the bench, on top of reminding all of us who vividly remember watching his dad play in the NBA just how old we’ve gotten. While he’s yet to reach the level of his father, the younger Jameer did have a solid NCAA career and enjoyed a strong start as a pro, averaging over 10 points a game for the Austin Spurs. He’s a fleet-footed guard who excels at getting to the rim and finishing around contact and has shown the ability to put up points in a hurry.

Karim Mané was a highly touted high school prospect who decided to stay home instead of pursuing NCAA opportunities. Despite that, there were still rumblings that he could get taken in the 2020 NBA Draft, though he would eventually fall through and sign a deal with the Orlando Magic immediately afterwards. Mané would appear in 10 games with the big club and have an extended stay with their G-League affiliate, though injuries largely hampered his time with the organization, as well as his career since. The biggest knock on the Montreal native is his lack of three-point shooting – he’s at a putrid 16-percent for his entire professional career. If he can figure out that part of his game and stay healthy, there’s still time for the 24-year-old to show that he was worth the hype.

Olumide Adelodun is a Calgary native who is starting his career at home following a solid NCAA career, where he was a double-digit scorer for the last two seasons. DJ Jackson was the teams first pick in the U Sports draft, though he has spent time in the NCAA as well. He was a National Player of the Year finalist following an impressive showing at StFX and will look to build on that at the pro level. Abu Kigab is – somewhat bizarrely – the only true forward the team has coming off the bench. He’s had a few looks in the CEBL, but is coming off easily his strongest year as a pro yet, averaging 20 points and 5 rebounds in Germany’s second division – a common landing spot for CEBL players during the fall season.

Reserves

Boy, there’s really something this year about Alberta teams and having short benches. There’s not much to speak of this Surge team beyond their second unit, other than noting that there are two players with notable basketball connections in their family; Javier Gilgeous-Glasgow is yet another cousin of NBA MVP front-runner Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Benjamin Kamba is the younger brother of Surge and Stinger veteran Mathieu Kamba. Angelo Mbituyiman and William Tong are both U Sports players, and like the two players mentioned before them, are still a few years away from making an impact at this level.

The Breakdown

There’s a lot to like about this year’s edition of the Calgary Surge. There’s some very high-end talent in the starting lineup, a Sixth Man of the Year candidate in Nelson Jr., and some potential diamonds in the rough in Mané and Adelodun. Not to mention, Kaleb Canales joins the team as the first CEBL coach with NBA head coaching experience.

That being said, it’s hard to truly rate this team because I believe there are still more signings yet to come. The team still has an import spot at their disposal – a key part of any CEBL team’s construction that they’d be foolish not to use – and have a clear lack of front court depth beyond their starting unit. On top of that, while the aforementioned Mané and Adelodun have potential, they are both still question marks at this level and the team doesn’t appear to have a contingency plan if one or both of them fail to pan out.

Still, as we saw last year with the Vancouver Bandits, a loaded starting lineup may be all it takes to make a run to the finals (though they admittedly weren’t this thin). Coach Canales has a number of offensive weapons at his disposal and a successful track record that should gives the Surge fans every reason to believe they can make yet another run at the CEBL championships.

Even if we don’t fully know what the team will look like yet.