Isaac Simon isn’t going pro, he is pro

Going pro is hard to do.

Some teams acquire draft picks as they exit junior leagues, some players make it to the big leagues in their third or fourth year. Some never get there at all.

It happens.

What happens less is getting drafted by the same team, for the third time, without signing as a method to maintain developmental status, such as it happens in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL).

If you, like most, did not what the CEBL was, then allow me to explain it in a similar way that Isaac Simon explained it to me.

The CEBL is a summer pro league that runs from May to August, largely marketed towards U Sport developmental players with pro aspirations, and a draft to boot.

It’s not the end destination, but a serious stepping stone for someone currently with the University of Alberta Golden Bears, such as Isaac Simon, now returning to the Saskatchewan Rattlers. Again, for the third time.

Three times might sound like a lot, and for a person only familiar with “one-time” drafts so to say, it is. But that’s just how it works. Players must maintain amateur status in order to play for their respective collegiate teams by not signing non-developmental pro contracts in the CEBL, but still have their rights reserved for the duration of that season. So they get drafted each year, often by the same team, and get sent back to U Sports a little better than when they were found.

In other words — Simon can continue to be drafted by the Rattlers for as long he chooses to enter the draft, doesn’t sign anywhere else in the off-season, and is still desired by Saskatchewan. All seem likely.

And while he’s not playing a province over, the Bears have a pro-ish player, leading their team, in an “old-young guy” kind of way.

“Here, I’m a bigger leader, but when I go to Saskatchewan, I’m kind of the young guy. I’m the U Sport developmental player,” Simon put in the matter of fact, simple as it sounds manner. “But I definitely feel like I can apply some of the things I’ve learned at U of A when I do go to Saskatchewan, and even though I’m young, I can still be a leader on and off the floor, and do it in a respectful way.”

And there is a respectful way to do so, but as any college player would say, sometimes the pro league brings enough challenges.

If high school to university is a jump, then university to the big leagues is a mountain.

Just wait till he actually makes it to Europe — then you’ll know what league he’s in.

“The speed of the game is a lot faster. Reads just happen so much faster. And obviously, everyone’s so good, everyone’s a pro,” Simon added, as he himself marvelled at the adjustment required. “What they do, [those] guys are strong, they’re men, so that was definitely a big adjustment.”

Fast forward a season and an average of 3.3 points, 1.1 rebounds, 0.8 assists, and 9.2 minutes in 11 games during the 2024 season, and we could say he managed.

Right?

When Simon made the leap to the Rattlers they were a solid middle of the pack team, nothing much to say, nothing too special. His past two season with the Rattlers have been spent on the bottom end of the bottom five as the team battled injuries and the nature of this “come and go league.”

“I hate losing, so regardless of where I am at U of A with the Rattlers, it’s not a good feeling. But we actually had a really good start to [this past] season,” according to Simon.

5-2 over the first seven games.

“And then we lost pretty much our whole team.”

The starting lineup.

“We lost guys due to injuries. Some guys got opportunities during the summer [so] they had to leave. That affected us quite a bit. We went on a bit of a losing streak, and it can be hard to recover when you lose that many guys throughout the season.”

But (because there’s always a but).

“If you look at our losses, the amount of times we lost by one to three points, we were in almost every game.” 92-98, 93-97, 91-87, to name a few. “So there’s a lot to lot of positives to build off of into this year,” Simon added.

“No one was happy, that’s for sure. We all were trying to find solutions. But I will say, we have a lot of great guys in the locker room, and the coaching staff remains positive.”

Such as they do in any professional league, no matter how off the radar it might be.