PBL Draft Time: Rainmen and Mill Rats to Draft on Thursday Night

Well, on Tuesday night, the highly-anticipated NBA regular season began which means the PBL season is just around the corner for local hoops fans. The first event to kick off the PBL preseason is the 2010 PBL Draft on Thursday night (October 28th) at Sox Park (US Cellular Field) in Chicago. The two PBL teams out of Atlantic Canada will be participating with both the Halifax Rainmen and the Saint John Mill Rats looking to bring in some young basketball talent to their respective rosters.

The Rainmen who struggled with the centre spot last season are looking to draft a big man in this year's draft. According to Rainmen owner, Andre Levingston: "We're looking to draft big, we're looking for players with some size and length to allow us to compete with the "bigs" of Oklahoma and Rochester." The Rainmen had a revolving door of big men last season with the likes of DeAndre Thomas, Gordon Malone, Marc Mazur, Shagari Alleyne, and Larry Turner filling in at centre.

Saint John on the other hand, are targeting athleticism under a new head coach, former San Antonio Spur, Jaren Jackson. From the Mill Rats latest press release, Coach Jackson explains "We are excited about the available prospects in this years draft. We are going to be looking for the best available players, and hopefully they will bring some athleticism and intangibles to the table."

Coach Les Berry and Rainmen owner, Andre Levingston, will be representing the Halifax Rainmen at the PBL draft while Coach Jaren Jackson and Mill Rats GM, Ian McCarthy will be in attendance for Saint John. You can watch the draft live online at www.atsportstv.com at 10pm Atlantic (8pm Central Time.) Halifax will be drafting the 6th and 14th pick while the Mill Rats will be drafting the 4th and 16th pick.

Romy Aquino covers the pro basketball game (the Canadian Flavour of the NBA, the PBL's Halifax Rainmen) from a fan's perspective.  He also can be found at NBA hoops blogs, Hip Hoop Junkies (A Member of TheScore.com's Sports Federation) and Hoop Heads North.  Follow him on Twitter: @romyaquino