At the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ont., Kaza Keane and Aaron Best are going to work for the Raptors 905, together.
In most cases, two Canadians playing on the same local team wouldn’t be news. Heck, Brady Heslip and Negus Webster-Chan did it last year. But this is a bit different. The history between Keane and Best suggests the two were only meant to compete against each other.
Their rivalry began early, when Keane’s Pickering High School battled Best’s Eastern Commerce Collegiate Institute often. Both teams were successful, thanks in large part to what each player brought to the table. Best earned team MVP honours in 2011 while also playing for Ontario’s U17 provincial team. Keane picked up his own tournament MVP award when Pickering won the 53rd Annual University of Windsor Invitational, before moving to North Carolina to further his development at Christian Faith Center Academy.
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It takes a unique player to have individual success translate to a team level at a young age, and that’s where their current head coach Jerry Stackhouse believes the atmosphere in which someone’s raised plays a big role.
“There’s got to be some discipline somewhere in your rearing,” Stackhouse said. “Being able to reach back to your roots and having a foundation of knowing right from wrong.”
It’s probably why Best identified the Ryerson Rams as a perfect fit after Eastern Commerce. Under the tutelage of Canada’s U19 men’s gold-medal-winning coach Roy Rana, the six-foot-four shooting guard went on to make his name legend. He became a three-time OUA first-team all-star and won the Ryersonian Male Athlete of the Year award twice.
The winning ways continued as the Rams compiled a 78-24 regular season record during Best’s time. His biggest highlight arguably came in the OUA Wilson Cup, where he helped Ryerson hoist the 2015-16 trophy with a game-high 21 points against Keane’s Carleton Ravens.
That’s right, Best’s old foe returned to Canada. After three uncertain college years in the U.S. — one with Cleveland State after leaving Illinois State — Keane reached out to Carleton head coach Dave Smart about his aspirations to turn pro. Smart held nothing back and told him he was still undercooked. The point guard appreciated the direct approach.
“I wasn’t good enough,” Keane admitted. “He (Smart) was honest. He felt he could prepare me to become a professional. I built a good relationship with him, a good relationship with my teammates there. That’s like family for me over there now. Ottawa’s like my second home.”
After winning his first national championship and being named a U Sports All-Canadian in 2016, the culmination of a process Smart promised would work came to fruition this past March.
Keane led the OUA in assists, which helped him earn the Carleton Male Athlete of the Year award. After an undefeated season, he won MVP of the Final 8 Tournament by helping Carleton clinch its seventh straight national title with 15 points and 11 rebounds in a 78-69 victory over Ryerson.
“Joining Coach Smart is the best decision I ever made,” the six-foot-two guard said.
It might have helped that his childhood rival wasn’t around anymore, too. Best achieved his lifelong dream of turning professional before the 2016-17 season began, and moved to Lithuania after signing with BC Juventus, where he played 57 games, including 21 starts.
Living in a foreign country and travelling across Europe can lead to a lot of mistakes for a young player, but that’s where the ingrained discipline Stackhouse referred to shone through.
“Just got to be more mindful about everything,” Best said about his first season as a pro. “How you eat, how you sleep, your body becomes your highest priority. Attention to detail is something I’ve been coached on from my younger days. It becomes more important as you grow older and start to become a pro. It can be the difference between you getting a job or not.”
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With Keane now ready, and Best searching for work locally, the collision course was set. The Raptors 905 were holding open tryouts and both were looking to make their mark. In fact, Keane was trying to make an impression on the parent club.
“When we were having informal workouts down at the Raptors, he was playing with those guys,” Stackhouse said. “The head of the snake is the point guard. He made some shots and did some other things, but, for me, it was what he did defensively that stood out the most.”
If Keane made a lasting first impression, you could rest assured that Best would find a way to do so as well. Prior to the open tryout, the 905 held trials where players would come in for individual workouts.
“Best really caught my eye,” Stackhouse said. “The kid was just always in the right place. And just his focus. You know how you can feel when people are listening, trying to retain information? I could just sense that with him.”
Unsurprisingly, they both find themselves on the roster now. Despite being on opposite sides of the court for so long, doing the little things that separate winning from losing all throughout their career says more about “we” than “me.” That’s what the reigning G League Coach of the Year and defending champion 905 are looking for.
“You can teach skill and all that, but more so than anything, you can play toughness. Playing defence and doing it the right way, they wouldn’t be here if I didn’t feel they brought that to the table.”
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