The Fraser Valley Bandits have added a trio to the club’s staff for the 2021 Canadian Elite Basketball League season.
The Bandits announced today (May 28) that Tanner Massey, Tony Scott and K.J. Smith will join interim head coach David Singleton on the sidelines.
Massey and Smith will serve as assistant coaches, while Scott will take on a senior advisor role to both Singleton and Bandits general manager Kyle Julius. The trio draw upon several decades of combined experience in the NBA G League, Japanese B.League, the Novo Basquete Brasil (NBB), as well as the British Columbia and Manitoba high school and provincial ranks.
“I am extremely proud of our coaching staff,” Julius stated in a press release. “We have a very unique blend of young and hungry coaches who really care about player development and building winning habits. Tanner and K.J. are special. They’ve been coaching all over the world and winning in some really tough environments. I can’t wait for them to get on the floor with coach Dave and all of our players.”
A native of Conway, S.C. and a graduate of Coastal Carolina University, Massey has developed his craft in the NBA G League. Since 2014, Massey has served as an assistant coach with the Erie BayHawks, Capital City Go-Go, Northern Arizona Suns and Orlando Magic (in the NBA Summer League). In addition to the G League, Massey has honed his skills at the international and collegiate levels, spending time as an assistant coach with the Hiroshima Dragonflies in the B.League in 2017, as an assistant coach at Union College in 2013-14 and as a video coordinator for the University of South Carolina’s men’s basketball team in 2011-12.
Smith was an advance scout with the Bandits during the 2020 season and specialized in preparing and coordinating video reports on opposing teams and players. Smith brings a coaching pedigree from the Brazilian NBB, a top South American league. Smith has been an assistant coach with Basquete Unifacisa since January 2019. Smith and the club graduated to the NBB after winning a 2nd division (Liga Ouro) championship.
Scott brings nearly 40 years of coaching experience to the Bandits. He has impacted the growth of the game in both Manitoba and B.C. thanks to previous stints as a coach for both province’s respective provincial teams, in addition to time as a former coach at the University of Manitoba and Douglas College. Scott’s coaching resume is supplemented by his U Sports playing career, which saw him suit up for the men’s basketball programs at Lakehead University and the University of Winnipeg. Scott won BC School Sports coach of the year in 2014 as head coach of Gleneagle Secondary’s senior boys team.
The Bandits open the season in Edmonton on June 24, and then host the Saskatchewan Rattlers at the Abbotsford Centre on June 26.
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