MONROE — It could be a recipe for disaster, two all-star caliber players — guys who will take up a lot of minutes and shots — jumping onto a team just weeks before the postseason.
Instead, the Snohomish County Explosion hope that Rashaad Murray and Justin Powell are the key ingredients for a International Basketball League Championship. Both Murray and Powell, IBL all-stars last season for the then Everett Explosion, spent most of this season playing in Dubai. Now they are back with the Explosion, hoping to lead their team to a title when the IBL Western Conference playoffs start tonight in Monroe.
Since returning, Murray and Powell have stepped back into their roles as two of the Explosion’s best players. Powell recorded a triple double in his last game, while Murray recently scored 58 points in a game.
“We’re not selfish guys,” said Powell who played in Dubai from February until early June. “We’re not going to come on the team and be anything but demanding of the guys around us to do their part to win. That’s all it is. It’s not hard because we’re not coming in with selfish goals and selfish motives.”
Murray went to Dubai last September and recruited Powell to join him when his team, Al Sharjah Club, had an opening in January. He said that he and Powell haven’t had any problem fitting back in with the Explosion. Instead, he expects that they can help the Explosion, a team with a modest 14-9 regular season record, win a championship.
“You can never count us out,” Murray said. “As long as we play hard and play together, there aren’t too many teams around that can. … We can be our own worst enemy, let’s put it that way. I think we’ll be fine. As long as we come out and play together and play like we know how to play, we’re still one of the better teams in this league.”
Explosion guard Jamaal Miller went through a similar transition last season when he returned to the team in June after playing in Romania. He said jumping onto the team late wasn’t too disruptive, and that the return of Murray and Powell has helped the team, not hindered it.
“The only thing you have to worry about is messing up the team’s chemistry because they’ve been playing well without you,” Miller said. “You just want to come in and add to the team without disrupting the chemistry. The kind of players they are, it’s been good having them back.”
And while the Explosion would have loved to have had Murray and Powell around all year, in a league like the IBL, one that is competing with other American and foreign leagues for players, athletes coming and going comes with the territory.
“It’s something you have to live with,” Explosion general manager Brad Sturlaugson said. “Last year the quality level of this league was so much lower than this year.
“This league’s getting more well known, and players are coming in at odd times during the year. They’re only required to play three games for any particular team to qualify for the playoffs, so there isn’t really a big urgency to get on the team and stay there. It’s tough, but there is such a difference of the quality level this year that it’s kind of expected.”
Explosion coach Randy Redwine feels like his team is hitting its stride at the right time, and is even better with Murray and Powell back in the fold.
“They’ve raised the level of play of all the other players, that’s the key for us,” he said.
Redwine addressed any potential problems before this season started, and said that adding two stars has been nothing but positive.
“We discussed this at the very beginning of the season,” he said. “We said that we were expecting these guys to come back, and no matter what the standings were or who was on the team, they would have to earn their spots back on the team. That was made clear to everyone at the beginning of training camp.”
Powell and Murray’s personalities also made the late-season transition easier.
“It’s a little bit of a concern to bring players in late, but with those two players, they’re the quintessential team players,” Sturlaugson said. “So if anybody is going to fit in, it’s guys like that … I wasn’t really worried about it with those two.”
And like their GM, Powell and Murray aren’t worried about fitting in when the Explosion shoot for a title this weekend.
“We’re here to do nothing other than win,” said Powell. “Justin doesn’t have a goal to be the MVP, and I don’t have the goal to be a scoring champ. We don’t have those goals at all. We’re about winning basketball games.”
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