By: Cole Shelton

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Photo Credit: Julia Bellini | JBellini Visions

Jaylen Bland is back with the Sudbury Five and being a focal point of the offence.

Last season, Bland headed North to sign with the Five after stints in the then D-League and spending time overseas and in Mexico. Why he decided to come to Sudbury and continue to play in Canada was simple.

"I've been in Europe and I'm much more comfortable here than I am in Europe. It is like I'd much rather be here unless it is Spain. Europe isn't a place for me," Bland said "I'm comfortable with Logan Stutz as the coach and comfortable in Sudbury."

In his second season, Bland says the goal is to improve on the past season. He won the Newcomer of the Year award, but says he will only be better this season. He now understands how the league works and how the travel works.

For Bland, he says that has made his recovery better, and, in turn, makes him better on the court.

"I feel a lot better, honestly. The only issue is the wear and tear on your body. I just feel better as a player. I feel like I've grown and just slowed down the game," he said. "I've worked a ton this summer and it's helped me a lot."

With the Five, Jaylen Bland is also back leaning under head coach, Logan Stutz who had success in the NBLC. He says playing under a former player makes it easier to have a relationship with the coach.

"I wouldn't say it is easy, but it makes it easier for sure having Logan as a coach as he'd play in this league before," Bland said. "It makes it easier with our relationships and he cares and knows what we are going through. He makes sure to check on us instead of running us into the ground."

Entering this season, Jaylen Bland knew he'd be the focal point of the Five offence and he has done exactly that. The American is averaging 24 points and four assists while shooting 38.3 per cent from the field and 36.6 per cent from three.

Although he is having success on the offensive end of the court, his defensive play has surprised many. Last season, Bland said he was told he was only an offensive player so entering this season he knew he wanted to be an all-around player.

So far, he has 18 steals which is 22nd in the league and 85 defensive rebound which is 16th in the league. He says that is case in point of how much better he has gotten.

"My agent told me that guys don't think I can play defence, and just hearing that, coming into this year I wanted to prove everyone wrong," the guard said. "I just wanted to prove that I can defend and guard anybody. Everyone thinks I'm all about scoring but I'm an all-around player."

In the end, Jaylen Bland is confident in the Five's roster and recent play that they will be able to bring a championship back to Sudbury.

"We pretty much had a whole new teams except for like four guys. We had to figure out that chemistry. So, we just had to be around each other and play with each other to figure it out. Now that we have that chemistry we are tough to beat. Anything less than a championship is highly disappointing. We have the team to win so if we fall short it is disappointing. We can beat any team in a series," he concluded.