Nico Carino vividly remembers growing up in the late ’80s and early ’90s in a relatively unknown suburb on Toronto’s east side called Scarborough. Back then, basketball was just a sport in Canada. However, in the Carino household, basketball was everything.
A first-generation Canadian whose parents immigrated from the Philippines, Nico grew up around hoops for as long as he could remember.
“Filipinos in general, we love basketball. That’s what I was exposed to at a very young age. I was playing well. I played in the OBA, it’s almost like AAU but a Canadian version. I played for an organization called the Scarborough Blues that made a lot of basketball players that are playing in the NBA right now, whether it’s Corey Joseph, Kelly Olynyk.” Niko says: “My dad played college ball in the Philippines and then when he came to Toronto in the ’70s, he kind of found his love again in these minor leagues. He would bring me with him and I kind of fell in love with the game.”
Eventually, the Toronto Raptors came to town, and Nico says he still remembers attending the franchise’s first youth camp. However, as with many hoopers, he eventually realized that it would not be something he would pursue professionally. As fate would have it, he entered the music industry by helping his close friend Drake become a global icon.
Still, Nico still found ways to keep himself around the game. He launched OVO Bounce, a local summer pro-am tournament that drew NBA stars from across the border. The OVO Bounce exploded and became a staple of summer hoops. For Nico, however, this was just the beginning of his journey in the sport.
As his name and reputation grew, known as Drake’s right-hand man since Day 1, as co-founder of OVO and helping to promote hoops in Canada through his OVO Bounce tournament, he says he was eventually approached by the Canadian Elite Basketball League the post. – an epidemic about creating a new professional team in Toronto.
His initial response was that he would only be interested if the team was based in his hometown of Scarborough instead. As expected, his response initially caused some controversy, but the league eventually agreed, and the Scarborough Shooting Stars were soon born, with Nico serving as co-owner.
“I have to give a shout out to Commissioner Mike Morreale because at first when I brought it up, everyone was like, Why? Why do we do Scarborough? Scarborough is a small suburb and they obviously wanted a Toronto team because it’s a bigger market and to capitalize on that. But my heart wouldn’t be in it if the team wasn’t in Scarborough. I’m passionate about what I grew up with… (Marrealen) It’s like there’s this guy who’s as passionate about Scarborough as you are. i’m like Yes? Who is that? And that’s how I met Sam (Ibrahim), he’s one of our partners who is a big contributor to this organization.”
The Shooting Stars essentially serves two purposes. community culture and winning culture. While the Raptors have become a global brand and actually remain active in the community, their demanding schedules and off-court commitments limit the players’ access to the community in many ways. That’s where Shooting Stars comes in. Nico says the goal has been to host a variety of community events each week during the season, whether it’s camps, clinics or meet and greets. And it’s not just about the players, he’s applied the same responsibility of accessibility to himself.
“When we made this team, I wanted it to be about young people. For a kid who couldn’t afford Raptors tickets. I never went to a Raptors game until I was probably 18. The Shooting Stars is one of those things where it’s available,” he says. “Let’s reach out to all the youth basketball programs and high schools and give them tickets. Doing camps and meeting the players with them and meeting me. And going through a full day of what it’s like to be a professional basketball player. Just trying to find a way to inspire the kids… I just try to stay connected to them as much as possible and be human to them. We are not unreachable. I want Scarborough Shooting Stars to be unavailable. You can reach out, you can shake hands. Being a community team, we can do that.”
The CEBL, which began in 2019, consists of 10 Canadian teams that play about 20 regular season games and a single-game elimination playoff structure where, after the quarterfinals at home, the semifinals and title games are played in rotation. neutral site (was in Vancouver last year, will be in Montreal this year) during championship weekend. The league, which runs from May to August, has unique rules aimed at prioritizing local Canadian talent. For example, only 4 imports are allowed per team, 3 of which are Americans and one is an international player from anywhere else. The rest of the list is all Canadian hoopers. The league also requires two Canadians from each team to be on the field at all times. If a team does not follow that rule, it is an automatic technical foul.
The way the season is structured certainly brings some challenges. The roster is made up of guys who play professionally in the EuroLeague and other top divisions around the world, as well as regulars in the NBA G League and Schumer League. Some of the players on the roster from previous years included Jaylen Harris, Isaiah Mike, Cam Chatman, Cassius Robertson, Kyle Alexander, Kat Barber, Calif Young… and Grammy Award winner J.J. Cole.
But with top-level talent comes obstacles. Some of the players arrive late if their overseas season is deep into the playoffs, some have to leave early if their respective overseas teams start early, and some have even been invited to the NBA Summer League in the middle of the CEBL season. It creates a series of conundrums that Nico and his crew must constantly navigate with precision, predicting which players may be lost or not starting and developing contingency plans. For Nico, going through the roster turmoil just means that his guys are experiencing upward mobility in their careers and that Shooter Stars is playing a role in their development.
However, those challenges on the court didn’t affect the team’s success at all. In just two years of existence, the team reached the championship game in its first year and won it all last year. The early success comes as no surprise to Nico, whose ultra-competitive nature helped create an expectation to rank high from the start. He knew the team would automatically have a lot more eyes and pressure on them (and, naturally, haters) than any other team in the league with OVO and Drake attached.
Being in the studio with The Boy, or touring the world, or talking strategy in business meetings around the most popular male artist ever, all prepared Nico for this moment.
“I learned a lot from Drake in terms of how he’s involved in everything he creates, whether it’s his music video concepts, beat production, writing, hooks, whatever it is, he’s involved in everything. And that’s what I did with this. On a normal day, I go to training camp, I watch film with the guys, I go to coaches’ meetings, I just learn and soak it all in and contribute whatever I can.” he says “I just wanted to win or lose on my own merits and I didn’t want it to be something where it didn’t work out, but I was right. So I wanted to be as involved as possible, so if I lost, it was on my own merits.”
“Expectations are high. We repeat a great city. We’re repping Toronto’s East Side We’re repping OVO. We repeat Drake. There’s a lot at stake here. I guess that’s something I don’t take lightly. I want to be competitive here. I learned a lot from Drake, you can’t adjust, you can’t be satisfied. We cannot not have a successful season. We have to keep finding ways to somehow stay on top.”
Beyond the wins and losses, the X’s and Os and the championships, Nico’s story has a lot to do with the natural human experience. One that ultimately revolves around finding and living your true purpose, living your passion not just for yourself, but ideally for those around you. It was quite a full circle moment for the Scarborough native.
“Growing up, I wanted to be the starting point guard for the Raptors. But, obviously, being a Filipino, I didn’t grow up that much,” Nico laughs. “I didn’t really know what (else) I wanted to be. I went to college for a year before Drake kind of grabbed me and brought me on the road. I went to college to be a social worker. So I’ve always wanted to inspire and help young, troubled kids. I don’t want to say that I was a restless child, but I wandered. I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I always felt stuck. I never thought I could own a sports team while working professionally in sports. Now I just want to inspire those who are like me.
“It was difficult, in terms of feeling stuck, it’s a scary thing. That feeling of helplessness. Like, what’s next? Waking up every morning and being like Yo, what’s next? What am I going to do? Like, I don’t know what I’m going to do. There is life after that. As long as you are in it, good things will happen to you.”
Photo credit: Place NEW.
