Breaking Down Our First Opponent

Happy March and Happy Firebirds Friday! Today, not only do I get to tell you about the opponent the Firebirds will be facing on Saturday, but I get to announce the final roster to you and show you media day pictures! Yay!

On Saturday, the Firebirds will be playing the Rocket City Flight, from Huntsville, Alabama. The Flight are new to the TBL this year and lucked into the first overall pick in the 2024 TBL Draft. However, instead of taking the 7’3” Chris Sodom, they traded the pick away (thank goodness!).

The team doesn’t have a website up yet, but as of right now, all they’ve played together is a preseason game or two. Based on their draft picks, however, it looks like they have some size that will match up well against us. Still, the Firebirds traditionally throttle expansion TBL teams in our conference, so hopefully we’ll pick up the W.

Since there are only four teams in the Atlantic Southeast Division, we’ll be playing them three times this season! Don’t worry, we’re not just playing the same four teams all year; all the Virginia teams are in the Atlantic Northeast division, but we’ll be playing against them a decent amount too.

Even though I said the Flight will probably match up well against us, they may have trouble answering for our big men. The pride of Raleigh, Darius Leonard (#22), is back for his fifth and final season with the Firebirds, as I mentioned in a Firebird Focus post earlier this year. We also have 6’11” big man Jerome Cunningham (#13) returning from last year, and 7’0” Khadim Gueye (not pictured). I’d love to see anyone but Chris Sodom try to stop him.

Our guards may also be one of the best one-two punches in the entire league, with Daequon Antoine (#3) and Dreko Palmer (#1). Palmer is a two-time TBL All-Star now, and Antoine is the league’s reigning three-point contest champion. Ahmad Abdullah (#10) can also drop 20 points on any given night. Tre Gray (not pictured) is another 6’3” guard that can handle the ball really well and shoot lights out.

We’re good at forward too, with Shaq Dance returning and our number five overall pick, Glenn Robinson II. Our rotation went from shorter last year to far deeper in 2024. Aside from the players I’ve already mentioned, our team consists of:

William Vedder

Justin Vaughan (returner)

Cole Johnson

Larry Spicer Jr (who has many similarities to Lamar Odom on the court)

Donte Tatum

Antonio Spencer

Here’s a look of the team as a whole:

Come on, you’re telling me it’s not worth $20 bucks to watch this team play for an afternoon and represent the city of Raleigh with pride?

These young men have been preparing for the greatest season in this organization’s history. It’s your turn to play a part and buy tickets for our home opener to cheer on our team. This is going to be one of the most exciting games of the season. Trust me: if you can only attend one game this year, this is the one you don’t want to miss.

See you tomorrow at the game!

-Tex