Griffins add more size with 6-foot-9 versatile, strong shooting big man Wilmes
Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Possessing a strong shooting ability to go with a sizable frame, David Wilmes has plenty to offer the Griffins men's basketball team in 2026-27.
The 6-foot-9 forward/centre also has experience, having previously played for the Concordia Thunder in 2023-24 and in Germany with TSV Quakenbrueck in 2024-25.
"He's a 4-5 for us because he can shoot the ball really, really well," said Griffins head coach David Kapinga. "He's someone who can finish the ball around the rim left or right. He's very smart. He's a 4.0 student. Great character, great culture guy who can shoot the ball, so he can stretch the floor out.
"We talked about Ryan (Ziolkowski) being able to pull the bigs out of the paint to the three-point line and David is also someone who can do that for us."
Wilmes' recruiting journey to the Griffins, however, hasn't been linear.
"He's someone who needed a little bit of a push," said Kapinga. "Last year, he was practising with the volleyball team here after we said no to him. We needed to see a little bit more from him in terms of heart, want and competitiveness."
A few months later, Kapinga met with him again.
"Something changed this past year with him," he said. "When I saw him again in March, I invited him to come play for us and he looked like a whole different human. He was competitive, he was hungry, and he attacked with aggressiveness."
Coming out of St. Oscar Romero in Edmonton, Wilmes has a lot of raw talent that just needs to be unleashed in the right system, which Kapinga thinks will happen at MacEwan.
"He's someone who can really help our team this year, so I'm really, really happy to have David with us," said Kapinga.
The coach has made a concerted effort to get more size on the roster in his 2026-27 recruiting class and is adding Wilmes to a group that includes Otis Onink (6-foot-10), Wol Wol (6-foot-7), Noah Simon (6-foot-6), Ziolkowski (6-foot-6) and Abdi Musse (6-foot-5).
"At the end of the day, we've got to understand the sport we're playing is a sport of athletes," said Kapinga. "Height does matter and athleticism, speed, quickness and skills matter. We felt a lack of it a little bit last year.
"We decided that's something I can't control as a coach – 'I can't get you better at those things.' So, let's recruit those things and let's get them better at the things we can actually help them get better at. That's how we twisted a little bit of our recruiting philosophy."
