10 Thomas ABERCROMBIE (New Zealand)
12/02/2016
Paulo Kennedy's view from Downunder
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It’s MVP time

MELBOURNE (Paulo Kennedy’s View from Downunder) – It’s NBL finals time and that mean awards time, but before I announce my MVP let’s have a look at the four playoff-bound outfits with semi-finals starting on Thursday in Melbourne:

1st Melbourne United
Potential Rio internationals: Chris Goulding (Australia)
Melbourne won their first nine games, fell in a hole but leapt right out of it. They seemed like a team too dependent on three-point shooting earlier in the season, but road wins against Perth and Illawarra have shown they have real championship credentials.

2nd Perth Wildcats
Potential Rio internationals: Nate Jawai (Australia), Damian Martin (Australia), Jarrod Kenny (New Zealand)
In the playoffs for the 30th straight year, Perth are always a contender with the NBL’s biggest and loudest crowd, and this year the biggest and baddest frontcourt led by Jawai and Matt Knight. How much will some niggles, particularly to Knight and Casey Prather, affect this veteran team’s charge?

3rd Illawarra Hawks
Potential Rio internationals: Kirk Penney (New Zealand), AJ Ogilvy (Australia), Kevin Lisch (attempting to gain Australia citizenship)
The Hawks finished last in 2015, grabbed U19 world champion coach Rob Beveridge, loaded their roster with Penney, Ogilvy and Lisch, and then received great buy-in from role players like Kevin White, Cody Ellis and Jarrad Weeks. They’ll need the rebounding performance of their lives to get past Perth in the semi-finals.

4th New Zealand Breakers
Potential Rio internationals: Tom Abercrombie (New Zealand), Everard Bartlett (New Zealand), Alex Pledger (New Zealand), Reuben Te Rangi (New Zealand), Mika Vukona (New Zealand), Corey Webster (New Zealand), Cedric Jackson (attempting to gain New Zealand citizenship)
Almost dead and buried after losing seven of nine mid-season, the Breakers had a favourable run home and capitalised fully with four straight wins. Now they are rolling, with Jackson playing like an all-time great once again, and every other team is shaking a little in their space boots.

Out of interest, here are the top four teams’ records from match-ups against each other, with an * indicating one game to go:

Melbourne 7-4*
Perth 7-5
Illawarra 5-7
New Zealand 4-7*

Time for the gongs!
It has been one of the best NBL ever seasons when you consider talent on the court and coverage off it, and with some huge crowds rolling into stadiums in Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Auckland it is also starting to recapture the public’s imagination.

So these award nominations are for the best of the best from one of the best!

Rookie of the Year – Nick Kay (Townsville)
Matt Knight is one of my favourites, and Kay’s work ethic and toughness are reminiscent of the Perth big man. His ability to step out and hit the jumper is also a very valuable tool, and his numbers of 10.7ppg, 6.8rpg and 52 per cent from the floor are the best we’ve seen from a rookie in some time.

Runner-up: Jarrod Kenny (Perth)



Best Sixth Man – Hakim Warrick (Melbourne)
A quality NBA veteran, Warrick has been happy coming off the bench for Melbourne in a familiar role, throwing down some of the dunks of the season. His importance to Melbourne is shown by their 11-3 record when Warrick plays more than 20 minutes compared to 7-6 when he doesn’t.

Runner-up: Tom Jervis (Perth)

Defensive Player of the Year – AJ Ogilvy (Illawarra)
Number two in defensive boards, number two in blocks, number three in steals, arguably the best big in the NBL at showing on ball-screens and undoubtedly number one at swiping the ball off the rim to save a basket. With Damian Martin sidelined for much of the year, Ogilvy is an easy choice.

Runner-up: Mark Worthington (Cairns)



Most Improved Player – Corey Webster (New Zealand)
Because C-Webb has rocked the international scene and trialled with New Orleans, fans forget his best NBL season had been 15.5ppg. Before a personal crisis took its toll this year he was nailing 23.1ppg on an incredible array of moves, form he’s rediscovered brilliantly in the past three games.

Runner-up: Jason Cadee (Sydney)

Coach of the Year – Shawn Dennis (Townsville)
With a limited budget, Dennis was forced to invest heavily in youth and moulded a consistently solid team. He made the brave move to release MVP Brian Conklin, and without him the Crocs were the only road team to win in Perth and Melbourne, and came within a whisker of completing a top four quadrella in New Zealand and the Illawarra.

Runner-up: Dean Demopoulos (Melbourne)



Runner-up MVP – Jerome Randle (Adelaide)
Off the court Randle was the MVP, his fame in Adelaide unlike anything seen from a 36ers import for a decade or more. On the floor he was unstoppable at times, his 30.7ppg and 6.2apg stretch before a knee injury just remarkable. If he could defend he’d be my MVP and probably on an NBA roster.

MVP – Kevin Lisch (Illawarra)
I can’t think of another player who demands a lock-down defender at one end and then can lock down the opposition’s best player at the other. His numbers read 20.6ppg, 51% FG, 41% 3pFG, 3.7rpg, 3.6apg, 1.9spg. He is the league’s best two-way player and its most efficient guard offensively, and for me that makes him the MVP.



All NBL First Team
AJ Ogilvy
Matt Knight
Kirk Penney
Kevin Lisch
Jerome Randle

All NBL Second Team
Nate Jawai
Charles Jackson
Tom Abercrombie
Chris Goulding
Cedric Jackson

Honourable mentions
Daniel Johnson, Nick Kay, Hakim Warrick, Daniel Kickert, Josh Childress, Casey Prather, Cam Gliddon, Jordair Jett, Corey Webster, Stephen Holt

Paulo Kennedy

FIBA


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Paulo Kennedy

Paulo Kennedy

Paulo has joined our team of columnists with a weekly column called 'The View from Downunder', where he looks at pertinent issues in the world of basketball from an Oceania perspective, perhaps different to the predominant points of view from columnists in North America and Europe.