Hoops

Most dominant NBL players in the past decade

As Isaac implies, dominant and most valuable are different things. OP asked about dominance. That's why Martin didn't get a mention for me and Jackson placed lower on the list than other players.

Ah yes Cattalini came in during Burgess' second season. I still remember Catt's huge 50pt game vs. Bullet$.

That all rings a bell. I definitely remember having the impression that he was a level above our league.

An anon mentioned Chris Burgess for Cairns, and I remembered him as being dominant too, but the other week I happened to look him up and his numbers were solid be not so dominant at 16.6 PPG and 11.9 RPG. Restrict it to his 2004/05 season and it was 20.4 PPG and 13.6 RPG, plus 2.4 BPG which is getting somewhere. I can remember him hitting threes and being tough to guard. Did he have a particularly strong stretch of one season - struggling to remember details

Isaac, my memories of Burgess are that he was very consistent and rarely had an off game. IIRC he initially came to Cairns part way during the 2003/04 season as a replacement import. He had been out for several months due to injury and had only just made himself available for hire again when the Taipans picked him up. He was somewhat out of condition and obviously lacking in match practice when he arrived and, although he still made an immediate impact, his numbers would have been down on his 2004/05 numbers.

The Taipans signed him for a further 2 seasons and he returned for the 2004/05 season noticeably slimmed down and played accordingly, returning the figures you mentioned. I think I am correct in saying that immediately the 2004/05 season finished he then went to the play in the Phillipine league and got injured. He returned to the US and the anon who initially mentioned Burgess, is correct when he says Burgess tried to get out of the second season of his contract but the club refused. I think Burgess was claiming he wasn't going to recover from his injury in time but the Taipans made him return for the pre season period and made sure he was close to ready to go when the season started.

Whilst the anon who initially mentioned Burgess says that season would have been a bit demotivational for him, since a big guy like him was worth way more $$$, once he arrived back in Cairns he got on with the job and put his best foot forward. I think the bigger reason his figures dipped in that final season was that Alan Black did not play him for the same number of minutes he had been getting previously plus the team was stronger and had added players such as Cattalini.

Zodiac, whilst Burgess had his best season for the Taipans when they were struggling to win games and he was their main scoring option (similar to Powell being the main scoring option at NZ) that's where the similarity ends in my view. I agree that Powell was a ball hog and he certainly wasn't a team player, whereas Burgess was a team player imo.

He is playing in the US in a newly launched minor league.

With all this talk about Cedric Jackson, where is he these days? Has he retired?

https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Cedric-Jackson/Summary/5665

Nothing recorded on his RealGM page since leaving United 18 months ago.

Childress at the Kings was one of these most dominant IMO

It remains such a huge shame that Anstey did his hip in the pre season of 2009-10. He was never the same again, and retired after that season.

Without that injury, who knows, he might've continued at All-NBL first team level for another 2 or 3 years.

If we're talking last decade ish- Anstey and Jackson must be at the forefront of the conversation.

Anstey was a force at both ends- a 7 foot rim protector on the defensive end, who could shoot 3's or finish around the hoop. He was the number one reason the Tigers made 4 grand finals in a row from 2006-2009, winning 2 championships.

The official awards bear this out- Anstey was an all NBL first teamer for those 4 years, winning the regular season and grand final MVP double in 2006 and 2008. He also won defensive player of the year in 2008.

Cedric Jackson also dominated games at both ends, and was also the number one reason his team had a run of sustained success.

Depends if you're looking for individually dominant, or a broader look that includes team performance. If the latter, then it barely matters that Jackson doesn't hit free throws - he got championships and was a key part of them.

Powell was a terrible team player but a man amongst boys with a pretty versatile skillset. Hodge would be in a related category.

Ubaka, Rickert, DeLeon, Corey Williams, Larry Abney, Gary Wilkinson had their moments

Some of those guys were barely first choice on their teams. I wouldn't put them in the conversation personally (I say, having done so) when there are already ample tough imports and then dynastic cores like Jackson and Martin.

Yeah I'm another who never really rated Carlos Powell. He was a good but not great player that hogged it so much on a crap team so his stats were heavily inflated. Burgess was similar to a degree but definitely not as bad a hog as Powell. Their numbers were again inflated playing in the 48 minute era.

Someone else mentioned Julius Hodge he wasn't that special and much like Powell it was all about him. That clown's career ended early a few years ago getting kicked off of a mickey mouse British club team only a few weeks after signing him for constant disciplinary problems.

Carlos Powell was the #1 hog ever in the NBL. It was something you would only ever see in a bush league the way he just took it upon himself to do everything. The team did suck but he didn't help being a super hog. Hence the numbers. Wins - barely any.

Also Lemanis had no control over and Powell walked all over him. You could even see in the timeouts Lemanis had no control. Honestly thought he would be fired after that season. Then a bit of money flowed in with the ownership change and all of a sudden he became a "super coach". How things change.

"An anon mentioned Chris Burgess for Cairns, and I remembered him as being dominant too, but the other week I happened to look him up and his numbers were solid be not so dominant at 16.6 PPG and 11.9 RPG. Restrict it to his 2004/05 season and it was 20.4 PPG and 13.6 RPG, plus 2.4 BPG which is getting somewhere."

Yeah, I was thinking of the first season. What happened was Cairns signed him to a two year deal which he tried desperately to get out of after the first season but the club refused. So the second season would have been a bit demotivational for him, since a big guy like him was worth way more $$$.

Using a criteria of say a minimum of 5 seasons, I think you would find Damian Martin has been the most dominant Australasian NBL player in the last 10 seasons.

To make my case, if you were to look at Perth with, and without, him. With him, Perth are like Panthers tearing the opposition apart, but in the games he has not played, Perth are like kittens.

Isaac, reading your post re: looking up stats got me wondering if I reminisced on my own pick, Carlos Powell incorrectly, so I checked...

28.2ppg 8.2reb 4assists at 54.3

Wow! That's more fire than I expected.

I'm going with Carlos Powell, Ennis and Rob Rose (SEM & 36ers days)

But honourable mentions to the guy who won 8 team MVPs in a row, The Chairman of the Boards

Marty clarke

Isaac, if you don't think Jackson was dominant individually then you mustn't have been watching when he was in the league. Won MVP and Grand Final MVP awards.

No, I watched him, I'm just over-considering the word "dominant". When I think of dominant, I think of players like Carlos Powell, Demetrius Conger, Ennis, etc who were just too strong, athletic or with all-court talent (in Ennis' case) for the typical NBL level.

Jackson is still my pick, don't get me wrong.

An anon mentioned Chris Burgess for Cairns, and I remembered him as being dominant too, but the other week I happened to look him up and his numbers were solid be not so dominant at 16.6 PPG and 11.9 RPG. Restrict it to his 2004/05 season and it was 20.4 PPG and 13.6 RPG, plus 2.4 BPG which is getting somewhere.

I can remember him hitting threes and being tough to guard. Did he have a particularly strong stretch of one season - struggling to remember details.

Ok about Cedric and yes I'm biased because I hated him so much but my biggest issue with him and being associated with 'best of' lists is his free throw shooting, during his NBL career he air balled atleast 4 free throws, now if you're a casual fan and hear that #4 for the black and blue team is the best player in the league and you see that shit he served up when sent to the line then you instantly cringe and think the league is a joke.

Saying that, last year I wondered if he should have come in for Cairns as Scoochie Smith seemed so out of his depth.

I'd put Penney, Ennis and Lisch ahead of Jackson. I have enjoyed the work of AJ Ogilvy as well (except against Perth where he always goes missing) but his last season was worse than Jawai's and Jawai only looked good in that first game!

Cotton, Randle, Childress, Bruton, Wortho and Rotnei when he's cooking have also been my players of the decade

How about big men? Chris Burgess. Taipans were lucky they signed him to a two year deal.

How many have made it to sustained success in the nba? Ennis

Mike Dunigan

Who remembers the hype in Perth during the early days of Rashad Tucker?

Jackson is a good option but offensively his biggest strengths were his defence and how he made the Breakers better as a team, rather than individual dominance of his opponents. He was generally a poor shooter and didn't have to be guarded out to the 3. His last two seasons could not be described as dominant at all.

Randle is flat out the best one-on-one player I've seen in the NBL in the last decade (except maybe for Flynn, who was too disinterested to be considered for this list). But defensively he tends to be dominated rather than dominant.

Hodge was pretty much unstoppable in the three seasons of NBL he played in the last decade. He was extraordinary offensively (a la Chris Williams in 2003 (RIP)), regardless of his personality problems. It would be very hard to go past him in terms of pure dominance when he was on the court. I'd rate him ahead of Jackson in that regard.

Ennis was pretty much unstoppable, offensively, in his single season. I'd put him ahead of Jackson, in terms of dominance.

Lisch arguably is a better all around player than Jackson. Very good defensively and offensively and as strongly associated with winning teams as Martin and Jackson (at least until joining Sydney). I'd probably put Lisch ahead of Jackson as well.

Penney was amazing in his MVP season and still offensively strong when he came back to the league. Maybe lean towards Jackson here though.

Childress has been consistently dominant when he's been on the court, except for his first half a dozen games for Adelaide this season. He reminds me of Hodge and MacKinnon (in this list), with his ability to accumulate stats across the sheet durign a game. He is a really good defender as well (like MacKinnon). I'd put him ahead of Jackson as well.

CJ Bruton would have to be an honourable mention. He was also a part of the Breakers dynasty (before Jackson) and didn't have a bad season in that period, unlike Jackson. Like Martin, he had success wherever he went. Unlike Martin, he contributed strongly at both ends of the court and had to be guarded all the way out to the 3. Even then, he could still beat his player or find the open player with his excellent passing.

Anstey and MacKinnon were in the twilights of their respective careers in first few years of the last decade. Anstey was still almost unguardable though and MacKinnon was at his best in the last 5 years of his career. Both of them were well rounded players who were elite at both ends of the court.

Lots of good players to choose from. Which is a great thing to be able to say.

The former, certainly, but no I haven't seen a player that made you go 'oh Christ it's that guy. We're boned' more than Cedric. I know he joined the party after the Breakers' first title, but the point still stands

He made the Breakers go. They went 11-17 in the season between Jackson's first and second stints.

The Breakers won the championship the year before Cedric Jackson even joined the team and the year in between his stints they replaced him with an unproductive import fresh out of college.

You're either bored or getting a bit too carried away, Manu.

I'll give you that, Udog, but how do we actually justify that in terms of Jackson's legacy?

It's always a tricky one, comparing eras

Isaac, if you don't think Jackson was dominant individually then you mustn't have been watching when he was in the league. Won MVP and Grand Final MVP awards.

He made the Breakers go. They went 11-17 in the season between Jackson's first and second stints.

Players genuinely feared him. They didn't want to come across him anywhere. Defensively he was on par with prime Damo. True shooting percentage for his NBL career (137 games) was a touch over 47 per cent, which isn't great. He also played a bulk of one Breakers season with an achilles injury.

He was stupid good

Cedric Jackson played in a period that was a bit average compared to past and current NBL standards.

Cedric Jackson might not have dominated personally, but his teams generally did and he was a pretty key part of that. Damian Martin would be another pick - his teams have been successful by some measure every year.

Cedric was a gun yes but always lacked an outside shot

The man was everywhere and dominated all facets of the game.

Except he couldn't shoot to save himself and was one of the worst FT shooters in NBL history, good call. He looked good in a system that covered his flaws and then got exposed badly when he changed teams.

Casey Prather or Randle for mine.

Randle fresher in my memory, so I’ll back him but Cedric was a gun.

Randle > Jackson

anyone seen the trailers ? I believe it is an alien prequel.

looks awesome and hopefully will be a big release in 2012.....