NBL22: The league’s best imports and pre-season power rankings
The NBL has been blessed with brilliant import players over the years. We rank this year’s top internationals, some with potential NBA futures, playing in the Australian league.
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From Ricky Grace to Dwayne McClain, Lanard Copeland and many more, the NBL has been blessed with some brilliant imports over the years.
Today, the tradition of strong imports continues, so we’ve ranked the top 12 ahead of the 2021-2022 season.
As far as we’re concerned, there is one standout, but the chasing field is loaded with talent and potential.
1. Bryce Cotton (Perth Wildcats)
The undisputed modern-day master of NBL imports. Three NBL championships, two grand final MVPs and three league MVPs, Cotton remains the benchmark import and player even though he will take some time to warm up at the Blitz following off-season surgery to repair a haematoma in his left quadriceps.
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2. Tyler Harvey (Illawarra Hawks)
Harvey is primed to go to another level this season after enjoying an outstanding debut NBL campaign.
The American native averaged 20.4 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists while shooting 38 per cent from beyond the three-point line. He capped the year off by being named in the All-NBL First Team. Harvey, signed with Illawarra for three more seasons, is ready for a huge season as the Hawks chase a championship.
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3. Peyton Siva (New Zealand Breakers)
This guy can play, and he has the NBL community buzzing.
Siva was the 26th pick in the second round of the 2013 NBA draft by the Detroit Pistons, playing 24 games.
He arrives having played 26 games for EuroLeague club Alba Berlin last season, averaging 10.1 points, 5.2 assists, and 1.2 steals.
Siva has spent the last six seasons in Europe and was the top scorer in the 2019 EuroCup, before helping Alba Berlin secure back-to-back German championships in 2020 and 2021.
4. Vic Law (Perth Wildcats)
Perth have found a good one in Law.
After representing the Brisbane Bullets in the 2021 NBL season, the 25-year-old impressed for the Los Angeles Lakers at the recent NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.
The versatile 201cm forward is a difference-maker for the Wildcats.
Law averaged 10.0 points and 4.3 rebounds for the Lakers NBA Summer League team, including a game-winning performance against the Clippers where he came up with the clutch triple and defensive play to seal the win.
5. Jarell Martin (Sydney Kings)
Martin has looked solid in the Blitz so far as he looks to return to the NBA with a standout season as Sydney’s big man leader.
Injury aside, he enjoyed an impressive maiden season with the Kings last year.
The former Orlando and Memphis power forward averaged 17.9 points, including 50 per cent from the field, while he averaged seven rebounds.
If Martin can stay fit, he’ll have an even bigger impact this season.
6. Scott Machado (Cairns Taipans)
After starring in his maiden season in 2019/2020 to narrowly miss out on being named league MVP, Machado regressed last season.
His form mirrored the Taipan’s slide down the ladder, so he will be determined to rediscover his finest.
Machado is one of the league’s best players, but he needs to fulfil his potential.
7. Lamar Patterson (Brisbane Bullets)
Patterson would normally be higher in the rankings, but he has a lot of ground to make up following a disappointing 2020-2021 campaign.
It started with an underwhelming stint at the New Zealand Breakers, struggling early and appearing out of shape.
He averaged 10.8 points and 3.7 rebounds in six games — down from a career 18.7 points per game — and shot just 37 per cent from the floor before going down with a knee injury that kept him out for the final seven games of the NBL Cup. He was released by the Breakers in March this year to re-join the Bullets.
8. Hugo Besson (New Zealand Breakers)
French shooting guard Hugo Besson has New Zealand officials raving about his form.
Besson, who is the Breakers’ second import after the club signed former NBA point guard Peyton Siva last month, has impressed with his scoring ability thus far in the Blitz. He dominated the highlight reels with his halfcourt three-point buzzer beater in New Zealand’s opening game against United.
ESPN currently has Besson as the 34th pick for the 2022 NBA draft following a stellar season in the French second division. The 20-year-old was named in the league’s All-Star Five and received awards for scoring champion and best youngster after averaging 19 points, four rebounds, and three assists.
9. Jaylen Adams (Sydney Kings)
Adams is yet to take the floor due to a knee injury, but big things are expected of the gifted guard so he has made our list.
He most recently played with the NBA championship winning Milwaukee Bucks on a two-way contract, alongside new Kings coach Chase Buford.
Known for his prolific scoring and playmaking ability, Adams is a marksman from three-point range, averaging 40 per cent from behind the arc in the 2019-20 season. He also prides himself on his defensive presence and ability to create for others; a two-way player to run the offence is exactly what the Kings front office were looking for.
10. Xavier Munford (South East Melbourne Phoenix)
Xavier Munford faces a big challenge stepping into the import point guard shoes of NBA-bound Keifer Sykes.
The 29-year-old brings worldwide experience, including NBA stints at Memphis and Milwaukee. He most recently played for Turkish club Bursaspor.
He has also played six seasons in the NBA G-League, averaging a career-high 24 points in 2017/18.
11. Josh Adams (Tasmania JackJumpers)
Adams turned heads with his epic mid-air poster dunk against Brisbane in Tasmania’s opening pre-season Blitz game.
He impressed while playing with the Dallas Mavericks at the NBA Summer League in 2018.
The native of Phoenix, Arizona, has also represented the United States in FIBA competition, helping his country during the 2019 World Cup qualification windows.
Adams joins the JackJumpers after most recently suiting up for Italian team Virtus Bologna, winning the Italian League in 2021.
12. Michael Frazier (Perth Wildcats)
Perth have high hopes for the versatile American who played for the Houston Rockets during the 2019/20 NBA season, as well as for the Phoenix Suns in the recent 2021 NBA Summer League.
Frazier played in the NBA G League as well as in Italy, before he received his first NBA opportunity in 2019/20, making 17 appearances for the Houston Rockets.
In 2020/21, the 27-year-old played for the Philadelphia 76ers affiliated G-League team, the Delaware Blue Coats, where he took his team to the Finals.
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Championship winner Mark Worthington believes the spread of talent across this season’s NBL rosters will make the expanded competition harder than ever to predict the eventual winner.
With the Tasmania JackJumpers set to join the NBL plus off-season player and coach movements impacting some of the top teams, Worthington is finding it hard to pick an outright favourite which is why he is taking such a keen interest in the NBL Blitz pre-season tournament starting on Saturday and running for the next three weeks.
“You look across the league this year, and the rosters that have been assembled, and I can’t think of a time when we’ve had this much talent,” Worthington, a 2009 NBL champion with the Melbourne Tigers, said.
“It is not only the stars of each individual program – it is the depth that goes with it.
“Every game is going to have a pop to it.
“I don’t think we’ve seen a season coming up like this where every team has got someone that you’d pay to watch over and over again.”
But who is the best? Will Melbourne United go back-to-back?
Can Perth Wildcats extend their incredible grand final playoffs record which currently stands at eight of the last 10 years including four championships?
The NBL Blitz will give us a strong indication of which teams are set to make the biggest impact in 2021/2022 and News Corp has boldly ranked the teams before the first shot of the new season.
1. PERTH WILDCATS
While ever Perth has the NBL’s best player, star guard Bryce Cotton (pictured), they are the team to beat.
The Wildcats are facing a new era without five-time championship-winning coach Trevor Gleeson, but they still possess a star-studded and reliable roster.
Norton perfectly complements Cotton in the back-court while Matt Hodgson, Luke Travers and ex-Bullet Vic Law provide an imposing frontcourt.
2. ILLAWARRA HAWKS
Brian Goorjian has significant shooting strike in Tyler Harvey and Justinian Jessup, and it works perfectly alongside bigs like the ever-improving Sam Froling and Boomers centre Duop Reath.
The Hawks also have strong depth through AJ Ogilvy, Harry Froling and Emmet Naar.
Goorjian will have the Hawks firing after missing out on the championship last season.
3. MELBOURNE UNITED
Jock Landale, Scotty Hopson and Mitch McCarron are all gone, but the defending champions are still loaded with class and experience.
NBA champion Matthew Dellavedova forms a potent back-court with veteran sharpshooter Chris Goulding.
Landale will be hard to replace, but United has Jo-Lual-Acuil and impressive bench depth through the likes of David Barlow, Brad Newley and German NBA draft prospect Ariel Hukporti.
As always, coach Dean Vickerman will put United in a strong position to contend.
4. SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE PHOENIX
South East Melbourne are building in an upwards trajectory, and this is their season to strike, fitness permitting.
If Boomers stars Ryan Broekhoff and Mitch Creek can stay healthy, the Phoenix possess the strike to make the playoffs and compete for a championship.
The addition of Chinese big man Zhou Qi will give South East Melbourne a significant presence in the paint.
5. NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS
The Breakers look strong on paper through the likes of Finn Delay, Yanni Wetzell, projected lottery pick in the 2022 NBA draft – small forward Ousmane Dieng and star import Peyton Siva.
The biggest challenge for the New Zealander’s will be playing away from home to start the season without a fan base behind them.
6. SYDNEY KINGS
There is plenty of excitement around the new-look Kings, with a cast of former and aspiring NBA players on the roster.
Ex-Boston Celtics guard RJ Hunter is a solid signing while big things are expected former Atlanta, Portland, and Milwaukee point guard Jaylen Adams.
Watch for former Memphis and Orlando power forward Jarell Martin to produce a season worthy of returning to the NBA while Aussie young guns Xavier Cooks, Makur Maker, Jordan Hunter, and DJ Vasiljevic (when he returns from his achilles injury) are all players to watch.
7. ADELAIDE 36ERS
There is no Josh Giddey as he tears up the NBA in his rookie season, but the 36ers have a strong replacement for Giddey in championship-winning point guard Mitch McCarron.
McCarron will provide scoring and a winning mentality to a side loaded with an impressive frontcourt, featuring Daniel Johnson, Isaac Humphries, Sunday Dech, Cam Bairstow and rising Filipino big man Kai Sotto.
8. BRISBANE BULLETS
If two-time All-NBL First Team forward Lamar Patterson can stay fit, the Bullets should rise up the ladder this season.
Patterson is one the league’s finest players at his best while I’m tipping a huge season from Boomers point guard Nathan Sobey.
Consistency will be the Bullets’ biggest challenge.
9. CAIRNS TAIPANS
The Taipans struggled last season, and while I expect improvement, I think they will be among the teams fighting for fourth place at best.
Star point guard Scott Machado is an MVP candidate, but I’m concerned about Cairns’ star power and ability to compete with the league’s better teams.
10. TASMANIA JACKJUMPERS
It’s hard to rank a new team that is yet to work on combinations in a game setting, but here we go.
The JackJumpers’ roster is solid, featuring a host of proven names like Will Magnay, Jarrad Weeks, Jack McVeigh and Clint Steindl.
Whether or not this can translate to immediate success remains to be seen, hence Tasmania’s ranking.
The boys from Tassie could surprise and make me eat my words.
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