NBL free agency: News, whispers and player movement from the 2023 off-season
New Australian citizen Alex Starling has done it the hard way to get to where he is. Now, the newest 36er is ready to show his gifts in Australia’s biggest basketball league.
When the Adelaide 36ers handed over the contract that would make Alex Starling a 34-year-old NBL rookie, one special detail caught the Florida-born former AFL prospect’s eye.
“On the actual contract, it had my nationality and it’s the first time I saw ‘American-Australian’ — that’s when it really hit me,” Starling, whose citizenship was ceremonially confirmed at Port Adelaide Enfield Council on Tuesday morning, said.
“I was born and raised in the USA but I’m here now and this is home for me.”
Despite a dominant nine-year career in the second-tier Premier League/NBL1, Starling was never quite able to convince an NBL team to take a chance on him with a prized import slot.
Now, newly eligible to play as a local, the Sixers did not hesitate to pounce on the athletic forward.
Landing in Australia in 2011 after master AFL coach Paul Roos identified him as a potential Aussie rules convert during a trial in California, Starling was on the verge of signing a contract with the Sydney Swans when stress fractures in his tibia scuttled the deal.
That wouldn’t be the first — or last — time the tough kid who grew up in Richmond Heights, one of Florida’s roughest neighbourhoods, would endure disappointment in his sporting career.
When it became clear footy was no longer an option, Starling turned back to basketball. He took an opportunity at Woodville Warriors under NBL legend Al Green and immediately drew interest from the Sixers in a relationship that has lasted throughout that time, without ever becoming official — until now.
“I felt like I was always overlooked, be it high school, college, Sydney Swans, I trained with Sixers and felt like I could have played with them nine years ago,” Starling, who briefly attempted to resurrect his footy dreams with VFL club Frankston and then Port Adelaide, said.
“Everything happens for a reason and, in the last nine years, I’ve learned a whole lot about life, a lot about hardships. I never lost faith and just put in the work, regardless, knowing that it would eventually pay off.
“I’ve always known I was good enough to play at the NBL level and now I get my chance.
“They can’t overlook me now.”
Among three children raised by single mum Jennifer Davis, that upbringing and chip on his shoulder has helped create an unshakeable self-belief and resilience.
Mum doesn’t quite grasp the magnitude of Starling’s opportunity — that might change if she’s in attendance when her son plays in front of a 9000-plus-strong Adelaide Entertainment Centre crowd — but he has another unwavering supporter who certainly does.
“My partner Erina is a huge supporter but her mum is one of, if not the, biggest 36ers fans who has been through all the ups and downs over 20-30 years and she’s more excited than my mum,” he laughed.
Starling made sure he let one other long-time supporter know his big news.
“I’m friends with Paul (Roos) to this day,” he said.
“I actually told him about me signing with the Sixers and he’s pretty happy about it.”
Without the premiership coach, Starling is well aware life could have been very different
FORMER AFL PROSPECT CLOSES IN ON NBL DREAM
A former AFL prospect, plucked out of the USA by ex-Sydney Swans coach Paul Roos, could be on the verge of a fairytale NBL debut.
Florida-born Alex Starling is on the verge of becoming a naturalised Australian and is understood to be in talks with Adelaide 36ers to fill the club’s last remaining local roster spot — more than a decade after he landed Down Under with AFL dreams.
Starling — who would be a 34-year-old rookie — is a lesson in persistence and self-belief, compiling a stunning list of team and individual accolades in South Australia’s second-tier competition (Premier League/NBL1 Central) as long as his 198cm frame.
But, despite a trio of championships, two league MVP’s, two grand final MVP’s and three defensive player of the year gongs, a chance as an import at the highest level has remained elusive.
It’s understood his looming ability to qualify as a local has sparked league interest in the glass-crashing scoring forward who would instantly become one of basketball’s feel-good stories.
Sixers boss Nic Barbato would not confirm talks with Starling, but opened up on the club’s plan to hit the NBA Summer League circuit to hunt for an import point guard to pair with Mitch McCarron.
Barbato has previously acknowledged the well-publicised off-court issues that conspired to derail last season’s campaign and said, in response, the club had taken a more holistic approach to recruitment in a bid to rebuild its culture.
“We’re looking for an import point guard, which will be really key for us,” Barbato said.
“The expectation is to have a team that is here to win a championship and we want players who really want to be here and contribute to the club.
“(Cultural fit is) a key factor for us in terms of the recruitment this year and, if that box doesn’t get ticked, then we’re not going to move on a player.”
The Sixers have recruited the ultimate culture guy in much-loved veteran Jason Cadee and inked reborn big man Isaac Humphries, and will bank on a big bounce-back season from McCarron as well as marked improvement from the likes of upgraded development player Nick Marshall and athletic young forward Kyrin Galloway as they attempt to break a five-season playoff drought in NBL24.
UNITED’S BIG COACHING CHANCE AS EX-NBL STAR ON IMPORT RADAR
Dean Vickerman might avoid his traditional trip to NBA Summer League as he edges closer to securing the final pieces of Melbourne United’s stacked roster.
With all but two spots locked away after the return of Matthew Dellavedova, Vickerman has turned his attention to securing a sharpshooting import two guard to complement the rich local talent at his disposal.
“There’s, in some ways, a hope for me that I’m not attending Summer League this year, that our roster is complete before that time,” Vickerman said.
“If we can find the right guy, we’ll certainly snap him up before Summer League.
“With Europe finishing over these next couple of weeks, we’re going to see a heavy list (of available imports) from agents and we’ve already got a pretty decent list of guys we think can fill the role and I think that will continue to grow.”
While he would not be drawn on which players are on United’s list of potentials, it’s understood former NBL guard Travis Trice has emerged on the club’s radar that is also said to feature ex-Houston Rocket Armoni Brooks.
Trice, a well-travelled 30-year-old American, shot better-than 37 per cent from the outside in his two years in the NBL with Cairns and Brisbane and most recently averaged 12.3 points and 3.3 assists on 35 per cent from deep with Spanish club UCAM Murcia.
On the back of securing highly-regarded Boomers technical director Jacob Chance, United will overhaul a player development regime that had already helped Jock Landale and Jack White become NBA players and revived Matthew Dellavedova’s career in the big league.
“The player development side was something that we really wanted to improve this year and to have Jacob be a big part of how it is structured,” Vickerman said.
“Ariel (Hukporti), Jo (Lual-Acuil Jr), (Luke) Travers — there’s good incentives as a club if we can get these guys to where they want to get to — so it’s a really juicy task for him to jump into.”
Chance, who was involved in four NBL championships in Perth, found a rapport with Vickerman during the recent Boomers World Cup qualifiers in Melbourne and became a standout from more than 100 applicants for the job.
“I was lucky enough to work with Deano during the February window with the Boomers,” Chance said.
“I really enjoyed being around him and I believe that our values align perfectly when it comes to practice, high performance and coaching on the floor.
“The position this opportunity puts me in terms of my development and being able to learn from one of the best in Australia was something I couldn’t pass up.
“Having guys like Chris Goulding and Matthew Dellavedova in your line-up, being able to be working alongside them and being able to pick their brains is going to be unreal.”
It’s understood Chance was contracted at the JackJumpers but used an out clause to make the switch to a United side that has reloaded quickly after missing the playoffs last season.
Chance joins a coaching staff that includes Rhys Carter, with basketball genius David Barlow all but certain to be part of the new-look off-court team that lost lead assistant Justin Schueller, who took over the Brisbane Bullets, and assistant Darryl McDonald, who followed him north.
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