How Joe Wieskamp flipped his season from struggle to success and how family made it possible
Crushing himself under the pressure of expectation, South East Melbourne’s Joe Wieskamp knew something had to give. He reveals how he leant on family to find a way to become a key piece of Phoenix’ charge.
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Former San Antonio forward Joe Wieskamp admits he was crushing himself under the pressure of his own expectation in his first season abroad.
Drafted by the Spurs under legendary coach Gregg Popovich, the sweet-shooting, athletic forward landed at South East Melbourne – with wife Makenzie and infant Jace Joseph in tow – with much fanfare as an import with NBA experience.
But, as the Phoenix began the season with five straight losses, Wieskamp struggled to match form with expectation, and a mid-season change of coach left the 25-year-old at a fork in the road.
Benched in November against Perth, Wieskamp might have had every right to shrink from the challenge, pack his bags and head home to Iowa.
But it was never an option.
“That was definitely a huge turning point for me,” Wieskamp said.
“Never fun to kind of go through but, at that moment, you kind of have two choices to make.
“You could be like ‘you know what? I’m out I’m not going to deal with this’.
“But, at the end of the day, I knew I had to be better, and everyone knew I could be better and it was just a matter of me taking that pressure off of myself and playing more freely.
“When I committed to this team from the beginning, I wanted to be here, I wanted to help South East be a good team this league.”
PRESSURE RELEASE
Wieskamp turned to a sports psychologist to help him “change my mindset” and shift that internal pressure, while working on his methods with Aussie shooting coach Jono Hansford.
“I was definitely putting way too much pressure on myself and not enjoying the game as much as I should have been because, at the end of the day, we play this game for fun,” Wieskamp said.
“When I was struggling, I just kept putting more and more of a pressure on myself because I knew what I was capable of. I knew I should be one of the best shooters in this league. I should be helping our team so much more.
“Every player, when they’re playing at their best, is in a flow state. They’re just out there playing, relying on instincts and not overthinking.
“After meeting with the sports psyche it took a load off my shoulders and allowed me to play more freely this second half the season.”
GREATEST SUPPORT FAR FROM HOME
Sports psychologists and shot doctors are all well and good, but Wieskamp says he wouldn’t have even made the trip Down Under without his family.
Fellow imports Derrick Walton Jr and Matt Hurt are here solo – often the lonely lot of an overseas player.
“Having Mackenzie and JJ with me has made this experience so much fun.
“We go to the beach all the time. We’re out exploring Melbourne, going to farmers markets and different things like that.
“I think the coolest thing is, when we first got here, JJ was barely crawling and now he’s running around, crawling everywhere, exploring. I’m getting to play overseas and watch him grow up.
“One of the best feelings is after a big win, he’s right on the side of the court you can go over and grab him, give him a big hug.
“It’s so good to having them here and being my biggest support.”
Spending Christmas at the beach was a welcome perk, too.
“I’m used to snowy winters and Christmases so it was definitely a bit different having a nice, sunny day at the beach on Christmas this year,” he said.
TOUGH LOVE, TOUGHER RESPONSE
That dreaded ‘Did Not Play – Coach’s Decision’ – Josh King’s tough love moment – is now a world away.
The coach knew his 198cm charge had so much more to give than just shooting and it’s a refocus on the defensive end of the floor and playing with more physicality that has helped free up Wieskamp’s offensive game.
So much faith has King in his young import, now, that Wieskamp has set back-to-back season highs in minutes in the first two NBL semi-final clashes with Illawarra.
His game two job on Hawks All-NBL First Team guard Trey Kell (6 points, 1-10 shooting, 5 turnovers) was a key to forcing Wednesday night’s series decider in Wollongong.
“Honestly, I give a lot of credit to coach King, he obviously knew I’d been struggling and he just really put a big emphasis for me on being more physical, focusing on the defensive end, having big rebounds and pushing in transition,” he said.
“I feel like I’ve slowly kind of earned his respect back, just taking on the challenge, like wanting to guard Trey Kell and just having some more length on him, and just focusing on that, trying to get him out of his comfort zone, being more physical.”
MOMENTUM WITH TEAM GREEN
Wieskamp admits the Phoenix feel like they “gave away” game one with a 21-0 capitulation but Sunday’s game-two win has shifted the momentum.
“We’re going into the game three with a lot of confidence,” he said.
“They’re (Illawarra) obviously the No.1 seed for a reason. They have a lot of firepower.
“It starts with Trey Kell and (Tyler) Harvey, obviously, but they have a lot of guys who have been playing well off the bench. (Sam) Froling’s obviously a problem in the post.
“They’re getting too many offensive rebounds so we need to box them out, limit second-chance opportunities, win the 50-50 balls, and just keep playing aggressively offensively.
“We have a lot of guys who can get going on any given night, so if we just continue to move the ball and take good shots I think we’ll be all right.”
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