JackJumpers coach Scott Roth builds a team culture Tassie can be proud of
For Scott Roth, coach of Tasmania’s newest NBL franchise, it’s not just about the hunger to win – he also hopes to build a team culture the state can be proud of. SPECIAL FEATURE >>
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Scott Roth knew in high school – when he was just 16 or 17 and growing up in the US city of Cleveland, Ohio – that he was going to be a professional basketball coach.
He loved playing the game – he was inspired by his dad and his older brother, also sporting enthusiasts – and he possessed both height and skill, which eventually led him to play 160 games in the NBA for teams including Utah Jazz, San Antonio Spurs and Minnesota Timberwolves.
But Roth says even as a teen there was something about the strategy of the game that particularly fascinated him and planted the idea of coaching firmly in his mind.
“I’m from the States and sports are huge at all levels there,’’ the now 58-year-old explains. “I played all three – American football, baseball and basketball. My dad [Joe Roth] pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies and my older brother played basketball so I started playing. “As I got older I started to eliminate sports and by 14-15 I was basically all-in on basketball.’’
And while he always loved playing basketball – and feels fortunate to have grown up in an environment where his talent was nurtured and he was able to progress to an elite level – he always suspected he’d end up managing and mentoring others.
“I actually knew, probably at high school when I was 16 or 17 years old that I was going to be a coach, regardless of what happened basketball-wise,’’ Roth says. “I just enjoyed the strategy of it, the camaraderie of it.
“One thing I fell in love with and still love about coaching is the up and down ride. It can be very emotional and draining and also exhilarating at the other end of it. But until you’ve laughed and cried with guys in the locker room – that to me is what sport is all about and there’s only one place to do that, either being a player or a coach.
“The general adrenalin rush is not always good but there’s something I just love about being part of a team, that camaraderie of guys rallying around each other to do something special.’’
Roth is hoping to do something special during his time in Tasmania as he leads the state’s newest basketball team – Tasmania JackJumpers – into the National Basketball League when the 2021-22 season kicks off in October.
And he’s not content to let his handpicked arsenal of local players and imports ease gently into the national fixture while they find their feet as a new team – Roth is determined his Tassie team will be competitive in its first season in the league and he has his sights set on winning the NBL championship.
“It’s not an easy project to start a franchise,’’ the experienced coach and talent scout admits. “But I set the goal from day one to win the championship in the first year.’’
Since arriving in Tasmania earlier this year Roth has been described as “a breath of fresh air” and praised for his lofty ambitions and his commitment to growing basketball in the state.
Roth is buoyed by the enthusiasm but says it’s easy to score praise when your team is yet to be beaten.
“The reason people like me is I’m undefeated and I haven’t lost a game yet,’’ he laughs.
“Ask the same question in January, when I’ve lost 3-4 [games] in a row and I’m not sure you’ll get the same response. But right now I’m undefeated and things are going pretty good.’’
Tasmanian sporting enthusiasts have watched with interest as Roth has announced his handpicked line-up of local players and imports.
His recruits include 20-year-old 202cm Nikita Mikhailovskii, one of Russia’s most exciting NBA prospects, as well as Fabijan Krslovic and Jarrad Weeks, who thrilled local crowds during a stint with the Hobart Chargers in 2016.
They will be joined by shot-blocking master and slam-dunk specialist Will Magnay, forwards Clint Steindl and Jarred Bairstow, plus guards Jack McVeigh, Sejr Deans, Josh Magette, Josh Adams and Tasmanian-born Sam McDaniel, whose father Wayne McDaniel played for the Hobart Devils from 1989 to 1994.
On the morning he chatted to TasWeekend, Roth had just finished Zoom meetings with two of his imports.
He hopes to have all Australian players in Tasmania by the end of this month, with imports expected to be here by mid-September at the latest.
The season is due to begin in mid-October, however, Roth says he wouldn’t be surprised – given the uncertainty surrounding the pandemic – if that start date gets pushed out by a few weeks.
Staff numbers in the JackJumpers’ office in Macquarie St have swelled in recent months and new offices and a revamped training facility at Kingborough Sports Centre have recently been completed.
“My goal when I got here was to start building a culture the state could be proud of,’’ Roth says. “This is a state team – not a Hobart team – it’s for the whole state. I’ve tried to make sure it’s very inclusive.’’
Roth has spent a lot of time travelling the state, trying to learn as much as he can about Tasmania and the people who live here.
He is keen to ensure the state’s basketball bloodlines are honoured, involving former players and coaches in the evolution of the JackJumpers.
He also wants a team of local and import players that fans can relate to and be inspired by, and he says he carefully considered the personalities of each player he chose, in addition to their sporting prowess.
“I wanted high-character players here that would be well respected in the community,’’ Roth explains. “Players who, if they’re in Salamanca or Devonport or wherever, they’ll give you the time of day and fans will be able to have conversations and talk with them ... a family in a sense. “And I think I’ve been fortunate to find the right guys.
“The motto with this group – which we’ve just had put on our baseball caps – is to be humble and hungry.’’
Roth says there’s a lot more to a successful basketball side than skill alone and one of his biggest challenges will be to ensure his players gel well on and off the court.
“I think our biggest obstacle at the end of the day will be getting 12, 13, 14 players who don’t know each other to create that family atmosphere, that team culture and bonding,’’ Roth says.
“We’ll have a bunch of new faces who have to try and bond very quickly ... but the talent they have, I’m very happy with it.’’
And he hopes fans will respond.
Roth hopes the revamped Derwent Entertainment Centre – now known as MyState Bank Arena – and also Launceston’s Silverdome will be “the place to go” on a Friday night.
He believes Tasmanians are “hungry” for the state to return to the NBL and expects the stands to be filled with people of all ages – from young kids who are playing basketball at school to older generations who grew up watching sporting heroes like Steve Carfino, Eric Bailey, “Jumpin” Joe Hurst, Anthony Stewart, David Stiff, Mark Nash, Andre Moore and Jerome Scott play for the Devils in Tasmania between 1983 and 1996.
Roth expects there will be a contingent of “hardcore fans” as well as a lot of “curiosity-seekers’’ keen to see some action at the revitalised Glenorchy venue.
“It will be an event people will want to go to on a Friday night,’’ he says of JackJumpers games. “Our aim is to be the number one sport in Tasmania in the next few years’’.
And Roth says the new MyState Bank Arena will be a great venue for hosting a raft of other events besides basketball.
Roth has settled in well to the Tasmanian way of life – he lives at Sandy Bay, has explored tourist hotspots including Cradle Mountain and says he loves the cool weather as a change from the hot desert climate of Phoenix, Arizona, where he lived for 18 years before coming to Australia.
“I think the restaurant scene and the overall landscape of the state is just so completely unique,’’ Roth says.
“The landscape here is really, really spectacular. And it’s just so easy to get around.’’
When he first arrived in the state, Roth spent a couple of nights staying at a hotel in Salamanca.
He enjoyed a couple of breakfasts at Retro Cafe and the self-confessed “creature of habit’’ liked it so much he has continued to get an early-morning coffee and breakfast there every day since, going through his emails and enjoying a chat to the staff before heading to the JackJumpers office. Standing at a towering 203cm, he’s not hard to spot.
Roth says he’s had a long-standing interest in Australian basketball and is thrilled that an encounter with an Australian he met in China eventually led him to Tasmania to become the JackJumpers’ inaugural head coach.
“I was in the NBA for 23 years and 2-3 years ago I made a conscious effort to do something else,’’ Roth explains, adding that he wanted to escape “the rat race”.
“And there were two places I’d been following all that time – Japan and Australia.’’
His contract with Minnesota Timberwolves and affiliate team Iowa Wolves was coming to an end and he was approached to work with the Chinese national team, preparing teams for the world championship as a qualifier to the Olympics.
It was an unexpected job offer but one that travel-loving Roth – who already had international coaching experience with the Dominican Republic, Turkish and Canadian national teams – embraced.
And it was during his time in China that Roth met Perth Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson who was coaching the NBL select team that was touring China.
The men exchanged phone numbers and Roth later received a call from Gleeson, offering him a job as lead assistant coach with the Wildcats.
It was a role Roth happily accepted and he helped coach the team to victory in the 2019-20 season.
“It was an awesome experience,’’ Roth says.
He was living in Perth when Covid hit and he decided to return home to the US.
He knew there was a JackJumpers job on the radar, and he wanted it.
But he felt to be in with a chance he needed to at least be living in Australia. So he returned to Perth and when the coaching position in Tasmania came up he was quick to apply.
He beat 100 applicants to secure his coveted two-year contract.
Despite having coached numerous teams throughout his career – including assistant coaching roles with the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, Dallas Mavericks, Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons – Roth says the privilege of being able to work as a professional coach is not lost on him.
“I’ve done this all my life,’’ he says. “There are only 30 teams in the world of NBA and only 10 teams in the NBL. Coaching jobs are difficult to get ... you just have to keep your eye on stuff and hope you have an opportunity to interview and see how it goes.’’
He was attracted to the JackJumpers role because he felt it was a unique opportunity, too good to miss out on.
“To build something from scratch and put a fingerprint on it, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity,’’ Roth says. “You usually inherit a team or an organisation, but this is obviously from the ground up.’
“I’m not motivated by the financial side of things. For me it’s more about a chance to do something unique – to obviously live in a great place like Tasmania, to help the league develop and lay a foundation down for something that will be here in 10-15 years after I’m long gone ... that’s what I get more excited about.’’
The downside of being in Tasmania is that Roth misses his family – his wife Lorie and his 30-year-old daughter Dene. In a pre-covid world his “hugely supportive” family would have been in Australia with him, or he would have been able to fly back to the US to visit them. But the pandemic has made flying across the globe a lot more difficult.
“That’s obviously the tough part of the whole thing,’’ Roth says of being in Tassie.
“I haven’t seen my wife and daughter in 10 months. The other day was our 31st wedding anniversary.’’
When he left America in October, Roth and his wife had just sold their home in Phoenix and were building a place in Florida. His wife got the keys last month and is now settling into a new house that Roth hasn’t yet set foot in. Meanwhile their daughter lives a few hours away, in Miami.
“Everything’s happening and I’m not going home,’’ Roth says. “The road has not been smooth – it’s just been a lot of ups and down and bumps in the road. Everyone is going through stuff with this pandemic, it affects everyone in different ways, and we’ll get through other side.’’
Roth says his wife is claustrophobic so flying to Australia and spending two weeks in hotel quarantine is out of the question.
Roth calculates he’s done 56 days’ quarantine since arriving in Australia because in, addition to the 14 days he completed when he flew into Perth, he’s since been caught in further lockdowns while travelling and coaching in other parts of the country.
He says the plus side of setting up an NBL side from scratch is that every day is busy, which is a great distraction when he’s missing home.
And although it is a big challenge he says it often doesn’t feel like work.
“I often say, when I was 16 or 17, that was the last time I actually worked,’’ Roth explains. “I was hired over the summer to paint fire hydrants ... I painted 70-80 a day for three months.
“I’m 58 and I feel like I’ve never worked. It’s not been an easy path. My road has not been normal and it’s been filled with a lot of humble pie to be eaten. I’ve been kicked down, knocked down and it has not been easy.
“But at a young age I fell in love with an orange basketball. I met my wife, I have a daughter – everything I own is because of that ball, so I’m very respectful of that fact and I know I’m very lucky.’’ ●
For fixtures and other updates visit jackjumpers.com.au or follow Tasmania JackJumpers on Facebook.
Canadian giant rounds out JackJumpers’ imports list
A POINT-forward likened to All-NBL First Team member and Houston Rockets rookie revelation Jae’Sean Tate has been snapped up by the JackJumpers.
Tasmania’s NBL side has rounded out its import signings with Canadian big man MiKyle McIntosh, a 201cm versatile forward who has vast experience across Europe.
The 27-year-old joins American guard duo Josh Magette and Josh Adams — he played alongside Adams for Toronto’s G-League affiliate — as the club’s overseas contingent alongside Russian teen sensation and Next Star prospect Nikita Mikhailovskii.
McIntosh said the lure of playing in Australia has been on his agenda for some time, and he’s ready to get down and dirty.
“I’ve been wanting to play in Australia for a while, so when coach [Scott] Roth hit me up and said I had an opportunity to play there it was kind of a no-brainer,” McIntosh said.
“Just super excited to be a part of the team, to be a part of something that’s brand new, and to start our own little culture.
“I’m a really tough guy … very physical. I’ll go out there and will be as physical as possible each game.
“I don’t mind going into the trees and getting hit down and getting up because that’s just how I play basketball.
“I’ll bring some intensity to the team, some grit and doing everything I can offensively or defensively to help the team win.”
McIntosh played with Belgium outfit BC Oostende in 2019-20, the season after Tate was part of Antwerp in the same league.
Tate, who shone with the Sydney Kings two seasons ago, signed with the Rockets in the NBA and finished his rookie campaign last year averaging 11.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.2 steals.
Roth — who admitted he didn’t initially know much of McIntosh’s history — didn’t need much convincing he had found his man once he had done some digging.
“This guy is tough. I mean he’s going to set a tone that I think that we need here. He’s got a work ethic that I think the Tasmanian state will love to get behind.
“Not only is he tough, he’s very versatile. His size, he’s kind of a point forward, he can handle the ball, pass the ball, score the ball, so his versatility was very exciting to me.
“If you look at his stats in Belgium, and you look at Jae’Sean Tate’s stats in Belgium, they both came out of that same league.
“MiKyle won a championship there. Sean Tate came out of there out of Antwerp.
“I think they were 10 [points] and six [rebounds], Jae’Sean Tate’s, and MiKyle’s were 14 and six, so I saw some similarities in some ways of their sides and how they played and he attracted me right away.”
Roth confirmed the JackJumpers roster for the 2021-22 has been completed, but declined to say who had been signed for the remaining spots.
It is understood Matt Kenyon — who plays for Ballarat in the NBL1 and spent time on Washington’s G-League team’s roster (Capital City Go-Go) as well as the South Bay Lakers — is the final main roster signing, while Victorian duo Jock Perry and Sean Macdonald are in line to join local Sejr Deans has development players.
Delayed NBL season start welcomed by JackJumpers
AN expected delay to the start of the 2021-22 NBL season will only benefit the league’s newest franchise, according to JackJumpers coach Scott Roth.
The arrival of two-time Perth championship sharp shooter Clint Steindl on Monday officially begins the assembling of Tasmania’s inaugural squad, with other players to trickle into the state in coming weeks.
The ongoing Covid-19 pandemic in Victoria and NSW has cast serious doubt on when next season’s fixture launches, with initial hopes of a mid-October kick off looking less and less likely.
Roth welcomes any additional time to build culture and chemistry within his new team, having signed players from across the country as well as bringing in three international imports and Russian young gun Nikita Mikhailovskii via the Next Stars program.
“It’s obviously very exciting times for us, we’ve been talking for months about the first guy coming into town and obviously having Clint come in, just the relationship I’ve had with him the past year and a half is exciting to get him across here,” Roth said.
“For us, getting them [players] here as quick as possible, we’ve talked about this just in our group chats in texts going back and forth.
“The chemistry is going to be the number one thing for us right off the bat, and everywhere I’ve been that’s been very, very good, the players drive culture.
“The coaches and the staff are the guardrails, but if you have really high quality players that know what they’re doing and believe in doing right and being professional, they drive the culture of what’s going on.
“I think realistically obviously it [the season] is going to get pushed back a few weeks, I don’t think it’s going to be anything other than helping us a little bit actually at the end of the day to have some more time to spend together.
“Will Magnay for example is coming off surgery, he’ll be 100 per cent ready to go by then, as opposed to maybe a minute restriction.
“So there’s some benefits for us.”
Steindl wasted little time getting stuck into training, having an individual shooting session on Wednesday morning.
Unlike some of his soon to be teammates who are arriving from interstate Covid-19 hot spots, Steindl avoided quarantine and is ready to begin putting the building blocks in place for the JackJumpers.
“I guess the next few weeks will be a lot of individuals, a lot of shooting, just getting up to speed with what’s going on in the club but another big part is getting out in the community, hyping this thing up,” he said.
“It means a lot coming into a new club, being able to establish this franchise in the Tasmanian community.
“We get to start from scratch, there is nothing like ‘this guy needs to fit in with this’ and ‘because you’re from that club you got to fit in with this’.
“We’re starting from scratch, we’re just going to build it up from there and whatever we love, whatever the community loves, whatever the board loves, we’ll just keep rolling with that.”
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