Greenwood joins NBL to bolster Rio hopes

HUGH Greenwood is returning to his home country after signing a deal to join NBL powerhouse Perth Wildcats.

Basketball. Australian Boomers v China in Game 2 of the Sino-Australia basketball series at Challenge Stadium in Perth. pictured - Boomer Hugh Greenwood

AFTER four years abroad, Hugh Greenwood is returning to his home country after signing a deal to join NBL powerhouse Perth Wildcats for the next three years.

The Tasmanian star had attracted huge interest from several NBL teams but with a burning desire to be part of the Boomers Olympic campaign in Rio next year, he agreed to terms with the Wildcats — who are coached by national assistant Trevor Gleeson.

Greenwood, who attended an NBA trial with the Utah Jazz last week, has an “out” clause in his contract that will allow him to accept an NBA or European offer.

However, the 23-year-old told the Mercury unless any European offer was extremely lucrative, he would only turn his back on the NBL for America.

“I’m really excited. Perth is the club I originally wanted to sign with but then it looked like it wasn’t going to happen. But they made some adjustments in a deal to get me on board,” Greenwood said.

“When it came down to it between Europe and Australia, I made the decision to come back to Australia.

“The European one [out clause] is in there but unless it is a super, super good deal the reason for me coming back to Australia and playing is to do all I can to make the Olympic team.

“I will be under [Boomers coach Andrej] Lemanis’s nose and a bunch of the assistant coaches are in the NBL and Trev is the head assistant.”

Greenwood, currently based at Impact Basketball in Las Vegas, has two more weeks left in the US before he returns to Australia to prepare for the World University Games in South Korea next month.

After a positive workout with the Jazz he is hoping to land a couple more trials before his departure, confirming several teams have shown interest in him but are yet to lock in dates.

And although Greenwood’s participation in the University Games could hinder his chances of securing an NBA Summer League spot, he is confident it is the best decision for his long-term future.

“It was a tough decision though there was just more positives with University games knowing it could propel me onto the Boomers stage,” Greenwood said.

“All going well the Uni games will finish on the 15th of July and the Boomers have a team gathering in Croatia or Serbia on the 22nd.

“That group will be a part of the team that qualifies against New Zealand.

“If I go on to make that team and go on to make the Olympics it could propel me into NBA opportunities and overseas anyway.

“If I stayed here and did Summer League, you don’t know how many minutes you will play, and by saying no to the University Games I would have been black-listed from the Australian team.”