Damn, how could I forget Farley & Brooks!!!

The D-Train may not have made top 10, but he'd be an honourable mention at least, wouldn't he? He was as good or better than Copeland.

Other than that, I think you have it pretty much covered.

For ability to just dominate I was always impressed with Acie Earl. He won't go down as one of the greats because of his alleged attitude. But not many NBL bigmen have dominated the paint like Earl did in his short time.

Your right Hoop Addict, D Train should be up there. What a phenomenal player he was his first 2 years, he was straight out of the playground. I had never seen anyone play like he did - should have been picked up for carrying the ball but he baffled everyone, including the Ref's.
Carfino is another player that was a Superstar(at Hobart) before blowing his knee out.

I think to have been a valuable import you can only asses the ones that have won titles and been in the league for at least 2 seasons.


My ten in no particular order are

Mark Davis: Dominated and changed the league

Al Green: First real household name, still holds the highest points for a single game

Cal Bruton: Character, leader and showman, that pull up 3 on the break was awesome

Leroy Loggins: Classy and faultless

Darnell Mee: Best i have ever seen, can do it all

James Crawford: Was huge on the boards and loved to go glass with his jumper and block shots

Scott Fisher: Hard nose player who would have been an asset to any team in the NBL. Did the durty work and got the job done

Rob Rose: Can do anything at any time....we were up by 18 against the Crocs with 3.30 to go and he beat us!!

Ricky Grace: Still unstopable after all these years

Rocky Smith: Never saw him play and am basing this on people who did. Was a machine at both ends of the court ( apparently)

I'm assuing D-Train is Dwain McClain? What a star? "Want some of my maccadees?" :D

I know he doesn't fit into Kent's criteria, but I would add Bobby Locke, only for the reasons that he had a great J, crazy skills, and for his size, absolutely abused defenders.

Would Rucker rate an honourable mention on your list too?

Crawford would definately have to be there Bootney. He made that best NBL team.

I agree that Bibby Locke was awesome......probably not top 10 tho.

The gold coast roller duo of Mitchell and Andre LeFluer deserve a mention.

As does that Lithuianian guy that played in Townsville's first team....if he was here in his prime, he would have been the best I think.

Bruce Bolden was in the same mould as Fisher and Davis. Around the same nubers as both, Championships etc....deserves a mention.

Cannons Herb McGechen(spelling?)

Derek Rucker was a star

The guy who played with North Melbourne....Chris Gent, Jent?....left hander who played with the Housten Rockets. He had game.

Too many awesome players, which is great to see. Too hard to pick a top 10 for me.

How About Terry Dozier - Newcastle Falcons.

I believe he was a multi-time NBL Defensive player of the year.

Wayne McDaniel anyone?

Anyone? Fry? Anyone?Anyone? Beruler?

There are so many. Dwayne McClain is my favourite - but I'm a Kings fan. Probably the best individual, one on one talent the League has had. I've still got old vidoes of Kings games from back then and nobody could beat him - when he could be bothered - and that was his (and the Kings in general) problem.

He was also THE man in Sydney while he was here. There was the national McDonalds ad, a national Diet Coke ad, he was the face of CityRail here in Sydney with his posters on every train station, he had his own Reebok shoe (along with Gaze, the first non-Americans in all sports to ever get signature shoes), he was all red carpet with the celebrity ladies etc etc. Back when the NBL was huge, McClain was a big star in Sydney.

It's a shame, he won an NCAA Championship (look it up online, he pretty much literally won it himself), was a high draft with the Indiana Pacers, was namechecked in Charles Barkleys autobiography as one of the best he's ever played against, then completely blew his knee, got axed by the Pacers and ended up in the NBL (when he was expected to never play again). Got axed from the Kings for basically having too much fun. Shows up in QLD, blows his knee again.

He still spends a bit of time in Sydney, he has a kid here.

Here's McClain alongside some other big names:

I believe he was also involved in some sort of cocaine scandel in his Villanova days?

I'm pretty sure it was Villnova's guard Gary McLain that was caught celebrating with snow white.

Herb McEchin doesn't even get a mention. Tough crowd in here gents.

14 years in the NBL, 341 games, championships, holds almost every Cannons record, must have been a typo...

Just on that scandal, Villanova player Gary McLain in his own words said he played the semi game against Memphis State on coke!
Even when the team went to the White House to meet the Prez, McLain was off his chops!!
Thought you'd like that one Hoop Addict.

Read back Bob, Herb got a mention.....was mis spelt, but he was mentioned.

I knew DTrain when he was in college. I partied with him. He taught me how to pick up a girl. He is a good man...hell of a baller

dean uthoff a monster on the boards,and emery atkinson????.just a couple more. ian davies aussie or import?

Ian Davies? Iain Davies is Australian, and one of the finest Aussie hoopsters in history.

I remember a game at the K Mart classic when Mike Mitchell (still playing in Germany and an All Star in 2002) fouled out with 7 minutes to go against the Kings in Sydney.
He had 42 and some nasty dunks. Probably the closest thing we saw to Charles Barkley at the time. Fat guy who could dunk.

Jim Havrilla!!!!

Just KIDDING!

Mike Mitchell? Had a mean punch too, or so they tell me down at the Snakepit clubrooms. Ouch!

never the same player after

Derek Rucker scored 51 points....on debut!

Best debut of all time though, goes to Bobby Locke. Stepped off the plane and scored 50 if my memory serves me rightly ..... and the dude was small ..... really small! Saw him dunk once - "wow" says it all.

Probably a bit off the subject but I tend to have a few beers with Ian Davies up here in Cairns and getting info out of him about his achievements is like pulling teeth. I know he played for Geelong, Launceston and Sydney (his favourite team) and I know he is an Olympian and Hall of Famer, but I can't seem to find too much info on him about his playing days. Noting the exceptional basketballing intelect of the contributors, maybe someone can give me some guidance on where to find more info on Ian - or maybe someone remembers memorable moments in his playing career. Any info would be appreciated. And no, he was not an import although he spent a lot of time in the states as a kid. I guess that is where he got his love of the game.

Hows Steve Carfinos NBL debut year stas .

32.7 pts , 4 reb , 7 ass , 3.4 stl , 0.4 blk at 49% and 78% . AMAZING .

Ian Davies was an awesome player , when he was on it was an amazing show to watch . Cock back long range bomber that hit 13 ? 3 pointers in a game .
Very tough match up for oppostion and just a joy to watch .
Geez there were some entertaining players in that golden era .

Hell I can't believe that Mr Magic, Cliff Martin (Launceston Casino City) doesn't rate a mention in here?? Rocky Smith was just awesome as well.

Re: Ian Davies

As far as I know, Ian still holds the record for most points in a single game at the Olympics. He was also the top scorer in the 1980 Olympics. He was an awesome shooter.

As a teenager I used to hang out at the Darling Harbour basketball courts, that were managed by Ian. I'm pretty sure he also played a brief stint with Manly Warringah's State League team after retiring from the NBL. If memory serves me correctly, I refereed a game (think it was against Newcastle) in which he proved that for an old guy that couldn't run or jump, he could still shoot the ball pretty damn well.

Agree with most mentions...have people forgotten about Willie Simmons? He was a human fly swat!

Rob Rose is the most complete import IMO to have played in Oz.