I watched that Championship in Melbourne. He was a man among boys - which unfortunately does not last forever.
At his height ( 2-3 man in NBA) he also needed better handles and/or shooting to make it there.

I think Sam could have definitely made it if his knees didnt give out on him. In the 2006 WCs he was phenomenal against bigger players. If his athleticism hadnt been curtailed by his knees and he still had it when his jump shot arrived he would have been a very good player at any level.

hii
i had some issue accessing the video link you provided ,can you suggest any alternate to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3N7qSsYDJQ

Totally agree with Paul's assessment. His kneww issues when he was reaching the height of his game prevented him from making the NBA as he lost his athleticism.

Sam dunked on me when he was 14 & a nobody in the Greensborough league. I knew he was gonna be something special then & have watched his career admirably. Def could have mixed it with the best if not plagued by injuries. Phenominal athlete!

His athleticism stood out, but his court vision and passing game was just as valuable. He rarely seemed to get enough praise for that aspect of his game.

The guy didn't make it due to height and an inability to shoot early on. Also he didn't hog the ball enough. I thought Mackinnon was over rated at the top of his hype and think Martin Cattalini was better.

Thanks for posting the clip Adam. That was a great moment in Aussie basketball. Mackinnon was huge in closing out that game and it was great to see how much the win meant to the players and the crowd. Would have been a great game to be at.

Paul has already nailed it with why Mackinnon never cracked the NBA. Nevertheless, he was a great player in the NBL and for the Boomers, especially at the 2006 WC's, where he was incredible for us. If you'd given him Cattalini's shooting stroke and post up moves in his mid-20s he would have been a very good NBA small forward IMO.

does anyone know of or have any links to the final game against the USA (?) as I would love to see some highlights etc. I did some searching on the net, but couldn't find any. Any help would be appreciated.

That finish to the semi was unbelievable!! hadn't seen it before and it gave me goose bumps and was almost jumping out of my chair! =)

In OZ97 we actually had a pretty ordinary start in the pool games. We lost to a Turkish team that had Mehmeht Okur, and Hedo Turkoglu and also we were beaten fairly comprehensively by Argentina.

That had us meeting the USA in the quarterfinals. We then avenged the loss against Argentina (they probably should have gone all the way)in the semis and in the final we beat a surprisingly good Puerto Rico who had been undefeated until they lost in the final to Australia (that had to be tough for them).

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fa/event/p/gid/A/grid/3/rid/1549/sid/2916/_/1997_World_Championship_for_Men_22_and_Under_/schedule.html

Thanks chewie for the Nash facts, I remember hearing some Australian commentator bemoan the fact that he was in the NBA and that Gaze and Heal had shown, against him, that they were at least as good.

I think it is important to remember that a career with two Olympics (and would have been four if not for injury/ailment), two FIBA WCs, two NBL championships, and NBL MVP and two runner ups is still an outstanding performance.

What people achieve in the NBL is not given enough credit, but you have to be very very good to excel in this comp. I thought Sam's 2007 season was close to the best all-around performance we have ever seen in this country.

Anon, I was actually going to mention that Alley Oop I think it was in the game in Salt Lake City (it used to be on Youtube). He did it with such ease against players who see and defend that play all the time. I also remember (possibly the same game) him blocking a Grant Hill layup/dunk. Big deal I hear the pundits say, well it was the way he blocked Grants shot, easily,and completely within his skill sets, he wasn't straining, barely getting a finger to it. He blocked it with authority and with the appearance that he didn't have to try too hard to do it. Then again that was the great criticism of him, that it looked like he was coasting. I think it was because he was only ever as good as he needed to be and that his game had 20% more if needed that he rarely utilised.

I mentioned at the start that he appeared to have the athleticism equal to the better Americans. Although a different shape and style, his athleticism reminded me a lot of Charles Barkley.