RobT
Years ago

Spalding Iconic Imports - Other NBL Teams.

"Spalding Iconic Imports - Perth Wildcats." is a great thread.

Those with a good memory and some idea, should start other threads per team.

I won't start as I don't have "a good memory and some idea".

Don't reply here. Start threads!

Topic #49394 | Report this topic


KET  
Years ago

I think the NBL are doing every team though. Why not wait for those?

Reply #875907 | Report this post


Perthworld  
Years ago

Patience is a virtue.

For the Big 5:

Grace
Davis
Copeland
Trimmingham (his stint was short but sweet)
Loggins

Reply #875910 | Report this post


UseTaHoop  
Years ago

PW not as a team though.

They'd be undersized inside, but probably wouldn’t need many rebounds or inside offence though.

Prime Davis with his late career outside shooting would be awesome at small forward/power forward rotations.

Reply #875915 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

IMO neither Copeland or Trimmingham belong there next to the other 3.

Crawford and Rose are two for example way ahead of both of them.

But I get it's all subjective and just opinion based.

Reply #875916 | Report this post


Perthworld  
Years ago

PW not as a team though.

I didn't list those names as a team - it's the iconic import for each capital city team.

Reply #875917 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Chris Williams, one season of pure mastery for kings.

Reply #875918 | Report this post


McBlurter  
Years ago

Trimmingham?

He was less iconic for the King's than the guy before him.

Williams had only one year. Amongst the finest calibre players we've seen, but he was a 30-odd game bout of entertainment, rather than the impact to Australian basketball.

Loggins is a tier by himself

Grace and Davis are very close behind.

After that would be the likes of Rose, Fisher, Rucker, McEachin, Crawford, D-Mac, Copeland, and probably Burton snr

Reply #875920 | Report this post


koberulz  
Years ago

D-Train already won the Sydney poll. Good to see everyone's paying attention.

Reply #875921 | Report this post


Lovebroker  
Years ago

Trimmingham is so far from iconic is not funny.

Yeah he had flashy dunks and was a decent player but thats all.

None of that actually translated into success.

Reply #875922 | Report this post


Cram  
Years ago

Yes I have bias but I have Copeland with Davis and Grace. He was 14 years with one of the biggest clubs, 9 of those as an import and formed arguably the most iconic duo in league history with Drew.

Reply #875923 | Report this post


Perthworld  
Years ago

D-Train already won the Sydney poll. Good to see everyone's paying attention.

This thread is about our opinions though.

Trimmingham is so far from iconic is not funny.

Yeah he had flashy dunks and was a decent player but thats all.

None of that actually translated into success.

To be honest I found the Kings to be the hardest of the five capital city clubs to choose an iconic import for due to their constant turnover of players.

Also iconic can include off the court and for a moment there from memory, even if it was a flash in the pan, Trimmingham was a household name briefly. The NBL article itself even states it's not just about stats and the Kings had no success in the 90s.

Reply #875924 | Report this post


Perthworld  
Years ago

Yes I have bias but I have Copeland with Davis and Grace. He was 14 years with one of the biggest clubs, 9 of those as an import and formed arguably the most iconic duo in league history with Drew.

Those three along with Loggins are pretty obvious IMO.

Out of the other historic clubs such as Hawks and Kings it's a lot harder. D-Train has been voted in for Sydney which is fair enough.

Thoughts on Hawks?

Reply #875925 | Report this post


koberulz  
Years ago

Melvin Thomas?

Reply #875927 | Report this post


koberulz  
Years ago

Lowery probably has a case as well, just for the free-throws.

Reply #875928 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Thomas probably would be the perfect import icon for the Hawks - they found him and played really well with them, then got stolen by the higher paying teams up the road for a couple of seasons, went back to the Hawks, played few more seasons with them, started to decline and was picked up by one of the other regional teams around at the time for his last few seasons. Great player with the Hawks.

Reply #875929 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

I've watched the kings since way back, I’m actually to old to remember, what I do remember is Chris Williams is the best import the kings had, obviously a short time and also it’s my opinion, d-train didn’t lead to championships. Chris went far to early, rip.

Reply #875931 | Report this post


McBlurter  
Years ago

Chris Williams is very likely the best player the NBL had for at least one season.

He was unguardable, but this was a time the NBL had its lowest profile since the mid-80's.

A one and done.

D-Train was in sydney-wide train ads. And nationwide McDonald's ads. He had a range of Reebok's made after him, and in a world where media technology didn't allow universal exposure to the entire NBA, he was the guy bringing magic on a weekly basis.

His best year was 92, where they lost to the Tigers in the Semi finals.

He is still very fondly remembered in Sydney, as evidenced by the vote, nearly 30 years after he left.

The were people born after he left Sydney, who are quiting basketball because they're too old.

No one is as iconic for the king's, when they wore purple instead if blue, purple being their iconic colour than the D-Train.

It was probably the easiest select after loggins and Grace

Reply #875942 | Report this post


LV  
Years ago

D-Mac deserves some love.

Living legend. Wizard. Had the ball on a string.

Considering he arrived in Australia at 29, his impact over 15 odd seasons was phenomenal, with a career equalled by very few NBL players whether imports or not.

His 05-06 season at the age of 41 was one of my personal favourites of any player ever. Was crucial to the Tigers all year, then got the better of CJ Bruton in the GF series and helped the Tigers win the title.

Reply #875945 | Report this post


proud  
Years ago

Yes I understand that Loggins is the most iconic Bullet and I consider seeing his statue at Brisbane Entertainment center a life highlight but I want to give some love to Steve Woodberry as he was a brilliant player and his buzzer beater (that wouldn't count today) against Adelaide to win still sits as my favourite buzzer beater ever (I think that was around 1998/99).

I also want to give kudos to Bryce Cotton, if there was ever a player to come into a league with a rich history and set such a high standard that there needs to be new rivals every season to his title as the leagues best as others drop away (Ware and Randle for example) then he’s doing it. If he played for Sydney then he’d be an absolute certainty for their most iconic player.

Reply #875951 | Report this post


1969  
Years ago

Illawarra Hawks:Storming Norman Taylor RIP sadly Lamelo Ball Doug Overton

Reply #875976 | Report this post


RobT  
Years ago

Does Lamelo Ball qualify? Not 'listed' as an import, nor did he take the place of an import, during the season that he played.

Reply #875979 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Illawarra Hawks
1.Mike Jones
2.Doug Overton
3.Melvin Thomas
4.Norman Taylor
5.Rotnei Clarke
Charles Thomas
Clayton Ritter
Tyler Harvey

Reply #876001 | Report this post


McBlurter  
Years ago

D-Mac was a complete professional.

His issue is, who is he iconic for?

Giants (which I'd say his best year was for), Titans or Tigers (whom he won two rings with).

Is Tucker a Bullet, Croc or Razorback?

Is Robert Rose a Magic icon, or Croc?

It's why Logging and Gracec are so iconic to their teams. Hopefully Cotton ends up in that Pantheon.

It's getting harder, up to about 1995/96, imports tended to be the best player on the team

Then globally, basketball got more popular and wages worldwide got harder for the NBL to match. Then we had imports being specifically picked as role players

I remember the Crocs got a guy to replace Clarence Tyson, James Harper I believe.

Really has free throw shooter and ran out of gas easily. Normally you'd have seen in the past dud imports canned, but he was playing how he was expected.

The league changed around then, and once they went PayTV only, the profile shrunk a lot

Reply #876010 | Report this post


Peter  
Years ago

Rimas Kurtinaitis for Townsville
Rob Rose started at Magic

Reply #876053 | Report this post


D2.0  
Years ago

Loggins easily for Brisbane. Possibly close to it for the whole league.

Davis similarly for Adelaide, and I'd have him in my "Iconic Starting 5"

I agree with above, very hard to pick with Sydney.

For Melbourne, the City, got to be D-Mac, but he played across 3 teams.

Reply #876105 | Report this post




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