High-flying guard joins JackJumpers
A PAIR of guards who have both represented the USA at international level will form Tasmania’s back-court for its inaugural NBL season.
The JackJumpers officially unveiled athletic shooting guard Josh Adams as their first import on Tuesday morning, and a short time later it was revealed Josh Magette had also agreed to terms with the league’s newest franchise.
Adams, 27, had a standout college career for the Wyoming Cowboys and, after overcoming a near-fatal car crash having signed his first professional contract in 2016, has spent several years in Europe
with a stint in China.
Magette, currently with the US Olympic squad having been picked in the country’s Select Team which has been training with the main group for the past three weeks, is an experienced point guard who has built a highly impressive career.
The 31-year-old has 26 games of NBA experience – 18 with the Atlanta Hawks in 2017-18 and eight with the Orlando Magic in 2019-20 – and has the second most assists in the history of the NBA GLeague.
In the 2019-20 G-League season Magette averaged 21.1 points, 10.6 assists and two steals through 29 games.
Adams, who played against
Tasmanian Hugh Greenwood and was a teammate of Boomer Nathan Sobey at Wyoming, hopes a move to Australia can help reignite his love of the game after several tough years in Europe.
“It has always been a league that has intrigued me,” Adams said of the NBL. I talked to coach [Scott] Roth extensively, and really bought into his vision, and the fact he is a player’s coach,” he said.
“It’s somewhere that I can go and be free and live a very good lifestyle from what I’ve heard, and really redevelop my love for the game of basketball, get healthy.
“I’ve had a couple of rough situations in Europe that have kind of skewed my view of
basketball in the professional stance.
“I’m looking to go somewhere where the club believes in me as much as I believe in my abilities and to rediscover my love for the game, and most importantly just have a positive impact on those guys in the locker room, the people in the front office and all the good fans that are going to support us this year.
“[To] help build a new program up from the ground, I think that’s an incredible opportunity … and I’m just very excited to be a part of the process.”
Adams has built a reputation as a high flying, high volume scorer, and looks set to be give a licence to thrill at the JackJumpers.
However, it won’t come at the expense of the greater good.
“I’m more of a team guy, I’m going to feed off the energy of those guys, I’m going to feed off the energy of the fans, and I want to do what’s best for the club, what’s best for the team, and put that above myself at all times.
“If you look back over the course of my career, not to be arrogant or anything like that, but my resume is kind of littered with highlight plays this has gotten me to this level.
“But I don’t want that to be something that overlooks the rest of my talent and overlooks myself as a person and as a leader.”