JOSH CAN’T IGNORE LURE
THE JackJumpers’ latest arrival Josh Magette is well aware it was a brave decision to uproot his young family and move across the globe to join a basketball organisation but the American said the lure of playing in Australia was too hard to ignore.
“It’s definitely a leap of faith anytime you come overseas and move away from home but I looked at it as more of an opportunity,” Magette (pictured) said.
“I’ve always been excited about playing in the NBL, it’s a great league that’s continuing to grow so when I had the opportunity and the offer came through, it was kind of a no-brainer for me to get in here and get to work.’’
The point guard landed in Hobart on Wednesday with his wife and 11month-old daughter and was the final piece of the JackJumpers puzzle, with all 15 players now in the state and ready for training camp.
“As everyone has touched on, it’s an exciting time around the state of Tasmania,” Magette said.
“We have an opportunity to establish a tradition and a winning culture and what this team and this organisation can be about.”
Like his teammates before him, Magette was confident the JackJumpers had what it takes to make an immediate impact on the competition.
“I think we’ll hopefully surprise a lot of people and just go out there every night and compete at a high level.” Coach Scott Roth was thrilled with the acquisition of Magette, who was most recently part of the USA Select team that helped train the US Dream Team before the Tokyo Olympics.
“He’s super-skilled, he’s played at a very high level, he’s been in the NBA and he’s just finished playing with the Dream team,” Roth said.
“Two months ago, he was playing for Gregg Popovich and throwing the ball to Kevin Durant so you can wrap your head around that.”
The JackJumpers are set to begin their training camp in Ulverstone on October 11 in anticipation of their NBL debut which is scheduled to start in mid-November.