TAIPANS END ON A LOSS
THE Taipans have opened early discussions about bringing likely club MVP Melo Trimble back for another NBL season in the Far North.
The American point guard will soon depart Cairns to take up his contract in Puerto Rico but first-year Snakes coach Mike Kelly revealed postgame that conversations have already begun about a second year with the club.
If Trimble was to return, it would buck a recent trend of one-and-done Far North import point guards, with the club churning through Scoochie Smith, Travis Trice and Markel Starks over the last few years.
In his first season out of the US, Trimble averaged 22.5 points per game to go with almost five assists, in a team that went 6-22 and at one point was on a 14-game losing streak.
“You take Melo by himself, he has had an MVP calibre year,” Kelly said after the loss to Sydney.
“He played well against everybody and it would be really nice to get him back.
“We are kind of early in that discussion. He and a lot of these guys on the team have been very good and we will see what the off-season holds.”
For the final time this season, the 24-year-old stuffed the statistics sheet in a loss – 21 points, eight rebounds and five assists. But, he took 20 shots to get there, only making five of those as Trimble was 1-9 from deep.
The 89-84 defeat ends Cairns’ season with a 6-22 record, their most losses in a single campaign since 2001.
In the process, the Sydney Kings completed a season sweep of the Taipans, making it 4-0 in Round 18 on Saturday afternoon. After the Snakes upset reigning champions Melbourne United on Thursday night, the wooden spooners could not make it three wins on the bounce to finish the season with a defeat.
The men in orange stuck with the finals-bound Kings for four quarters but the Andrew Bogut-led Kings never looked in serious danger of being rolled.
The contest never really reached any heights and just meandered along on with Sydney having one eye on their upcoming finals series.
It is the first time in NBL history the Kings have beaten Cairns four times in the one season.
The farewell for Alex Loughton continued as the retiring power forward splashed an early triple and nailed another two late in the final term.
He hit 17 points, a season high, in his final game, knocking down five from long range.