Honours for Breakers pair
Apair of New Zealand Breakers were named in the Australian National Basketball League All-NBL First Team at the league’s awards ceremony on Monday night.
Guard Parker Jackson Cartwright and injured teammate Anthony Lamb were named alongside Gary Clark, Chris Goulding and Bryce Cotton following spectacular individual campaigns.
NBL24 marks Cotton’s seventh inclusion to the competition’s best five, while this season is the third time Goulding has been named to the team after previous nominations in 2014 and 2016.
Jackson-Cartwright, Clark and Lamb were all newcomers to the NBL this season, and arrived at their clubs from Turkish side Besiktas, G-League side Capitanes de Ciudad de Me´xico and the Golden State Warriors respectively.
Lamb’s inclusion is made all the more impressive by the fact he was initially signed to the Breakers as an injuryreplacement player and didn’t make his season debut until Round 4. A ruptured Achilles tendon two weeks ago ended his campaign prematurely.
Cotton was later named the league’s MVP over fellow finalists Jackson-Cartwright and Goulding.
Former Breaker Shea Ili won the Defensive Player of the Year award with his Melbourne United coach, Dean Vickerman, who has also been the Breakers’ head coach, named as Coach of the Year.
Sydney’s Ian Clark was selected as the Sixth Man of the Year while veteran referee Vaughan Mayberry is the leading official for 2023-24.
The NBL Second Team comprises Jack McVeigh, Jo Lual-Acuil Jr, Milton Doyle, Mitch Creek and Nathan Sobey.
Lual-Acuil Jr was named to the side in his return season to the NBL. He was named an MVP nominee and All-NBL First Team member in NBL22, and the competition’s Best Sixth Man in NBL21.
Doyle and Creek kept themselves at the top end of the competition following All-NBL First Team nominations last season. This was Creek’s fourth career nomination into the All-NBL Second Team.
Sobey’s recognition is the first time the Bullets guard has been named to an All-NBL team since his first team nomination in NBL21. Sobey was previously a two-time All-NBL Second Team recipient.
McVeigh is the only player included in the five who has never been a member of an AllNBL team. His inclusion is the latest step of the meteoric rise he has experienced at the Tasmania JackJumpers.