Wetzell impresses on pro debut for Phoenix
The East Melbourne Phoenix were resolute in their pursuit of rising Kiwi hoops star Yanni Wetzell for the 2021 Australian NBL season. And we saw exactly why over the opening round.
The Breakers may have been twiddling their thumbs inactive over the early skirmishes of the Coviddelayed season (they debut in round 2 tomorrow in Adelaide), but that did not stop a Kiwi making one of the bigimpact performances of the tipoff round.
Aucklander Yanni Wetzell, a highly touted off-season pickup by the Phoenix, produced an outstanding allround display in the Melbourne side’s double-overtime 116-108 defeat at the Adelaide 36ers that had coach Simon Mitchell joking he had now found his star Kiwi signing’s baseline performance level.
The 24-year-old, 2.08 metre big man produced a stunning statline in his first official performance as a fulltime pro, pouring in a double-double of
24 points and 11 rebounds in 35:33 on court. Wetzell made
11 of his 17 shots, knocked down his only attempt from beyond the arc and grabbed five of his boards off the offensive glass, to go with a pair of assists, 3 steals and a block.
Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell was raving about the effort of his Kiwi big.
‘‘It’s hard to believe sometimes he’s a debutant as a pro,’’ said Mitchell of a player he initially signed early in the off-season, then thought he had lost to a deal in Germany and, finally, snapped back up when that contract fell through because of ‘‘passport complications’’.
‘‘His performance was great, but he’s a perfectionist and he’s a little disappointed in missing a few free-throws down the stretch (Wetzell was just 1-of-4 from the line). [But] from a defensive standpoint he was pretty solid . . . there was some great rebounding and his scoring was really fluent.
‘‘It was a wonderful performance from Yanni – he’s set the bar pretty high and that’s the expectation of him now.’’
■ Donovan Mitchell had 28 points and seven rebounds, and the Utah Jazz beat the New Orleans Pelicans 118-102 yesterday for their sixth straight victory.
Mitchell also made four of Utah’s 21 3-pointers. Jordan Clarkson added 18 points, six rebounds, and six assists, and reserve Joe Ingles scored 15 points. Rudy Gobert had 13 points, 18 rebounds.
Zion Williamson scored 32 points for New Orleans, and Brandon Ingram had 15.