MALUACH WARMS TO LIFE WITH THE SALTIES
HOW lucky we are star Darwin Salties swingman Makuach Maluach loves the heat.
It was the tailend of Maluach’s first professional basketball season in Finland earlier this year when the-then 23-year-old started looking for somewhere warm to go for his next hoops adventure.
Like so many times before, he sought the counsel of his No.1 mentor, Rex Nottage, who used to coach him at Newington College in NSW.
“He really taught me what I needed to do to play at the highest level,” he told the NT News. “He taught me a lot of valuable lessons.
“I talk to him every day, he gives me advice on life. I honestly wouldn’t be here today without him.”
This time, the topic of conversation was Maluach’s next basketball move.
So when Maluach discovered Nottage’s protege, former Illawarra coach and player Matt Flinn, had signed to oversee the new Territory franchise in its first NBL1 North season, the South Sudanese star could suddenly see a new pathway leading him up north.
“I said it’s really cold in Finland so I want to go somewhere warm,” he recalled from that phone conversation.
“He said Matt Flinn had just signed with Darwin and that would be a good place for you.”
After a positive chat with Flinn, and Maluach remembering how much he enjoyed a trip to the NT in 2010, a deal was signed.
“I didn’t even think twice. I signed straight away,” he said.
Arriving in the Territory only a few weeks ago, Maluach has already made his towering 2m presence felt in a Salties singlet, both in numbers (averaging 24 points and six rebounds a game around two rounds) and his already bulging highlights reel after only two impressive home games at Marrara.
However, it was that spectacular dunk in a round 1 win against RedCity Roar, where Maluach sprinted from coast to coast before soaring to the basket for the most audacious of slams, which had the entire hoops world talking and social media melting down.
In a matter of weeks, he has become one of the Territory’s most watchable sports stars; so it is little wonder the new import has been embraced quickly by the Darwin basketball community.
“The people here are great,” he said. “It’s been pretty amazing so far.”
While Flinn has clearly helped bring the best out of Maluach’s game so far this season – especially in sensational bursts across the second and third quarters in game two against Townsville Heat – Maluach is largely driven by competition and personal pride.
He admits the team is still very much a work in progress, with the Salties falling away badly against the Heat, outscored 29 to 11 in the final quarter to lose 78-94, after missing the rebound game of Deng Riak to a leg injury before the match. He said the team’s defence struggled in the final term, allowing the opposition to rebound and create second chance shots while the Salties could not convert.
And he takes some personal responsibility for the loss, too, saying he did not pull down as many board as he should have in the second half.
Maluach’s basketball journey started 14 years ago in Armidale, NSW, after his family arrived in Australia via Uganda.
Talent runs strongly in the his family with brother Matur currently playing with Newcastle in NBL1.
Maluach is unsure of where he will head post-Salties.
“I’ve been talking to a few (NBL clubs) since I’ve been in college,” he said. “I know a lot of the NBL coaches and assistant coaches … but nothing on the contract side.”