Kuol, Pinder show the future is bright
THE young Taipans stars who shone during a disappointing season cleaned up at the NBL Awards night on Thursday.
Snakes sharpshooter Bul Kuol took home rookie of the year honours after his recordsetting season for Cairns.
The 25-year-old set a new standard in three-point shooting for Aussie freshmen, sinking a whopping 64 threes, clearing Boomers legend Shane Heal’s 37-year-old record of 57.
Kuol received 71 votes for the accolade, well clear of fellow award favourite Luke Travers (Perth), who tallied 36.
Kuol has remained humble
throughout his first season in the NBL, and downplayed the magnitude of his record as the season drew to a close.
“I don’t know how much it means because of our season,” he said at the team’s round 21 loss to Sydney.
Kuol’s fairytale season came after being the last pick for the Taipans for its NBL22 playing squad, selected out of nowhere by Taipans head coach Adam Forde.
As well as his coach, Kuol has drawn praise from 51year-old Heal and fellow NBL commentator Corey “Homicide” Williams, who has been increasingly vocal about the rookie’s growth both on offence and defence.
The Canberra-raised forward rose through the ranks quickly in Cairns to a starting five call-up due to the neverending injury carousel that marred the side’s 2021-22 campaign.
The future is bright for Kuol, who’ll spend the offseason weighing up options for his playing future.
He said a return to Cairns was well and truly in the reticle.
“I wanna come back, so we’ll chat about that,” Kuol said.
The sharpshooter wasn’t the only Taipan to take home some silverware at the awards night, with fellow young star Keanu Pinder being named most improved player.
The 26-year-old took a massive leap forward in his second year in the NBL.
Pinder started his career with the Adelaide 36ers, averaging 4.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 0.5 assists per game.
In NBL22, he jumped to 10.9 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.
One of the only Taipans not to get injured in 2021-22, Pinder’s energy was heavily relied on later in the season when the casualty ward started to fill up.
The 2m-tall centre was another player picked by Forde to join the Taipans; the latter said he would even take a pay cut in order to have Pinder back on deck for NBL23.
Pinder received 41 votes
for the award, eight votes ahead of Melbourne United centre Jo Lual-Acuil.
The awards night didn’t entirely go Cairns’ way, however, with no players being named to the All-NBL first or second teams.
Not even Tahjere McCall – who scored an NBL22-high 42 points on Saturday – got the call-up.
The Andrew Gaze most valuable player award went to Sydney’s Jaylan Adams, While United’s Shea Ili took home best sixth man and Illawarra’s Antonious Cleveland was voted best defensive player of the year.
The 8-19 Taipans missed out on the finals, which get under way on Thursday night.