Campaign takes flight
The Manawatu¯ Jets have snared two Tall Blacks in the inaugural NBL draft and coach Tim Mctamney is happy with the squad he’s prepared for what should be a taxing six-week campaign.
The NBL held its first draft on Thursday night ahead of the revamped competition starting in Auckland on June 23 and each team picked up a handful of guns. The Jets had third pick in the draft.
Tall Blacks forward Tom Vodanavich, who has played for the Southland Sharks and the Breakers in the Australian NBL, was the Jets’ No 1 pick and the big man will be a key player for the Manawatu¯ team in their third season back in the competition.
The second pick was another Tall Black, former Southland Sharks forward Hyrum Harris, who also plays for the Illawarra Hawks in Australia.
Mctamney said the draft was a tricky scenario, but they came out of it well.
He said Vodanovich and Harris were both hard-working players with international and Australian NBL experience, which would bring a lot to the squad.
Third pick was point guard Jayden Bezzant, who is from Waikato, but has been in the United States at Northwest Nazarene University in Idaho.
Mctamney said Bezzant was a quick and tough player, and a talented scorer.
‘‘I’m very excited about all three of them,’’ Mctamney said.
‘‘We’ve established a big core of local players and we’re going to get them ready for 2021.’’
Young forward Taane Samuel had originally signed for the Wellington Saints this season after playing for the Jets last year, but with the changes to the league, he went into the draft and was picked up by
the Jets at No 4.
Teams were able to pre-select some players and the Jets’ choices from four to 12 were picked that way.
Former Jets guard Nick Fee, who has spent time in Waikato and Hawke’s Bay, is back in green and white and another guard, Haize Walker, returns.
Local forward Tia Temata-frost is in the side too.
Ashton Mcqueen, Matangirei Hipango, Josiah Laracy, Tom Power and Kalib Mullins round out the rest of the team.
Mctamney and the board gathered on draft night to make decisions and had contingency plans for when players they wanted were picked by other teams.
Mctamney said every team selected good players, but it would come down to who could keep their squad fit during the truncated competition.
The Jets’ first game is against the Otago Nuggets.