Perth Wildcats assistant coach Gerard Martin will join the Nuggets’ bench this season.
He replaces assistant coach Keegan Crawford, who came across from Perth last year on a similar arrangement.
The two teams are tightly intertwined. Sports Entertainment Network New Zealand, which bought the Nuggets in 2021, is a subsidiary of Australia’s Sports Entertainment Group, which owns the Perth Wildcats.
Martin, who represented Australia in the Fiba under-17 and under-19 world championships, played five seasons with the Grand Canyon University Antelopes in the NCAA system, before securing a coaching role at California Baptist University as the director of player development.
He joined the Perth Wildcats this season and is looking forward to extending his experience with a trip over to New Zealand
"The NZNBL [New Zealand National Basketball League] is high level because New Zealand basketball have great local talent and they also do a great job of bringing in high-quality imports and the overall professionalism within the league is really great," he said.
Martin arrives in Dunedin on Friday.
He will have plenty of game tape to review almost straight away.
The Nuggets play the Southland Sharks in a pre-season game at the Edgar Centre tonight. The return game is in Invercargill on Friday.
Nuggets coach Brent Matehaere will be able to call on most of his contracted players, including star centre Sam Timmins, back-up big Jack Andrew and American forward Todd Withers.
"We’ll probably throw a couple of development players out on the floor and give them an opportunity as well," Matehaere said.
The Nuggets’ opening game of the season is against the Manawatu Jets in Dunedin on April 9.
