The Otago Nuggets lost momentum this season, slipping to seventh after reaching the playoffs last year. The team now faces a fight for survival as Basketball Otago lurches through a serious financial crisis. Basketball writer Adrian Seconi reports.
After watching the Otago Nuggets tread water at the bottom of the National Basketball League for the best part of a decade, this season seemed pretty good by comparison.
But once you strip away that historical context, a return of seven wins from 18 games is only a fair to middling result at best. Worse still, the team has lost momentum at a time when Basketball Otago faces a mounting debt crisis.
The two are destined to part company, with the board of BBO indicating it intends to split off the franchise.
Where that will leave the Nuggets is unclear. Those close to the franchise believe it has the financial support to continue, but for how long?It all seems such a gloomy end to what promised to be a fabulous season.
The Nuggets marched into the playoffs last year with 12 wins from 16 games. They were beaten by the Nelson Giants in the semifinal but the franchise appeared in great shape to build on the team's success.
Turns out, that success was cloaking mounting debt. While the Nuggets are understood to have returned a small profit in 2013, BBO is expected to report a deficit of more than $50,000 for the financial period, bringing its total debt to about $100,000.
Despite that, the franchise continued to spend. The Nuggets employed the services of two overseas players, and even cut one and promptly sent for a replacement. That is three expensive return trips from the United States. And a replacement for the injured Marques Whippy was flown over from Fiji but never played.
BBO's financial problems clearly had very little impact on the Nuggets' campaign. But if money was not an issue, recruitment was.
That process started a little later than would have been ideal. Alf Arlidge was expected to return as coach but opted out at Christmas. Mark Dickel replaced him and took on the demanding role of player-coach.
His first notable decision was not to engage the services of Americans Akeem Wright and Antoine Tisby. The pair had served the Nuggets well in 2012 and 2013, but Dickel had a different vision for the team.
In hindsight, he might have been better to stick with the pair, given how dramatically different the 2014 roster was shaping up to be.
Tall Black power forward BJ Anthony signed with the Saints. Classy guard Hayden Allen retired. Local players Riki Buckrell and James Ross were unavailable. The Nuggets squad had been gutted.
Wright and Tisby would have offered some continuity. Dickel went with Warren Carter and Troy Payne instead.
Statistically, Carter was a success. He averaged 21.1 points and 8.4 rebounds and led the team with 33 blocks and 35 steals.
They are good numbers but tell only part of the story. While Carter's athleticism and speed were assets, his outside shooting was wonky and he was prone to taking naps on defence. He would fade in and out of a match and was often outplayed by his opponent. Still, he got better as the season progressed.
Payne was a tenacious defender and strong rebounder but paid the price for his inability to generate much on offence. He was a terrible shooter and, after a run of four consecutive losses at home, Dickel made the call to send him home.
Brandon Bowdry replaced Payne and proved to be a much better defensive player than billed and certainly more capable of scoring. He averaged 20.5 points and 10.7 rebounds in 10 games. He missed a lot of shots, though - shooting just 40% from the floor and 30% from three-point range.
The Nuggets' prospects really rested with Dickel and Brendon Polyblank. They were the heart and soul of the team and their efforts cannot be faulted.
Polyblank was consistently good, averaging 19.5 points. And Dickel wrapped up the assist title with an average of 9.1 assists a game.
Where the Nuggets struggled the most was on the bench. Sam King was hot and cold. He had a marvellous game in the 82-64 win over the Canterbury Rams, top-scoring with 22 points, but he cooled off after the opening month.
New recruit Tony Tolovae was a royal bust. The raw shooting guard came over from Australia to trial for the Rams and impressed Dickel with his work ethic. Midway through the season, he had his minutes cut dramatically.
Rookie guard Micah Lepaio was trusted with starting and he warmed into the season. He has some skills but got into foul trouble too often and struggled to hit his outside shots.
Shooting really held the Nuggets back. The team made a strong start with three wins in its first four matches but you cannot hope to win many games shooting a league-worst 48% from the field.
The Nuggets' season may have unfolded better had they recruited a proven shooting guard and put a bit more emphasis on attack. Depth was also an issue. While the Southland Sharks were able to call in decent replacements when they lost players throughout the season, the Nuggets never found a good replacement for Whippy, and he was ruled out after just one game.
Otago Nuggets season in review
Record: Played 18, won 7, lost 11.
Home: Rangers W92-82, Hawks W97-91, Mountain Airs L84-86, Giants L79-83, Pistons L85-91, Saints L73-89, Jets L74-88, Sharks W89-86, Rams L87-90.
Away: Sharks W83-77, Rams W82-64, Saints L76-77, Rangers W96-93, Pistons L78-83, Mountain Airs W90-89, Giants L79-108, Jets L97-106, Hawks L87-98.
Statistical leaders
Scoring: Warren Carter 21.1, Brandon Bowdry 20.5, Brendon Polyblank 19.5, Troy Payne 15.5, Mark Dickel 14.4.
Rebounding: Bowdry 10.7, Payne 10.5, Carter 8.4, Dickel 6.6, Polyblank 5.2.
Assists: Dickel 9.1, Payne 3.5, Polyblank 2.9, Bowdry 2.3, Carter 1.5.
Steals (total): Carter 35, Dickel 25, Payne 25, Micah Lepaio 21, Bowdry 15.
Blocks (total): Carter 33, Polyblank 5, Tony Tolovae 4.
Appearances: Sam King (18), Carter (17), Micah Lepaio (16), Ollie Smith (15), Tolovae (15), Dickel (14), Steve Robinson (14), Polyblank (13), Bowdry (10), Damon Cleverley (9), Payne (8), Tom Rowe (4), Tom Ingham (3), Richard Rodger (2), Marcus Whippy (1), Fergus Bevan-McCrimmon (1).
ODT awards
MVP: Dickel.
Honourable mention: Polyblank.
Underachiever: Tolovae.
Best individual performance: It's a tie. Dickel notched a triple-double of 12 points, 14 assists and 11 rebounds in the overtime loss to the Canterbury Rams. And discarded import Payne also registered a triple of 17 points, 12 assists and 10 rebounds in the one-point loss to the Wellington Saints.
Best team performance: The 97-91 overtime win against the Hawkes Bay Hawks. It was a complete team performance with five players registering 10 or more points.
Worst team performance: The Nuggets were destroyed 108-79 by the Giants in Nelson and slipped out of playoff contention.
