Favourite BBL player of all time

[notoriousbigz]

Jan 13, 2022 21:27:50 GMT SamH said:

So from what I gather, you had a brief bbl spell, Bigz? So obviously we should all be nominating you!😁

Oh mate, I'll tell you I averaged 12 ppg and 5 rpg. Career high 24 against Cheshire.

We'll say no more about anything else to do with my BBL tenure hahaha!

[A tall man]

Led scoring and rebounding in that final year didn't you big?

[notoriousbigz]

Jan 13, 2022 21:43:48 GMT A tall man said:

Led scoring and rebounding in that final year didn't you big?

Yeah, and at 12ppg that tells you everything doesn't it!

I may start a threat on here one day about some of the goings on that season being extremely careful about how I go about it, because honestly there's stories that would make you want to laugh, cry and everything in between.

[notoriousbigz]

I dont think I led rebounding though thankfully haha!

[SamH]

12 and 5 are decent enough numbers, did you play in any other pro leagues? How about now?

[notoriousbigz]

No mate I’ll be honest basketball was only ever a source of good fun for me, it just so happened the opportunity came along to make a bit of money out of it and whilst it was a terrible season for the Mersey Tigers I can honestly say it was a dream for me, I had good fun played against guys I really looked up to when I came into the game and met a lot of cool people from all over the world.

I had opportunities to stay in the BBL post Mersey, but it would have meant giving up the legal career and my interests as a director in a housing company which are far more sustainable and fruitful long term - BBL benchies (and I’d rank myself as a 6th man at absolute best on a top half team and that’s being over confident probably) don’t earn that much of a crust and at that age I had a mortgage and my other half to think of.

I played briefly in Huddersfield after leaving Mersey and the money there was as good as I was offered in the BBL for a part time gig, then all my mates who I grew up playing with at Liverpool got the band back together and I saw it as a good way to wind down - we won div 4, div 3 and the Div 2 playoffs before I bowed out. Got a framed picture on my wall celebrating in the crowd after beating Solent in that final - it was a perfect way to go out for me as my mum and dad were both there to see it, the former now having passed on.

Low and behold I couldn’t stop my competitive nature and I’m now playing semi pro football, which believe it or not is less of a commitment than an NBL basketball team!

[SamH]

Still that's pretty good if you hadn't been playing pro ball elsewhere and were able to just walk on to a BBL team and not just as a 2 minute a game end of bench guy. The standard is pretty high, I know relative to other pro leagues it isn't but relative to most amateur level players, even very good ones, its a million miles ahead of that. To get in with no other pro experience means you must have been/are very skilled! But I know what you mean about the financial side of it - I often wonder what BBL players do after their playing days are over, I know many go into coaching and what not, but guys who don't really have those skills - you think of someone like say, a Rico Alderson - I cant find anything about him online from the last 12 years or so, he'd be too old to be playing now but he didn't exactly come across as the sort of person that could go out and get a 'normal' job or even stay in basketball in a behind the scenes role. There are lots of others like that too - what do you think these guys end up doing long term?

[faz]

Tigers certainly got a few hammering at the start of the season but a couple of recruits made them more competitive. There’s been worse teams since!
I saw Bigz and a very young Jack Hudson play against jets. Bigz was a nasty blue collar centre although slightly undersized.
I also watched the d2 play off final. A very decent national league team we’re Liverpool at that point.

[retsek]

Gosh, we've had some of the all time greats at the Sharks over the years, but Myers is probably my favourite, just a fraction over Amaechi.

John was obviously better, but we had more years of Terrell, and we also got the single biggest shot in BBL history out of him too, that's got to count for something!

[sm11]

Terrell Myers was my fave BBL player from another team initially, until he showed up at the Towers. I was at the Tigers Sharks game when he scored the game winner from half court in December 1999. Game tied, Casey Arena missed both his free throws with seconds left, Terrell gets hold of the ball lets rip from half court for the win. I was 11 and had never seen anything like it at the time. Absolutely thrilled.

[SamH]

It's funny how those moments stay with you isn't it. My first season watching Worthing was 96-97, the team wasn't great but James Hamilton was the standout player. He hit a buzzer beater to beat the Tigers in overtime by 1 point in one of the most exciting games I've seen. That one game is about all I remember of that season, it was pretty forgettable otherwise but that moment was incredible.

[stepback3]

Jerry williams for me. What a player was whoever he played for

[faz]

Taylor King was awesome at Cheshire. Massive coup for the club getting him to come over.
I loved watching Mike Dinnuno.

[LTfan]

Randy Duck. Not my favourite BBL player of all time, but my favourite BBL player's name of all time.

[SamH]

Randy Duck was a f'n awesome player as well though. One of my all time favourite games was in the ULEB cup hosting Cholet of France - Bears came back from I think it was 8 down with under a minute to go, somehow - and went on to win in double overtime. Duck scored something like 49 points and was the hero, but then came the sting in the tail - he suffered an injury right at the end of the game and missed some time as a result, so it was a bittersweet ending. But yeah, what a name! We used to have a chant for him when he was playing well: "he's just a horny mallard! He's just a horny mallard!"

[colicab85]

Sharks based - Justin Phoenix, highlight decking Rico Alderson obviously. 

Non Sharks - Randy Duck maybe? Billy Singleton? Jon Gaines (so smooth).

[SamH]

Ah Jon Gaines, that's going back some way. We had him at Worthing during a terrible season where he and Larry Coates were the only highlights, but Gaines I think led the league in scoring and was unstoppable, he just had such little help the team stunk. I think we then retained him after moving to Brighton, where for some reason he never seemed quite as good and didn't really gel with the other players that year.

[notoriousbigz]

Jan 14, 2022 17:20:11 GMT SamH said:

Still that's pretty good if you hadn't been playing pro ball elsewhere and were able to just walk on to a BBL team and not just as a 2 minute a game end of bench guy. The standard is pretty high, I know relative to other pro leagues it isn't but relative to most amateur level players, even very good ones, its a million miles ahead of that. To get in with no other pro experience means you must have been/are very skilled! But I know what you mean about the financial side of it - I often wonder what BBL players do after their playing days are over, I know many go into coaching and what not, but guys who don't really have those skills - you think of someone like say, a Rico Alderson - I cant find anything about him online from the last 12 years or so, he'd be too old to be playing now but he didn't exactly come across as the sort of person that could go out and get a 'normal' job or even stay in basketball in a behind the scenes role. There are lots of others like that too - what do you think these guys end up doing long term?

Just to come back to this - Its one of the things I really like seeing when guys move on/retire what they do next. Theres a guy I played with at Everton - Jerome Gumbs - has a very well established junior academy that uses his college at USF among others as its base and he uses it to shape kids lives the right way through the game which I think is fantastic. Trey Moore was out in China coaching at one stage and I think hes carried that on back in the states quite well too - does an awful lot of 1 v 1 individual stuff which quite frankly is ideal as hes one of the most talented Ive ever played with certainly.

One thing I have learned though is never judge a guys personality solely on what hes like in a sporting context. Ive known the nicest guys in the world become animals on a basketball court, and conversely theres some who have a stellar reputation in the british game who I wouldnt pee on if they were on fire. Yorick Williams for example didnt have the best rep and definitely didnt help himself at times, but whenever I've spoken with him away from basketball hes a good guy to be around.

Also on that point - Dave Aliu was a diamond of a guy. When I was in the BBL he'd call me before and after most of my games to give a helping hand and talk about how it'd gone. Maybe its because we're both scousers but he went the extra mile with a lot of people I know round here, genuinely good fella.

I didnt know Rico save for what I saw and he was certainly a bit extrovert, but I reckon youd see a completely different guy away from basketball.

[notoriousbigz]

Jan 14, 2022 18:04:44 GMT faz said:

Tigers certainly got a few hammering at the start of the season but a couple of recruits made them more competitive. There’s been worse teams since!
I saw Bigz and a very young Jack Hudson play against jets. Bigz was a nasty blue collar centre although slightly undersized.
I also watched the d2 play off final. A very decent national league team we’re Liverpool at that point.

I did what I had to to survive haha. I wasnt the most talented guy at all but I busted a gut and made sure whoever I was playing against would know theyve been in a battle.

Tell you what though, there was some Monday mornings Id wake up feeling like Id been hit by a train.

[SamH]

Yeah, I forget who said it now but a quote from an NBA coach years ago that stayed with me, you can have a bad shooting night but there's never any excuse to have a bad defensive night, as it comes down to hard work. If you work harder than your opponent you'll do just fine on defense.

I always tried to deploy that attitude - sometimes it wasn't easy as I lacked fitness but I would always hustle and scrap, there's nothing like outworking a guy half a foot taller and stronger than you for a rebound or blocking some upstarts' shot! 😄

Oh and as for post playing careers, I believe Randy Duck got himself a proper job as an accountant or something, so not everyone stays in sports or fitness. Wilbur Johnson I think went into fitness and personal training.