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Barry Brown Jr led the Breakers in scoring with 19.5 points a game, mostly off the bench this NBL regular season.
Dynamic guard Barry Brown Jr carried the flag for the New Zealand Breakers at the Australian NBL’s annual awards in Melbourne on Tuesday night.
The New Zealand Breakers may have made the biggest turnaround in Australia’s National Basketball League in 2022-23, going from 5-23 the year previous to 18-10 and second spot on the final regular season standings, but they were largely bypassed when the gongs were handed out at the annual prizegiving.
Brown, the 26-year-old Florida native who has provided a key offensive thrust for the Breakers in a remarkable transformation this season, was named the league’s best sixth man after a campaign in which he averaged 19.5 points, 2.8 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.1 steals a game.
Brown shaded Tasmania’s Rashard Kelly and Brisbane’s Tyler Johnson for the best bench player award, and deservedly so too after an excellent season in which he was an integral part of an import trio that just might be the most effective all-round combination in the entire league.
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But Brown’s success was largely where it started and ended for the Breakers, though he was joined by team-mate, and import centre, Dererk Pardon on the all-NBL second team, alongside the Cairns Taipans’ DJ Hogg and Keanu Pinder, who also won most improved player for the second straight year, and Melbourne United’s Chris Goulding.
Breakers mentor Mody Maor was shaded by Cairns’ Adam Forde for coach of the year, despite engineering the biggest turnaround of the season, Pardon missed out to Adelaide’s Antonius Cleveland for best defender honours (the second straight year he has won that one) and point guard Will McDowell-White ceded the most improved prize to Pinder.
Sydney Kings star Xavier Kings was deservedly named league MVP, beating out South East Melbourne’s Mitch Creek and Perth’s Bryce Cotton, and joined those two and team-mate Derrick Walton Jr and Tasmania’s Milton Doyle on the all-NBL first team.
Somehow imposing Breakers power forward Jarrell Brantley was entirely overlooked, despite being one of the NBL’s most consistent and impressive performers throughout the season. Though Brown led the Kiwi club in scoring, Brantley’s 16.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, 1.6 steals, 50% field goal shooting and lockdown defence were just as instrumental.
There was some other Kiwi success at the awards, with impressive Cairns big man Sam Waardenburg winning the Next Generation award for best under-25 player and SEM’s Reuben Te Rangi taking away the community engagement prize.
The Breakers open the NBL’s playoffs on Sunday when they host the winner of Thursday’s Cairns v Tasmania play-in game in the opener of a best-of-three semifinal series. The decider will also be held at Spark Arena a week later should it be required.
Minor premiers and defending champions the Kings will tip off the other semifinal series on Wednesday, February 15, once the league’s expanded play-in series is concluded.
Perth Wildcats and SEM Phoenix open the play-in series on Thursday, with the winner meeting the loser from the Cairns-Tasmania matchup to decide the final semifinal spot.
NBL award winners for 2022-23: MVP: Xavier Cooks (Sydney Kings). Best defensive player: Antonius Cleveland (Adelaide 36ers). Most improved: Keanu Pinder (Cairns Taipans). Best sixth man: Barry Brown Jr (NZ Breakers). Next Generation Award: Sam Waardenburg (Cairns Taipans). Coach of year: Adam Forde (Cairns Taipans). Fans MVP: Kai Sotto (Adelaide 36ers). Executive of year: Mark Beecroft (Cairns Taipans). Referee of year: Vaughan Mayberry. Community award: Reuben Te Rangi (SEM Phoenix). All-NBL first team: Mitch Creek (SEM Phoenix), Bryce Cotton (Perth Wildcats), Xavier Cooks (Sydney Kings), Derrick Walton Jr (Sydney Kings), Milton Doyle (Tasmania JackJumpers). All-NBL second team: Pinder, Dererk Pardon (NZ Breakers), Brown, DJ Hogg (Cairns Taipans), Chris Goulding (Melbourne United).
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