It’s that time of year once again when the NBL honours its best individual performers via the NBL Awards, A.K.A The Gazeys.
So ahead of the official announcements, we’re going to go through the finalists of each of the six awards - MVP, COY, MIP, BSM, BDP, ROY - and work out who will be going home with the hardware.
These are not sure things, they’re predictions based on how the season has progressed.
They also have no impact on the awards - unlike the NBA, where media members vote on these awards, the NBL awards are decided by votes made by the coaches and captains of the league’s teams.
The awards will be presented at 6:30 PM, and will be shown on ESPN and Kayo.
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
FINALISTS: Bryce Cotton (PER), Jaylen Adams (SYD), Jo Lual-Acuil (MEL)
All three of these players were phenomenal this season, but this award is realistically a two-horse race, so let’s start by ruling out Lual-Acuil. JLA was great for Melbourne this year, and he will most likely get his flowers further down this list, but the MVP really comes down to either Adams or Cotton.
Many basketball fans will note that the best ability is availability, and this is a legitimate knock on Adams, who missed seven of the team’s 28 games - exactly one-quarter of the season.
Cotton also scored more than Adams this season; in fact, he scored more than anyone, leading the league in scoring with 22.7 points per game. Adams was fourth with 20.1.
Context is crucial here. Adams was the catalyst for the Kings during their 13-game winning streak which turned the team around, landing them the third seed and arguably making them title favourites.
While Cotton was phenomenal, as he has been since he joined Perth, his team also failed to make the post-season for the first time in 35 years. He was also joined by running mate Vic Law for most of the season, who many touted as an MVP candidate in his own right, but by doing so also undermines the candidacy of Cotton.
A three-time NBL MVP - 2018, 2020, 2021 - Cotton has been here before, and judging by his quality of play this year will no doubt be there again.
Even considering the missed games, Adams was the hottest player on the hottest team when it counted, and this award deserves to be his.
COACH OF THE YEAR
FINALISTS: Chase Buford (SYD), Dean Vickerman (MEL), Scott Roth (TAS)
A formidable trio of coaches was nominated for this award, with each individual doing fantastic work navigating a team and system drastically different from the one they’re accustomed to.
Dean Vickerman entered the 2022 season as the reigning champ, but the makeup of his team was completely different. Out were Mitch McCarron, Scotty Hopson, and most significantly Jock Landale, their finals MVP making the leap to the NBA.
Despite these changes, and having to integrate new faces such as NBA champion Matthew Dellavedova and Next Star Ariel Hukporti, Vickerman steadied the ship, leading United to the regular-season title, including a 10-game mid-season winning streak for good measure.
Similarly, Buford entered the NBL as a rookie coach, and after some early trouble wound up in the third spot, sporting a 13-game streak of his own. Along the way, he juggled a multitude of injuries and roster changes but was able to keep this time in tune and humming.
However, while Vickerman was faced with a new roster, and Buford with a new league, Tasmania coach Scott Roth was faced with a new everything. In his first year, and the JackJumpers' first year, he took what most believed to be a wooden-spoon contending team and somehow turned them into a finals contender.
Roth was the perfect man for the job, with the heart and passion for a roster and an entire stat to rally around, with the basketball brain to back it up. He was almost undoubtedly the coach of the year.
MOST IMPROVED PLAYER
FINALISTS: Jo Lual-Acuil (MEL), Keanu Pinder (CNS), Yanni Wetzell (NZL)
This feels like arguably the clearest cut award of the whole slate.
Yes, Pinder made a huge leap after leaving Adelaide for Cairns, becoming one of their centerpieces and contributing six more points per game: 4.8 -> 10.9, in five more minutes: 17.3 -> 22.4.
Wetzell, too, saw a fantastic increase after a change of teams, going from 11.2 points per game with South East Melbourne to leading the New Zealand Breakers with 17.7, a bright spot in what was a fairly bleak season for the Kiwis.
But Jo Lual-Acuil has elevated to star status, going from last year’s Sixth-man of the Year to an MVP candidate, filling the hole left by Landale and doing so incredibly well.
His points-per-game jumped from 9.7 to 16.6, rebounds increased from 5.7 to 9.2, and blocks from 1.37 to 2.11. He also joined Xavier Cooks as the only two players in the top three in rebounds and blocks.
JLA became United’s driving force, leading the team in points, rebounds, and blocks, and will most likely be awarded First Team All-NBL.
Pinder and Wetzell both improved tremendously, but JLA used 2022 to become a bona fide star.
BEST SIXTH MAN
FINALISTS: Clint Stiendl (TAS), Shea Ili (MEL), Xavier Rathan-Mayes (ILL)
Three extremely deserving players are nominated for the ‘best of the bench’ award, with all three coming from teams that will be competing for an NBL Championship.
Clint Stiendl was one of the Perth Wildcats that made the off-season move to Tasmania, and the JackJumpers have more than appreciated his presence, the sharpshooter contributing 9.3 points per game off the bench including 1.8 made threes.
On a team that won largely by committee, Shea Ili was huge for Melbourne off the bench, with 8.3 points and 4 assists per game on the offensive end. But Ili made his true mark on the defensive end, putting together a ‘Defensive Player of the Year’ candidate level season for Melbourne, oftentimes coming in to guard the opposition's toughest guard.
Despite this, the winner should be Xavier Rathan-Mayes. He was at times the saviour of the Illawarra Hawks, filling his role perfectly and at times exceeding it, especially during a stretch where he had to fill in for the injured Tyler Harvey.
XRM averaged 10.2 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 4.2 assists as Illawarra’s spark plug off the bench, and helping the Hawks where they needed it most.
BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER
FINALISTS: Antonius Cleveland (ILL), Shea Ili (MEL), Xavier Cooks (SYD)
The Hawks looked like they were in trouble last year after they lost their six-foot-four American import ‘Best Defensive Player’ winner Justin Simon. Luckily, they were able to sign… a six-foot-four American import ‘Best Defensive Player’ nominee in Antonius Cleveland.
Cleveland has been a menace for Illawarra, his long arms breaking up passing lanes and deterring shots all season long, averaging 1.2 blocks per game and 1.9 steals, the latter good for fourth in the NBL.
As mentioned above, Shea Ili has also been an incredibly high-level defender, 1.4 steals per game and providing the energy that Melbourne desperately needed at times.
But regardless of how good both Cleveland and Ili have been defensively, the Best Defensive Player of 2022 has been Xavier Cooks, the Sydney Kings big man who has been a nightmare for opposing offences.
Cooks averaged 2.2 blocks per game in 2022, as well as 9.8 rebounds, leading the NBL in both. Per SpatialJam, he owned the fourth-best defensive rating among players who played at least 20 games, his mark of 97.6 better than the other two players he is nominated alongside - Ili with 100, Cleveland with 101.2.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
FINALISTS: Bul Kuol (CNS), Luke Travers (PER), Ousmane Dieng (NZL)
Similarly to MVP, this is another award that realistically comes down to two of the three candidates.
Ousmane Dieng is most likely going to be a first-round NBA Draft pick, and to his credit, he did end the season with a solid run, but his entire 2022 season body of work is simply not on the same level as Kuol and Travers.
Like the aforementioned Pinder, Bul Kuol has been an exciting sign of the future of the Cairns Taipans, even if they did not exceed expectations this year.
Kuol averaged 10.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game, playing in all 28 Cairns games, and showed some moments of true brilliance. He scored 15 or more points five times, including an early February clash that saw him go for 26 points.
In a world where the NBL’s Rookie of the Year eligibility made more sense, he likely would have won this award. But unfortunately for him, he was pipped at the post by Luke Travers.
The favourite for this award for the majority of the season, Travers benefits from an eligibility rule in the NBL that sees him classified as a rookie… despite the fact this is his third year in the league.
Because Travers has before been classified as a Development Player, this was technically his first official year in the league as a fully-fledged player.
In his ‘debut’ season, the Perth product averaged 7.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game, as well as flashing stellar defence, and contributing much more than the Wildcats had ever expected.
He brought length and athleticism to a team that seemingly needed it, and even attracted the eyes of NBA scouts, with Travers officially declaring for the NBA Draft following the end of Perth’s season.
But if he is unsuccessful in making the leap to America, Travers has just completed the rookie season of what can be a long and highly successful NBL career.
