BIO: Jason Brettell was born in Sydney (NSW) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Illawarra basketball program.

FAMILY: Jason’s brother, Chris Brettell also played 39 games in the NBL.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Jason Brettell made his NBL debut with the Illawarra Hawks at 18 years of age. He scored four points in his first game.

After another season missing out on the NBL playoffs in 1996, the Hawks were unable to retain their scoring and rebounding leader Marcus Timmons (who would end up leading the Melbourne Tigers to the championship that season) and were forced to move into a rebuilding phase for this season. The Hawks rebuilding would focus on the continued development of Hawks big man Matt Zauner, who was named team captain at the start of the season, and young stars Glen Saville and Mat Campbell. The Hawks chose not to re-sign 31-year-old Andre LaFleur and signed two young imports in guard Bryan Edwards and big man Clayton Ritter to replace the scoring and rebounding of Timmons. The team also added SEABL stawart Eric Cooks who had played under head coach Brendan Joyce during his time with the Ballarat Miners in state league competition, a team which had also included both Saville and Campbell.

Brettell contributed 2.3 points, 0.6 rebounds, and 0.7 assists during the 1997 season but with Edwards not being the fit needed at point guard and off-court issues between Zauner and Joyce stemming from a contract dispute the Hawks struggled. Edwards was replaced by Dylan Rigdon mid-season and the Hawks (7-23) failed to make the playoffs yet again.

In 1998, the Hawks re-signed star Clayton Ritter and paired him with defensive minded guard Elliot Hatcher. Alongside the talented import duo Brettell contributed 2.3 points, 0.7 rebounds, and 0.8 assists and helped the Hawks double their wins from the previous year, improving from seven wins to 14 wins and finishing in sixth place.

In the elimination finals the Hawks would go on to face the Perth Wildcats, losing back to back games before being eliminated from the playoffs in the first round.

During the 1998/99 season the Hawks continued to improve for a third year in a row. The team recruited CJ Bruton from the Brisbane Bullets to become their starting point guard, alongside imports Clayton Ritter and Theron Wilson and a talented rookie by the name of David Andersen.

There, Bruton (20.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists) would be given the ‘green light’ on offence as he jumped from 15.4 points to 20.8 points per game while playing the most amount of game time (46 minutes per game) of his seventeen season career.

The Hawks finished the season winning two more games than the year prior, improving upon their previous record for the third year in a row and finished in third place with a record of 16-10.

Brettell added 1.3 points, 0.6 rebounds, and 0.8 assists in a season where they won two extra games than the year before and finished in third place with a record of 16-10.

A disappointing postseason first saw the Hawks lose to the first placed Victoria Titans in the qualifying finals but thanks to being the recipients of the ‘lucky loser’ rule where the highest placed loser of the league’s top four team’s advances to the semi finals. The Hawks then faced the Adelaide 36ers who also defeated them in two straight games in the semifinals and delivered a end to their season.