BIO: Shane Bright was born in Melbourne (VIC) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Nunawading basketball program.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Shane Bright made his NBL debut with the South East Melbourne Magic at 20 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

With the Magic coming off a NBL championship in their first year in the league, many pondered what they could do in their second. Coach Brian Goorjian was able to return with the majority of the roster intact. Even Darren Perry, who suffered a ACL injury that saw him miss nine months of action, made it back to the court. The only major additions to the roster being David Graham (via North Melbourne) and Kerle to cover the loss of Scott Ninnis (to Adelaide).

With the core of the Magic’s 1992 title-winning roster largely retained, Bright provided backcourt depth during a campaign that saw South East Melbourne finish with a strong 20–6 record and a league-best 12–1 home mark at Melbourne Park.

Shane Bright logged 15 minutes, recorded one assist, and notched two steals in a 106–86 win over Canberra in the season opener but saw minimal playing time as a rookie, averaging 0.4 points, 0.8 assists and 0.5 steals across 13 games.

With John Dorge sidelined for the first two months of the season and Darren Perry slowly returning from a serious knee injury, Bright’s presence in the backcourt rotation early in the year offered important coverage behind veterans like Darren Lucas and David Graham. His willingness to play within his role and provide pressure defense gave coach Brian Goorjian added flexibility during stretches where matchups dictated quicker, defensive-minded guards.

Bright did not feature in the playoffs, as the Magic leaned heavily on their core rotation in their quarter-final sweep of the Adelaide 36ers and their hard-fought semi-final series against Melbourne.

South East Melbourne’s run was then halted by Australian Boomers star Mark Bradtke, who had shifted to Melbourne from Adelaide during the pre-season, dominated the series. Bradtke (21 points and 9 rebounds) was unstoppable in the Tigers victory in game one (108-106) and in game two, Bradtke (28 points and 15 rebounds) backed it up to deliver a Melbourne win (89-72) and end the Magic’s season in two games.

1994
After losing to crosstown rivals, the Melbourne Tigers head coach Brian Goorjian decided the Magic needed to go younger and chose not to re-sign veteran guards, Darren Perry and Robert Rose, replacing them with younger talent. 18-year-old Sam MacKinnon and Rupert Sapwell, who had just returned from playing college basketball, were added to the roster, and Adonis Jordan, who had led the Kansas Jayhawks to the 1993 NCAA Final Four only six months prior, became the Magic’s sole import.

Jordan (19.9 points, 3.0 rebounds, 8.2 assists, and 2.6 steals) would lead the team in scoring and assists, alongside frontcourt duo Tony Ronaldson (19.4 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.1 steals) and Bruce Bolden (16.5 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.5 steals) doing the damage inside. MacKinnon (5.7 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.8) would also make a immediate impact, earning his way into the team’s regular rotation (19.2 minutes per game) and delivering one of the greatest seasons ever by a 18-year-old which made him a easy choice for the league’s Rookie Of The Year Award.

In a interesting nod to the future, due to injury the Magic replaced him with state league star Mike Kelly who would become a major part of the Magic roster in 1997.

South East Melbourne was unbeatable at home all season (11-2) butcould never replicate that on the road, losing half their away games and finishing third on the ladder (18-18).

In the postseason, South East swept Perth in two games to set up a semi-finals matchup against crosstown rival North Melbourne. The Giants delivered a major upset in game one, convincingly defeating the Magic (108-87). In game two, it was much closer. In fact, the game was only decided in the final minute (76-79), and if Adonis Jordan hadn’t missed a three-point heave at the buzzer (many thought he could have made a extra pass to a open David Graham for a better shot), the Magic might have been able to force a third game. Instead, the Magic’s season was over.

Bright continued to see limited playing in, venturing on court only in blowout wins or losses. Bright appeared in only 16 games and averaged 1.6 points, 0.5 rebounds, and 1.3 assists.

1995
Brian Goorjian’s youth movement continued in 1995. After moving on from star import Robert Rose the season prior, veteran big man Bruce Bolden would not be offered a chance to return (he would move on to sign with the Sydney Kings), with his replacement coming in the form of young 7-footer Chris Anstey from the Melbourne Tigers.

Anstey’s move to the Magic was one of huge controversy when Melbourne coach Lindsey Gaze appealed the signing via the NBL tribunal. The NBL decided that Anstey could not leave the Tigers and would have to play for Melbourne as long as the Tigers could match the contract, which they did.

After some extremely creative salary tweaking where Magic CEO Graham McNaney and Goorjian convinced all of the Magic players to sign for less so they could offer Anstey a larger contract (which also fit within the NBL salary cap) that the Tigers couldn’t match. Once Anstey had signed with the Magic, all of the team’s players were reinstated to their previous contracts.

After the Anstey deal was done, the Magic rounded out the roster by adding Nunawading junior Jason Smith, re-signing import Adonis Jordan and pairing him with Richard ‘Scooter’ Barry, son of NBA Hall of Famer Rick Barry. Unfortunately, Barry (14.3 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 2.3 steals) didn’t quite make the impact in the NBL that his father had in the NBA and was shown the door after four games. Goorjian chose to elevate 23-year-old development player Shane Bright (0.3 points, 0.4 rebounds, and 0.6 assists) for the remaining games instead of bringing in another import, aiming to give his young local core of MacKinnon, Anstey and Smith as much playing time as possible.

The Magic went on to finish second on the ladder (18-8), with Tony Ronaldson (21.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.0 steals) leading the team in scoring and Jordan (20.0 points, 2.9 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 1.8 steals) leading the Magic in assists.

Additionally, 33-year-old big man John Dorge (16.1 points, 12.3 rebounds, 1.1 steals, and 3.0 blocks) turned the clock back and delivered a breakout season, leading the league in blocked shots. Dorge’s improved play saw him selected to the All-NBL first team at the end of the season while backup guard Darren Lucas (9.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.8 steals) took home the league’s Best Defensive Player award.

In the postseason, the Magic lost game one of their quarterfinal matchup with the Illawarra (108-113), then returned to Melbourne to win both games two (92-89) and three (93-75). Moving onto the semi-finals, South East Melbourne would face North Melbourne and saw their season end early thanks to losses in both games one (77-98) and game three (92-107).

Shane Bright played three seasons the South East Melbourne Magic..

Dan Boyce (836 Posts)

Dan Boyce is a die-hard Sydney Kings fan who grew up in Melbourne during the roaring 90's of Australian Basketball and spent far too much time collecting Futera NBL Basketball cards.