BIO: Andrew White III was born in Richmond, Virginia (USA) where he attended The Miller School of Albemarle in Charlottesville, Virginia.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Andrew White made his NBL debut with the Brisbane Bullets at 29 years of age. He scored nine points in his first game.

After finishing second last the season prior, Brisbane loaded up by adding Boomers big man Aron Baynes and veteran guard Tyler Johnson who had been teammates while playing in the NBA with Phoenix.

Devondrick Walker (via NBL1) was signed as a second import and local talent Harry Froling (via Illawarra), Gorjok Gak (via Europe) and DJ Mitchell (via NBL1), son of former Bullets import Mike Mitchell, were also brought into the squad to complement the returning core of Jason Cadee, Tyrell Harrison, Tanner Krebs and captain Nathan Sobey.

The Bullets off-season recruiting saw many in the media pencil them in as a top four team but with the health of both Sobey coming back from a knee injury that had kept him on the sidelines for half of NBL22 and Baynes returning to the court after a neck injury suffered at the Olympics almost left him paralysed, many questioned their ability to stay healthy.

Six games into the season and the Bullets had yet to win a game. Baynes (11.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 1.0 assists) was far from the NBA player he was 12 months earlier and Sobey (15.1 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 4.6 assists) recorded his lowest numbers for points and rebounds in five years.

Brisbane then recorded back-to-back wins, both against Illawarra. The first victory (82-56) on the back of a 17 point, 14 rebound effort from Baynes and the second (86-61) thanks to Sobey, scoring 14 first quarter points and 22 first half points, both career highs. The wins marking the first time Brisbane had won consecutive matches by at least 25-points since February 2007.

A two point victory over a strong Tasmanian team (74-72) gave them a three game winning streak, but just when things started to look positive, the decision was made to release underperforming import Walker (9.0 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.4 assists) and fire head coach James Duncan.

Duncan was replaced by General Manager Sam Mackinnon as interim coach, a move that lasted just three games before assistant coach and former Townsville Crocodile Greg Vanderjagt took the reins for the remainder of the season but the best of the Bullets season was behind them. Andrew White (7.6 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 0.7 assists) was signed by Brisbane mid-season as a import replacement for Devondrick Walker.

“Andrew’s ability to play multiple positions will benefit our team and give much needed depth to the roster,” said Interim Head Coach Sam Mackinnon at the time.

White’s signing saw Lual Diing transition from the team’s full-time roster to a development player.

Reports of an untenable relationship between Bullets CEO Peter McLennan and Mackinnon become public and during that time, Brisbane suffered two catastrophic losses, one a 37-point loss to New Zealand which saw Sam Mackinnon suffer the biggest loss by a coach on debut since Alan Black in 1989 and the biggest defeat in the history of the NBL – a 49-point beating from Sydney. Brisbane finished second last again (8-20) with three of their eight wins coming against Illawarra, who recorded their worst season ever.

While Tyler Johnson (15.9 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.2 steals) was nominated for the league’s Sixth Man of the Year award (won by Barry Brown Jr), it was a season of massive underachievement individually and collectively that saw a mass exodus of players at the end of the year.

Andrew White played one season in the NBL. He averaged 7.7 points, 3 rebounds, and 0.6 assists in 15 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (815 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.