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

NBL EXPERIENCE

Shane McDonald made his NBL debut with the Singapore Slingers at 22 years of age. He scored nine points in his first game.

As a rookie, McDonald averaged 7.9 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.5 assists for the Singapore Slingers but with the team failing to invest the same amount of money during the team’s second year as they did in the first season, the roster struggled to be competitive and finished with a dismal record (6-24). Singapore withdrew the following season due to financial reasons.

PERTH WILDCATS
2008/09
After four seasons of leading the Wildcats, coach Scott Fisher decided it was time to return to his family in the US. Upon Fisher’s announcement that he would not return after leading the Wildcats to within one game of the grand final, a worldwide search was conducted for the hiring of the team’s next coach. Ultimately, Fisher’s replacement would be Conner Henry, a former college teammate of Fisher’s who had been with the Wildcats since 2006 as a assistant coach.

The core of the Wildcat’s roster, Shawn Redhage (University of Utah), Alex Loughton, Peter Crawford and Paul Rogers, would all return, with the only major changes to the team’s local roster being the additions of Ben Knight (via Singapore), Chris Goulding (via Brisbane) and Rookie Stephen Weigh. As a result of Shawn Redhage becoming a naturalised Australian (Jan 08), the Wildcats had the luxury of being able to sign two new imports with athletic forward Isiah Victor (via Sydney) and Darnell Hinson (via West Sydney), who both delivered debut NBL seasons the year prior.

Perth entered the season fighting off multiple injuries, with guards Adam Caporn, Brad Robbins, and Peter Crawford all fighting through knee issues. The team even placed starting centre Rogers on the deactivated list due to a lingering knee complaint. The additional roster spot allowed Perth to pull off a major recruiting coup, beating Melbourne Tigers and South Dragons for the signature of former Boomers point guard Luke Kendall.

At the mid-way point of the season, Rogers returned to the lineup, forcing the Wildcat’s to release Kendall (8.5 points, 2.2 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.2 steals), who had become a key reserve with Robbins managing only three games over the season. Kendall signed a deal to play with Melbourne shortly after, who needed a replacement for Sam MacKinnon after medical staff advised him not to return to play. Team captain Rogers (9 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks) played in only two games before a ruptured disc in his back that required surgery kept him out of the remaining games.

Perth’s efforts during the regular season were a carbon copy of the one before. The Wildcats were a force at home (11-4) but couldn’t win on the road (6-9), finishing in fourth place (17-13) for the second year in a row. Shawn Redhage (19.2 points, 8.0 rebounds, and 3.5 assists) would lead the team in scoring and rebounding, earning selection to the Al-NBL Second Team along the way. Hinson (13.8 points, 4.6 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.7 steals), Loughton (13 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.0 assists) and Victor (12.8 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.0 assists) all playing key roles also.

Once into the postseason, Perth faced fifth seed Townsville, who defeated them in the Elimination Finals (96-103), delivering a abrupt end to their season and ending their playoff run and ensuring Henry’s tenure lasted only one season.

McDonald would limited playing opportunities with the Wildcats, appearing in only five games and scoring a total of five points.

MELBOURNE TIGERS
2011/12
With Trevor Gleeson replacing Alan Westover as coach, the Tigers off-season began with a re-tooling of the roster, which featured a glut of big men. With Corey Williams, Eric Devendorf, Luke Nevill and Wade Helliwell all exiting, coach Trevor Gleeson recruited the entire Cairns Taipans backcourt of Ayinde Ubaka, Ron Dorsey and Daniel Dillon to complement high-scoring forward Cam Tragardh. With Daryl Corletto, Liam Rush, Lucas Walker and Tommy Greer (who was named team captain) the Tigers looked to have turned their lop sided roster around and were primed for a successful season.

It was then the NBA, and its lock-out that saw the Tigers decide to reshuffle the deck.

With NBA free-agent and Australian Boomers player Patrick Mills without a contract, he headed home and negotiated a deal to play with Melbourne while he awaited the NBA’s decision to re-start the season. Mills, who became the first ‘active’ NBA player to compete in the NBL, forced the team to release long-time guard Daryl Corletto (who later signed with New Zealand) to make room for the NBA star.

The Tigers started the season with six wins, and three losses before Mills (averaging 18.6 points, 2.3 rebounds and 5 assists) up and left to play in China on a much larger contract.

The remainder of the season could be described as tumultuous at best. The peak of this was highlighted by majority owner Seamus McPeake storming into the Tigers’ locker room and unleashing a tirade on the players before firing Ubaka on the spot following Melbourne’s loss to Gold Coast (73-60) at the State Netball and Hockey Centre. Ubaka’s sacking occurred without coach Trevor Gleeson being aware, as both he and captain Tommy Greer were participating in a post-game press conference. Ubaka’s sacking would contravene one of the key agreements of Gleeson’s hiring that he have the final say on all player movements.

Ubaka (12.0 points, 2.4 rebounds and 3.3 assists) was immediately snapped up by Wollongong, where he saw out the rest of the season. Shortly after Melbourne signed Myron Allen (9.9 points, 5.9 rebounds and 6.2 assists) as his replacement.

After the loss to the Blaze and Ubaka’s axing, the Tigers would reel off three straight losses and then finish their campaign by losing seven of their next nine games. The Tigers would miss the playoffs, finishing the regular season with a 11-17 record. Cam Tragardh (16.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists) finished the year as Melbourne’s leading scorer, won the Tigers club MVP award and earned a spot on the All-NBL second team.

After the loss to the Blaze and Ubaka’s axing, the Tigers would reel off three straight losses and then finish their campaign by losing seven of their next nine games. The Tigers would miss the playoffs, finishing the regular season with a 11-17 record. McDonald would average 4 points, 0 rebounds, and 1 assists alongside Cam Tragardh (16.3 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.4 assists) who was selected for the All-NBL second team after leading the Tigers in scoring and winning the club’s MVP award.

NEW ZEALAND BREAKERS
2015/16
The Breakers retained every player from their 2015 championship-winning roster minus Rhys Carter (to Sydney) and Ekene Ibekwe (to Europe). To replace the pair, the club picked up Australian point guard Shane McDonald and rookie American big man Charles Jackson. New Zealand’s pre-season was met with a number of challenges which included Alex Pledger being absent due to recovering from off-season foot surgery, Thomas Abercrombie being forced to the sidelines with a nagging hamstring strain and the exit of Corey Webster, who headed to the US to trial with the New Orleans Pelicans. In a move to replace them, the Breakers elevated development players Shea Ili and Tai Wynyard, while also signing Everard Bartlett as a replacement for Webster. Delany would sign on as a development player and appear in four games during the season.

New Zealand finished fourth (16–12) to claim the final playoff berth, where they swept ladder leaders Melbourne in the semifinals (2–0) and moved on to their fifth NBL Grand Final appearance in six years.

Again we would see a New Zealand v Perth Grand Final, where this time, the Wildcats would rely on the presence inside of Nathan Jawai and the tough defence of Casey Prather to take home victory in game one (82–76).

Game two was played in Auckland where the Breakers evened the series (1-1) thanks to a near triple-double from Cedric Jackson (13 points, 9 rebounds, and 8 assists) that propelled them to the win (72–68).

With the deciding game in Perth, 13,090 of the ‘Red Army’ were in attendance and the Wildcats’ made sure to avenge their grand final loss from last year. Casey Prather (19 points) and Jermaine Beal (14 points) did most of the damage on the scoreboard for the Wildcats, but it was Damian Martin’s inspirational display in defence that shone the brightest. Martin would be named Grand Final MVP after keeping star Breakers guard Cedric Jackson scoreless on five attempts and forcing him to foul out early in the last term. The Wildcats would go on to claim their seventh NBL championship in a blow-out victory (75–52).

The loss marked the first time New Zealand had lost to the Wildcat’s in playoff history and the team’s first ever grand final series loss.

McDonald would appear in 22 games, averaging 1.3 points, 0.9 rebounds, and 0.6 assists.

Shane McDonald played four seasons across four NBL teams. This included the Singapore Slingers, Melbourne Tigers, Perth Wildcats and New Zealand Breakers. He averaged 4.7 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists in 56 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (811 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.