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

NBL EXPERIENCE

Nate Tomlinson made his NBL debut with the Melbourne Tigers at 23 years of age. He scored one point in his first NBL game.

After failing to reach the playoffs, Melbourne replaced head coach Trevor Gleeson with former Tigers star Chris Anstey, who had only retired from playing a mere 18 months earlier. Anstey brought with him another Tigers Legend, Darryl McDonald, who was announced as his assistant.

Anstey’s first signing came in the form of Seth Scott, a 6’10 forward and shortly after signed Nate Tomlinson (Via University of Colorado) and Adam Ballinger (via Adelaide) to replace the outgoing Cam Tragardh and Daniel Dillon who asked to part ways with the Tigers at seasons end.

In the weeks prior to the NBL season, Melbourne was able to sign up-and-coming talent Chris Goulding who unexpectedly became available after demise of the Gold Coast Blaze. Goulding was a highly sought after free agent in 2012, pursued by multiple teams before deciding to sign with the Tigers. Goulding’s signature resulted in the Tigers having little need for shooting guard Ron Dorsey, who was then released despite having another year on his contract. At the time of signing Goulding Tigers head coach Chris Anstey referred to the young tyro as ‘in our opinion, the absolute best Australian player that didn’t have a contract’.

Anstey and the Tigers then finalised their playing roster by signing Kevin Braswell, who led New Zealand to their first championship on the basis he would be obtaining New Zealand citizenship.

The Tigers retained the previous year’s group of Bennie Lewis, Matt Burston, Liam Rush, Lucas Walker and team captain Tommy Greer and looked to rebound from three straight years of missing the playoffs.

As soon as the season began, it became clear Braswell (10.0 points, 2.6 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 2.4 steals) was battling persistent knee problems, which saw him released after five games. Having struggled through the start of the season (1-4) Melbourne signed former sixth overall pick in the NBA draft, Jonny Flynn, who had been waived by the Pistons the month prior. Upon his signing, head coach Anstey called Flynn ‘possibly the highest credentialed player in the prime of his career to ever play in the NBL.’

Flynn (17.4 points, 3.9 rebounds and 5.9 assists) formed a potent scoring duo with Goulding (15.4 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.1 assists) and things instantly turned around, starting with a 30 point thumping delivered to Adelaide (96-66) who had defeated them in the season opener.

Melbourne clawed themselves back from the bottom of the ladder to finish equal with Sydney (12-16) but missed out on the top four due to the Kings having a two-point lead in their head to head match-ups.

Flynn and Seth Scott (11.6 points, 6.2 rebounds and 0.9 assists) were selected to the All-NBL second and first teams respectively, while Tomlinson averaged 2.6 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 2.7 assists for the season.

2013/14
Over in the west, former Melbourne coach Trevor Gleeson had replaced Rob Beveridge, who at that time had a verbal agreement with Mark Worthington to play for the Wildcats. With Beveridge gone and Anstey knowing Worthington wasn’t keen to play for Gleeson he quickly signed him to return to play with the Tigers.

Anstey then added Canadian Scott Morrison and Stephen Dennis as imports to the core group of Lucas Walker, Nate Tomlinson and team captain Tommy Greer.

Days before the Tigers season opener Dennis injured his Achilles tendon in pre-season training, resulting in Melbourne signing former import Ayinde Ubaka, who played with Anstey during the 2011/12 season, as a last minute replacement.

The Tigers season also began with club MVP Chris Goulding and captain Tommy Greer both on the injured list and after a sluggish start (3-4) the Tigers released the underperforming Ubaka (5.3 points, 1.4 rebounds and 1.7 assists) mid-season for the second time in three years. He was replaced by former LA Clippers guard Mustapha Farrakhan (10.4 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists) while the Tigers floundered through the first half of the season (6-6).

He was replaced by former LA Clippers guard Mustapha Farrakhan (10.4 points, 2.0 rebounds, 2.2 assists) while the Tigers floundered through the first half of the season (6-6).

Once healthy, Goulding offensive talents were on full display, none moreso than on 9 March 2014, when he scored a career-high 50 points in the Tigers’ 92–82 win over the Sydney Kings. It was the NBL’s first individual 50-point game in the 40-minute era. He was subsequently crowned the NBL scoring champion for the 2013–14 season. With Goulding (22.8 points, 3.2 rebunds, 2.8 assists) and Worthington (14.0 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.0 assists) leading the team offensively, Melbourne finished the season strongly, finishing in third place and reaching the semi-finals for the first time in five seasons. Tomlinson also added 7.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 5.3 assists over the course of the season.

Facing Adelaide in the semifinals, Melbourne would lose the opening game of the series (101-85) thanks to an explosive performance from Gary Ervin (27 points and 7 assists).

Game two would then shift to Melbourne where Tigers guard Chris Goulding exploded for 37 points, allowing the Tigers to even the series behind a 98-87 victory.

In game three, Adelaide finished the job, demolishing Melbourne with a 102-63 victory which included holding them to a 27-point half-time score and winning every quarter by 7 points or more.

2014/15 – TIGERS BECOME UNITED
On 20 May 2014, the franchise was re-branded as Melbourne United. The change was an attempt to move away from the Melbourne Tigers junior program which was a team synonymous with ‘poaching’ young talent from other junior programs in Victoria and had negative connotations with much of Victoria’s basketball community. The name, attempting to symbolise a connection to all of Victorian basketball was a decision made by owner Larry Kestelman.

The team retained head coach Chris Anstey and added Tigers legend Daryl Corletto who had spent three years with the New Zealand Breakers. Australian Boomers players David Barlow, who had spent the past five years in Europe and Daniel Kickert signed on with the club as long time captain of the club Tommy Greer retired.

The team retained their Tigers core of Mark Worthington, Lucas Walker and Nate Tomlinson who were all chosen to share the captaincy this season and their last move was to complement the squad by signing their import talent, adding Jordan McRae and Stephen Dennis.

Adam Ballinger, who had signed a two-year deal the previous seasn, was a part of the team up until the week before the season when United chose to release him. An unfavorable situation for Ballinger as every other NBL team had completed their rosters, leaving Ballinger nowhere to negotiate. He was eventually signed by Illawarra and played the remainder of the season with the Hawks.

United’s inaugural season began with a loss to Cairns (89–61) which saw coach Chris Anstey resign soon after and replaced by his assistant Darryl McDonald.

Under McDonald, Melbourne was in fourth position for most of the season before a late fade out saw the team fall short of making the playoffs, finishing in fifth place(13-15).

Tomlinson would average 5 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 3.1 assists for the season.

2015/16
Melbourne re-signed Daniel Kickert, added the Most Improved Player from last season, Todd Blanchfield (via Townsville) and were able to entice Chris Goulding, who had spent the previous season in Spain, to return to the club.

Kickert delivered an incredible season, coming oh so close to becoming the first NBL player ever to join the exclusive 50–40–90 club. Kickert did reach the required splits—finishing the season with figures of 52.5/47.2/90.5—but fell four made free throws short of the minimum requirements.

Melbourne finished the season in first place (18-10) with Kickert (14.8 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.2 assists) earning All-NBL First Team honours.

Despite the strong finish under new coach Dean Demopoulos, the team lost to New Zealand in the semifinals, falling short in two straight games.

Tomlinson would appear in 30 games and average 3.6 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 2.5 assists for the season.

2016/17
With the league allowing three import players per team this season, Melbourne replaced import duo Stephen Holt and Hakim Warrick with Cedric Jackson, Ramone Moore and Devin Williams. They essentially signed a fourth import by then adding Tai Wesley (via New Zealand) who was allowed to sign as a local under the asian player rule and swapped one Boomers big man for another with David Anderson (via Europe) replacing Daniel Kickert (to Sydney).

In coach Dean Demopoulos second season, United started poorly (3-7) and Jackson (10.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 1.4 steals) quickly being shown the door due to a poor attitude and failing to buy into the team’s defensive principals.

Casper Ware arrived as his replacement shortly after, immediately changing the squad’s direction.

Around this time, Chris Goulding (17.0 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.0 steals), who missed six games with ankle issues, began to find his form, and David Barlow (5.1 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists), returned from a calf injury that had seen him unable to take the court at all for the past two years.

Behind Ware (22.1 points, 4.5 assists, and 1.3 steals) and a healthy roster, United turned things around, winning 10 of their last 18 games.

With the team still capable of reaching the playoffs, Devin Williams (3.2 points and 4.0 rebounds), who surprisingly lasted 16 games before being cut after media and fans pointed out his lack of production and called for an import change for most of the season. With a third of the season remaining, Josh Boone (10.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks) arrived and quickly went to work cleaning up Ware and Goulding’s missed shots and finished as the league’s best rebounder. Minute for minute, there was no more effective player than Josh Boone, who finished as Melbourne’s best player in several advanced metrics, including PER, ORtg, DRtg, eFG%, TRB%, and BLK%.

While he avoided the same fate Jackson suffered, Ramone Moore (10.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2.0 assists) didn’t deliver the type of impact expected of an import either.

Injuries and offensive meltdowns were the storylines this season. Tai Wesley (8.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.3 assists) and Majok Majok (5.7 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 0.5 blocks) were the only two players to compete in all 28 games for United, and coupled with the import turnover, only six players suited up for at least 75% of games. Combine this with the fact that Melbourne finished with the second-worst true shooting percentage in the league and was just 2-5 in games decided by five points.

Ware earned a place in the All-NBL First Team despite playing 18 games, and this combined with United’s strong finish many fans were excited about what the future could bring. This was shown by the almost-capacity crowd of 9,545 showing up at Melbourne’s last home game despite the team having nothing to play for.

In Demopoulos’ second year as head coach, he would struggle managing player relationships, and by the end of the season, it was public knowledge his relationship with certain players wasn’t ‘civil’. A divide between the veterans of the team and the ever-competitive Demopoulos would result in seeing United unable to replicate the success from the previous season, finishing in sixth-place finish (13-15) and both parties moving on at the end of the season.

Tomlinson averaged 3.9 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 1.6 assists across 25 games.

Nate Tomlinson played five seasons the Melbourne Tigers. This included the Melbourne Tigers. He averaged 4.5 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in 139 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (821 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.