BIO: DJ Hogg was born in Columbus, Ohio (USA) where he attended 102.

NBL EXPERIENCE

DJ Hogg made his NBL debut with the Cairns Taipans at 26 years of age. He scored 15 points in his first game.

Hogg signed a one-year deal with Cairns in June 2022, joining the team after coach Adam Forde’s first season as head coach. While the season prior hadn’t yielded much on-court success it did build a solid foundation, one that resulted in Cairns having one of their most successful seasons ever in NBL23. The club brought back leading scorer Tahjere McCall, Majok Deng, Bul Kuol, Mirko Djeric, as well as the league’s Most Improved Player Keanu Pinder.

Major departures included Kouat Noi (to Sydney) and Nathan Jawai, who, despite wanting to play another season, was not by the team or any other NBL team. Forde then replenished his roster, first signing promising big man Sam Waardenburg (3 Year Deal), who was hotly pursued by most NBL team’s yet chose to sign in Cairns after being offered a starting role. Fellow college grad Lat Mayen (Nebraska) and Jonah Antonio (Czech League) signed multi-year deals, and Ben Ayre, following a memorable stint as an injury replacement player last season, was elevated to the main roster.

The Taipans signed forward DJ Hogg as their second import for the 2022/23 season, pairing him with his former teammate Tahjere McCall. Hogg had previously played alongside McCall with the Lakeland Magic where they won the G League Championship in 2021. Shannon Scott was later signed as the team’s third import, replacing both Scott Machado and Stephen Zimmerman.

Cairns, who featured the youngest roster in the league, surprised everyone with some upset wins to start the season.

Picked by most to finish bottom of the ladder, Cairns opened the season by defeating grand finalists Tasmania (106-84), South East Melbourne (85-76) and the reigning champions Sydney (83-78) to start the season on a 5-1 run, their only loss being to Perth (76-105).

Other notable games for the season included defeating Melbourne United twice. The first encounter saw Cairns outscore Melbourne 11-1 in the final four minutes to take home a 81-77 win that propelled them into second place on the ladder and saw Forde call Pinder (26 points and 10 rebounds) the best centre in the league after the game. The second was a 25-point belting where the Taipans led by as much as 40 points in the final quarter. Bul Kuol added 18 points, DJ Hogg had 17, and Ben Ayre scored 16 off the bench.

A nail-biting 103-106 loss to the Sydney Kings off the back of a epic buzzer beating three-pointer former Taipan Kouat Noi allowed Hogg, who appeared to have nailed a game-tying three to force overtime before Noi’s launched his shot, score a career high 27 points and 5 rebounds.

Against Illawarra, Cairns battled back to secure a 102-101 victory over the Hawks in a double overtime thriller. a early three-point barrage propelled Illawarra to a 16-point lead in the second term until the Taipans amped up the pressure, getting out on the fast break and taking the lead early in the third quarter. A back-and-forth affair in the final stanza called for some Tyler Harvey heroics in the clutch. Harvey answered the call, nailing a triple to tie things up with 11 seconds to go before a DJ Hogg miss sent the game to overtime. Hogg took control in overtime, scoring 9 of Cairns’ 15 points across the two overtime periods. Two missed free-throws from Keanu Pinder left the door open for a Peyton Siva heave that rimmed out at the buzzer to give Cairns the victory. Hogg and Tahjere McCall led the Taipans both finishing with 23 points. Pinder secured another double-double, finishing with 18 points and 14 rebounds in the win.

A common Taipans’ trait this season was snapping opposition win streaks. This included snapping Brisbane’s three-game win streak in November (90-82), Hogg playing a major role in the win with 20 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists in a dominant Taipans frontcourt display. Cairns also ended the Kings’ record 17-game road winning streak (94-88) in a overtime thriller where Hogg was instrumental, scoring 12 of his 20 points in the final term including back-to-back triples to send the game to overtime. Pinder also was able to put up a career high 30 points and 13 rebounds, including 8 points in overtime to seal the win. Pinder became the first Taipan to have 30 points and 10 rebounds in a home game in Cairns since Martin Cattalini in 2007. Tahjere McCall, who had settled into a bench role by this time, added 18 points off the bench for the Taipans, who outscored Sydney 39-23 after three quarter time.

The Taipans, who had spent the majority of the season sitting in second or third position on the ladder, then lost star Keanu Pinder to a ankle injury in December. Many in the media expected the team to drop down the ladder without Pinder, where they were originally predicted to finish, but instead, Cairns went on a five-game winning streak. This included wins over Adelaide 36ers (86-83), Illawarra (96-89), Brisbane (107-81), South East Melbourne (94-85), a second win over Illawarra (89-84) and New Zealand (85-83), with Bul Kuol, DJ Hogg and Tahjere McCall all scoring 18 points apiece.

During the final month of the season, Cairns lost Pinder again, this time to a eye injury which resulted in him being unable to play any postseason games. Cairns and Zealand bounced back and forth in a battle for second place across the final fortnight of the games, finishing the season off by defeating Perth (84-71). The win momentarily saw Cairns jump to second place before New Zealand responded with wins over both Brisbane and Illawarra (the competition’s bottom two), resulting in both team’s finishing with a equal record (18-10). Due to the Breakers having a higher percentage, Cairns then dropped to third place and would have to go through the NBL’s inaugural play-in tournament to reach the semi finals. Next, Cairns would face Perth with Pinder still on the sidelines. Despite this, a history making effort from DJ Hogg (32 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assist), where he score the most points ever by a Taipan in a playoff game, delivered a 91-78 victory and the chance to face Sydney as the fourth seed in the semifinals.

Taipans win, Wildcats out ????

DJ Hogg steals the show with a phenomenal 32-point outing, lifting the Taipans to a crucial win.

Check out the @HungryJacksAU highlights ???? pic.twitter.com/HXL6C1UpsU

— NBL (@NBL) February 12, 2023

McCall suffered a partially dislocated shoulder in the Taipans’ Seeding Qualifier against Tasmania and, as a result, was absent from game one of his side’s Playoff Series against Sydney. Without McCall available, Xavier Cooks (27 points and 14 rebounds) was able to power the Kings home to a 95-87 win over the Taipans in the opening game before a drama-filled game two saw Kings’ coach Buford being ejected. The emotions tipped over after Noi and Waardenburg both went down after hits to the head, Cooks suffered yet another ankle injury, and Tim Soares was charged with striking. Amidst the chaos, DJ Hogg (25 points and 8 rebounds) and Tahjere McCall (20 points and 7 assists) caught fire, and Cairns took down Sydney (93-82) to force a do-or-die game three.

In the deciding game, Vasiljevic, who had been almost a non-factor in the first two games, delivered when it mattered most for the Kings landing three crucial three-pointers on his way to 15 points and five rebounds to lead Sydney in scoring. Cooks shook off his rolled ankle from game two with 11 points and 11 rebounds as the Kings locked the Taipans down on defence, holding them to their lowest team score of the season, Sydney beating Cairns 79-64 to advance to the Championship Series. Ben Ayre finished top scorer for the Taipans with 20 points (4-8 from downtown) and 4 assists.

Hogg (18.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 2.8 assists 1.2 steals, 1.2 blocks) would led the Taipans in scoring and alongside Pinder (16.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.3 steals) was named to the All-NBL Second Team. Pinder also made history by winning the Most Improved Player award, becoming the first player ever to win the award twice. Rookie Sam Waardenburg (11.3 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.1 assists) collected the league’s Next Generation Award, which replaced the Rookie of the Year award that season.

SYDNEY KINGS
2023/24
The Sydney Kings started their campaign by making DJ Hogg their first import signing for the season. Signed to a two-year deal (second year mutual option) he would join a Kings squad, looking to make history by winning their third title in three consecutive season.

“DJ is a remarkably talented young man, and the prototypical player and character we want as a part of our club – he was a priority signing for us” Kings CEO Chris Pongrass said after adding Hogg to the roster.

“Shooting is a premium in this league and a area that we identified as needing improvement in the off-season – DJ addresses that being one of the best perimeter shooters in the league. Couple this with his playmaking and ability to play multiple positions, we have a elite offensive threat. DJ killed us in nearly every matchup last season – I know our coaching staff had nightmares thinking about how we were to guard him during that finals series.”

Sydney were forced to undergo a huge rebuild prior to NBL24, after losing several key pieces to NBA opportunities. First reigning NBL MVP Xavier Cooks and DJ Vasiljevic both headed to Washington, then coach Chase Buford was released to pursue NBA opportunities and eventually joined Milwaukee. Imports Derrick Walton Jr, Justin Simon and Tim Soares all headed overseas, and Jordan Hunter remained with the team as the only starter from the championship squad to return.

Former league MVP Jaylen Adams returned after a season in Europe and joined new imports DJ Hogg (via Cairns), Denzel Valentine and former NBA talent and Australian Boomer Jonah Bolden, who returned to basketball after a 4-year absence.

G-League championship coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah was brought in as Buford’s replacement, and despite the considerable roster turnover, the Kings still entered the season as championship favourites.

After ten games, Sydney sat in second position (7-3) and had lost to only two teams, the Tasmania JackJumpers (twice) and the Cairns Taipans. This was achieved while marquee player DJ Hogg (who missed the first half of the season) and Jaylin Galloway sat injured on the sidelines.

From Round 8 onwards, the Kings looked nothing like the team that had dominated the league for the past two years. They struggled to win games, giving up 100 points on nine occasions, and finished as one of the worst teams in the league at the defensive end.

Much of the team’s success this season came from the pick-and-roll offence of Adams (19.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.3 assists, and 1.1 steals) and Hunter (10.3 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks). Bolden (8.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.1 assists) delivered some great games but understandably spent most of the season working himself back into basketball form. In comparison, Denzel Valentine (12.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.1 steals) and Dj Hogg (14.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.3 blocks) didn’t deliver as expected at both ends. Sydney finished the season in fifth place and failed to make the post-season after losing to New Zealand during the play-in qualifiers. However, breakout seasons from rookie Alex Toohey (8 points and 4.0 rebounds), Kouat Noi (10 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 1.0 assists), who came close to winning the league’s best sixth-man award, and Galloway (10.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.2 steals) were the only real highlights of the season, showcasing the individual talent and potential within the team.

Hogg’s best performance of the season came in a game where the Kings clinched a post-season berth by recording the biggest winning margin in franchise history, and of any team in the 40-minute era. Hogg top-scored with 25 points and seven rebounds off the bench, as the Kings destroyed a depleted South East Melbourne (122-67). He also notched up 20 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 blocks in a loss to Perth (105-114).

DJ Hogg played two seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Cairns Taipans and the Sydney Kings. He averaged 16.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 49 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.