BIO: Dillon Stith was born in Bedford, Virginia (USA).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Dillon Stith made his NBL debut with the Melbourne United at 27 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

Melbourne United began the season with a complete rehaul of its roster. The team chose not to re-sign imports Casper Ware and Josh Boone, released Daniel Trist and lost young forward Craig Moller when he signed with Sydney as a free agent.

United then signed Jo Lual-Acuil, Shea Ili (who played under Dean Vickerman during his time at the Breakers) and Jack Purchase as the team’s development player. Vickerman then added import duo Melo Trimble from Cairns and Shawn Long via New Zealand, who were friends, having played together for the USA National Team. Rounded out the squad David Barlow, Alex Pledger, Tohi Smith-Milner and Casey Prather re-signed with the club.

After a season spent in Europe, Casey Prather would return to the club (two-year deal) as the team’s third import, but he Prather missed the first seven games of the season due to injury, question marks around his health and signing were raised. Once Prather (9.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 0.7 assists) managed to return to the court, his scoring was far below his career numbers. He managed to play in six games before undergoing another knee clean-out shortly after and was then ruled out for the rest of the season due to a right hamstring tear. United would sign former NBA talent Stanton Kidd (9.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 0.5 assists) as his injury replacement.

This resulted in United losing four of their first five games of the season, and with reports of a rift between players, a coach under pressure and frustrated supporters, the club looked utterly rattled. By late-November however, United sat third on the ladder (7-4) behind six consecutive wins and were the highest scoring team in the competition (99.7 points-per-game). Melo Trimble (19.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 1.2 steals) would lead United in scoring, alongside Long (18.2 points, 9.4 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks) and Captain Chris Goulding (17.6 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists).

Stith would spend the season with United as a training player but at two different points in the season was signed as short term injury replacement player. Stith appeared in 8 games, averaging 2.0 points, 0.4 rebounds, and 0.3 assists while Melbourne finished the season in fourth place (15-13) and face Sydney in the semifinals.

Long (23 points, 10 rebounds, and 1 block) controlled the inside while Trimble (34 points, 5 assists, and 3 steals) came off the bench to finish as the game’s leading scorer. It wasn’t enough however, with United losing game one (80-86) with Xavier Cooks (21 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists) and Jae’Sean Tate (19 points and 5 rebounds) doing most of the damage for the Kings.

They returned to Melbourne for game two where United would even the series, thanks to a combined effort from their import trio, with Long (26 points and 11 rebounds), Trimble (21 points and 2 steals) and Kidd (18 points and 4 rebounds) all delivering when it counted. Tate (18 points and 6 rebounds) kept the scoreboard ticking over for Sydney but the damage was done during the second quarter, where United outscored the Kings 32-7, a lead that allowed them to win by 45 points at full-time (125-80). The series decider was played at Qudos Bank Arena in a game that came down to the final seconds. Goulding (19 points and 3 assists) led Melbourne in scoring, but Tate (20 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists) and the Kings were able to come away with a two-point win and proceed to the Grand Final, ending United’s season.

2020/21
After multiple seasons trying to get import Casey Prather back onto the court, both United and Prather mutually agreed to terminate the second season of his contract. Melbourne would then rejig their roster by adding Jack White (via Duke University) and Japanese star Yudai Baba (one-year deal), who signed with the team on an NBL Special Restricted Player contract. The team also re-signed team captain Chris Goulding (three-year deal), David Barlow (one year deal), Mason Peatling (three year deal) and Sam McDaniel (one year deal). United would rely on their local talent this season, signing Scotty Hopson (via Europe) as their lone import for the season and, as their last move, was able to sign Australian Boomers forward Jock Landale (one-year deal) mere weeks prior to the season tip-off, after his Lithuania contracted was voided due to Covid Travel Restrictions.

During the first month of the season, United lost rookie Jack White (9.1 points and 5.9 rebounds), who was a strong pick for the rookie of the year award, when he suffered a season-ending Achilles injury against Cairns. With White requiring 12 months of rehabilitation, retired centre David Andersen was signed as an injury replacement player.

Another injury hit when Chris Goulding (15.7 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2 assists) was ruled out for the majority of February 2021. As United battled through the injury bug, Jock Landale (16.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.5 blocks) would lead Melbourne in scoring as the team finished in first place (28-8). Melbourne would then face Victorian rivals, the South East Melbourne Phoenix as their semi finals opponents but with the Victorian lockdown keeping both team’s out of the state, their semi finals series began in empty arenas in held in Sydney.

The two Melbourne team’s split the first two games playing at Sydney’s Qudos Bank Arena before returning to Melbourne to play the deciding game three with the winner going on to face the Perth Wildcats in the Grand Final. After trailing 32-15 early in the second quarter, Melbourne’s defence locked in to hold South East Melbourne to just 42 points the rest of the night while scoring 69 themselves. With Landale (27 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks) equalling his season-high for points, shooting 11-13 from the floor and a perfect 3/3 from beyond, United came away with the victory (84-74).

In the same game, Goulding (14 points) notched up his 350th game while Mitch McCarron (11 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists), Scotty Hopson (9 points and 6 boards), and Jo Lual-Acuil (8 points and 3 rebounds) all played important roles in the win. Reuben Te Rangi (22 points) and Mitch Creek (19 points) were key contributors for the Phoenix.

Due to the border restrictions by the Western Australian state government the Perth Wildcats (the lower seed) hosted the first two games of the Grand Final series. While the Wildcat’s remained competitive without their injured superstar Bryce Cotton United would win both games in Perth and return to Melbourne to host the third game (United would have also hosted the fourth and fifth games had they not already won the series by the third game).

A sold-out 5,000-strong crowd at John Cain Arena (the maximum allowed within Covid restrictions) witnessed United defeat Perth (81-76) in what would be Melbourne’s sixth championship and their second under the United branding. Landale (15 points, 9 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks) continued to rack up stats in every category, making him a obvious choice for the Finals MVP.

Again, Stith would join the team as an injury replacement player at different intervals. Stith appeared in 7 games, averaging 1.4 points and 0.7 rebounds.

Dillon Stith currently plays for the Cairns Taipans and has played 20 games in his NBL career. He has averaged 1.4 points, 0.7 rebounds, and 0.1 assists since entering the league in 2019.

CURRENT CONTRACT:

Cairns Taipans – 2 Year Deal (2024-26)

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.