BIO: Shannon Scott was born in Alpharetta, Georgia (USA) and attended Milton High School. There, he averaged 14 points, 4.3 rebounds, 7.4 assists and 2.7 steals as a senior helping the Eagles to a 29-3 record, including 12-0 in the conference. In his final three seasons with Milton, he helped squad go 82-15 with a state title and three championship game appearances. He was named a McDonald’s All American in 2011.

FAMILY: He is the son of Charlie and Trudy Scott and has two siblings, Simone and Shaun. His father played professional basketball in the ABA and NBA after a collegiate career at North Carolina.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Shannon Scott made his NBL debut with the Cairns Taipans at 29 years of age. He scored four points in his first game.

On August 12, 2022, Scott signed a one-year deal to play with Cairns, 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. Imports Scott Machado and Stephen Zimmerman were replaced with DJ Hogg and Scott, and Cairns, with 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.

In win over the South East Melbourne Phoenix (94-85) without their MVP candidate, Keanu Pinder. The Taipans outscored the Phoenix by 19 in the second period, fuelled by a 22-5 run and 6 threes in the term with McCall leading the Taipans in scoring with 24 points on 7/8 shooting from the floor. Scott (19 points, 7 assists, 6 rebounds) and Hogg (16 points, 7 assists, 3 blocks) were also key in the win for Cairns.

In the last NBL game of 2022 Cairns delivered the most remarkable of comebacks to beat the Adelaide 36ers, 86-83, without MVP contender Keanu Pinder missed the game for Cairns after suffering a ankle injury. Scott, finishing the game scoring by 22 of the last 25 points, including a clutch three with 31 seconds to go, to give the Taipans the lead. Scott led all scorers with a season high 31 points, 4 assists and 4 rebounds, shooting 73% from the field and 5/7 from beyond the arc.

A common Taipans’ trait this season was snapping opposition win streaks. This included snapping Brisbane’s three-game win streak in November (90-82) and ending the Kings’ record 17-game road winning streak (94-88) in a overtime thriller.

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).

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.

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.

Pinder (16.9 points, 9.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.3 steals) was named in the All-NBL Second Team as winning the Most Improved Player for a second consecutive season which had never been done before. 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.

Scott would display his strong offensive package on many occasions during the Taipans playoff run year, playing in 31 games and averaging 10.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.6 steals per game.

BRISBANE BULLETS
2023/24
The Brisbane Bullets signed Shannon Scott to a two-year deal to pair in the backcourt with Mitch Norton.

“From the outset we have wanted a high iq pass first guard that can create their own when needed, Shannon is that guy.” said Head Coach Justin Schueller upon signing Scott.

“He had a outstanding season last year and has shown he can impact the game at both ends of the floor.

Shannon Scott played two seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Cairns Taipans and the Brisbane Bullets. He averaged 8 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 53 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.