Max Mackinnon
March 17, 2022
Andrej Lemanis
- Nationality: AUS/LAT
- Date of Birth: 18/03/69
- Place of Birth: Melbourne (VIC)
- Position: GRD
- Height (CM): 196
- Weight (KG): #N/A
- Junior Assoc: VIC - Bulleen
- College: None
- NBL DEBUT: 21/07/85
- AGE AT DEBUT: 16
- LAST NBL GAME: 13/07/93
- AGE AT LAST GAME: 24
- NBL History: St Kilda 1985 | Southern Melb 1991 | South East Melbourne 1992-93
- Championships: 1
- South East Melbourne (1992)
BIO: Andrej Lemanis was born in Melbourne (VIC).
NBL EXPERIENCE
Andrej Lemanis made his NBL debut with the St. Kilda Saints at 16 years of age. He scored two points in his first game.
Having made his NBL debut at 16 years of age he is one of the youngest players to ever play in the NBL.
With the South Melbourne Saints financially stressed at the end of 1991 and ownership unable to continue covering costs a merger was agreed to between the embattled Saints and nearby rivals, the Eastside Melbourne Spectres East Melbourne Magic. In 1992, the merged rosters became known as the South East Melbourne Magic. With the Spectres having the more successful team, having been one game away from being champions the prior season, the Magic retained Spectres coach Brian Goorjian to lead the team. Andrew Parkinson and Andrej Lemanis were the only players retained from the Saints roster, who were added to the core of the Spectres roster.
The Magic retained Spectre’s coach Brian Goorjian to lead the club and added Lemanis and Andrew Parkinson from the Saints to the Spectres core group of players who had just fallen short in the previous years NBL Grand Final. Bruce Bolden, Tony Ronaldson, Darren Lucas, Scott Ninnis and Darren Perry were joined by John Dorge who travelled down the Princes Freeway from Geelong to join the team and import Milt Newton to finalise the roster for their NBL debut, a campaign coined by the media as ‘One Magic Year’.
???? THROWBACK THURSDAY ????
Did you believe in Magic? How could you not with this old tune! Before the days of @SEMelbPhoenix we had the South East Melbourne Magic. Do you remember how many NBL Championships Magic had to their name? Read more – https://t.co/OezFZFpFDS #HoopsAtHome pic.twitter.com/mQfmy7kiG4
— Basketball Victoria (@Basketball_Vic) April 16, 2020
The team got off to a strong start to the year, winning six of their first seven games but felt a change was needed and released Newton, replacing him with LA Clippers guard Rob Rose. From there, the Magic rarely missed a beat, winning all 12 of their home games and losing only four games for the regular season. Lemanis would average 0.8 points for the season.
In the playoffs, the Magic made short work of both the Canberra Cannons and North Melbourne Giants, setting up a NBL Grand Final against their crosstown rival Melbourne Tigers (15-9), who had finished third.
In game one of the series, South East Melbourne’s starting point guard Darren Perry suffered a torn ACL and would miss the next nine months due to injury and the remainder of the Grand Final. The injury rattled the Magic, with the Tigers guards Lanard Copeland (34 points, 2 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks) and Andrew Gaze (26 points) capitalising, taking home a 18 point win (116-98).
In game two, the Magic backcourt stepped up in Perry’s absence with Darren Lucas (19 points) finishing with a season-high and Scott Ninnis locked down Copeland (14 points), who had single-handed won the opening game for the Tigers, forcing him to shoot a poor 6 of 19 from the field. Lemanis played only three minutes and failed to score while Robert Rose (20 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals) controlled the point guard spot at the offensive end and Bruce Bolden (22 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 4 blocks) dominated inside, giving the Magic a 115-93 win to even up the series.
The Tigers had been taken by surprise by the Magic’s ability to bounce back without Perry, and although Melbourne battled valiantly in game three, the Magic seemed to have won the mental game with the previous victory. Once again, the Magic backcourt stepped up, this time forcing Gaze (18 points) into a horrible 5/19 shooting night and holding Copeland (24 points) below his season average. Lemanis failed to play any minutes but had front row seats to watching the Magic ground out a 95-88 win in the deciding game. The Magic’s import duo of Rose (26 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks) and Bolden (21 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 3 blocks) were at their very best and at the conclusion of the game Bolden was awarded the NBL Finals MVP award by NBA Commissioner David Stern who was visiting Australia at the time.
Andrej Lemanis played four seasons across three NBL teams. This included the St. Kilda Saints, and South East Melbourne Magic. He averaged 1.6 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists in 41 NBL games.
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.
NBL TOTAL STATISTICS
| SEASON | AGE | TEAM | TEAM RECORD | GP | MINS | PTS | REB | AST | OR | DR | STL | BLK | TO | PF | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | FTM | FTA | FT% | TS% | EFG% | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 24 | South East Melbourne | 20-6 (2) | 3 | 4.7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0% | 0 | 1 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 0% | 0% | 0 | |
| 1992 | 23 | South East Melbourne | 20-4 (1) | 9 | 28.5 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 33% | 1 | 3 | 33.3% | 2 | 4 | 50.0% | 44% | 0% | 3 |
| 1991 | 22 | Southern Melbourne | #N/A | 23 | 447.3 | 59 | 43 | 48 | 17 | 26 | 20 | 1 | 23 | 46 | 22 | 60 | 37% | 5 | 10 | 50.0% | 10 | 22 | 45.5% | 42% | 41% | 8 |
| 1985 | 16 | St Kilda | 10-16 (10) | 6 | 0.0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 50.0% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 0 | 0 | 0.0% | 50% | 0% | 2 | Totals | 41 | 480 | 68 | 49 | 54 | 18 | 31 | 21 | 1 | 26 | 48 | 25 | 69 | 36.2% | 6 | 14 | 42.9% | 12 | 26 | 46.2% | 42% | 41% | 8 |
NBL PER GAME STATISTICS
| SEASON | AGE | TEAM | TEAM RECORD | GP | MINS | PTS | REB | AST | OR | DR | STL | BLK | TO | PF | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | FTM | FTA | FT% | TS% | EFG% | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | 24 | South East Melbourne | 20-6 (2) | 3 | 1.6 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0% | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0% | 0% | 0% | 0 |
| 1992 | 23 | South East Melbourne | 20-4 (1) | 9 | 3.2 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 33% | 0.1 | 0.3 | 33.3% | 0.2 | 0.4 | 50.0% | 44% | 0% | 3 |
| 1991 | 22 | Southern Melbourne | #N/A | 23 | 19.4 | 2.6 | 1.9 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 2.6 | 37% | 0.2 | 0.4 | 50.0% | 0.4 | 1.0 | 45.5% | 42% | 41% | 8 |
| 1985 | 16 | St Kilda | 10-16 (10) | 6 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.2 | 0.3 | 50% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0% | 50% | 0% | 2 | Total | 41 | 11.7 | 1.7 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.0 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 0.6 | 1.7 | 36.2% | 0.0 | 42.9% | 0.1 | 0.3 | 46.2% | 42% | 41% | 8 |
CAREER HIGHS
| POINTS | REBOUNDS | ASSISTS | STEALS | BLOCKS | TURNOVERS | TRIPLE DOUBLES | 8 | 4 | 7 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
|---|
STATE LEAGUE EXPERIENCE
- Sandringham 1993
FIBA EXPERIENCE
Lemanis served the head coach of Australia national team from 2013 to 2019.
During his first year with the national team Lemanis guided Australia to the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain. Australia was drawn into Group D, alongside Lithuania, Slovenia, Angola, México and South Korea. After suffering a opening round 90–80 loss to Slovenia, Australia bounced back, stringing together three consecutive wins over South Korea, Lithuania and México, the first time in 16 years that Australia had won 3 consecutive matches at the FIBA World Cup. However, in their next match Australia suffered a shock 91–83 loss to Angola, which came despite leading by 15 points in the middle of the third quarter. This result, combined with Lithuanias 67–64 win over Slovenia meant that Australia finished third in their group, qualifying for the knockout stage of the tournament. Australia met Turkey in the knockout stage of the tournament, and lost 65–64 to Turkey, ending their World Cup campaign.
Lemanis then led the Boomers to gold in the 2015 Oceania Championships, qualifying the team for Rio 2016.
In Rio, the Boomers, under Coach Lemanis went 4 and 1 in the pool games (losing only to Team USA), finishing second in their group. They played Lithuania in the quarter final, beating them 80-64 leading Australia in to the medal rounds for the first time since 2000. Australia went on to lose the semi-final game to Serbia and then fell to Spain in the bronze medal game by a single point. This equalled Australias highest ever finish at a Olympics for Mens Basketball.
In 2017, Lemanis was re appointed as National Head Coach of Australia, this time on a part time basis as he also coached the Brisbane Bullets in the Australian national Basketball league. In 2017, the Boomers, under Lemanis, played in their first ever Asia Cup tournament. The team went undefeated through the tournament, beating Iran in the final 79 - 56, taking home the gold medal for Australia.
Lemanis then led the team through the FIBA qualification system. Australia went 10 and 2 during the qualification phase, finishing first in their group and taking the number one ranking in to the 2019 FIBA World Cup draw.
In 2019, Lemanis again lead the Boomers at the World Cup in China. The team won all 3 games in the opening round and both games of the second round, meaning they qualified as the number one team from their section. Australia then went on to beat the Czech Republic 82 to 70 meaning that for the first time in their history Australia had won 6 straight games at a World Cup or Olympics tournament - a significant achievement. The team was again playing for a medal. They lost in double overtime to eventual champions Spain in the semi final and lost to France in the bronze medal game, meaning they finished fourth. Once again, equalling Australias best ever finish at a Mens World Cup.
On 27 November 2019, Brett Brown replaced Lemanis as head coach of Australia national team.
Lemanis is currently the winningest Coach in Australian Mens Basketball history, going 35 and 9 (79.5%) in his tenure as head Coach of the Boomers. In major tournaments (Olympics and World Cup), Lemanis record is 14 and 8 (64%).
When Lemanis was appointed as the Australian national Coach in 2013, Australia had a FIBA ranking of 11. When he departed in November 2019, he had taken the country to a FIBA World ranking of 3 - its highest ever.
Lemanis is also the only coach in the history of Australian basketball to have recorded a victory against the USA at senior level. The Boomers beat Team USA in a World Cup lead up game in Melbourne on August 25th, 2019. The game was played at Marvel Stadium in front of 52,000 fans. The Boomers won the game 98 - 94.
AWARDS
As player:
- NBL champion (1992).
As head coach:
-
2× NBL Coach of the Year (2012, 2013)
-
3× NBL champion (2011–2013)
COACHING HISTORY
Lemanis began his coaching career as an assistant coach with the Townsville Crocodiles, serving in the early 2000s. In 2000, he coached the Townsville Heat to the Queensland Basketball League championship.
After becoming the head coach of the New Zealand Breakers in 2005, Lemanis coached the Breakers for eight consecutive seasons and led them to three consecutive championship titles in 2011, 2012 and 2013. He was awarded the NBL Coach of the Year award in 2012 and 2013.
On 28 February 2013, Lemanis coached his 250th NBL game. On 12 April 2013, the Breakers recorded their third NBL championship, sweeping the Perth Wildcats 2–0 in the grand final series, thus winning his third title.
On 20 October 2015, Lemanis signed with Brisbane Bullets where he would act as head coach until deciding to coach overseas at the end of the 2020–21 season.
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