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

NBL EXPERIENCE

Brett Rainbow made his NBL debut with the Melbourne Tigers at 18 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

Coming off a title in 1993, the Tigers recorded their best record in franchise history with 19 wins and 7 losses, finishing top of the NBL ladder. The strength of the Tigers saw minimal playing opportunities for Rainbow, playing in only one game for the season and failing to register a stat.

1995
In 1995, Mark Bradtke requested some time off to allow him to support his wife Nicole’s tennis career as she travelled abroad and miss the first two-thirds of the season. Around that same time, Chris Anstey, a part of the Tigers junior program, also informed the club that he would return, having signed a deal to play with rival club South East Melbourne. Melbourne coach Lindsey Gaze appealed via the NBL tribunal, which ruled that Anstey could not leave the Tigers as long as they could match the contract, which they did.

After some extremely creative salary tweaking, the Magic then signed Anstey to a one year deal worth $180,000 which the Tigers had no interest in matching, allowing Anstey to shift clubs. Once Anstey had signed with the Magic, he renegotiated his contract to a 3-year, $181,000 contract, remaining higher than the Tigers contract not to break any NBL salary cap rules of the time.

The Tigers added forward Matt Reece (via Gold Coast) and centre Blair Smith (via Brisbane) to cover the loss of Bradtke and Anstey.

Andrew Gaze (33.9 points, 4.2 rebounds, 8.0 assists, and 2.3 steals), Lanard Copeland (25.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.7 steals) and Dave Simmons (14.7 points, 9.1 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.0 blocks) led the team offensively, during a season which saw a merry-go-round of league leaders, during the regular season, Brisbane, Sydney, North Melbourne, South East Melbourne and Melbourne all sat in the number one spot on the ladder some point. With Melbourne narrowly sitting among the top eight team’s (10-7), Bradtke (11.2 points, 7.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.2 blocks) would return to playout the Tigers’ last nine games for the season.

The Tigers would scrape into the playoffs, claiming the eighth seed (14-12), their worst result since 1988. With Bradtke out of form and the team still adjusting to him being back in the lineup, Melbourne was eliminated by the Perth Wildcats in the first round (1-2).

Rainbow saw limited opportunities to play, appearing in only six games and scoring a total of 8 points.

Some oldschool NBL Dunk Comp highlights #straightfromthetapes pic.twitter.com/8GqXQ3x4wm

— RANDOM HOOPS (@HoopsRandom) May 23, 2024

Rainbow as not offered a contract to return for the 1996 season but did enough to impress during his time playing in the state league to gain another deal to play with the Tigers in 1997.

1997 – 17-0 AND THE SECOND CHAMPIONSHIP
Although the Tigers were coming off a grand final appearance, they began the season poorly and no one was pencilling them in for the championship at midseason. After shaking off their slow start (2-7) but finishing the remainder of the season strong (14-3), the Tigers finished the year in third place. Bradtke (17 points, 12.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists) became the missing puzzle piece to Melbourne’s historically weak frontline as Andrew Gaze (32.0 points, 5.4 rebounds, 6.1 assists and 2.7 steals), Lanard Copeland (22.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.9 steals) led the team in scoring.

Rainbow saw limited playing opportunities, appearing in 11 games and averaging 0.9 points, 0.3 rebounds, and 0.1 assists for the season.

During the quarterfinals, the Tigers would easily eliminate Illawarra (2-0), setting up a rematch of last year’s grand final, a semi finals showdown against South East Melbourne. Copeland (32 points, 4 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals), Gaze (23 points 3 rebounds, and 8 assists) and Bradtke (21 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 2 blocks) combined for 76 points and in nail-biting two point win to open the series (108-106). In game two, Bradtke (28 points, 15 rebounds, and 2 steals) was the difference maker, proven unstoppable for the Magic as the Tigers closed out the series behind a 17 point win (89-72).

On the opposite side of the bracket, the Perth Wildcats (21-5) had finished on top of the ladder and made their way through to the Grand Final.

The series played out with the Tigers winning the opening game (117-113), falling short in Perth in game two (112-105) and thanks to a last-second shot from Vlahov (31 points, 15 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals) which rattled in and out of the ring, the Tigers become NBL champions for the very first time in game three (104-102).

A great Australian sporting rivalry!! pic.twitter.com/qVrlKwROkN

— RANDOM HOOPS (@HoopsRandom) March 21, 2023

Rainbow would not play in any games in the grand final series but would win a championship after the Tigers defeated the Magic in three games.

1998
Melbourne was able to return with its entire Grand Final roster intact. While the Tigers had surprised the league in 1997, both with their 17-game consecutive win streak and their championship win, in 1998, the team fell far short of expectations. In hindsight, the Tigers’ core group had reached the downside of their careers with Gaze and Copeland (both 33 y/o), veterans Ray Gordon (32 y/o), and Warrick Giddey (30 y/o) all over thirty, while the average of a NBL player in 1998 being 26 years of age. This left Mark Bradtke (28 y/o) and Timmons (26 y/o) as the players on the team scoring over six points per game and under 30 years of age. Melbourne would start the season slowly, winning four of their first ten games, but head into the playoffs on a four-game winning streak, finishing in fifth place (16-14). Once into the finals, Melbourne was swiftly eliminated in the first round in two straight games by Brisbane, who featured a versatile four-person rotation just as potent as the Tigers. The four-man combo of Steve Woodberry (26.4 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.4 steals), Leroy Loggins (17.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.5 steals), Chuck Kornegay (16.7 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks) and CJ Bruton (15.4 points, 2.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.8 steals) proving too strong in their game one win at home (93-80) and their 33 point demolition of the Tigers in game two (114-81).

Gaze (31.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, 6.5 assists, and 1.4 steals) would lead the league in scoring, be included in the All-NBL first team and earn his eighth and final league MVP in a year where the Tigers slowly began to fade away from championship contenders from this season onwards.

The core group of Copeland (22.7 points, 3.5 rebounds, 2.9 assists, 1.2 steals), Bradtke (15.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.5 blocks), Gordon (4.1 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 1.2 assists) and Giddey (3.7 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.0 assists) all saw their numbers decline from the previous season with Timmons (19.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 3.4 assists, and 1.4 steals) the only player on the roster to have a better season than the one prior. Rainbow would see minimal playing time, appearing in only ten games and scoring a total of 16 points.

1998/99
With the NBL changing its schedule to become a summer sport in 1998, the Tigers were able to pull together one last run from its aging roster. Gaze (33.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 5.5 assists), Lanard Copeland (25.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.4 assists), Marcus Timmons (20.9 points, 9.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.3 blocks) and Bradtke (17.1 points, 13.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.9 blocks) combined to average a ridiculous 97 points per game. Rainbow would only appear in two games, failing to score

Melbourne won 17 games for the season and earned a playoff rematch with Brisbane, who had eliminated Melbourne during last year’s playoffs. The Tigers would avenge that result and defeat the Bullets in two straight games. in the semifinals, the Tigers would then face long-time rivals Brian Goorjian and the Victoria Titans, and even with star import Marcus Timmnons (31 points and 9 rebounds) delivering a unstoppable performance, the Titans held on to win (80-77) with Tony Ronaldson (17 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists) top scoring for the victors and Paul Maley (16 points) having a efficient game off the bench, making seven of his nine shots in 22 minutes of court time.

In game two, the Titans led the Tigers in all four quarters and again came away victorious (94-87). Mike Kelly (19 points and 7 rebounds) would step up, making 7 of his 12 shots, and Ben Pepper (15 points, 13 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 blocks) delivered his best game of the series, shooting a efficient 7 of 12 from the field.

Brett Rainbow played five seasons the Melbourne Tigers. He averaged 1.2 points, 0.4 rebounds, and 0.2 assists in 32 NBL games.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Dan Boyce (833 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.