Brian Conklin

Brian Conklin

  • Nationality: USA
  • Date of Birth: 5/09/89
  • Place of Birth: Eugene, Oregon (USA)
  • Position: F/C
  • Height (CM): 198
  • Weight (KG): 105
  • Junior Assoc: None
  • College: Saint Louis (2008–2012)
  • NBL DEBUT: 12/10/13
  • AGE AT DEBUT: 24
  • LAST NBL GAME: 14/02/19
  • AGE AT LAST GAME: 29
  • NBL History: Townsville 2014-16 | Illawarra 2019
  • Championships: 0
  • None

NICKNAME/S: King Conk

BIO: Conklin was born and raised in Eugene, Oregon where he attended North Eugene High School. As a junior in 2006/07, he averaged 19.6 points and 11.3 rebounds per game, leading his team to a perfect 28–0 record, the 5A Oregon State championship and was subsequently named the 2007 Player of the Year. As a senior in 2007/08, he averaged 20.4 points, 11.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 2.7 blocks and 1.3 steals per game, leading his team to a 25–4 record, and the No.1 ranking in the state.

FAMILY: In 2012, Conklin married his long-time partner, Kristina. The couple’s first child was born in North Queensland in 2015.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Brian Conklin made his NBL debut with the Townsville Crocodiles at 24 years of age. He scored 12 points in his first game.

Prior to the 2013/14 season, Barrier Reef Basketball relinquished its ownership of Townsville’s NBL license, putting the Crocodile’s’ 2013/14 season in doubt. the Crocodiles would, however, manage to stay afloat with the team moving from a owner-operated model to a community-owned club. This resulted in head coach Paul Woolpert not being retained, and Perth Wildcats assistant Shawn Dennis signed as his replacement.

Dennis made the decision to focus on giving opportunities to the team’s younger talent, namely Todd Blanchfield and Mitchell Norton, whom he hoped to build a roster around over the next two or three seasons.

Veterans Peter Crawford, Jacob Holmes and team captain Russell Hinder all returned, and in a major signing for the club, added Steven Markovic, a Australian Boomers squad member who had spent the previous few seasons playing in Europe. Lastly, imports Joshua Pace and Brian Conklin were brought in to round out the roster.

Townsville had found quite a talent in Conklin, who scored 33 points in his second game, a win over the New Zealand Breakers (91–78). It was the second-highest score by a Crocs player since 40-minute games were introduced into the NBL in 2010. Despite being unanimously selected to finish in last place, Townsville recorded upset wins over top team’s Melbourne (90-75) and Adelaide (98-94) to start the season, defeated New Zealand twice and by round 10 they sat just outside the playoffs in fifth spot.

With Pace (14.9 points, 5 rebounds, and 1.7 assists) and Markovic (13.4 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 4.6 assists) both failing to deliver what Townsville had expected and with the team’s inexperienced beginning to show, the team lost their next eight games in a row.

Despite the losses, Conklin (16.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.3 assists) was a revelation for the club, using his strength and speed to overcome any height disadvantage and finishing in the top seven scorers in the league. His impact was clearly felt after the team lost him to a hamstring injury against the Melbourne Tigers, which kept him out of the team’s last four games of the season.

Townsville finished second last on the ladder with a record of 10-18, while Conklin’s efforts were rewarded with him being named part of the All-NBL Second Team.

2014/15
Townsville were able to secure the services of star import Brian Conklin for another season, and together with the development of young players like Todd Blanchfield and Mitchell Norton looked to improve in Shawn Dennis’ second year as coach. Veterans Peter Crawford (Adelaide) and Russell Hinder (Retired) were not re-signed, and underperforming import Joshua Pace was replaced with former NBA shot blocker Mickell Gladness.

Dennis replaced the outgoing Crawford and Hinder with Mackay product Clint Steindl and New Zealand born Leon Henry.

While Townsville became quite a force at home, they were never able to win consistently on the road. Townsville’s home success saw the team finish with a winning home record (8-6) for the first time since 2012, but due to finishing with only three wins on the road all season (11-17 record).

High spots for the season included Blanchfield (14.6 points, 6 rebounds, and 1.7 assists) receiving high-profile recognition across the league and even appearing on a number of NBA radars after winning the NBL’s Most Improved Player and earning a spot on the All-NBL Second Team. Conklin (18.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists) delivered a even better second season with the Crocodile’s. He shot 50.7 percent shooting from the field and finished fourth in the league in scoring, including a 33 point and 11 rebound effort in a 79–75 loss to the Cairns Taipans. Conklin finished the season being named the NBL’s Most Valuable Player as well as earning a spot on the All-NBL First Team.

2015/16
Front office changes and financial limitations saw the Crocodiles struggling to gain clarity on their future in the competition, resulting in player recruitment becoming extremely challenging for Townsville. The first impact of this saw Todd Blanchfield, who earned the NBL Most Improved Player the season prior, relocate to Melbourne and sign with the re-branded Melbourne United. Coach Shawn Dennis would sign Nicholas Kay, who was returning home after four years at Metro State College of Denver and then rounded out the rest of the roster by signing players happy to play for near league minimum contracts, mostly young talent unable to latch on with other team’s or veteran players other team’s had given up on. Luke Schenscher (via Adelaide), Corey Maynard and Mitchell Young (both via Cairns) were clear examples of that.

NBL MVP Brian Conklin was re-signed and appointed team captain and paired with incoming import Jordair Jett.

The season began with two consecutive losses to Melbourne United (84-99) at home and New Zealand (81-89) in New Zealand. But then, in surprising fashion, Townsville, who had won a total of three away games the previous season, defeated Sydney (80-77) and Perth (66-63) on their home floor in back-to-back rounds.

Townsville’s season quickly turned sour after that, highlighted by their 31-point defeat at the hands of Melbourne in late October and having the worst record in the league (2-9) after the first few months of the season. Then, when the team faced the Perth Wildcats at home, Conklin was involved in a ugly on-court incident involving Perth Wildcats guard Damian Martin Martin. During the fourth quarter of the Crocodiles win over the Wildcat’s (89–77), Conklin’s errant elbow collided with and broke Martin’s jaw. Despite a call from Australian basketball legend Andrew Gaze for Conklin to be suspended for at least six weeks, the NBL cleared Conklin of any wrongdoing. A similar situation arose during a brutal loss to Adelaide (65-89) less than two weeks after the Martin encounter, where Conklin (21 points and 12 rebounds) was in the spotlight again for another elbow incident, this time for striking 36ers forward Mitch Creek in a similar manner. He subsequently received a three-match suspension, with two of those games suspended for the rest of the season.

By the end of November, sitting at the bottom of the ladder (4–10), Townsville terminated Conklin’s contract due to what the club claimed was a number of ‘sub-par performances’. Conklin (13.5 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists per game) later took to social media to share his version of the truth, which pointed the finger at Townsville wanting to reduce costs as the reason for his release. The Crocs would bring in a former college teammate of Patty Mills, Omar Samhan (13 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.6 assists, and 1.1 blocks), as Conklin’s replacement a week later.

Schenscher (4.1 points and 3.1 rebounds) also struggled with injuries and with nine games remaining, Townsville chose to add Harry Froling (1.6 points and 0.8 rebounds), a member of Townsville’s junior program, as an injury replacement player for him.

While Jett (15.3 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.1 steals) struggled in the team’s early games, he would explode during the second half of the season, leading the team in scoring with Mirko Djeric (5.3 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 0.9 assists) delivering his best season to date. With Townsville now firmly focused as a team, their work was rewarded in the second half of the season, winning half of their remaining games (7-7). This included a upset victory over Adelaide will go down in Townsville history as perhaps the most exciting finish to a game. The win showcased the fighting qualities instilled in the Crocs and even in the most unlikely circumstances, a team must play to the final buzzer.

Despite again finishing with a winning record at home (8-6) but only three road wins for the season, Townsville would finish second last on the ladder (11-17) with Jett being awarded the Kevin Sugars Medal (club MVP).

Despite the hardships Townsville was viewed as overachievers for the most part and coach Shawn Dennis was rewarded by the league with the NBL’s coach of the year trophy. The Croc’s cleaned up on awards night with Nicholas Kay (10.8 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 1.3 assists) also winning Rookie of the Year and Clint Steindl (12.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.1 assists) earning Most Improved Player.

Although Townsville had a verbal commitment from the league they would be able to continue playing with their support, the inability to raise enough money from the community saw their eventual demise. Kay and Mitchell Norton (8.9 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 2.8 assists) both signed deals with Illawarra and while Young found a spot with Brisbane. Unable to find deals in Australia, Steindl and Djeric both ventured overseas, Luke Schenscher retired and coach Shawn Dennis would end up coaching in the Japanese national league.

ILLAWARRA HAWKS
2018/19

On July 13, 2018, Conklin signed with the Illawarra Hawks for the 2018/19 NBL season, returning to the league for a second stint. After falling short of making the playoffs by only a few games in 2018, the Hawks lost several key players: Demitrius Conger (to Serbia), Rotnei Clarke (to Greece), Nicholas Kay (to Perth), Delvon Johnson (to Slovakia), and Cody Ellis and Rhys Martin, who both retired. The team retained AJ Ogilvy, Tim Coenraad, Nic Pozoglo and team captain Kevin Whiteu and strengthened their roster by adding Jordair Jett (via NZNBL), Brian Conklin (via France), David Andersen (via Melbourne), Cedric Jackson (via USA), and rookies Emmett Naar and Daniel Grida.

Illawarra began the season with a dramatic quadruple-overtime thriller, narrowly losing to Melbourne (122–123). They followed this heartbreaking defeat with a heavy loss to Perth (101–61) but rebounded with a road win against Cairns (104–93). A brief two-game win streak later in October saw the Hawks secure victories against Brisbane (86–78) and Adelaide (120–109), momentarily seeing them sit in fifth place. However, inconsistency plagued the team, and they later endured a four-game losing streak in November, including defeats to Perth (90–81), Sydney (81–90), and Adelaide (104–79). Despite showing flashes of potential, the Hawks couldn’t maintain a consistent level of play, missing the playoffs with a 12-16 record.

Despite ups and downs, Brian Conklin (14.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 2.1 assists) delivered a solid season for the Hawks. His top performances included a 24-point, 5-rebound game against Melbourne (29 Oct 2018), a 22-point, 4-rebound, and 4-assist game against Adelaide (10 Jan 2019), and a 21-point, 8-rebound, and 5-assist game against Cairns (21 Oct 2018).

Alongside Conklin, Illawarra was led offensively by Todd Blanchfield (13.5 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.1 steals), Jordair Jett (11.8 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.5 steals), and AJ Ogilvy (9.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.1 blocks). Tim Coenraad (8.7 points, 4 rebounds, and 0.8 assists) provided consistent support throughout the season.

Illawarra hovered between sixth and seventh for the majority of the season before finishing with a 12-16 record, missing out on the playoffs. Despite some strong performances throughout the year, the Hawks couldn’t find enough consistency to break into the top four during one of the most competitive seasons in NBL history.

Brian Conklin played four seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Townsville Crocodiles and the Illawarra Hawks. He averaged 16.1 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 93 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.


NBL TOTAL STATISTICS

SEASONAGETEAMTEAM RECORDGPMINSPTSREBASTORDRSTLBLKTOPFFGMFGAFG%3PM3PA3P%FTMFTAFT%TS%EFG%HS
2018-1929Illawarra12-16 (7)28712.0403144594797226567914329548%11010%11616172%54%49%24
2015-1626Townsville11-17 (7)13397.01768621325410628355916336%1520%577873%44%37%25
2014-1525Townsville11-17 (6)28840.053017851681101212608418937351%1333%15120076%57%51%
2013-1424Townsville10-18 (8)24690.03911163143731610537614128649%030%10914078%55%49%
Totals93263915005241621903346034197274532111747.6%32114.3%43357974.8%55%48%33

NBL PER GAME STATISTICS

SEASONAGETEAMTEAM RECORDGPMINSPTSREBASTORDRSTLBLKTOPFFGMFGAFG%3PM3PA3P%FTMFTAFT%TS%EFG%HS
2018-1929Illawarra12-16 (7)2825.414.45.12.11.73.50.80.22.02.85.110.548%0.00.410%4.15.872%54%49%24
2015-1626Townsville11-17 (7)1330.513.56.61.62.54.20.80.52.22.74.512.536%0.10.420%4.46.073%44%37%25
2014-1525Townsville11-17 (6)2830.018.96.41.82.43.90.40.42.13.06.813.351%0.00.133%5.47.176%57%51%
2013-1424Townsville10-18 (8)2428.816.34.81.31.83.00.70.42.23.25.911.949%0.00.10%4.55.878%55%49%
Total9328.416.15.61.72.03.60.60.42.12.95.712.047.6%0.00.014.3%0.00.274.8%55%48%33

CAREER HIGHS

POINTS REBOUNDS ASSISTS STEALS BLOCKS TURNOVERS TRIPLE DOUBLES
331263250

INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • New Zealand - Southland Sharks (2013-2014) | Puerto Rico - Cangrejeros de Santurce (2015), Pirates de Quebradillas (2016, 2019), Leones de Santo Domingo (2016), Indios de Mayagüez (2019) | France - Nanterre 92 (2016-2017), Limoges CSP (2017-2018, 2019-2020) | Turkey - Yalovaspor (2021)

After finishing college, Conklin was not picked up in the NBA draft and was left pondering his future for nine months before being offered a contract to play in New Zealand.

In March 2013, Conklin signed with the Southland Sharks where he made a immediate impact. In 18 games, he averaged 22.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game. He led Southland all the way to the Grand Final where he scored 21 points and nine rebounds as the Sharks defeated the Nelson Giants 92–81 to win the NZNBL championship.

For the season, he was named Most Outstanding Forward and earned All-Star Five honours.

Conklin returned to play for the Southland Sharks in 2014 and averaged 19.9 points and 9.6 rebounds in 18 games despite carrying hamstring and ankle injuries.

Following the 2014/15 NBL season, Conklin joined Cangrejeros de Santurce of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional (BSN). In 34 games for Santurce, he averaged 11.6 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game.

In February 2016, Conklin joined Piratas de Quebradillas. On March 15, 2016, Conklin was involved in a third in-game elbow incident, this time while playing for Quebradillas. During his teams game against Capitanes de Arecibo, Conklin threw a elbow backwards and landed on the head of Renaldo Balkman, causing Balkman to fall to the ground and lose consciousness. Conklin was subsequently suspended by the BSN for one game and fined $1,500. In 35 games for Quebradillas, he averaged 15.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game.

On June 30, 2016, Conklin signed with Leones de Santo Domingo of the Liga Nacional de Baloncesto (LNB). In September 2016, he helped Leones win the LNB title. In 31 games, he averaged 14.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game.

On September 26, 2016, Conklin signed with French club Nanterre 92 for the 2016/17 Pro A season. In April 2017, he helped Nanterre win the French Cup and the FIBA Europe Cup. In 19 FIBA Europe Cup games, Conklin averaged 7.2 points and 4.1 rebounds per game. He also averaged 8.9 points and 3.1 rebounds in 34 league games.

On June 7, 2017, Conklin signed with Limoges CSP for the 2017/18 Pro A season. In 39 league games, he averaged 8.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game. He also averaged 8.0 points and 4.5 rebounds in 15 Eurocup games.

On February 11, 2019, Conklin signed with Piratas de Quebradillas for the 2019 BSN season, returning to the club for a second stint. On April 12, 2019, he was released by Quebradillas and signed with Indios de Mayagüez for the rest of the season. In 14 games for Quebradillas, he averaged 15.6 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.7 assists.[41] In July 2019, he was named BSN MVP and to the BSN All-Star team.

On July 9, 2019, Conklin signed a one-year deal with Limoges CSP of the LNB Pro A, returning to the team for a second stint. He averaged 10.9 points and 4.3 rebounds per game.

On June 6, 2020, Conklin signed a deal to return to Nanterre 92 and play a second season in France.

Conklin played his fourth season in Puerto Rico in 2021m joined Indios de Mayagüez of the Baloncesto Superior Nacional, his second stint with the team. He averaged 14.2 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game.

On October 5, 2021, Conklin signed with Semt77 Yalovaspor of the Basketball Super League. He played 11 games between October 10 and December 19.

COLLEGE

As a freshman at Saint Louis in 2008/09, Conklin ranked seventh on the SLU freshman list for field goal shooting with 52.2%. In 32 games (29 starts), he averaged 6.1 points and 3.9 rebounds in 22.5 minutes per game.

As a sophomore in 2009/10, Conklin recorded 56 offensive rebounds, the second-most on the team. He was also named to the Atlantic 10 Conference All-Academic team. In 36 games (16 starts), he averaged 6.2 points and 3.5 rebounds in 20.8 minutes per game.

As a junior in 2010/11, Conklin was named to the Atlantic 10 Conference All-Academic team for the second straight season. He was also named to the Cancun Governor's Cup All-Tournament team after averaging a team-best 14.0 points during the three-day tournament. In 31 games (24 starts), he averaged 8.7 points and 4.3 rebounds in 21.4 minutes per game.

As a senior in 2011/12, Conklin was named to the Atlantic 10 Conference All-Academic team for the third straight season. He also earned first-team All-Atlantic 10 honours. In 34 games (33 starts), he averaged 13.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 29.4 minutes per game.

AWARDS

- 1x time NBL Most Valuable Player (2015)
- 1x All-NBL First Team
- 1x All-NBL Second Team- BSN Most Valuable Player (2019)
- BSN All-Star Team (2019)
- FIBA Europe Cup champion (2017)
- French Cup champion (2017)
- LNB champion (2016)
- NBL MVP (2015)
- All-NBL First Team (2015)
- All-NBL Second Team (2014)
- NZNBL champion (2013)
- NZNBL Most Outstanding Forward (2013)
- NZNBL All-Star Five (2013)
- First-team All-Atlantic 10 (2012)
- Second-team Academic All-American (2012)
-

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