Two-time NBL champion and five-time NBL Best Defensive Player Darnell Mee returns to the podcast to revisit the unfinished stories from one of the greatest careers in Australian basketball, including Adelaide’s heartbreaking 2001 playoff exit, his decision to leave the 36ers and the fight to keep the Cairns Taipans alive.
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Host Dan Boyce chats with Mee about watching his son Micale build his own basketball career in Australia, the chemistry behind Adelaide’s back-to-back championships, becoming teammates with Damon Lowery and what happened inside the Cairns organisation when the Taipans entered voluntary administration.
The episode also explores his current coaching and teaching work, Western Kentucky’s latest Hall of Fame honour, Adelaide’s appearance at the McDonald’s Championship, his European career and the defensive approach that helped him transform every NBL team he joined.
Listen now:
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- His current work as a teacher and basketball coach at Cleveland High School
- Watching his son Micale build his own basketball career in Australia
- What parts of Micale’s game are similar to his father and where they are different
- Western Kentucky’s 1992–93 team joining him in the school’s Athletic Hall of Fame
- Representing Adelaide at the 1999 McDonald’s Championship in Milan
- His time with Kinder Bologna and playing professionally in France and Germany
- How Adelaide figured out Brian Goorjian’s South East Melbourne Magic and Victoria Titans teams
- The team chemistry and off-court bonding behind Adelaide’s back-to-back championships
- The championship Adelaide believed it should have won in 1999–2000
- When the chemistry of the championship 36ers began to disappear
- The internal tension surrounding Adelaide’s 2000–01 season
- His missed free throw and the heartbreaking end to Adelaide’s 2001 playoff run
- What happened inside the silent Adelaide changeroom after the loss
- Why the 2001 defeat convinced him to leave Adelaide and return to Europe
- Becoming teammates with Damon Lowery at the Wollongong Hawks
- Playing alongside fellow all-round star Glen Saville
- Helping establish the Cairns Taipans’ defensive identity
- The Taipans entering voluntary administration and players accepting major salary cuts
- How the Cairns community helped prevent the club from disappearing
- Playing alongside Rob Rose during the final season of Rose’s NBL career
- What Australian basketball people mean when they say a team needs a “Darnell Mee-type”
- How he approached defending Andrew Gaze, Ricky Grace, Daryl McDonald, Shane Heal and other NBL legends
- Whether he would consider returning to Australia in a coaching role
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