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

NBL EXPERIENCE

Darren Perry made his NBL debut with the Brisbane Bullets at 18 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

In 1987, Darren Perry played a key role in Brisbane, finishing the regular season in second place, averaging 6.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.7 assists per game in his rookie season. Brisbane received a first-round bye in the 1987 playoffs, where they would face the Illawarra Hawks / North Melbourne Giants elimination finals series winner. The Hawks defeated the Giants 105-97, advancing to a semi-final matchup with the Bullets. Brisbane would win game one comfortably (109-87), lose game two in a nail-biter (77-78) then earn a spot in the 1987 NBL Grand Final after winning game three 100-82. Brisbane made it to the NBL grand final for a league-record fourth consecutive season and would face off against the Perth Wildcats who had just upset the defending champion 36ers on the other side of the semi-final bracket. Perth was led by player/coach and former Bullets’ favourite Cal Bruton. Bruton had left the club at the end of 1986 after a public falling out with coach Brian Kerle and turned the Wildcat’s into a championship contender with the addition of forwards Kendall ‘Tiny’ Pinder and the ‘Alabama Slamma’ James Crawford.

At 19 years of age, Perry assumed the starting point guard role in the playoffs and played 42 minutes In game one, contributing 10 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals. The Bullets defeated Perth on their home court by a single point, the final score reading 80-79.

Game 2 saw the Bullets win comfortably after a tightly fought first half (47-44). Perry took leadership of the backcourt, playing 41 minutes and finished with 12 points, 2 rebounds, and 3 assists as Brisbane owned the Wildcat’s in the second half, outscoring them by 16 points.

Leroy Loggins, who had won his third MVP award during the regular season (shared with Adelaide’s 1986 Grand Final MVP Mark Davis), was named Grand Final MVP as well.

1988
The Bullets finished the 1988 regular season in third place with a 18–6 record, but they couldn’t manage to reach their fifth grand final in a row after losing in the elimination final. A highlight of the 1988 season for the Bullets was first-year player Shane Heal winning the NBL’s Rookie of the Year award.

Perry averaged 10.4 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 3.7 assists.

1989
The 1989 season saw the Bullets miss out on the NBL playoffs for the first time since 1983, when they finished the regular season in eighth place with a 11–13 record. The Bullets had lost two of their three leading scorers from the season prior, up-and-coming star Shane Heal (Geelong) and import Emery Atkinson (Canberra).

Perry averaged 10.3 points, 1.4 rebounds, and 3.3 assists alongside Leroy Loggins, who averaged 22.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 4.2 assists, leading the team in scoring, finishing third in rebounds, and second in assists. Atkinson’s replacement, Winston Crite, averaged 20.8 points as well as a team-leading 7.5 rebounds.

EASTSIDE MELBOURNE SPECTRES
1990
Perry moved to Melbourne in 1990 and played with the Eastside Melbourne Spectres, where he averaged 10.7 points and 2.4 rebounds, and helped guide the team to a second-place finish in the regular season behind a 18-8 record. The Spectres reached the semi finals for the first time under coach Brian Goorjian but were eliminated by Brisbane amidst little fanfare in two straight games.

1991
After making the playoffs for the first time in three years, coach Brian Goorjian was able to bring back almost the entire squad for another shot at the championship, the team’s only key loss being bruising forward Shane Froling, who was replaced with Scott Ninnis.

Behind Eastside’s formidable frontcourt, led by Bruce Bolden (27.2 points and 10.4 rebounds), Kent Lockhart (18.6 points and 5.7 rebounds) and Dean Uthoff (16.8 points and 13.6 rebounds) the Spectres finished the season with a 17-9 record. Perry contributed 12.5 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 4.7 assists as Eastside finished in second place, earning them a first-round bye in the playoffs. Eastside would then eliminate North Melbourne, 2–0 in the semifinals before facing off against the Perth Wildcats, who had finished the season in first place (22-4) and eliminated the Adelaide 36ers in their semi-final matchup. The Grand Final series would see Perth come away victorious with a 109-83 win in game one before the Spectres evened things up with a 86-81 win in game two. Behind the stellar play from Perth imports Ricky Grace and Pete Hanson, who would be awarded the Grand Final MVP, Perth defeated Eastside in the deciding game, 90-80.

SOUTH EAST MELBOURNE MAGIC
1992
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.

Perry, Bruce Bolden, Tony Ronaldson, Darren Lucas and Scott Ninnis 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. Perry would average 8.6 points, 3 rebounds, and 5.9 assists 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 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. With Perry out 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. 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 the Magic ground out a 95-88 win in the deciding game. Bolden was awarded the NBL Finals MVP award by NBA Commissioner David Stern who was visiting Australia at the time.

1993
Perry returned to the court in 1993 but in his first season back from his ACL injury struggled to make a impact. He averaged a career low 1.8 points and 1.2 rebounds for the season alongside the dominant inside play of Bruce Bolden (21.6 points, 12.6 rebounds, and 2.6 assists), a breakout season from 21-year-old Tony Ronaldson (20.2 points and 6.3 rebounds) and the all-around brilliance of Robert Rose (18.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, 8.5 assists, and 3.0 steals), who would lead the league in steals and win the league’s Most Valuable Player award.

In the playoffs, the South East Melbourne would eliminate the seventh-placed Adelaide 36ers in two games during the quarterfinals to set up a rematch of last year’s grand final, a semi-final showdown against the Melbourne Tigers. South East Melbourne’s run was then halted by Australian Boomers star Mark Bradtke, who had shifted to Melbourne from Adelaide during the pre-season, dominated the series. He delivered 21 points and 9 rebounds in the Tiger’s 108-106 win in game one and then backed it up with 28 points and 15 rebounds in their 89-72 win in game two, ending the Magic’s season in two games.

HOBART DEVILS
1994

In 1994, was not re-signed by the Magic and he headed to Tasmania where he would return to form as the starting point guard for the Hobart Devils. Perry averaged 9.4 points and 3.7 rebounds but the Devils struggled throughout the year, finishing with only two wins for the year.

1995
By 1995 Hobart was struggling financially, and coach Bill Tomlinson would struggle to keep maintain a roster with his younger talent being snapped up by richer team’s while his veteran players were retiring. Anthony Stewart (Perth) and imports Lamont Middleton and Calvin Talford (both Europe) were not retained from the previous season as all three received more lucrative offers elsewhere. Wayne McDaniel retired, as did Keith Nelson, after a severe knee injury. Perry, who himself was still recovering from his ACL injury, was the only player from the team’s fully contracted roster to return in 1995. Tomlinson would add Jerome Scott and veteran big man Andre Moore from Brisbane as the team’s import players.

The team would be led by Scott (23.7 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 4.4 assists) and Moore (17.8 points and 10.6 rebounds) while Perry added 6.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 2.7 assists over the course of a difficult season where the team managed only four wins for the entire year. The only bright spots that season was the emergence of rookies Darren Smith (12.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 1.3 steals), and David Stiff (15.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.7 blocks), who would win the league’s Rookie of the Year award at season’s end.

ILLAWARRA HAWKS
1999/00
After a playoff campaign where the Hawks lost four playoff games in a row, Wollongong came into the season with a point to prove. Although promising big man David Andersen was lost to a deal in Europe, Wollongong was able to veteran players to the team in Mike McKay (via Canberra) and Darren Perry. Perry had spent the last five years playing in the state league, before being offered a lifeline by coach Brendan Joyce who encouraged Perry to return to the NBL and provide some leadership to his young, up and coming squad. The team chose not to re-sign imports Theron Wilson (to Europe) and Clayton Ritter (to Canberra) and instead looked for new imports to better complement the style of Bruton and signed former NBA lottery pick Todd Mundt (via Newcastle) as well as former Hawks MVP, Melvin Thomas, who had spent the past four seasons playing with Sydney and Canberra. Another change saw Mat Campbell (14.2 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 2.9 assists) take on the role of team captain, a role he maintained for more than a decade.

With high-scoring guard CJ Bruton (22.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 3.3 assists) settling into his second season with the team, many felt the Hawks would have one of the stronger rosters clubs, but the Hawks just couldn’t seem to get victories over any of the league’s top team’s. A key factor was the lack of production the team were able to get from Mundt (8.8 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 0.8 assists), who struggled to play big minutes and with nine games left in the season, he was released. Matt Garrison (17.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.7 steals) entered the team as his replacement, and although his presence delivered a immediate improvement, the move was too little too late. Wollongong limped home to a eighth-place finish (11-17) with the Hawk’s dismal season viewed to be a result of Bruton being tasked with too much.

In his last year in the NBL, Perry averaged 1.9 points and 0.8 rebounds alongside Melvin Thomas (19.6 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.2 steals) and Glen Saville (14.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.9 steals) who both delivered great seasons and were voted as the Hawks co-MVP’s as a result.

Darren Perry played ten seasons across five NBL teams. This included the Brisbane Bullets, Eastside Melbourne Spectres, Hobart Devils, South East Melbourne Magic and Wollongong Hawks. He averaged 8.8 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 252 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.