NICKNAME/S: Stiffy

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

NBL EXPERIENCE

David Stiff made his NBL debut with the Hobart Devils at 20 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

After his 1992 stint with the Hobart Devils Stiff took up a scholarship in the United States with Boston College where he played for three years.

1995
Upon returning to Australia, he re-joined the Devils and played a further two seasons albeit by 1995, Hobart was struggling financially, and coach Bill Tomlinson would continually struggle to 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. Veteran point guard Darren Perry, who himself was still recovering from a 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 Stiff added 15.3 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 3.2 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 were the emergence of rookies Darren Smith, who averaged 12 points and 5 rebounds, and the 19-year-old Stiff whose stellar play earned him the 1994 NBL Rookie of the Year award.

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

— RANDOM HOOPS (@HoopsRandom) May 23, 2024

1996
In 1996 Stiff averaged 15.9 points, 9 rebounds, and 3.5 assists as the Devils finished with a record of 8-18 during the regular season.

NORTH MELBOURNE GIANTS
1997
With the demise of the Hobart Devils Stiff would head to the mainland to play under coach Brett Brown who was facing similar financial struggles to the Hobart Devils. Despite this the team’s import duo of Darryl McDonald (17.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 8.9 assists) and Mike Mitchell (15.8 points and 6.1 rebounds) alongside leading scorer Pat Reidy (20.2 points and 5.7 rebounds) was enough to keep the Giants competitive. Stiff would average 13.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists as the team finished the year in third place, behind a 18-12 record.

The Giants handily defeated the Canberra Cannons (2-1) in the Elimination Finals but would fall to crosstown rivals Melbourne (0-2) in the semifinals.

1998
Stiff would average 11.8 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists.

ADELAIDE 36ERS
1998/99
1999
After playing for the North Melbourne Giants in 1997 and 1998, he joined the Adelaide 36ers for the 1998/99 season and won his first championship. He continued on with Adelaide for another three seasons, where in 2002 he won his second championship.

Over the next two seasons, Stiff earned a personal three-peat as a member of the Sydney Kings’ back-to-back championship teams.

In 2004, he again switched team’s, joining the Melbourne Tigers and averaged 6.1 points and 3.5 rebounds. Alongside Melbourne Tigers legends Andrew Gaze, Lanard Copeland and Mark Bradtke, he helped guide the Tigers to sixth place finish in the regular season behind a 17-15 record. The team would defeat Perth 108-88 in the first round of the elimination finals before losing to the Townsville Crocodiles in the second elimination final, 100-112. This game would be the last for Tigers legends Andrew Gaze and his father Lindsey who had decided to retire at the end of the 2004/05 season.

In 2005, the Tigers were forced into rebuilding mode as legendary figures Andrew Gaze and his father Gaze retired while Tigers stalwarts Mark Bradtke and Lanard Copeland headed to Brisbane. By a stroke of luck, Chris Anstey, who after three seasons in Europe had decided he wanted to return to play in Australia, began talking to the Tigers, who were now the only NBL team in Melbourne.

With Anstey on board and Stiff, Rashad Tucker, Darryl McDonald, Dave Thomas, Stephen Hoare and Daryl Corletto returning the team then looked to add a batch of young talent to help usher in a new era of Tigers success adding Tom Greer, Braith Cox and Matt O’Hea. Stiff would go on to average 7.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 2.3 assists a game to compliment Anstey, who was named the Philips Most Valuable Player of the 2005/06 Philips Championship season.

Together the Tigers finished with a 25-7 record which was also the best record ever recorded in team history and included a impressive 15-1 home record. After eliminating the Perth Wildcats in the semifinals in two straight games Stiff and the Tigers would go on to defeat the defending triple-champions, the Sydney Kings in three straight games.

In 2007/08, in what was his 15th and final season, Stiff won his sixth championship as a member of the Tigers.

Stiff sits equal first for most individual championships in league history (six) alongside C.J. Bruton, Damian Martin and Jesse Wagstaff.

David Stiff played fifteen seasons across five NBL teams. This included the Hobart Devils, North Melbourne Giants, Sydney Kings, Adelaide 36ers and Melbourne Tigers. He averaged 9.6 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 2 assists in 453 NBL games.

CAREER RANKINGS:
– 29th in total games played.
– 27th in total rebounds
– 46th in total steals
– 10th in total blocks

HIGHLIGHTS:

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.