The South East Melbourne Phoenix first NBL season has included ups and downs, wins and losses and plenty of lessons and growth. But a big part of the positives througout the year has been the development of talented young big man Dane Pineau.

Pineau has had a break out season this year, forging himself into one of the leagues premier rebounders and interior defenders. Pineau’s impact has been a surprise to many with Pineau barely seeing the hardwood last year, playing behind league MVP and NBA star Andrew Bogut at Sydney.

Pineau’s limited role with the Kings saw him only able to put up 1 point in six minutes per game but after a full season backing up one of Australia’s greatest players, the kid from Fitzroy returned home to play for the Melbourne Tigers in the NBL1, the team his father represented in the NBL from 1989-1991. 

Pineau was able to put the year of learning from Andrew Bogut to work, averaging 19 points and 15 rebounds in NBL1 and was then quickly snapped up by the South East Melbourne Phoenix for their inaugral NBL season.

Initially starting on the bench, his first minutes as a member of the Phoenix came against his former team and Andrew Bogut in the NBL Blitz. Pineau logged 8 points and 6 rebounds in 24 minutes against the reigning MVP and Best Defensive player Bogut and with that, import Keith Benson was sent to the bench and Pineau has started every game since.

With one game remaining this season Pineau is averaging 8 points and 9 rebounds per game but has been instrumental at both ends of the floor.

While 8 points per game seems modest, surprisingly he ranks number one in the league in offensive rating. Offensive rating is a statistic used to measure either a teams offensive performance or an individual player’s efficiency at producing points for the offense.

The numbers showing that if you include the efforts Pineau delivers with offensive rebounds which give the Phoenix a second chance to score, the times he his fouled by opponenets and his scoring abilities, he is the best player in the league at the offensive end which is unbelieveable.

The impact Dane delivers on court is something immediately felt by his Phoenix teammates.

“Having to guard guys like Casper Ware and Jerome Randle they’re tough players to stop and having a guy like Dane is instrumental to the defence.

Last year (at Sydney) having Bogut there was something that I loved to have the luxury of and I’m feeling that same thing from Dane this season” said Phoenix guard Kyle Adnam after this weeks loss to the Sydney Kings.

Comparing 25 year old Pineau to an NBA champion like Bogut is a huge compliment but which which is backed up by several NBL statistics.

While Dane Pineau and Andrew Bogut with one game remaining sit equal 3rd in rebounds hauling in 8.8 per game each. Bogut sits 5th in blocks (1.2 per game) while Pineau is 6th (1.1 per game).

In PER (Player Efficiency Rating), an all-in-one basketball statistics which attempts to include all of a a player’s contributions into one number sees Andrew Bogut the 14th most efficent player in the league… and right behind him in 15th spot is Dane Pineau.

After the Phoenix lost narrowly to Bogut’s Kings this week, Phoenix head coach Simon Mitchell was quick to point out Dane’s development over the seasons and the team’s long term plans for him.

“Dane is one of the hardest workers in the league, he’s a wonderful kid and he’s someone that we build this franchise around going forward. 

He’s a key ingredient to what we want to be and embodies a lot of the characteristics of what we want this team to look like going forward” said Mitchell.

The increased production and consistency Pineau has played with all season puts has him one of the favorites to take out the league’s most improved player this season, something Mitchell believes he is well deserving of.

“He’s one of the guys going to be mentioned as one of the league’s most improved players, its a hell of a list and sometimes these lists are nine out of ten guys just making up numbers but Dane is definetly worthy of that award” said Mitchell.

Pineau however is quite content having a lot of fun as part of this team and recently let NBL media know how much fun he’s having with his return to Melbourne where his basketball journey began.

“It’s been amazing,” he explained.

“I’m really enjoying my basketball. I love playing with these guys, I just love that I get to go out there and contribute” said Pineau.

“To be honest I’m in a really good position, I’m in such a nice system for me that this offence just works really well. I’m not super involved down that end but I’m always on the floor with four really good offensive threats, so I’m the last guy that people really worry about, which is fine. I find myself being open a bit”

Last season Pineau made noise across international news outlets when he collected the Defensive Player of the Year award and delivered a hillarious acceptance speech on behalf of Andrew Bogut.

With Pineau a strong favorite for the Most Improved Award tonight, maybe Bogut can repay the favor and accept the award on behalf of Pineau. In all seriousness, most likely Pineau will accept the award himself and acknoledge the effort and growth he’s had this season, choosing instead to back it up by knocking off Andrew Bogut and the Sydney Kings each time they meet next season.

There’s no doubt that this student is very quickly becoming the master when it comes to NBL big men… from here it’s only a matter of time.