BIO: Jameel McKay was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (USA). After high school, McKay attended Indian Hills Community College for two years, becoming the first player in school history to be named NJCAA First-Team All-American twice.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Jameel Mckay made his NBL debut with the Perth Wildcats at 24 years of age. He scored 18 points in his first game.

The 2016 offseason saw a lot of change in personnel, with three key players from the 16 championship team (Nathan Jawai, Tom Jervis and Jermaine Beal) moving on. To replace them, coach Trevor Gleeson brought in McKay, Angus Brandt and Jaron Johnson to begin their attempt at secure the team’s first back-to-back championships since 1991.

In April 2016, the team re-signed both Damian Martin (three-year deal) and Matthew Knight (two-year deal), who had just undergone shoulder stabilisation surgery on his left arm. Shortly after, injury struck Knight (9.4 points, 6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists) again, this time during the 2016 pre-season. This led to him being ruled out for two months. To cover for the loss of Knight, the team added veteran forward Lucas Walker, who had been training with Melbourne United after not being re-signed by the Adelaide 36ers.

After adding Walker, the Wildcats started the season off strong with a 4–1 record, but things went south quickly after that.Long-term injuries to Martin, Knight and Jarrod Kenny were hurting the Wildcats, and by December, Perth had slumped to a 7–9 record and sat in the last spot on the ladder.

Import Jaron Johnson (13.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.8 assists) would take the brunt of the Wildcats’ poor start and be replaced with three-point specialist Andre Ingram just three games into the season. In a bizarre twist, Ingram (8.5 points, 2 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.0 steals) left the team and returned to the US after just two games, citing mental issues, and Johnson was then brought back into the squad. Johnson’s return would be a temporary solution however, he was shown the door again in December with the Wildcats seizing the opportunity to sign former NBA guard Bryce Cotton. It was around this time also that veteran Shawn Redhage (2.7 points, 1.2 rebounds, and 0.5 assists) announced that he would retire at the end of the season.

Throughout the roller-coaster of roster changes, Prather (19.5 points, 4.6 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.6 steals) had continued to carry the offensive load for the Wildcats, this included a career-high 39 points in a 92–89 win over Melbourne United (Dec 9). In February, Prather also put up 29 points in a win over the Sydney Kings (101–74), then two days later, recorded 26 points and a career-high 11 assists in a win over United (96–94). Martin (4.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and 1.7 steals) also returned to form after his injury, and in his 250th NBL game (Jan 28), he scored a season-high 11 points to go with six rebounds and four assists in another win over Melbourne (73–71). But it was the addition of Cotton that saw the Wildcats become a completely different team, winning eight of their remaining twelve regular-season games, the last two being must win games in order to reach the playoffs. Cotton (23.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 1.3 steals) finished as the league’s leading scorer, while Prather finished second in NBL MVP voting (107 votes) behind Jerome Randle (147) of the Adelaide 36ers and was selected to the All-NBL First Team.

Alongside Perth’s two import stars, McKay averaged 7.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1 assists as the team finished in third place with a 15–13 record.

in the semifinals, Perth (15-13) would face Cairns (15-13) at home, where Cotton (34 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists) and Prather (22 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals) led the way offensively for a easy win in game one (91-69). In game two, Perth closed out the series (74-66) with Prather (24 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists) leading the team in scoring and Jesse Wagstaff (20 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals) having a huge game off the bench

In the NBL Grand Final series, Prather (22 points, 6 rebounds, and 5 assists), Cotton (18 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists), and Knight (18 points, 11 rebounds, and 2 steals) delivered a balanced offensive attack, winning the opening game by twelve points (89-77). The series moved to Wollongong for game two, but the Wildcat’s continued their playoff winning streak (89-77), with Cotton (20 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 steals) and Prather (18 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists) being the team’s primary scorers on a night the Wildcats had five different players deliver double figure scoring efforts. Perth won game three comfortably (95-86), finishing undefeated in the postseason, claiming their eighth championship and winning back-to-back for the first time since 1991.

A number of record-breaking moments occurred in the game three win. Most prominently, Bryce Cotton was named Grand Final MVP after putting up 45 points, the most ever scored in a NBL Grand Final game. Cotton’s 27.7 points per game over the Grand Final series marked the most from any player in 20 years.

Trevor Gleeson became the first coach to win back-to-back championships in Perth while Prather delivered a historical season. Prather was voted Wildcats MVP for the second year in a row, becoming the only player to be a club MVP in more than one championship season, as well as becoming the first Perth player to win two championships in his first two seasons.

Jameel Mckay played one season in the NBL. He averaged 7.7 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1 assists in 32 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (823 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.