BIO: Jordan Vandenberg was born in Melbourne (VIC) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Waverly basketball program while and attending Box Hill Senior Secondary College.

He played four seasons of college basketball for North Carolina State University and he also holds a Dutch passport because of his father. Vandenberg received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 2008. He spent one year there and played for the program’s state league team.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Jordan Vandenberg made his NBL debut with the Sydney Kings at 25 years of age. He scored six points in his first game.

Since re-entering the league in 2010, Sydney had never finished with a winning record, something they came narrowly close to last season, until a season-ending injury to star Josh Childress derailed things.

The Kings bounced back by loading up on talent to surround Childress and blossoming young stars like Jason Cadee, Tom Garlepp and reigning Rookie of the Year Angus Brandt. Veterans Julian Khazzouh, Steven Markovic and Rhys Carter were brought in, and NBA draftee Marcus Thornton was signed as the team’s second import.

Although Childress would miss the first four games of the season (1-3) with a foot injury, he returned to the court to face Adelaide (Oct 23) at home, only to break his right hand. Childress still managed to score 23 points and played out the Kings’ loss to the 36ers (91–80) before being ruled out for a further four to six games with a boxer’s fracture.

Childress returned in late November, but two games later, he suffered a fractured left hand back and was subsequently ruled out for three weeks. He was reactivated once again on December 29 and played out the rest of the season.

All in all, Childress (21.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.7 blocks) played in only 13 games for the Purple and Gold. Starting centre Khazzouh (13.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.0 steals, 1.8 blocks) delivered great numbers in his return before ripping his right quadriceps tendon off the bone in mid-December, missing a third of the season and Markovic (3.0 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 1.7 assists) played a grand total of 3 games for the season due to illness and subsequent recovery. With most of the team’s starting line-up missing, the Kings were so decimated at one stage that assistant coach Ben Knight suited up for four games.

In early January 2016, Vandenberg and Craig Moller were also brought in to help cover the loss of Khazzouh and backup forward Jeromie Hill (4.1 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 0.4 assists).

During the absence of Childress, the Kings brought in former NBA players Damion James (7.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 0.6 assists) for 5 games, Al Harrington (17.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.7 assists) for 6 games with James being a disappointment and Harrington becoming a fan favourite during their brief stints, but both failed to deliver team success and coach Damian Cotter was released mid-season.

Former Washington Wizards assistant Joe Connelly was brought in as a new head coach and helped youngsters Cadee (14.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.5 assists), Garlepp (14.0 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists) and Brandt (8.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks) continue to develop (Brandt earning a gig with the national team at year’s end), it wasn’t enough for the under-manned Kings to avoid finishing dead last (6-22) during the regular season.

Vandenberg managed to appear in eight games during the season, averaging 3.1 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks.

Jordan Vandenberg played one season in the NBL. He averaged 2.6 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.5 assists in 6 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.