NICKNAME/S: Tang

BIO: Born in Sydney, New South Wales, Dalton attended St. Augustine’s College in Brookvale, a suburb on the Northern Beaches of Sydney. He is the brother of two other Australian basketball players, Brad Dalton and Karen Dalton. Dalton received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 1982. He spent one year there and played for the program’s state league team.

FAMILY: Mark’s son Callum Dalton also played 15 games in the NBL. Mark’s brother, Brad Dalton also played 290 games in the NBL.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Mark Dalton made his NBL debut with the Canberra Cannons at 19 years of age. He scored 11 points in his first game.

As Canberra prepared for their run at back-to-back championships, they suffered a major setback after the league decided to introduce a rule where team’s could no longer play with more than two imports. With Canberra choosing to re-sign imports Dave Nelson and Herb McEachin, Kirchmeyer was forced to chase opportunities overseas.

In a bid to replace Kirchmeyer, known as the team’s ‘Enforcer’ and part of the ‘Bruise Brothers’ frontcourt that featured Nelson and McEachin, Andy Campbell of the West Adelaide Bearcats was signed, as well as promising young talent Mark Dalton. Dalton had just spent three years developing his game at the Australian Institute of Sport, where he was mentored by Cannons star Phil Smyth who operates as a assistant coach there during the NBL off-season.

Another move involved the team having to replace their leading scorer Wade Kirchmeyer with Dave Nelson (23.4 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.9 assists), who capably replaced his scoring ability, leading the team in points per game. Alongside fellow import Herb McEachin (21.9 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 2.3 steals) and Dalton (15.2 points, 9.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.0 steals) delivering a impressive debut season, the Cannons would finish with a record of 16-7 and in fifth place during the regular season. Dalton would finish runner-up to Andrew Gaze for the league’s rookie of the year award.

Under the guidance of head coach Bob Turner and the on-court leadership from Phil Smyth (14.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, 6.1 assists, and 2.0 steals) the Cannons defeated Geelong (87–81) in the Preliminary Final before narrowly getting past Coburg in the semi final (108–107) to set up a grand final against Leroy Loggins and the Brisbane Bullets.

The Grand Final would be played at a pre-determined ‘neutral’ venue that season (the last time the NBL held the Grand Final at a neutral location), the ‘Glass House’ in Melbourne. There the Cannons came out victors in another nail-biter, winning the 1984 NBL title by only two points (84–82).

Dalton appeared in only 26 games that season, and averaged 15.2 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game.

1985
In 1985, Dalton averaged 14.9 points, 9.1 rebounds, and 2.5 assists, playing a key role in the Cannons rotation, helping the team finish in fourth place finish during the regular season with a 19-7 record.

GEELONG CATS
1986
The 1986 season saw Dalton average 14.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists and play a key role in helping the Cats to a seventh-place finish in the regular season with a 14-12 record.

1987
During the 1987 season, Dalton averaged 15.1 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 2.5 assists and helped the Cats finish with a record of 13-13 to end the regular season in ninth place.

SYDNEY KINGS
1988
During the 1988 season, Dalton averaged 9.7 points, 6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists. and was a part of the inaugural Sydney Kings squad. The Kings were formed from the merger of the Sydney Supersonics and the West Sydney Westars, with the team playing their first season in the 4,500 seat State Sports Centre in Homebush.

Under head coach Claude Williams and recently signed import Steve Carfino (21.5 points, 4.1 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 2.6 steals), brought on board to be both team captain and oncourt leader, the Kings finished in ninth place with a record of 10-14.

1989
In 1989, Dalton averaged 9.8 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.9 assists as the Kings finished with a record of 15-9 and in fifth place during the regular season.

1990
In 1990, Dalton averaged 13.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.8 assists, playing a key role in the King’s rotation, helping the team finish in sixth place finish with a 16-10 record.

1991
The 1991 season saw Dalton average 10.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 2.9 assists and play a key role in helping the Kings finish with a 14-12 record.

1992
During the 1992 season, Dalton averaged 8.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 2.6 assists and helped the Kings finish with a record of 17-7 to end the regular season in second place.

1993
During the 1993 season, Dalton averaged 10 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 0 assists and was a part of the Kings squad, which finished in first place with a record of 11-15.

1994
After three seasons of import duo Dwayne McClain and Ken McClary, Kings coach Bob Turner chose to go in a different direction in 1994. With rumours of McClain’s rise in popularity leading to difficulties in coaching the star, the decision was made not to re-sign McLain and McClary and find younger talent to replace them. Coach Bob Turner signed swingman Mario Donaldson, who he spotted playing with Omaha during the 1993 CBA championship season.

He paired Donaldson with a relatively unknown forward, Leon Trimmingham, who had played at Briar Cliff University and was recommended to Turner by former Hobart coach Doctor David Atkins.

The remained relatively intact besides that. Promising forward Tony De Ambrosis, signed with Gold Coast, where there would be more playing opportunities, and Sydney replaced him with young talent Neil Turner and Brad Williams with a eye on developing talent for the future.

Sydney came out on fire to start the season. With Trimmingham, whose nightly pyrotechnics drew crowds to the Kingdome like moths to a flame, leading the team in scoring and Donaldson’s deadly outside scoring and lockdown defence, Sydney defeated South East Melbourne Magic on opening night and won three games in a row before losing their first game of the season in Perth.

At the halfway mark (8-3), the Kings looked like a title contender, but the lack of experience amongst the roster started to show, and Sydney went 8-7 for the remainder of the year and narrowly scraped into the playoffs in seventh place (16-10).

The Kings would face the second-placed North Melbourne Giants in the first round of the playoffs, entering the series as decided underdogs, especially given that North Melbourne had whipped them in two regular-season meetings. However, in Game One of the series, the Kings had other ideas. In front of a disbelieving Monday night crowd of 9,092, Sydney rocketed out of the blocks, taking advantage of some fatigue from the Giants, who were playing their third road game in four days. But the home team showed no mercy, hitting one long bomb after another, going on a 11-0 run in the first 71 seconds. The Kings were up (43-25), with the Giants struggling to regroup. Sydney continued to fire away from the outside, and by halftime, the game was over. The Kings received a standing ovation as they returned to the changing rooms with a 26 point lead at halftime (77-51).

The second half was a mere formality as the purple and gold cruised to the win, but the biggest story to come out of the game was Sydney’s unbelievable performance from the perimeter, with the team setting a franchise playoff record by knocking down 15 three-pointers from just 18 attempts – a success rate beyond the arc of a absurd 83.3%. It was arguably the greatest three-point shooting exhibition ever by a team in a NBL playoff game.

Greg Hubbard (32 points) did the majority of the damage from outside, going eight of nine from outside in just 28 minutes of court time. He wasn’t the only King on fire that night however, Mario Donaldson (27 points) went three of four from the outside, and co-captain Damian Keogh (18 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds) chipped in with four of five threes and narrowly missed out on recording a triple-double.

Once the series returned to Melbourne the Giants returned to their winning ways, defeating the Kings in game two (112-91) and game three (104-95). North Melbourne would then go on to win the NBL Championship.

Trimmingham (27.3 points, 10.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.2 blocks) led the team in points, rebounds and blocks while becoming a fan favourite across the league. Donaldson (22.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.8 steals) and Greg Hubbard (18.2 points, 3.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists) provided the additional scoring, with Dalton also contributing 8.2 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.2 assists.

BRISBANE BULLETS
1996
In 1996, the Brisbane Bullets signed star import Steve Woodberry from rival club Gold Coast. Woodberry, who was coming off a major injury, averaged 23 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.9 assists and was selected to the All-NBL second team.

During a extremely tight season where Brisbane, Sydney, North Melbourne, South East Melbourne and Melbourne all tasted the league’s leadership at some point, the Bullets finished up in eighth place (14-12) under first-year head coach David Ingham.

Loggins averaged 16.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.6 assists, all career lows at that point, prompting many to think he may retire at season’s end.

Dalton (4.9 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.6 assists) also saw a drop in playing time (24.1 minutes per game, down from 29.6 the season prior), with him recording the lowest points and rebounds per game of his career.

1997
Although many believed Leroy Loggins would retire after delivering the worst season of his career, he instead bounced back, returning to his previous form. With Loggins (21.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 1.9 assists) paired with Steve Woodberry (21.6 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 2.0 steals), who was named to the All-NBL third team, the Bullets finished in fifth place (15-15).

The 39-year-old would also drag the Bullets back into the playoffs, facing off against Perth (17-13) in the elimination finals. Brisbane would lose both games one (79-81) and game two (71-88), ending the season prematurely.

Dalton appeared in all of the team’s 32 games and averaged 8.2 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 2 assists.

WOLLONGONG HAWKS
1998
In 1998, the team was renamed the Wollongong Hawks and moved into WIN Entertainment Centre, known as the Sandpit. The Hawks re-signed star Clayton Ritter (23.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 1.9 assists) and paired him with defensive-minded guard Elliot Hatcher (19.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.6 assists). Alongside the talented import duo, Dalton contributed 5 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.3 assists and helped the Hawks double their wins from the previous year, improving from seven wins to 14 wins and finishing in sixth place.

In the elimination finals the Hawks would go on to face the Perth Wildcats, losing back to back games before being eliminated from the playoffs in the first round.

1998/99
Coinciding with the NBL’s move to summer, the Hawks shifted base to the Wollongong Entertainment Centre and swapped their Illawarra prefix to Wollongong. Fresh off a 14-win season that saw the Hawks reach the postseason, the Hawks were able to add CJ Bruton from the Brisbane Bullets, immediately becoming their starting point guard, import Theron Wilson and a talented rookie by the name of David Andersen.

There, Bruton (20.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists) would be given the ‘green light’ on offence as he jumped from 15.4 points to 20.8 points per game while playing the most amount of game time (46 minutes per game) of his seventeen season career.

The Hawks finished the season winning two more games than the year prior, improving upon their previous record for the third year in a row and finished in third place with a record of 16-10.

Dalton added 3.1 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.5 assists playing in 28 games over the season.

A disappointing postseason first saw the Hawks lose to the Victoria Titans in two straight games during the Qualifying Finals, but were the recipients of the ‘lucky loser’ rule. This saw the highest placed loser of the top four team’s qualified for the semi finals face the winner of the 2nd vs 3rd bracket. The Hawks went on to face the Adelaide 36ers next, who also defeated them in two straight games in the semifinals, delivering a end to their season.

1999/00
After being seeing their season end after losing four playoff games in a row, Wollongong entered this season looking improve. Clayton Ritter (to Canberra) was not re-signed after the club was able to convince former star Melvin Thomas to return to the club after a four year absence from the club. With coach Brendan Joyce at the helm and star guard CJ Bruton (22.1 points and 3.5 rebounds, and 3.3 assists) controlling the offence, many felt Illawarra would become one of the stronger clubs, but the Hawks just couldn’t seem to get victories over any of the league’s top team’s. The Hawks’ narrative became a view where Bruton was tasked with too much and the Hawks limped home to a eighth-place finish (11-17).

Melvin Thomas (19.6 points, 8.6 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and 1.2 steals) produced another great season and was named the Hawks co-MVP alongside Glen Saville (14.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists, and 1.9 steals).

Dalton appeared in 27 games and added 2.8 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 0.9 assists Over the course of the season, before retiring.

Mark Dalton played seventeen seasons across five NBL teams. This included the Canberra Cannons, Geelong Cats, Sydney Kings, Brisbane Bullets and Wollongong Hawks. He averaged 9.3 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2 assists in 421 NBL games.

CAREER RANKINGS:
– 41st in total games played.
– 32nd in total rebounds
– 24th in total steals
– 17th in total blocks

Dan Boyce (817 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.