NICKNAME/S: Wookie

BIO: Kingma was born in Manly, New South Wales, where he started his basketball playing as a junior.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Michael Kingma made his NBL debut with the Sydney Kings at 18 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

After a single season in the NBA, Heal returned to the Kings in 1998. With two years remaining on his NBA deal, Heal left Minnesota, citing the lack of playing time behind Stephon Marbury, disliking the cold weather and suffering a calf injury the week before the opening round, which would require him to earn his way back into the rotation and returned to Australia.

Since Heal’s departure in 1996, the team had undergone a number of changes. Bill Tomlinson replaced coach Alan Black, imports Melvin Thomas and Isaac Burton were replaced by Matt Nover, a former NCAA Final Four centre better known as ‘Ricky Roe’ from the movie Blue Chips and a 19-year-old forward named Stephen Jackson, who became the youngest import signing in NBL history.

Jackson had been the leading scorer in the 1996 McDonald’s All-American Game on a team that included future NBA All-Stars Kobe Bryant, Jermaine O’Neal and Richard Hamilton. He’d been headed to the University of Arizona but was ruled academically ineligible, throwing him into the ’97 NBA Draft (while the Wildcat’s won the NCAA title without him), where Phoenix selected him in the second round. He failed to make the Suns roster and, instead, chose to play his first year as a pro in Australia.

The Kings had built themselves around a young core of Aussie talent, which included Aaron Trahair, Matthew Nielsen, Stephen Whitehead and Scott McGregor.

Nover (7.7 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 0.9 assists) and Jackson (6.0 points, 0.5 rebounds, and 1 assist) got off to rocky starts, combing for a total of 36 points across the team’s first three games. Jackson, who would later average 20+ points per game across numerous seasons in the NBA, had become the first import in NBL history to go scoreless in his debut game. Nonetheless, the Kings were rolling, with wins over Canberra, Newcastle and Melbourne firing them to a undefeated start.

In Round 3, the team travelled to Adelaide looking to keep their steak alive when, late in the third quarter, disaster struck for Jackson. Attempting to block 36ers’ star Kevin Brooks, Jackson landed awkwardly, broke his foot and would miss the remainder of the season.

In round 6, even with Aaron Trahair dropping 40 points on 13 of 16 shooting, the Kings lost to Wollongong (99-108) and shortly after released Nover. Former King Dave Simmons, who had been released by Newcastle, and former Sacramento King’s big man Evers Burns were signed as import replacements.

After six games, Simmons (6.5 points and 6.3 rebounds) was released as the Kings made room to sign former North Carolina State point guard Kelsey Weems and allow Shane Heal and Aaron Trahair to play more minutes at shooting guard.

Through the multiple import changes and roster juggling, the Kings dropped ten of their next twelve games, missed the playoffs and finished in the tenth spot (12-18). Heal (20.9 points, 3.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists) would lead the team in scoring while rising star Nielsen continued to improve, boosting his numbers from 9.9 points and 4.9 rebounds in 27 minutes per game to 16.4 points and 8.3 rebounds in 34 minutes per game. During their short NBL stints, Weems (20.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.5 steals) filled the stat sheet during his 12 games, while Burns (16.5 points and 9.4 rebounds) on the other hand, wasn’t quite the player he was in the NBA. Jackson went on to play 858 NBA games, winning a championship with San Antonio in 2003.

Kingma would see limited playing opportunities with the Kings, appearing in only two games and scoring a total of two points.

1998/99
Sydney underwent a number of key losses as the NBL shifted from a winter competition to a summer one. The biggest ones being Shane Heal heading to play in Greece for Near East, team Captain Bruce Bolden leaving to play for a brand new NBL team, the West Sydney Razorbacks, and Brad Williams and Stephen Whitehead, who both were not re-signed by the team. Ben Castle (Brisbane) and Darren Smith (state league) signed as their replacements.

In their place, coach Tomlinson chose to build the squad around young local talent Matthew Nielsen and Aaron Trahair. Veteran point guard Brad Rosen was named team captain after the loss of Bolden and Kelsey Weems, who joined the team with 12 games left in the previous season, was re-signed and paired incoming import Alonzo Goldston.

The Kings’ opening game came against Bolden’s Razorbacks, in their NBL debut. Sydney lost, 97-103, and went on to lose seven of their next eight games.

This saw the axe fall on import Goldston (14.2 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.5 blocks in six games), and NBA big man Acie Earl signed as his replacement.

Earl was a monster, standing 208cm and 110kg, who had spent two seasons with the Boston Celtics before being selected by the Toronto Raptors in the 1995 expansion draft. Earl didn’t take the Celtics’ decision to let him go kindly and exploded for 40 points against his former team when they met the following season.

His 1998/99 season statistically is one of the most efficient in NBL history. Five games in, he dropped 33 points (12/19 shooting) and collected 12 rebounds while holding Brisbane’s star big man Thadderous Delaney to 4 of 14 shots, and he finished the year averaging 21.6 points (on 50% shooting), 12.5 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 2.9 blocks per game.

Beyond Earl, the remainder of the team’s roster was a little hit-and-miss this season. While Weems (15.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 1.0 steals) didn’t have the same impact as the previous season, the continued development of Matt Nielsen (20.4 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.3 blocks) who boosted his scoring from 16.4 points the previous season, saw him become the new face of the franchise.

The Kings couldn’t seem to win at home (5–8) or abroad (4-9) and finished the season in ninth place, missing out on the playoffs once again.

Kingma continued to see limited minutes with the Kings, appearing in only eight games, averaging 2.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.1 assists.

1999/00
Sydney underwent a familiar narrative during the 1999/00 season. One that began with compiling a impressive roster on paper to start the season, only to see it fall apart (like a violet crumble) by the end of the year. Expectations were high with the continued development of Sydney underwent a familiar narrative during the 1999/00 season. One that began with compiling a impressive roster on paper to start the season, only to see it fall apart (like a violet crumble) by the end of the year. It started with a coaching change, Brett Brown replacing Bill Tomlinson (the team’s fourth coach in six seasons). Then, with Sydney seemingly stockpiling much of the league’s best young talent, adding Ben Melmeth (Newcastle) and Derek Moore (South Carolina-Aiken University) and to the talented young core of Matthew Nielsen, Aaron Trahair and Scott McGregor, re-signing one of the most dominant big men in NBL history, Acie Earl and poaching the reigning league MVP, Steve Woodberry from the Brisbane Bullets expectations were high.

The Kings started the year with a 98–76 win over Canberra, but it was clear Earl’s fitness wasn’t where it was the previous season. He managed 8 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists and was released before their next game. Meanwhile, Kevin Brooks who had just led Adelaide to back-to-back championships. Brooks’s signing was unusual, with Adelaide signing him to a contract which the league determined it would not approve, claiming it would put the club over the salary cap considering it also had added Paul Maley to its championship unit only a few weeks earlier. Brooks found himself without a team to play for until the Kings contacted him and signed him as Earl’s replacement.

After a mediocre start to the season (2-2), import Steve Woodberry suffered a season ending injury forcing the Kings to find a replacement for him also. This came in the form of NBA talent Drew Barry who was also the son of NBA legend Rick Barry.

The Kings went 6-5 with Barry (7.6 points, 4 rebounds and 6.3 assists) but with his production not being anywhere near where they expected for a NBA level point guard, he too received the axe and was replaced with Kendrick Johnson.

From here, Johnson (21.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.5 assists) led the team in scoring, alongside Brooks (16.8 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.5 assists) and Nielsen (16.7 points, 6.7 rebounds, 2.3 assists) and the team finished their season with a record of 11-17. Kingma averaged 3.0 points and 1.4 rebounds as the Kings missed the playoffs for the fourth season in a row.

One of the few bright spots for the Kings roller-coaster season was the development of Derek Moore (9.2 points and 5.1 rebounds) who was named Rookie of the Year at season’s end.

2000/01
The 2000/01 season saw Kingma average 1.9 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 0.1 assists and play a key role in helping the Kings to a fifth place finish in the regular season (17-11).

2001/02
During the 2001/02 season Kingma averaged 2.9 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 0.2 assists and helped the Kings finish the regular season in eighth place (14-16).

2002/03
Kingma was a member of the Kings’ 2003 NBL championship team, averaging 2.8 points and 1.8 rebounds that year under Brian Goorjian.

2003/04
HUNTER PIRATES
2003/04
As a result of Canberra’s NBL licence moving to Newcastle, former Cannons players Brendan Mann, Matthew Shanahan and Cameron Rigby all came across to the Pirates to form the beginnings of the Pirates roster. Hunter chose not to retain Cannons coach Cal Bruton and signed Bruce Palmer as their first head coach.

Hunter signed rookie point guard Chris Harriman (via Augusta State) straight out of college and filled the remainder of the roster with low-cost imports Kevin Brooks and Chris Brown, local players Josh Morgan and Adam Melmeth, and a number of players who had been discarded by their former clubs like Geordie Cullen (via Wollongong), Michael Kingma (via Sydney) and Travis Lindstrom (via Perth) who were all unable to secure deals elsewhere.

It took six games before the Pirates won their first game, a four-point victory over Adelaide at home (103–99) and then managed to win only one more, a home win against Cairns (109–103) and ended their first season on a 15-game losing streak. Their two win season was the second worst in NBL history (outside of Geelong’s zero win season in 1988).

Initial coach Bruce Palmer was controversially fired partway into the season and was replaced by assistant coach David Simmons but that made little difference to the team’s success.

Cullen (17.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 1.3 assists) would lead the team in scoring and win the league’s Most Improved Player award at the end of the season. Kevin Brooks (16.8 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 1.8 assists), Matthew Shanahan (15.7 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 4.0 assists) and Chris Brown (10.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists) would lead the team in scoring. Starting point guard Brendan Mann (9.3 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.3 steals) suffered a season ending injury only three games into the season, resulting in rookie Chris Harriman (7.4 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 4 assists) stepping into the starting lineup. Harriman would narrowly miss out of winning the Rookie of the Year award, finishing second to West Sydney’s Steven Markovic.

Kingma would play in all 32 games for the Pirates and deliver the best numbers of his career, averaging 9.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.0 blocks.

Michael Kingma played seven seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Sydney Kings and the Hunter Pirates. He averaged 4.3 points, 2.7 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in 120 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (811 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.