The Greatest NBL Players at Every Age
April 11, 2021
Owen Wells
- Nationality: USA
- Date of Birth: 9/12/1950
- Place of Birth: Providence, Rhode Island (USA)
- Position: G/F
- Height (CM): 201
- Weight (KG): 91
- Junior Assoc: None
- College: Detroit Mercy
- NBL DEBUT: 21/02/81
- AGE AT DEBUT: 30
- LAST NBL GAME: 10/03/84
- AGE AT LAST GAME: 33
- NBL History: Newcastle 1981 | Sydney 1983-84
- Championships: 0
- None
BIO: Owen Wells was born in Providence, Rhode Island (USA).
NBL EXPERIENCE
Owen Wells made his NBL debut with the Newcastle Falcons at 30 years of age. He scored 20 points in his first game.
SYDNEY SUPERSONICS
1983
1983 saw the City of Sydney Astronauts became the Sydney SuperSonics, and the legendary American import Owen Wells signed on as player-coach. The team added Gordie McLeod (9.6 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 3.9 assists) from the Illawarra Hawks and import Ronnie Cavenall (15 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks) to pair with Wells (24.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 4.1 assists), who would finish the 1983 season by winning the Most Valuable Player award. Together they led Sydney to a record-breaking 16-game winning streak and finished in first-place during the regular season with a 19-3 record.
In 1983, the NBL Finals were played in unusual circumstances. As a cost-cutting measure, the NBL decided to play two divisional finals, a three-game round-robin tournament for the top eight team’s which strangely saw the league’s two best team’s excluded from the NBL playoffs.
The three-game round robin tournament resulted in the first placed team in the Western Divison (Sydney) and the first place team in the Eastern Division (Geelong) being eliminated from a playoff spot due to finishing the three game round robin tournament with 2 wins and 1 loss, a equal record to two other team’s who progressed through based on points percentage.
The semi finals then saw reigning champions West Adelaide defeat Nunawading 84-77 and Canberra eliminated Coburg 80-75 in the semifinals. Canberra go on to become champions, defeating Loggins and West Adelaide 75-73 in the grand final game.
The Supersonics didn’t decide to bring Cavenall which saw him return to the US and later become the first player to go from the NBL to the NBA.
1984
Player coach Owen Wells (27.6 points, 10.6 rebounds, and 3.8 assists) chose to go with a more experienced big man in Brian Devincenzi (26.3 points and 7.6 rebounds) who would put up much better numbers the following year but the Supersonics delivered only three wins in comparison.
Sydney chose not to re-sign Wells in a coach or player role the following season.
Owen Wells played three seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Newcastle Falcons and the Sydney Supersonics. He averaged 24.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 55 NBL games.
CAREER RANKINGS:
– 39th in points per game.
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.
NBL TOTAL STATISTICS
| SEASON | AGE | TEAM | TEAM RECORD | GP | MINS | PTS | REB | AST | OR | DR | STL | BLK | TO | PF | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | FTM | FTA | FT% | TS% | EFG% | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 33 | Sydney | 3-21 (17) | 10 | 0.0 | 276 | 102 | 38 | 31 | 71 | 38 | 7 | 54 | 39 | 102 | 223 | 46% | 8 | 28 | 29% | 64 | 83 | 77% | 53% | 48% | |
| 1983 | 32 | Sydney | 19-3 (1) | 25 | 0.0 | 608 | 170 | 103 | 62 | 108 | 56 | 13 | 101 | 63 | 252 | 521 | 48% | 0 | 0 | 0% | 104 | 139 | 75% | 52% | 48% | 45 |
| 1981 | 30 | Newcastle | 13-9 (6) | 20 | 0.0 | 488 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 57 | 196 | 393 | 50% | 0 | 0 | 0% | 96 | 113 | 85% | 55% | 50% | 38 | Totals | 55 | 0 | 1372 | 272 | 141 | 93 | 179 | 94 | 20 | 155 | 159 | 550 | 1137 | 48.4% | 8 | 28 | 28.6% | 264 | 335 | 78.8% | 53% | 49% | 50 |
NBL PER GAME STATISTICS
| SEASON | AGE | TEAM | TEAM RECORD | GP | MINS | PTS | REB | AST | OR | DR | STL | BLK | TO | PF | FGM | FGA | FG% | 3PM | 3PA | 3P% | FTM | FTA | FT% | TS% | EFG% | HS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984 | 33 | Sydney | 3-21 (17) | 10 | 0.0 | 27.6 | 10.2 | 3.8 | 3.1 | 7.1 | 3.8 | 0.7 | 5.4 | 3.9 | 10.2 | 22.3 | 46% | 0.8 | 2.8 | 29% | 6.4 | 8.3 | 77% | 53% | 48% | |
| 1983 | 32 | Sydney | 19-3 (1) | 25 | 0.0 | 24.3 | 6.8 | 4.1 | 2.5 | 4.3 | 2.2 | 0.5 | 4.0 | 2.5 | 10.1 | 20.8 | 48% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0% | 4.2 | 5.6 | 75% | 52% | 48% | 45 |
| 1981 | 30 | Newcastle | 13-9 (6) | 20 | 0.0 | 24.4 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 2.9 | 9.8 | 19.7 | 50% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0% | 4.8 | 5.7 | 85% | 54.6% | 50% | 38 | Total | 55 | 0.0 | 24.9 | 4.9 | 2.6 | 1.7 | 3.3 | 1.7 | 0.4 | 2.8 | 2.9 | 10.0 | 20.7 | 48.4% | 0.0 | 0.0 | 28.6% | 0.1 | 0.5 | 78.8% | 53% | 49% | 50 |
CAREER HIGHS
| POINTS | REBOUNDS | ASSISTS | STEALS | BLOCKS | TURNOVERS | TRIPLE DOUBLES | 50 | 21 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 12 | 0 |
|---|
NBA EXPERIENCE
Wells often gets mistaken by another Owen Wells who played multiple seasons in the NBA. Although he had NBA opportunities with multiple teams Wells never played in an NBA game.
INTERNATIONAL EXPERIENCE
In 1981, after his time in Newcastle, Wells played a season in the Dutch NBL, leading his team to the playoffs.
AWARDS
- 1x time NBL Most Valuable Player (1983)
- 1x All-NBL First Team
COACHING HISTORY
Wells returned to the Sydney Supersonics as a coach in 1986 and added Claude Williams as his assistant.
Related
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