BIO: Ramone Edward Moore Jr. was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (USA) where he attended South Philadelphia High School, the alma mater of basketball players Nate Blackwell and Lionel Simmons. As a junior, he was named All-Philadelphia Public League honorable mention before leading the Philadelphia Public League in scoring as a senior. Moore would also earn the Public League MVP that season as well.

FAMILY: The son of Ramone Moore, Sr. and Stephanie Pugh.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Ramone Moore made his NBL debut with the Melbourne United at 27 years of age. He scored nine points in his first game.

During his first season in the NBL, Moore averaged 10.1 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 2 assists as the United finished in sixth place (13-15).

ADELAIDE 36ERS
2017/18
With the 36ers’ roster proving it had what it takes to contend the championship, coach Joey Wright locked in all eight Australian players (Mitch Creek, Nathan Sobey, Daniel Johnson, Matthew Hodgson, Brendan Teys, Majok Deng, Anthony Drmic and Adam Doyle) and looked to go one step further. One notable absence from the roster was star US import Jerome Randle, who reportedly had asked for $300k per season, which was far outside what Adelaide or other NBL teams were able to pay. Randle then chose to play in Turkey with Bahçeşehir instead of staying in Adelaide, and the team replaced him with experienced guard, Shannon Shorter.

Philadelphian shooting guard Ramone Moore (via Melbourne) and athletic forward Ronald Roberts were signed as the team’s other two imports, completing the roster.

In mid-September 2017, the 36ers travelled to Singapore in the pre-season to compete in the Merlion Cup. The team remained undefeated throughout the tournament and defeated the Shanghai Sharks in the final to be crowned the 2017 Merlion Cup Champions.

Import woes began early in the season for Adelaide. It began with import Ronald Roberts who was released a week before the season tipped off with the team citing the big man had suffered a ‘knee injury’ although Roberts responded via Twitter stating he’s ‘100 percent fine’. Veteran forward Alan Wiggins was signed as a replacement for Roberts, but he suffered a broken arm in his NBL debut against the Sydney Kings. With Wiggins requiring surgery and set to miss eight weeks, the team signed former Sydney Kings star Josh Childress.

Despite the import roller-coaster, the Sixers impressed on the road early but struggled to string consistent performances together, winning half of their first 16 games. It was around this time Randle, who had left Turkey claiming he hadn’t been paid his salary on time, enquired about returning to the 36ers, but with the team being already finalised, Randle instead signed with the Sydney Kings as a replacement for import guard Travis Leslie.

Injuries crippled the 36ers over the next month. Both Creek, who was ruled out for three weeks on December 12 2017, after tearing a small muscle from the bone from his hamstring and then Drmic (6.6 points and 2.7 rebounds), after a medial collateral ligament sprain in his left knee, would spend the next three weeks alongside him.

Moore, would would be selected as the NBL’s Best Sixth Man this season, notched up a career high 27-points in a game against New Zealand in December and finished with averages of 11.6 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.6 assists.

A disappointing 19-point loss against the Cairns Taipans at home on Christmas Eve summed up the Sixers start to the season. This loss, however, seemed to be the turning point for the Sixers, who went on to win 10 of their last 12 games, including seven in a row, and booked themselves a second spot on the ladder at the end of the regular season.

in the semifinals, Adelaide made short work of third-ranked Perth, handing out the Wildcats second largest finals loss ever in game one (109–74). The 36ers rebounded to defeat Perth in game two (89–88) behind the stellar play of Josh Childress (25 points and 10 rebounds).

A grand final series against Melbourne came next, where United’s Casper Ware (20 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists) erupted in the first half of game one before exiting the game with a hip injury. United’s Chris Goulding would then step up with a impressive shooting display (26 points) to propel Melbourne to victory (107-96) at Hisense Arena. Daniel Johnson (18 points) and Mitch Creek (14 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists) finished as the 36ers leading scorers.

In game two, Adelaide came out with a bang with Majok Deng (18 points) leading the team in scoring. Mitch Creek and Ramone Moore (both 17 points) also stepped up as the 36ers tied the series (110-95). Casey Prather (20 points) and Chris Goulding (19 points) finishing as United’s best on court.

The 36ers’ win came at a cost however, with import Josh Childress (13 points and 8 rebounds), going down with a shoulder injury in the fourth quarter which would keep him out of the remaining Grand Final games.

The series returned to Melbourne for game three, where tensions exploded at the end of the first half, Adelaide’s Nathan Sobey clashing heads with Casey Prather after the United import hit a three-pointer on the stroke of halftime. The Adelaide guard was called for a disqualifying foul and ejected from the match. There was further drama at the end of the game with players from both teams needing to be separated after the final buzzer. The incident also resulted in 36ers head coach Joey Wright being fined handsomely for questioning the integrity of the referees.

When the smoke settled, United won a tightly fought contest over the 36ers (101-98) after Adelaide’s Majok Deng missed a game-tying three-pointer in the final seconds. Casper Ware (25 points), Prather (23 points) and Chris Goulding (15 points), who hit three clutch triples to take control of the game, were among United’s best.

Game four saw Adelaide swingman Nathan Sobey (16 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists), who was ejected in game three for his part in the halftime melee, lead the way for the 36ers in the first half with the scoreboard reading 55-31 at the halfway mark. Again the home team was victorious, Adelaide getting a comfortable win over Melbourne United (90-81). Johnson (29 points and 10 rebounds) and Prather (23 points) top scoring for their respective sides.

In the deciding game five, Goulding, Ware (both 23 points) and Prather (19 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 steals) came to play and Melbourne defeated Adelaide (100-82) in front of a sold-out crowd at Hisense Arena, winning their first title since rebranding from the Tigers. Shannon Shorter (20 points) led Adelaide in scoring, while Chris Goulding was named Finals MVP after averaging 16.6 points and 3.6 rebounds over the five-game series. With the win, Prather collected his third NBL championship to become the first player in NBL history to win three straight titles in his first three seasons in the league.

2018/19
During the NBL 2018 off-season, Creek was given team approval to play in Germany with the understanding he would return to the 36ers for the 2018/19 season.

Prior to returning from Germany, Creek’s play caught the eyes of a number of NBA team’s, and instead of returning to Adelaide he agreed to play with the Long Island Nets under coach Will Weaver who was also coaching Creek as part of the Australian national team at that time.

The Adelaide 36ers filed a injunction to stop Basketball Australia from approving any potential deal allowing Creek to sign with a NBA team without compensation for his contract and time spent developing him as a player. The decision to file the injunction led to a mountain of criticism, but ultimately the two reached a resolution allowing him to fulfil his NBA dream.

After narrowly missing out on the NBL championship the season prior, Adelaide was forced to go into rebuilding mode with the loss of its second-leading scorer Creek. Import Jacob Wiley was signed as a replacement for Creek only weeks prior to the NBL season.

Diminutive point guard Adris De Leon, who had played under head coach Joey Wright at the Gold Coast Blaze, was also signed to help cover the scoring and playmaking lost with Creek heading to the NBA and rising stars Harry Froling and Jack McVeigh were signed straight out of college.

High scoring big man Daniel Johnson took over as team captain, and Nathan Sobey, Majok Deng, Adam Doyle, Brendan Teys, and import Ramone Moore all returned from last season.

Sobey would take his game to yet another new level this season. Recording career highs in both points per game and field goal percentage not to mention his Round 3 triple-double that had many people suggesting he was the league’s best Aussie player. The 36ers guard scored 22 points, pulled in 13 rebounds and dished off nine assists in the 91-83 win over the Taipans in Cairns.

After a slow start to the season (3 wins, 5 losses), combined with a calf injury to fellow import Ramone Moore, a ultimatum was delivered to De Leon that if the team couldn’t turn things around with a win over Sydney in their next game, they would look at rejigging the team’s roster.

Despite starting in the game against Sydney and putting up 11 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists in 25 minutes, the Adelaide 36ers were unable to get the win, suffering a 12 points loss to the Kings, their fourth in a row. De Leon (7.7 points, 2.6 rebounds and 2.6 assists) was released, and former Illawarra Hawks import Demitrius Conger was signed as his replacement. With Moore still unable to take the court, Adelaide also signed Shaun Bruce, who had been unsigned after three seasons in Cairns, who then played out the remaining games of the 36ers season.

Adelaide continued their 2018/19 campaign with Daniel Johnson (17.0 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.3 assists) and Nathan Sobey (16.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists) leading the team in scoring. Sobey’s jump from 12.7 ppg and 2.2apg the season prior also resulted in him earning a spot on the All-NBL Second Team.

In what was a inconsistent season Adelaide, on the cusp of the playoffs, would lose the last two games of the season (Melbourne and Perth) and finish with a record to Brisbane (14-14). With Brisbane being higher on overall points percentage, the Bullets advanced into the playoffs as the fourth seed while Adelaide’s season would come to a end, finishing in fifth spot.

2019/20
During the 2019/20 season, Moore averaged 7.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.6 assists and helped the 36ers finish the regular season in seventh place (12-16).

This season, Moore became the first 36ers import to play three consecutive seasons with the club since Willie Farley (2005-2007).

Ramone Moore played four seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Melbourne United and the Adelaide 36ers. He averaged 9.9 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 2.8 assists in 91 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (798 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.