BIO: Robbie Heath was born in Whittlesea (VIC) but later moved to Philadelphia to attend Abington High school. There, he was named to the tournament’s all-first team alongside NBA stars RJ Barrett (New York) and Bol Bol (Denver). Robbie also finished as the school’s third all-time leading scorer with 1,642 points.

FAMILY: His father Bob “Tiger” Heath was an american import who played in the state league during the 1980s-90s.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Robbie Heath made his NBL debut with the Cairns Taipans at 23 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

Cairns entered its first season under Adam Forde after finishing ninth with an 8-28 record and losing Cameron Oliver (to Houston), Fabijan Krslovic (to Tasmania) and Mojave King (to Adelaide). The Taipans retained Scott Machado, Majok Deng, Kouat Noi, Nathan Jawai, Mirko Djeric, Jarrod Kenny and Jordan Ngatai and added Tahjere McCall (via Orléans), Stephen Zimmerman (via Nymburk), Keanu Pinder (via Adelaide) and rookie Bul Kuol (via Detroit Mercy).

After averaging 17.4 points for Diamond Valley in the NBL1 South, a guard who had attracted Forde’s interest joined Cairns as a training player. Robbie Heath made his NBL debut against Adelaide on December 18, playing four minutes without scoring as Deng (23 points, 6 rebounds, 1 steal, and 1 block) and Zimmerman (18 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, and 2 blocks) led the Taipans to a 93-67 win, while Hannahs (20 points) was Adelaide’s leading scorer.

Heath (1.3 points across 3 games) was not part of Cairns’ regular contracted rotation and was activated when injuries left the Taipans short-handed. He remained on the bench during most of the games in which he suited up, while a lateral ankle injury suffered before the Round 12 road trip ruled him out against Illawarra and Adelaide. A non-COVID illness later kept him in Cairns during Round 16 before a knee injury required an MRI and prevented him from returning during the final month.

Heath’s best and final appearance came at the Cairns Convention Centre on March 11, where he entered during the closing minutes and finished with 4 points and 1 assist in five minutes. Zimmerman (19 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 block) and Deng (9 points) led the Taipans, while Adams (20 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block) helped Tasmania win 85-69.

McCall (16.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 2 steals across 22 games) led Cairns in scoring, assists and steals and shared the club MVP award with Machado (10.2 points and 5.3 assists across 18 games). Deng (14.3 points and 4.7 rebounds across 28 games) finished second in scoring, Zimmerman (11.4 points and 9.6 rebounds across 16 games) led the team in rebounding, Pinder (10.9 points and 7.6 rebounds across 28 games) was named the NBL’s Most Improved Player and Kuol (10.4 points across 28 games) was named Rookie of the Year.

Heath remained sidelined when Cairns completed its season on April 23, where McCall (42 points, 4 rebounds, 10 assists, 4 steals, and 1 block), Deng (30 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block) and Pinder (17 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 block) led the Taipans to a 112-98 win over Brisbane, while Franks (30 points, 15 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 steal) led the Bullets as Cairns finished ninth with a 9-19 record.

Robbie Heath played one season in the NBL. He averaged 1.3 points, 0.3 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in 3 NBL games.