NBL EXPERIENCE

Ron Lemons made his NBL debut with the Nunawading Spectres at 22 years of age. He scored 12 points in his first game.

In 1982, Lemons averaged 14.7 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 0.9 assists as the Spectres finished with a record of 19-7 and in third place during the regular season.

1983
In 1983, Lemons averaged 19 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 0.9 assists, playing a key role in the Spectres rotation, helping the team finish reach a fifth place finish in the regular season with a 15-7 record.

1984
The 1984 season saw Lemons average 20.8 points, 5.4 rebounds, and 1.4 assists and play a key role in helping the Spectres to a seventh-place finish during the regular season with a 14-9 record.

1985
During the 1985 season Lemons averaged 21.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.1 assists and helped the Spectres finish with a record of 19-7 and end the regular season in third place.

1987
In 1987, Lemons averaged 14.1 points and 5.2 rebounds, and helped guide the Spectres to a eighth place finish in the regular season with a 13-13record.

1988
After the Spectres chose not to re-sign Barry Barnes (who had been the Spectres head coach since they entered the NBL), former Melbourne Tigers player, Brian Goorjian, who had been coaching Ballarat in the Victorian State League was named as his successor. Goorjian’s arrival wasn’t exactly a warm one. With some team members feeling that Barnes’ assistant coach Colin Cadee should have been given the job, a number of players signed a petition to prevent Goorjian from getting the role.

Once appointed as head coach Goorjian, import Bruce Bolden and Brendan Joyce left for rival club Westside Melbourne and Peter Blight headed to Hobart. Goorjian retained the younger players on the roster, Ron Lemons, Warren Pink, Steve Lunardon, Shane Froling and Darren Lucas and but decided not to re-sign the team’s leading scorer from last season, Vince Hinchen. Instead, he would look to find a import better suited to the new look roster.

Goorjian struggled to find the right US talent to balance out the team. His first import, Kevin Ross (14.0 points, 3.5 rebounds), lasted only two games before being sent back to the US, and his replacement Quentin Anderson (12.0 points, 9.5 rebounds), wasn’t much better and was also given the axe after two games. Goorjian had also signed Harvard University’s leading scorer Arne Duncan to pair with the aforementioned Ross and Anderson. Duncan (24.1 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.4 assists) was a totally different story. A blue-chip athlete who went on the lead the team in scoring and in fact, packed a suitcase and flew to Australia with just a week’s notice after narrowly missing out on a contract with the Boston Celtics.

Mid-season Goorjian then signed Rick Sharpe (19.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists), who had played for his father Ed Goorjian at the University of Loyola and formed a nice tandem with Dean Uthoff (18.3 points, 17.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists). 22-year-old Lucas would be given the green light in his second season. He saw his minutes almost double (25 per game to 38 per game) and, as a result, saw his numbers skyrocket from 8.8 points to 23.1 points per game while also adding 3.9 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.9 steals. This included his 45-point career-high against the Perth Wildcats.

Lemons would average 9.1 points, 2.5 rebounds, and 0.9 assists. Eastside finished the season with 11 wins, 13 losses, and in the eleventh spot, leading Goorjian to describe the season as a ‘disaster’. Lucas would go on to be named the league’s Most Improved Player that year in one of the few positives of the Spectres season.

Ron Lemons played six seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Nunawading Spectres and the Eastside Melbourne Spectres. He averaged 16.8 points, 5 rebounds, and 1.4 assists in 149 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (815 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.