Jeremy Tyler
July 23, 2020
Sam Daly
- Nationality: AUS
- Date of Birth: 6/04/95
- Place of Birth: Adelaide (SA)
- Position: GRD
- Height (CM): 193
- Weight (KG): 86
- Junior Assoc: SA - Sturt
- College: Grand Canyon (2014-2015) / Chaminade (2015-2017)
- NBL DEBUT: 7/10/17
- AGE AT DEBUT: 22
- LAST NBL GAME: 30/12/17
- AGE AT LAST GAME: 22
- NBL History: Sydney 2018
- Championships: 0
- None
BIO: Sam Daly was born in Adelaide (SA) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Sturt basketball program.
FAMILY: Sam’s brother, Tom Daly also played 67 games in the NBL.
NBL EXPERIENCE
Sam Daly made his NBL debut with the Sydney Kings at 22 years of age. He scored one point in his first NBL game.
After missing the playoffs with a 13-15 record the previous season, Sydney parted ways with Julian Khazzouh (to Lebanon), Jeromie Hill (to Sunshine Coast), Greg Whittington (to Sioux Falls), Aleks Maric (to Bahrain), Craig Moller (to Melbourne) and Josh Powell (to Venezuela). Jason Cadee, Tom Garlepp, captain Kevin Lisch and Brad Newley returned under head coach Andrew Gaze, who added Todd Blanchfield (via Melbourne), Perry Ellis (via Greensboro), Travis Leslie (via Fort Wayne), Isaac Humphries (via Kentucky), Dane Pineau (via Saint Mary’s), Amritpal Singh and Adam Thoseby (via Knox).
After completing his college career at Chaminade, the Adelaide-born guard joined Sydney (via Chaminade) for his first NBL season, having previously spent two years at Grand Canyon before transferring to Chaminade.
Daly (1 point and 1 rebound) made his first recorded NBL appearance against Illawarra at Qudos Bank Arena on October 15, playing the final 1:38 as Sydney defeated the Hawks 103-87 for its first win of the season. Ellis (33 points and 2 rebounds) and Cadee (17 points and 3 assists) led the Kings, while Demitrius Conger (21 points and 5 rebounds) was Illawarra’s leading scorer.
Daly (0.7 points across 9 games) remained on the edge of the rotation throughout his only NBL season. No injury was reported as the reason for the games he missed, with his limited appearances coming as Sydney used more experienced options in the backcourt and on the wing.
His best game came four days later in Auckland, where Daly (5 points, 1 rebound, 2 assists, and 1 steal) made two of three shots in 12 minutes during Sydney’s 90-73 loss to New Zealand. Ellis (16 points) and Leslie (10 points and 4 rebounds) led the Kings, while Edgar Sosa (19 points, 7 assists, and 3 steals) led the Breakers on a night Sydney was without Lisch because of a calf injury.
Lisch’s injury initially led to Jeremy Kendle (via Brisbane) arriving as an injury replacement, before Sydney’s 2-6 start prompted a larger roster change. Leslie (to Levallois Metropolitans) was released, reigning NBL MVP Jerome Randle (via Bahçeşehir) was brought in to run the offence and Jeremy Tyler (via China) was signed to strengthen the frontcourt. Tyler (13.3 points and 5.8 rebounds across 11 games) was released on January 9 with eight games remaining. The club publicly said it wanted to give more opportunities to its younger big men, while later media coverage described Tyler’s departure as “addition by subtraction” and suggested the move improved the chemistry within the playing group. The change did not result in additional opportunities for Daly, whose role was on the perimeter rather than in the frontcourt.
Randle (19.8 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 5.4 assists across 19 games) led the NBL in both scoring and assists and earned All-NBL Second Team honours, while Ellis (14.8 points and 5.8 rebounds across 27 games), Newley (11.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.1 assists across 27 games) and Cadee (11.1 points and 3.3 assists across 28 games) were Sydney’s other main contributors. Humphries (6.9 points and 3.7 rebounds across 26 games) was named NBL Rookie of the Year as Sydney finished seventh with an 11-17 record. Daly did not return to the NBL after the season, with his final appearance coming against Melbourne on December 30.
Sam Daly played one season in the NBL. He averaged 0.7 points, 0.6 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in 9 NBL games.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | 23 | Sydney | 11-17 (7) | 9 | 48 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 6.00 | 33% | 1 | 4 | 25% | 1 | 2 | 50% | 0% | 5 | Totals | 9 | 48 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 33.3% | 1 | 4 | 25.0% | 1 | 2 | 50.0% | 0% | 0% | 5 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-18 | 23 | Sydney | 11-17 (7) | 9 | 5.3 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 33% | 0.1 | 0.4 | 25% | 0.1 | 0.2 | 50% | 0% | 5 | Total | 9 | 5.3 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.3 | 0.1 | 0.4 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.7 | 33.3% | 0.0 | 25.0% | 0.1 | 0.4 | 50.0% | 0% | 0% | 5 |
CAREER HIGHS
| POINTS | REBOUNDS | ASSISTS | STEALS | BLOCKS | TURNOVERS | TRIPLE DOUBLES | 5 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
|---|
STATE LEAGUE EXPERIENCE
- Sturt (2013, 2021), Kilsyth (2018), Mount Gambier (2019)
Daly joined Sturt for the 2013 Central ABL season, returning through the Sabres pathway before leaving for college. Sturt sat 6–6 during the season, with Daly averaging 5.1 assists per game, and he also made a game-winning shot against Woodville during the year.
Daly joined Kilsyth for the 2018 SEABL season after returning from college, averaging 11.1 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.0 steal across 21 games. He played 26.2 minutes per game for the Cobras and was part of a roster that included Dane Pineau, Chris Patton and Isaac Turner.
He joined Mount Gambier for the 2019 Premier League season, moving into the Pioneers roster alongside Tom Daly after previously facing Mount Gambier while with Kilsyth. He scored 20 points in an early-season win over Eastern and was part of Mount Gambier’s move into the South Australian Premier League after the end of SEABL.
Daly returned to Sturt for the 2021 NBL1 Central season, averaging 13.45 points, 6.91 rebounds, 5.73 assists and 1.0 steal per game. He scored 13 points in Sturt’s Round 1 win over Southern, added 18 points and six assists against Central Districts in Round 2, earned NBL1 Central Player of the Week after finishing one rebound short of a triple-double, and was named to the NBL1 Central Men’s All-Star Five.
COLLEGE
Daly played college basketball at Grand Canyon during the 2013–14 season before transferring to Chaminade, where he competed from 2015–16 to 2016–17.
At Grand Canyon, Daly played under head coach Dan Majerle during the program’s early NCAA Division I transition period, and he spent two seasons in Phoenix before moving on as a transfer.
In the 2013–14 season at Grand Canyon, Daly sat out the first half of the year before appearing in 13 games and making 11 starts, averaging 7.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game while shooting 43.1% from the field and 61.4% at the free throw line, and he hit a season-best 12 points three times (Jan. 9 at Bakersfield, Jan. 11 at Utah Valley, and Feb. 27 vs Kansas City) with a season-high eight rebounds on Jan. 25 vs Seattle.
In the 2014–15 season at Grand Canyon, Daly appeared in 21 games with four starts and averaged 2.3 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 1.8 assists per game in 13.9 minutes while shooting 47.4% from the field, 30.0% from three-point range, and 55.6% at the line, and he recorded season highs of eight points (including 34 minutes played) at Central Michigan on Nov. 29 while also posting seven points and seven assists with two made three-pointers at Illinois-Chicago on Dec. 2 as Grand Canyon finished 17–15 overall and 8–6 in WAC play.
Daly transferred to Chaminade for the 2015–16 season, joining head coach Eric Bovaird’s program in the Pacific West Conference after two seasons at Grand Canyon, and he entered with two seasons of eligibility remaining.
In the 2015–16 season at Chaminade, Daly played all 27 games and made 24 starts, averaging 11.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.4 steals per game while shooting 49.8% from the field and 67.1% at the free throw line, and he logged a team-leading 129 assists while producing a season-high 24 points and a career-high 10 rebounds in a win over Hawai‘i-Hilo on Dec. 10, adding a season-best nine assists vs Dixie State on Jan. 23, a season-high three blocks at Azusa Pacific on Jan. 9, and a season-best four steals vs Hawai‘i Pacific on Feb. 11.
In the 2016–17 season at Chaminade, Daly started all 28 games and averaged 10.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.1 steals per game in 29.6 minutes, and he shot 52.6% from the field, 23.8% from three (5-of-21), and 66.1% from the free throw line while recording 16 double-digit scoring games and 11 games with five or more assists, highlighted by a career-high 26 points at Fresno Pacific on Jan. 14 (10-of-17 shooting, 6-of-8 free throws), a nine-assist game vs Dominican on Dec. 17, and a 19-point performance vs UConn on Nov. 22 while going 2-for-2 from three-point range.
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