BIO: Steve Lunardon was born in Melbourne (VIC) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Sandringham basketball program. In 1981 he represented Victoria at the Australian
under 16 championships and played a big part in his state winning the title for the fifth year in a row.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Steve Lunardon made his NBL debut with the Nunawading Spectres at 19 years of age. He scored eight points in his first game.

In 1986, Lunardon averaged 10.9 points, 7.5 rebounds, and 0.6 assists as the Spectres finished with a record of 12-14 and in ninth place during the regular season.

1987
In 1987, Lunardon averaged 5 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 0.6 assists, playing a key role in the Spectres rotation, helping the team finish reach a eighth place finish in the regular season with a 13-13 record.

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.

Lunardon would average 3.8 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 0.8 assists alongside local talent Ron Lemons, Warren Pink, Shane Froling and Darren Lucas, the stand-out for the team’s local roster. 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. 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.

1989
After a import merry-go-round and lacklustre season in coach Brian Goorjian’s first year, he looked to create some stability within the franchise. He re-signed import Arne Duncan, last year’s leading scorer and paired him with import Ben Tower, a Michigan native who had been drafted by the Detroit Pistons five years earlier.

The Spectres retained the core group of last season’s roster, team captain Warren Pink, Dean Uthoff, the league’s leading rebounder and the league’s most improved player Darren Lucas. The rest of the roster was built around a bunch of young talent, with Shane Froling, Paul Hotchin and Steve Lunardon all returning with one more season of experienced, 17-year-old Spectres junior player Rupert Sapwell and 24-year-old Wayne Larkins from Westside Melbourne.

During the pre-season, Duncan suffered a injury that saw him miss the first half of the regular season.

The Spectres then signed Kent Lockhart, who had been playing in the state league for Sandringham, as an injury replacement for Duncan. Goorjian, who had been playing pickup basketball games against state league players during the offseason, was impressed by his ability to play both sides of the ball.

Lockhart (28.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 2.4 assists) led the team in scoring, and made such a impact on the team that when Duncan returned from injury, the team released Ben Tower and signed Lockhart to the full-time roster. With Duncan putting up big numbers again (28.6 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 5.6 assists), Dean Uthoff (18.6 points, 17.0 rebounds, and 4.0 assists) leading the league in rebounding for a second consecutive year and Lunardon averaging 3 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 0.3 assists per game, the Specres finished the year on a four-game winning streak. Lockhart, who posted a incredible 47 points against the Newcastle Falcons in Round 18, was named to the All-NBL First Team, and with Eastside Melbourne improved from a 11-13 to 14-12 record, leaving Spectres’ fans very optimistic for next season.

1990
Eastside had been slowly improving each season since Brian Goorjian was appointed head coach in 1988, and by 1990 many of the core group that had been a part of the roster when Goorjian took over had developed from junior talent to highly productive NBL players.

The only changes to the local roster were the exits of veterans Paul Hotchins and Warren Pink, who were then replaced with Darren Perry (Brisbane) and Nunawading junior Tony Ronaldson, who had just completed a year at the Australian Institute of Sport. The departure of import Arne Duncan then made room for the return of former Spectre Bruce Bolden.

To kick off the season, Eastside was tipped to be the big improvers of 1990 after finishing ‘best of the rest’ the year prior. The team started off by winning its first three games on the schedule, but over the course of the season, the team never seemed to be able to beat the league’s best. While they knocked off the majority of the league, losses they couldn’t see to deliver wins against elite team’s like Perth, Brisbane and North Melbourne. In Round 21, Eastside turned things around with a win over crosstown rivals North Melbourne (118-111), but then followed that up with a 3-2 run home.

Despite this, Eastside still managed to finish second on the ladder thanks to a impressive 10-3 home record. Lockhart (27.0 points, 7.6 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.3 steals) returned a better player in his second year in the league, leading the team in scoring and being selected to the All-NBL Second Team. Bolden (26.4 points, 11.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.0 steals and 1.2 blocks) filled the stat sheet most games and Uthoff (17.9 points and 13.6 rebounds) led the team in rebounding once again. Perry (10.7 points, 2.4 rebounds and 5.6 assists) running the point guard spot was a big part of the Spectres improvement from 14-10 last season, to 16-8 in 1990. Lunardon also contributed 1.4 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 0.3 assists per game.

Due to finishing in second place, Eastside received a first-round bye then met Brisbane, who eliminated Sydney in the elimination finals, in the semi final. This was the first time a Goorjian coached team had reached the semi finals but they were eliminated by the Bullets amidst little fanfare in two straight games.

MELBOURNE TIGERS
1991
In 1991, Lunardon averaged 3.1 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 0.4 assists and helped guide the Tigers to a fifth place finish in the regular season with a 16-10 record.

During that season Gordon was a part of the highest scoring game in NBL history when Melbourne faced Illawarra on the 27th of July, 1991. The game which saw a total of 344 points scored finished with the Tigers earning a 186-158 victory with Andrew Gaze leading the game in scoring with 59 points and Gordon adding 7 points and 12 assists.

Remarkably the Hawks shot 76% from the field, which remains the highest shooting percentage ever recorded by a team in a losing effort.

Once into the play-offs Melbourne would go on to lose to Adelaide in two straight games during the elimination finals. Gaze’s brilliance would see him earn his first NBL Most Valuable Player award after averaging 39 points, 4 rebounds, and 6 assists, and a career-high 2.7 steals.

1992
1992 began with the Tigers adding former NBA guard Lanard Copeland as a replacement for forward David Colbert and together with Andrew Gaze the two became one of the most exciting duos to watch in the NBL. Gaze would lead the league in scoring with averages of 33.8 points, 4.6 rebounds and 6.3 assists while Copeland delivered 28.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3 assists and Lunardon would do his part with season averages of 1.7 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 0.2 assists per game.

The Tigers much faster lineup would finish the regular season in third-place with a 15-9 record. Once into the postseason the Tigers would eliminate Perth (2-1) in the quarter-finals, The Sydney Kings (2-1) in the semifinals and reach the Grand Final for the first time in franchise history. Facing off against crosstown rivals the South East Melbourne Magic, Gaze and the Tigers came out blazing away in the first game of the series, comfortably defeating the Magic 116-98. Gaze contributing 26 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists in the win. The would be the last of the heroics however as the Magic would then win the next two games of the series and claim the 1992 NBL championship.

1993
Lunardon would see minimal playing opportunities this season but was a part of the 1993 Melbourne Tigers championship which saw Lindsay Gaze and his son Andrew complete a decade long journey to win Australia’s oldest basketball club its first national championship.

Although the Tigers had reached the Grand Final in 1992 after beginning the 1993 season with a 2-7 start no one was pencilling them in for the championship at mid-season. After shaking off their slow start and finishing the remaining games on a 14-3 run the Tigers finished the year in third-place.

Steve Lunardon played nine seasons across four NBL teams. This included the Nunawading Spectres, Eastside Melbourne Spectres, Melbourne Tigers and Geelong Supercats. He averaged 4.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 0.3 assists in 154 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (811 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.