NICKNAME/S: Wombat

BIO: Steven Marković was born in the Sydney suburb of Liverpool to a Serbian father and a Italian mother. He began playing basketball as a junior with the Bankstown basketball program. Markovic received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 2003. He spent two years year there and played for the program’s state league team (2003).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Steven Markovic made his NBL debut with the West Sydney Razorbacks at 17 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

Markovic signed with West Sydney as a development player in 2002. He saw court time in five games during the season, averaging 2.6 points, 0.8 rebounds, and 0.4 assists while the Razorbacks finished in seventh place (14-16).

2003/04
In 2003/04, Markovic averaged 8.8 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 2.3 assists, playing a key role in the Razorbacks rotation, helping the team finish in third place (22-11).

2004/05
The 2004/05 season saw Markovic average 10.9 points, 3 rebounds, and 2.4 assists and play a key role in helping the Razorbacks to a ninth place finish (11-21).

2013/14
In 2013, Barrier Reef Basketball relinquished its ownership of Townsville’s NBL license, putting the Crocodile’s’ 2013/14 season in doubt. the Crocodiles would, however, manage to stay afloat with the team moving from an owner-operated model to a community-owned club. This resulted in head coach Paul Woolpert not being retained, and Perth Wildcats assistant Shawn Dennis signed as his replacement.

Dennis made the decision to focus on giving opportunities to the team’s younger talent, namely Todd Blanchfield and Mitchell Norton, whom he hoped to build a roster around over the next two or three seasons.

Veterans Peter Crawford, Jacob Holmes and team captain Russell Hinder all returned, and in a major signing for the club, added Markovic, now an Australian Boomers squad member who had spent the previous few seasons playing in Europe. Lastly, imports Joshua Pace and Brian Conklin were brought in to round out the roster.

Townsville had found quite a talent in Conklin, who scored 33 points in his second game, a win over the New Zealand Breakers (91–78). It was the second-highest score by a Crocs player since 40-minute games were introduced into the NBL in 2010. Despite being unanimously selected to finish in last place, Townsville recorded upset wins over top teams Melbourne (90-75) and Adelaide (98-94) to start the season, defeated New Zealand twice and by round 10 they sat just outside the playoffs in fifth spot.

With Pace (14.9 points, 5 rebounds, and 1.7 assists) and Markovic (13.4 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 4.6 assists) both failing to deliver what Townsville had expected and with the team’s inexperienced beginning to show, the team lost their next eight games in a row.

Despite the losses, Conklin (16.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.3 assists) was a revelation for the club, using his strength and speed to overcome any height disadvantage and finishing in the top seven scorers in the league. His impact was clearly felt after the team lost him to a hamstring injury against the Melbourne Tigers, which kept him out of the team’s last four games of the season.

Townsville finished second last on the ladder with a record of 10-18, while Conklin’s efforts were rewarded with him being named part of the All-NBL Second Team.

2014/15
Townsville were able to secure the services of star import Brian Conklin for another season, and together with the development of young players like Todd Blanchfield and Mitchell Norton looked to improve in Shawn Dennis’ second year as coach. Veterans Peter Crawford (Adelaide) and Russell Hinder (Retired) were not re-signed, and underperforming import Joshua Pace was replaced with former NBA shot blocker Mickell Gladness.

Dennis replaced the outgoing Crawford and Hinder withMackay product Clint Stiendl and New Zealand born Leon Henry.

While Townsville became quite a force at home, they were never able to win consistently on the road. Townsville’s home success saw the team finish with a winning home record (8-6) for the first time since 2012, but due to finishing with only three wins on the road all season (11-17 record).

High spots for the season included Blanchfield (14.6 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.7 assists ) receiving high-profile recognition across the league and even appearing on a number of NBA radars after winning the NBL’s Most Improved Player and earning a spot on the All-NBL Second Team. Conklin (18.9 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists) delivered an even better second season with the Crocodile’s. He shot 50.7 per cent shooting from the field and finished fourth in the league in scoring, including a 33 point and 11 rebound effort in a 79–75 loss to the Cairns Taipans. Conklin finished the season being named the NBL’s Most Valuable Player as well as earning a spot on the All-NBL First Team.

Markovic appeared in all 28 games during the season, averaging 9.9 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 4.3 assists.

2015/16
SYDNEY KINGS
2015/16
Since re-entering the league in 2010, Sydney had never finished with a winning record, something they came narrowly close to last season, until a season-ending injury to star Josh Childress derailed things.

The Kings bounced back by loading up on talent to surround Childress and blossoming young stars like Jason Cadee, Tom Garlepp and reigning Rookie of the Year Angus Brandt. Veterans Julian Khazzouh, Steven Markovic and Rhys Carter were brought in, and NBA draftee Marcus Thornton was signed as the team’s second import.

Although Childress would miss the first four games of the season (1-3) with a foot injury, he returned to the court to face Adelaide (Oct 23) at home, only to break his right hand. Childress still managed to score 23 points and played out the Kings’ loss to the 36ers (91–80) before being ruled out for a further four to six games with a boxer’s fracture.

Childress returned in late November, but two games later, he suffered a fractured left hand back and was subsequently ruled out for three weeks. He was reactivated once again on December 29 and played out the rest of the season.

All in all, Childress (21.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.7 blocks) played in only 13 games for the Purple and Gold. Starting centre Khazzouh (13.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 1.0 steals, 1.8 blocks) delivered great numbers in his return before ripping his right quadriceps tendon off the bone in mid-December, missing a third of the season and Markovic (3.0 points, 1.1 rebounds, and 1.7 assists) played a grand total of 3 games for the season due to illness and subsequent recovery. With most of the team’s starting line-up missing, the Kings were so decimated at one stage that assistant coach Ben Knight suited up for four games.

In early January 2016, Craig Moller and Jordan Vandenberg were also brought in to help cover the loss of Khazzouh and backup forward Jeromie Hill (4.1 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 0.4 assists).

During the absence of Childress, the Kings brought in former NBA players Damion James (7.0 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 0.6 assists) for 5 games, Al Harrington (17.7 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.7 assists) for 6 games with James being a disappointment and Harrington becoming a fan favourite during their brief stints, but both failed to deliver team success and coach Damian Cotter was released mid-season.

Former Washington Wizards assistant Joe Connelly was brought in as a new head coach and helped youngsters Cadee (14.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.5 assists), Garlepp (14.0 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 2.1 assists) and Brandt (8.1 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks) continue to develop (Brandt earning a gig with the national team at year’s end), it wasn’t enough for the under-manned Kings to avoid finishing dead last (6-22) during the regular season.

Steven Markovic played six seasons across three NBL teams. This included the West Sydney Razorbacks, Townsville Crocodiles and Sydney Kings. He averaged 10 points, 2.2 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in 135 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.