The Sydney Kings held their second annual Rookie Camp over the past two days where they were able to get a close look at a very talented group of national and international prospects, all vying for a developmental player spot with the team.
Players participated in a number of measurement and assessment drills in front of Kings coach Andrew Gaze and Lanard Copeland, as well as established Kings players Tom Garlepp and Jason Cadee.
Stand-out players included,
Peter Hooley
Hooley, a 193cm guard who made Sportscenter’s top 10 when he nailed a buzzer-beater in the NCAA tournament in 2015, impressed coaches with his ability to shoot from long range and an improved defensive game.
Hooley has been unlucky not to make an NBL squad over the past two years with multiple NBL teams showing interest in him since he graduated from Albany University. Although he was close to making the Adelaide 36ers roster last season he spent the past 6 months playing in England with the Plymouth Raiders.
Tevin Jackson
Jackson spent with the Perth Wildcats and Cairns Taipans as a development player, currently playing for the Cairns Marlins in the QBL, he still hopes to make compete at an NBL level.
The 201cm swingman has been working hard on his shot with Marlins coach Jamie Pearlman and his increase range was a something coaches and media noted on his try-out. work showed at the Kings rookie camp.
Indiana Faithful
Kings fans will be familiar with Faithful’s game, as a development player with the Kings in 2015-16, he impressed during his time there.
Ultimately the overall talent of the league has developed over the past 12 months so it was interesting to see how Indiana’s game had developed over the past year too.
Ultimately the overall talent of the league has developed over the past 12 months so it was interesting to see how Indiana’s game had developed over the past year too.
Faithful showed impressive speed, tenacity and long range shooting and seemed “taller” to some of the those watching from the sidelines. The 193cm guard did well across the two days but ultimately needed to make a big impact to earn himself a return to the Kings roster.
Jack Purchase
Jack, the son of Nigel Purchase who played 250 games in the NBL with the Melbourne Tigers, shot the ball well for a 200cm forward and made a strong case to be a development player.
Currently playing at the University of Hawaii, big having so far received limited minutes there, may be considering a return to Australia if a Sydney Kings development spot was available.
Amritpal Singh
Andrew Gaze has repeatedly said “a big man is the Kings number one priority” and Amritpal Singh, the 209cm captain of the Indian National team made left perhaps the biggest impression at the camp.
Originally from a rural village in northern India where he worked as a farmer until he first picked up a basketball at the age of 18.
Singh impressed many NBL coaches at the recent NBL combine and the same can be said of the Kings Rookie Camp with the general consensus being that if you had to select someone from the camp for one spot on the Kings roster, Singh would likely be it.
Other young tyros trying to earn a purple and gold jersey were Adam Thoseby, Jack Barry, Mathiang Muo, Matt Hancock, Josh Derksen and Joel Spear.
Emmanuel Malou, a Sudanese-Australian talent was present but injured forced him to be unable to participate. Recent Kings singing Dane Pineau also took part in the camp. who recently was playing in Recent Kings
For more information on the day, listen to our recent podcast on Aussie Hoopla were our reporter Marco Selorio who was there gives a further breakdown on what the Kings told him they were looking for.
On the episode, the Aussie Hoopla writing team also take a look at what’s happening in Aussie Hoops around the globe.
Marco Selorio (Sydney)
Vince Massara (Melbourne)
Adam Fahmy (Sydney)
Topics which the team cover include;
- Did Joe Ingles become one of the top 5 Aussies to play in the NBA this season?
- What was the greatest single-game performance ever by an Aussie in the NBA?
- Josh Childress looking like he’ll be suiting up for the Melbourne United this season and does that automatically give them the title?
- Is Luc Longley under-rated these days
- Who was the first Indian player to compete in the NBL
- Philipino basketball and Larry Kestelman’s plans to take the NBL to Asia
All of this and a whole lot more….
Listen to the full interview below or download on iTunes.
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.
