BIO: Tim Brenton was born in Adelaide (SA) where he attended Seaton High School. He began playing basketball as a junior with the Woodville Warriors Under 14 division 4 team. Brenton received a scholarship to attend the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra) in 1992. He spent three years year there and played for the program’s state league team (1992, 1993).

NBL EXPERIENCE

Tim Brenton made his NBL debut with the Adelaide 36ers at 19 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

After two losing seasons under coach Don Shipway, Adelaide hired American coach Don Monson to replace him and steer the team back to its winning ways. With the 36ers still regrouping from the loss of Australian Boomers big man Mark Bradtke (to Melbourne), they built up the team’s frontcourt by adding Chris Blakemore, a talented young big man from the Australian Institute of Sport, import Paris McCurdy and welcomed back former 36er Willie Simmons (via Canberra). Key additions to the back court included Australian Boomers guard Phil Smyth (via Canberra) and the return of local prodigy Scott Ninnis (via South East Melbourne) who had spent two seasons playing under Brian Goorjian in Melbourne.

After nine games it was clear McCurdy (12.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 2.0 steals) wasn’t what the team needed and he was replaced by import David Robinson (18.3 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 2.4 assists) a serviceable import for sure, but not quite the same player as his NBA namesake.

While Brenton saw very limited minutes, appearing in only three games and failing to score, Adelaide improved on last season under Monson, finishing in seventh place (14-12) and returning to the playoffs.

Mark Davis (22.8 points, 12.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists, and 1.0 blocks) led the team in scoring and rebounding, Ninnis (19.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, 4.7 assists, and 1.3 steals) delivered the best season of his career and was selected as the league’s Most Improved Player and Blakemore (5.7 points and 4.9 rebounds) went on to claim Rookie of the Year honours.

Once into the playoffs, Adelaide were eliminated in the Quarterfinals by defending champions South East Melbourne.

Scott Ninnis (19.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 4.7 assists 1.3 steals, 0.2 blocks across 28 games
Mike Mckay (13.8 points, 6 rebounds, and 3.5 assists 1.3 steals, 0.1 blocks across 28 games
Phil Smyth (10.8 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 4.8 assists 1.6 steals, 0.1 blocks across 28 games
Brett Maher (8.3 points, 3 rebounds, and 2.7 assists 0.8 steals, 0.2 blocks across 26 games
Chris Blakemore (5.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 0.6 assists 0.5 steals, 0.2 blocks across 27 games
Willie Simmons (4 points, 10 rebounds, and 1 assists 0 steals, 4 blocks across 1 games
Paul Rogers (1.4 points, 0.6 rebounds, and 0 assists 0 steals, 0.2 blocks across 5 games
Jerry Dennard (1.3 points, 0.8 rebounds, and 0.1 assists 0.1 steals, 0.1 blocks across 24 games
Brett Wheeler (0.9 points, 0.9 rebounds, and 0.2 assists 0.1 steals, 0.2 blocks across 19 games
Tim Brenton (0 points, 0 rebounds, and 0 assists 0 steals, 0 blocks across 3 games”

1994
The 36ers continued strengthening their roster in 1994, enticing last season’s MVP Robert Rose (via South East Melbourne) to move to Adelaide. The undersized 36ers also acquired 6’8″ forward Andrew Svaldenis from the Hobart Devils before lastly replacing Monson with heralded NCAA coach Mike Dunlap.

The team finished in fourth place with a 19–8 record and went on to win their semi-final series against defending champions, the Melbourne Tigers and earning a matchup against the North Melbourne Giants to decide the NBL championship.

The win over the Tigers came at a cost though as team captain Mark Davis’s court time was limited in the Grand Final after dislocating his right shoulder during the first game of the semi finals. Adelaide would lose both games to North Melbourne (0-2), losing game one at the Powerhouse in overtime (93–95) and game two in Melbourne (97-117). Robert Rose averaged 32 points for the 36ers over the two grand final games, scoring 33 in game one and 31 in Game 2. He played a major role in game one as Adelaide came back from 63–77 down in the last period down to level the game at 84-84 at the end of regulation time and most felt that had Adelaide won the series he would have been the leading candidate for the Grand Final MVP award. The award was deservedly won by Giants centre and future three time 36ers championship player Paul Rees.

Blakemore improved his production from 6 points in 19 minutes per game to 13 points in 33 minutes per game and was awarded the league’s Most Improved Player award.

1995
Under coach Mike Dunlap, Adelaide’s good form continued into 1995 after deciding no to re-sign veteran Phil Smyth (to Sydney) and instead focus on the young core of Brett Maher, Chris Blakemore and Brett Wheeler. Imports Robert Rose and Mark Davis would lead the team in scoring and rebounding while Jo Jo English, previously a member of the Chicago Bulls, would join the team mid-season after Mark Davis became a naturalised Australian.

Adelaide finished in sixth place (17-9) and then eliminated Newcastle in the Quarterfinals. A semifinal matchup against Perth saw national media headlines when Blakemore elbowed Perth forward Martin Cattalini in game one, delivering a cut to his mouth that required 15 stitches. The incident almost led to a brawl and saw Blakemore suspended for game two. Perth went on to win the second game (85-76) and Adelaide’s playoff run was ended by the Wildcats for the fourth time in eight years (1987, 1989, 1991 and 1995).

Brenton recorded a career high 23 points against Newcastle this season, and averaged 3.3 points, 0.6 rebounds, and 0.4 assists for the year. His efforts were rewared with a spot in the 1995 Future Forces game during All-Star Weekend.

At the end of the season, Robert Rose request for a raise was denied and led to his exit from the club. It was believed the 36ers felt that Rose (31 years old) had already played his best basketball and wasn’t worth the money. With coach Dunlap focused on building a younger roster, the departures of Mike McKay (to Brisbane), Phil Smyth (to Sydney) were next to go. Finally, due to an end of season altercation with Dunlap due to the aforementioned Cattalini incident, he chose to follow Rose and signed a deal to play in Canberra as well.

HOBART DEVILS
1996
In 1996, Brenton averaged 13.2 points and 3 rebounds, and helped Hobart finsh the season with an 8-18 record.

With the Devils disbanding the following season, Brenton’s career in the NBL was over.

Tim Brenton played four seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Adelaide 36ers and the Hobart Devils. He averaged 7.7 points, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.5 assists in 57 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (827 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.