BIO: Tom Digbeu was born in Barcelona (Spain).

Digbeu also played in the 2017 Jordan Brand Classic that featured the likes of current NBA players Killian Hayes, Theo Maledon and Isaiah Stewart. Having risen through the ranks of FC Barcelona’s basketball academy. He attended the 2018 NBA Basketball Without Borders (Europe) camp and impressed alongside the likes of current NBA players Deni Avdija and Aleksej Pokusevski.

FAMILY: He is the son of former NBA draftee Alain Digbeu and he last played for BC Prienai in the highly regarded Lithuanian basketball league.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Tom Digbeu made his NBL debut with the Brisbane Bullets at 20 years of age. He went scoreless in his first NBL game.

Coming off the back of finishing sixth last season, it was announced that Andrej Lemanis was leaving the side after five years as head coach. After considering assistant coach and former Bullets player CJ Bruton for the role, they instead brought in former Sydney Kings assistant James Duncan as the team’s new head coach.

The Bullets were also forced to re-tool their roster, making several changes to key personnel. While import Lamar Patterson returned, the Bullets lost Vic Law to Perth, and with BJ Johnson signing a NBA deal with Orlando, they were unable to retain him either. Local bigs Matt Hodgson (to Perth), Harry Froling (to Illawarra) and development player Callum Dalton (to Melbourne) all headed elsewhere, looking for better opportunities.

Brisbane re-signed Tyrell Harrison (two-year deal) and Jason Cadee (two-year deal) before adding Frenchman Digbeu as part of the NBL’s Next Star program. Digbu, who became the club’s first Next Star player ever, was joined by more international talent, including Chuanxing Liu (China), Jack Salt (New Zealand), Deng Deng (South Sudan), and import Robert Franks (USA).

In the opening game of the season, the Bullets fell short against the JackJumpers in Tasmania (74-83). While the overtime loss didn’t end the team’s season, it set the tone for the Bullets, who saw single-digit losses pile up against the league’s top team’s all season.

As the competition hit the halfway mark, Brisbane’s record was 5-9, and with injuries to Harrison (elbow) and star guard Nathan Sobey (knee), Brisbane struggled to find any rhythm during the second half of the season with the duo missing 11 and 16 games respectively.

Robert Franks (18.2 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 1.6 assists) was the Bullets high scorer in 13 games, and leading vote getter for the Leroy Loggins MVP Award (Club MVP). While leading the team in scoring, he shot 50% from the field and 76% from the free-throw line and finished fifth in the league for points per game.

Patterson (16.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.0 steals), Sobey (16.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.5 assists), and Jason Cadee (10.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 4.9 assists) were the only other players scoring in double figures.

This season new head coach James Duncan wanted the Bullets to be better defensively, at the start of the season the 44-year-old would have been impressed with how his team was playing defensively. However, Brisbane wasn’t able to maintain it, and its defence fluctuated throughout the year, it finished the year as the worst defensive team, conceding 89.3 points per game and finishing first for turnovers, averaging 14.6 per game.

Although the Bullets did show small glimpses of potential under the reigns of new coach Duncan, Brisbane would miss the finals for the third straight year, finishing in eighth place (10-18). Digbeu would appear in 19 games for the Bullets, averaging 4.6 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 1.1 assists.

Tom Digbeu played one season in the NBL. He averaged 4.5 points, 1.5 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 19 NBL games.

HIGHLIGHTS:

Dan Boyce (802 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.