BIO: Warren Pink was born in Melbourne (VIC) and began playing basketball as a junior with the Nunawading basketball program. Pink was a part of the U/20 Victorian Team 1978.

NBL EXPERIENCE

Warren Pink made his NBL debut with the Nunawading Spectres at 19 years of age. He scored two points in his first game.

In 1980, Pink averaged 3.1 points as the Spectres finished with a record of 14-9 and in fourth place during the regular season.

1981
In 1981, Pink averaged 3.6 points, 0 rebounds, and 0 assists, playing a key role in the Spectres rotation, helping the team finish reach a fourth place finish in the regular season with a 13-9 record.

1982
The 1982 season saw Pink average 1.6 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 0.1 assists and play a key role in helping the Spectres to a third place finish in the regular season with a 19-7 record.

1983
During the 1983 season Pink averaged 1.8 points, 1.3 rebounds, and 0.1 assists and helped the Spectres finish with a record of 15-7 and end the regular season in fifth place.

1984
Coach Barry Barnes led the Spectres to a record of 14 wins, 9 losses in 1984 which saw them finish in fourth place in the NBL’s Western Division. Due to the size of the league (the NBL featured 17 team’s at this time), the NBL finals series in 1984 consisted of the elimination-style divisional finals, two semi-final games, and one championship-deciding grand final.

Nunawading would defeat Adelaide, 108–101 in their Elimination Final before losing to Geelong in the Qualifying Finals, 91–115, in the next game.

Pink averaged 5.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 0.8 assists alongside Dean Uthoff, who would lead the league in rebounding and average 20.1 points, 18.5 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game.

1985
In 1985 Pink averaged 9.5 points and 6.4 rebounds, and helped guide the Spectres to a third place finish in the regular season with a 19-7 record.

1986
In 1986 Pink averaged 7.6 points and 5.5 rebounds, and helped guide the Spectres to a ninth-place finish during the regular season with a 12-14 record.

1987
In 1987, Pink averaged 6.7 points and 4.8 rebounds, and helped guide the Spectres to 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.

Pink would average 6.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.3 assists. 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 Pink averaging 3.4 points, 3 rebounds, and 0.9 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.

Warren Pink played ten seasons in the NBL, playing for both the Nunawading Spectres and the Eastside Melbourne Spectres. He averaged 4.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 0.6 assists in 229 NBL games.

Dan Boyce (832 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.