Dean Vickerman: Underrated NBL legend?

There’s something in the water at Melbourne United. Aside from last season’s final day heartbreak that kept them out of Finals, it’s a club that has forged an identity of success since its rebranding in 2014.

The first three seasons under the United banner were difficult by Melbourne’s now lofty standards. One Finals appearance in 2016 ended in ignominy with a series sweep defeat to New Zealand – but the club has been a consistent powerhouse of the NBL since 2018, and one crucial appointment has coincided with Melbourne re-taking its place as a competition leader - the appointment of Dean Vickerman.

Vickerman boasted an NBL title as head coach of New Zealand prior to his appointment in Melbourne, but it’s with United that he has hammered home his status as one of the greatest coaches in NBL history. He’s added two more titles and three Coach of the Year awards to his cabinet in that period.

Dean Vickerman won NBL four titles as an assistant coach, including playing a key role in New Zealand's three-peat of 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Heading into the NBL24 Championship Series Vickerman has coached 323 games, which is 15^th all-time. Only Brians Goorjian and Kerle have a greater winning percentage of those who have coached over 70 games in the NBL.

Goorjian is lauded as the greatest head coach in the history of the competition, and with his record and sheer longevity, rightly so, but he says the amount of respect for Vickerman within the Australian coaching community is immense.

“In my circle, he’s incredibly respected, and I know from an overseas standpoint people know the name ‘Dean Vickerman’. When you’re at the Summer League they know Dean Vickerman,” Goorjian told NBL Media.

“Everybody sees our game now, it’s not just Australia, and in the circle I work in that I deal with, he is – I’m not going to say revered – but he is unbelievably respected.

“He’s a funny combination of kind and tough. He’s a tough guy you don’t mess with, but he has a warmth and a kindness to him, and that’s a beautiful mix. He’s respected, and players know he’s competent.

“I think greatness is clarity. When Lindsay Gaze ran his stuff with the Tigers it was clear what he was doing – everyone tried to run it and it was elite. What I say with Dean Vickerman is offensively it’s clear, it’s simple, it’s spacing, but it’s done to perfection.

“Defensively is where I think Melbourne shines. His team does a great job of putting pressure on the ball, it always has that rim protection and walls up off the ball. Offensively they move the ball, look after the ball, and there’s clarity in roles. Defensively they protect the rim and there’s no easy baskets.”

That respect of Vickerman from Goorjian and his fellow peers isn’t solely an admiration from afar.

Both Vickerman and Goorjian have an intimate knowledge of how each other approaches the game. Vickerman through his time in the Boomers program with the coaching legend, and Goorjian through watching this Melbourne team go about its business across NBL24.

“When I came back after being overseas for a long time I had a respect for Dean. He was an up-and-coming coach and doing some good things, but when I came back there was definitely a feeling as I entered the league again from Wollongong that he had established himself and was very well respected amongst his peers and the players,” Goorjian reflected.

“At that time, I was reaching out to people to try and get a feel for what was going on. I also became the Boomers coach and he was one of the first guys I went to about getting to help me with the windows and joining the staff. Leading into the bronze medal team I noticed Dean’s team was doing some similar stuff to what I wanted to do with the Boomers. I went out to United, and what I found about him is he gave me his time.

“I got to understand more of his basketball brain and there’s always respect there, but when we start discussing ideas about how to defend things, what to run, how to counter certain things, I was so impressed with his basketball mind, and I thought he was really nice to give me his time and to be so open with his stuff.

“A lot of times people are protective, and they hold you at bay, but he couldn’t have been more accommodating and helpful.

“When I came back from the World Cup I wasn’t coaching and I didn’t have anything going on domestically.

“I live in Melbourne, so I got the chance to hang around United and watch some practices. I could periodically go in to watch practice and see them prepare, go to games, and I made the assessment that one of his biggest strengths is he’s been tremendous with his selection of people.

“I can tell what Dean is about by the players and staff he’s selected, and you can see in how his team works at practice in the day-to-day they’re hard-working, they’re together, and there’s a theme to it. There’s a definite respect for Dean and they enjoy Dean, they like Dean, they want to play for Dean, and Dean enjoys them.

“I always say the winning is in the picking, and before you go into style of play and all the other things, he does well in his basketball knowledge, he ticks all those boxes.”

With Vickerman’s record of success in the NBL, it’s almost strange that he perhaps isn’t held to the same level of near-reverence that the likes of Trevor Gleeson, Phil Smyth or Joey Wright are afforded for their coaching achievements.

Vickerman also took charge of a Boomers FIBA World Cup qualifying window in 2023.

Much of that stems from the fact that, on paper, Melbourne’s team has almost always been stacked – and NBL24 has been no different.

Chris Goulding has been a constant at Melbourne for Vickerman’s entire tenure, add the returns of Jo Lual-Acuil Jr and Matthew Dellavedova ahead of the current campaign, the addition of former NBL and NBA champion Ian Clark already uber-talented roster, and the return to full fitness for a Shea Ili who was ready to claim the mantle of the competition’s best defender, and that’s a recipe for success.

Prior to that the likes of Jock Landale and Jack White have used the club as a platform to get to the NBA, imports Casper Ware and Casey Prather have thrived, and every iota of talent has been squeezed out of solid local contributors like Mitch McCarron, Mason Peatling, and veterans like Dave Andersen, Brad Newley and David Barlow.

Then, if you sprinkle in the rookie promise of Flynn Cameron and Kyle Bowen and the NBA-calibre talent of Luke Travers and Ariel Hukporti to this season’s roster, you have a team that, by all rights, should be winning.

And win they have. Melbourne finished the season with the best record in the NBL and overcame a number of injury-enforced hurdles to do so.

Goorjian asserts that Vickerman is the key reason these superstar talents continue to select Melbourne as their go-to NBL destination.

“These players like Jock Landale, Jo Lual-Acuil Jr, Chris Goulding, ‘Delly’, they want to win and they want to be coached,” Goorjian said.

“They’re elite and they want to get better in a winning environment, and that head coaching position is important to them.

Vickerman hoists the 2018 NBL title with Chris Goilding.

“I’ve dealt with a lot of these types of guys with the Boomers and the vibe that comes back from them is he’s elite, they know they’re going to get worked, and they know they’re going to be in an environment because of who Dean is and how he coaches, is going to be a winning environment.

“I look at Jock and Jack (White), if they did come back to the NBL it would be really hard to recruit them because they’ve had Dean, they’ve been in that environment and it would be hard to shake that because he is elite and competent. Those players can sniff in a second if somebody knows what he’s doing or not, and Dean knows what he’s doing.”

Game 1 of Melbourne’s Championship Series against Tasmania will tip off at 4pm AEDT on Sunday, and will be broadcast live and free on ESPN via Kayo Freebies, 10 Peach and 10 Play.