Forde Proud of His Diamonds in the Rough

Cairns Taipans’ head coach Adam Forde was far from disappointed with the Taipans’ players after being knocked out of the Playoffs on Sunday.

The Taipans lost 79-64 to the Sydney Kings in a Game 3 decider on Sunday afternoon, ending their title dreams.

Following the loss, Forde was sure to mention he was proud of the Taipans’ efforts this season. The side were predicted to finish last and proved all the doubters wrong as they played consistent and impactful basketball.

Since he first signed as head coach, Forde’s aims for the organisation was to develop young talent and provide a breeding ground to become their best.

“We’re going to be victims of our own success, the cool thing about it and what I enjoy most being at Cairns is we’ll always have contingency plans in place. We want to be a platform for guys to get big contracts in the NBA and EuroLeague,” Forde said.

“We don’t want to sit there and go, we only have half a team now. So we’ll always have things in place to bring the next one in.

“It goes from us trying to sell a dream to now guys wanting to get involved in it. It’s exactly what we wanted to build, what we’re trying to create, that’s what our identity is.”

The Taipans have been labelled underdogs this season with Forde saying multiple times he built the roster around young talent.

Sam Waardenburg is amongst the names of the talented youngsters that made an impact this season.

Waardenburg won the Next Generation Award and impressed the league when he stepped up after star teammate Keanu Pinder was sidelined due to an eye injury.

Import DJ Hogg also impressed this season, averaging 18.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.8 assists, and he played a key role in the Playoffs against the Kings.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">DJ HOGG IS SOMETHING ELSE ?<br>TWO MASSIVE SHOTS. TWO MASSIVE MAKES.<br><br>? <a href="https://twitter.com/Dj_hogg1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Dj_hogg1</a> | ? <a href="https://twitter.com/espn?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@espn</a> <a href="https://t.co/gmyT2aWM0O">pic.twitter.com/gmyT2aWM0O</a></p>&mdash; Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans/status/1626529517987835905?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 17, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Forde added Cairns needs to look harder for talent than most clubs and he is determined to maintain the team always has a competitive roster.

“We’re not going to get the MVP calibre dude that’s making half a million dollars. We’re going to get him out of college, get him most improved, rookie of the year and then he goes and gets it,” Forde said.

“That’s important to me and the club, and everyone involved.”