Goulding still believing in NBA dream

Friday, November 24, 2023

Chris Goulding has revealed while he's fully focused on Melbourne United, he's still conscious of his NBA potential.

Melbourne United star Chris Goulding is aging like a fine wine, and at the age of 35 he’s in the midst of one of the most electric runs of form in his storied 400+ game NBL career.

And so the nagging question that’s hung around Goulding for over a decade is starting to rear its head again, and it revolves around three key letters that have so far eluded the Boomers great across his years in the professional game.

N .B. A.

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Goulding has had a taste of the top level over his career through Summer League stints with the Dallas Mavericks and Cleveland Cavaliers, but as Adelaide’s Jacob Wiley alluded to earlier in the week – the NBL is no longer a secret on the world stage. When Goulding was lighting it up in his mid-twenties, you could argue it was.

In a cabinet adorned with NBL awards sitting left and right – and an Olympic medal likely proudly taking centre stage, Goulding says he hasn’t necessarily given up on the hopes of an NBA call-up before his career is over.

“If the opportunity were to present itself I’d be like ‘yep, absolutely’. You grab it with both hands and you run,” Goulding told SEN.

“But there’s no part of me going ‘oh if I score 30 points here...’

“If it happens it would be amazing, but I’m not sitting around the campfire waiting and wishing for something to pop up.”

Goulding passed 6,000 career points in the NBL in Melbourne’s Round 8 matchup with the Sydney Kings, and proved to be the catalyst for one of the best comeback wins seen in NBL24 so far.

United now sit proudly atop the ladder with a 10-2 record, and with 10 rounds left to play they have firmly established themselves as the team to beat this season.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">The benchmark is set ?<br><br>Chris Goulding scored his 6000th NBL point and was at his brilliant best to take home Foot Locker Player of the Game honours in a win over the reigning champs ? <a href="https://t.co/7BVwNTqh5H">pic.twitter.com/7BVwNTqh5H</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1726132616133526009?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Ian Clark and Matthew Dellavedova are still set to come back into the lineup, and Nominated Replacement Player Rob Loe has now departed the club following his eight-game stint with the club.

Despite the positive outlook that is currently permeating through the United roster, Goulding says nobody at the club is getting ahead of themselves.

“At the moment I’m playing 35, 36 minutes a game and I have no desire to do that going forward. Once Ian and Delly come back that’ll be significantly reduced,” Goulding said.

“When you put together a squad that’s gull of talent and we have an ultimate goal in mind I think it’s one everyone along the line to say ‘I’ll sacrifice a few minutes here or there’ or ‘I’ll sacrifice a few shots’ to make sure everyone’s feeling good in their role and is ready to perform at the back end of the year.

“We’ve mentioned that whenever you go and play the team on top of the ladder it’s a massive game for you, no matter if you’re down the bottom, in the middle or you’re from Sydney, New Zealand, wherever you are.

“We’re going to get teams’ best shots now so if there’s any slippage or anything like that we’re going to get found out pretty quick.

“It’s on the veterans to keep everyone locked in, but we’ve got defined roles for everyone and if we can go out and execute that – and I keep harping on it – and be really good defensively, we feel like we can push this thing along.

“Teams are going to make runs, teams are going to win four, five, six, seven, eight games in a row, so we’re positioned nicely at the moment but we definitely can’t have any slippage.”

Goulding earned the most votes of any player in the Round 8 Chemist Warehouse Fans MVP nominations.

Keep an eye out on NBL channels to have your say on who you think the competition’s best player is after every round of action.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Chris Goulding’s 35-point performance against the defending champs has earned him the Chemist Warehouse Fans MVP for Round 8 ?<br><br>Keep an eye on NBL channels to catch next week's nominees, and have your say ?? <a href="https://t.co/fa596eN47l">pic.twitter.com/fa596eN47l</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1727475900084834636?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>