How Returning 36er Reversed Injury Curse

Isaac Humphries’ return to form with Melbourne United in NBL23 was a sight for sore eyes, and now that Nik Popovic has been named as Adelaide’s new Head of High Performance – the 211cm centre has the chance to link up with the man who helped turn his injury woes around.

Humphries headed to Los Angeles during his injury-curtailed NBL22 campaign – his most recent with Adelaide – to work with Popovic on getting his body right for not only the remainder of that season, but beyond.

The pair were initially introduced through Adelaide coach CJ Bruton in 2022, and the relationship has remained strong ever since.

“Isaac was, physically, very limited when he came to see me,” Popovic reflected. “I said to CJ ‘this isn’t going to be a one-week deal, this is going to take a while’, and we ended up working together for five months straight.

“We have a great relationship, having been through a great deal together … the project is ongoing and I’m happy we can continue this journey in Adelaide.”

After taking the NBL scene by storm in the 2017-18 season with the Sydney Kings, Humphries earned an NBA contract with the Atlanta Hawks. Upon his return to the NBL though, he initially struggled to stay on the court.

He played 19 games in NBL21 – where he averaged a career-best 13.3 points and 2.8 blocks per game – but was restricted to just six appearances across the entirety of NBL22.

With a move to Melbourne came a successful return to the court. Due to the season-ending injury of Next Star Ariel Hukporti, United leaned on the former Kentucky Wildcat to provide extensive minutes at the centre position, and he delivered by appearing in 23 of the club’s 28 games.

He also made his first appearances for the Boomers since 2019, as a member of the side that took on Bahrain and Kazakhstan in a pair of FIBA World Cup qualifiers.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Isaac Humphries getting things going early for the <a href="https://twitter.com/BasketballAus?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BasketballAus</a> Boomers ?<br><br>(via <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBAWC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FIBAWC</a>)<a href="https://t.co/0vhpUp5wS5">pic.twitter.com/0vhpUp5wS5</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1628670797014528000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 23, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Popovic says he is loathe to label Humphries as injury-prone, and believes injuries are an unfortunate part of life as a professional athlete.

“Isaac has gone through a lot, and it’s an unfair comment that people make about him being injury prone,” Popovic said. “I’ve been in this industry for 25 years and I cannot remember one athlete – and I’ve worked with many – that hasn’t been injured at some point in their career.

“Unfortunately, most athletes go through some type of injury, which as a performance staff we try to minimize as much as possible, but things to happen.

“I think it will be great for Isaac to be back in Adelaide and prove to everyone – like he did last NBL season – he can play a full season at a high level.”