Ili roaring towards World Cup return

Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Shea Ili has returned to the court, and is looking to improve on New Zealand's most recent World Cup finish.

After an NBL23 season disrupted by consistent concussion issues, Shea Ili is back on the court and preparing to lead New Zealand on the world stage.

The 30-year-old Melbourne guard made just 14 appearances last season – the fewest since his debut rookie campaign with the Breakers in 2015 – and played his final game of the season in January.

He only returned to the court weeks ago in the lead-up to the Tall Blacks’ World Cup campaign.

Ili’s concussion issues started following an accidental but severe elbow to the jaw in a pre-season session with United. From there, another hit to the head at the NBL Blitz postponed his start to the season.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">?? Following a 4-day training camp in Auckland, Tall Blacks head coach Pero Cameron and his coaching staff have selected a squad of 14 athletes to travel to Japan, Germany & China in advance of the FIBA World Cup!<br><br>? Read more: <a href="https://t.co/bqeOZwdFLg">https://t.co/bqeOZwdFLg</a> <a href="https://t.co/medbr1CAuy">pic.twitter.com/medbr1CAuy</a></p>— Tall Blacks (@TallBlacks) <a href="https://twitter.com/TallBlacks/status/1685771996309905408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

And the symptoms returned following a third hit against the Adelaide 36ers on January 21.

“I’ve definitely had a few knocks back when I was younger, but I don’t think I’ve ever been knocked out like that,” Ili told RNZ of the initial concussion.

“It was definitely a hard time for myself sitting out that long. It wasn’t the greatest for my mental health, but I had good people around me.

“My wife didn’t like seeing me down but we just kind of had to go through it and she was there to support me.

“A big part of it is people feeling sorry for you and asking you every single questions, having the kids – they don’t know what is going on, so they’re just there to have fun and kept my mind off it.”

While Ili was sidelined he was not content to sit on his hands and watch the world go by.

The former NBL Most Improved Player started a carpentry apprenticeship, and attacked neck rehabilitation work with the same vigour he shows on the defensive end of the court.

But now, he’s back in action and looking to go to improve on his country’s 19^th place finish at the last World Cup.

“You want to come out and showcase what you can do, and being basketball players from New Zealand – not many people look at us as a competitive nation," Ili said.

“If we want to be better and we want to do well, we’ve got to be able to execute everything.

“I’m one of the older guys in the group so I’ve got to teach some of the young boys the way we play and go about ourselves."

New Zealand has been drawn alongside the USA, Greece and Jordan in group play for the upcoming tournament.