NBL Among World's Best: Doyle

“Unfinished business” was a key factor in Milton Doyle’s re-signing with the Tasmania JackJumpers, and he believes the club could easily have not only progressed through to the Championship Series in NBL23, but taken home the title.

After being consistently labelled as the club’s priority signing by head coach Scott Roth throughout the NBL off-season so far, Doyle put pen-to-paper on a new two-year deal with the NBL’s newest side on Thursday morning.

Since earning All-NBL First Team honours last season, Doyle has been playing in Turkey with Tofas SK – however the side were knocked out of the post-season reckoning at the quarter final stage.

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“I think we had a couple of injuries – guys banged up during that playoff run and we fell a little short,” Doyle said. “But it showed what we were capable of.

“A couple of missing pieces and keeping guys healthy, I think we would have been in the championship games and given whoever [we played] a run for their money.

“Like I mentioned on my Instagram, [there’s] kind of unfinished business.

“We didn’t make it to where we wanted to, so I’ve still got a lot to do there.”

It was reported by Roth, before Doyle re-signed, that the star guard may well have had more financially favourable offers on the table from clubs all around the globe.

Doyle says the ability to have his family in a welcoming environment helped tip the scales in favour of re-signing with Tasmania.

“It’s better for me to be comfortable in a great environment with great people – it makes the work on the court much easier,” he said.

“With Covid and everything that had been going on [my family] weren’t able to travel with me to Europe, so I didn’t get to see them as much.

“That definitely weighs heavy on you when you’re overseas by yourself, so having them there for a full season made my job easier.

“After good games, bad games, I knew I was coming home to my family, so it made things easier for me.”

Regardless of any financial muscles other leagues around the world possess though, Doyle believes the quality of the NBL is comparable to any other league on the planet.

“You’re seeing all these other great talents in the league,” he said. “Guys who play all across the world, guys who’ve played in the NBA, guys who play for their national teams. It makes it very competitive.

“It’s a great league to play in and I think it’s catered towards the imports with the fast pace of basketball, and it competes with anywhere across the world.”