NBL Champion Names Potential "Big Time" Cooks Replacement

The announcement of Xavier Cooks’ impending move to the NBA was immediately met with pride from every corner of Australian basketball. Once that pride faded away though the attention has turned to how on earth the Kings are going to replace him.

Cooks has been one of the most dominant players in a stacked power forward position across the last two NBL seasons. He already has a championship ring, Grand Final MVP and league MVP sitting in his cabinet, and he could yet add more silverware to his resume before he departs for Washington.

Former NBL champion Adam Gibson says the perfect homegrown replacement for Cooks is sitting ripe for the picking.

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“For me that four position is the most important on the floor – in my eyes,” Gibson told NBL Today. “Obviously the Kings have been lucky to have an Australian in that position, you lose him so now you need an import.

“Keanu Pinder is going to Spain to play in the off-season. I have him getting a potential bigger job over there and not coming back, but someone like the Kings can throw some cash at him and have him back in Australia.

“They’re very similar players. Both athletic, both can handle the ball, both play defence. There would be absolutely no better fit for the Kings if they could get Keanu Pinder.

“That’s big time, because that position is massive.”

Cooks will be hoping to follow the mould Australian bigs have set in the NBA over recent years, once he links up with the Wizards.

The likes of Andrew Bogut, Aron Baynes and even guard Matthew Dellavedova have created the perception that Australian players love to get stuck into the nitty gritty, less glamorous side of the game.

There’s an element of hard-working underdog in the perception of Aussie hoopers over in the NBA, and it’s a perception Cooks fits well.

“Those Australian players just play harder in the NBA and that gets them so much further,” Gibson said.

“All those things Americans don’t like to typically do – he’ll rebound, he’ll play defence, he’ll block shots.

“The NBA is such a different game. There’s so much space. If he’s playing off the pick and rolls and has open court space, he’s going to make an impact.

“His game style and how he goes about the game is why he’s going to be so successful and sign a longer-term deal once he starts over there.”

NBL fans only have a maximum of three more games in this Championship Series to catch the NBA-bound Cooks in action.

Game 3 between the Kings and Breakers tips off on Friday, March 10 at 7:30pm AEDT – live on ESPN via Kayo Freebies.