Surprise Sauce tipping Goulding MVP

Nathan Sobey, Milton Doyle and Parker Jackson-Cartwright have dominated the MVP discussion in the early stages of NBL24, but a surprise source has named Melbourne United’s Chris Goulding as a smokey for the award a quarter of the way through the season. 

Goulding has hit a league-leading 34 threes so far this season – which is 10 more than the second-place Jordon Crawford - and he currently sits 12^th in the league for scoring at 15.9 points per game.

He’s also a three-time NBL champion, two-time All-NBL First Team nominee and won the 2018 Larry Sengstock Medal as Grand Final MVP.

Alan Williams – who himself is an MVP candidate with South East Melbourne – has labelled Goulding as a chance for the competition’s highest individual honour due to his status as the best player on the best team.

“I’ve got a surprise pick and it hurts me to say because he plays for our biggest rival, but I think it’s CG43 – Chris Goulding,” Williams said on NBL Overtime.

“His ability to impact that team, be the leader on that team, average 16 points per game and almost four made threes per game, and that intensity and energy he plays with.

“Best player and best team, to me, equals NBL MVP. That’s what the case has been in a lot of situations.”

Melbourne basketball legend and former NBL champion Lanard Copeland says while Goulding is performing well, United have too many pieces playing well to name a single best player from the group.

“I love Goulding, but because there’s so many superstars on that team and they spread the love it’s hard to say [who’s MVP],” Copeland said.

“Some nights he does it, some nights (Ian) Clark does it, some nights Jo (Lual-Acuil Jr) does it, (Ariel) Hukporti’s playing great.”

Melbourne United will play just once in Round 4, when they host the Perth Wildcats on Monday, November 6 at 7:30pm AEDT.