The 'little big man society' taking over the league

Thursday, October 26, 2023

Damon Lowery has praised Jordon Crawford, Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Gary Browne and Ben Ayre for their influence.

The newest evolution of basketball has seen the implementation of a new type of guard, the tall, athletic, do-it-all player who can defend most positions on the court seems to be all the rage in the new era, but the NBL is throwing it back to “the year of the little big man”, according to Damon Lowery.

Lowery – who himself was listed at under six-foot in his playing days – has lauded the impact of new imports Jordon Crawford and Parker-Jackson Cartwright on the new season and has gone as far as to label Crawford as “unguardable”.

He also praised the recent form of South East Melbourne, who are led at the point guard position by Gary Browne and backed up by Ben Ayre.

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Crawford scored 32 points in Tasmania’s win over Sydney on Sunday, and went on a 14-point scoring spree in the first three minutes of the final term. Jackson-Cartwright, on the other hand, registered 18 points, five assists and five steals in a loss to Melbourne United.

“As a foundation member of the little man society, as a card-carrying member of the little big man society, I love to see it,” Lowery said on NBL Now of the import pair.

“We’re sick of all your jokes, Lanard Copeland talking about how short we are, Peter Hooley cracking jokes about me sitting on phonebooks.

“Now you watch these guys take the torch and run with it. Jordon Crawford, oh my god, Jordon Crawford makes moves every game nobody has ever seen before. This dude is totally unguardable, unselfish, and playing in the right team for the right coach. You look at Parker over in New Zealand, my God, the fastest man in Australia getting any kind of shot he wants.

“And of course mi amigo (Browne) over there in South East Melbourne with Ben Ayre off the bench – this is the year of the little big man so you can take all your little jokes and you know what to do with them.”

Crawford and the JackJumpers face off against Melbourne United this weekend, in a clash Lowery has already labelled as a potential Championship Series preview.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jordon Crawford is a certified ?<br> <br>The star guard registered a game-high 32 points in the <a href="https://twitter.com/JackJumpers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@JackJumpers</a>' win over Sydney, including a 14-point scoring barrage to open the fourth quarter?<br> <br>Brought to you by <a href="https://twitter.com/HungryJacksAU?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@HungryJacksAU</a> ? <a href="https://t.co/DaoJ9fTJK0">pic.twitter.com/DaoJ9fTJK0</a></p>— NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1716332497347518775?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 23, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

United and the JackJumpers currently sit first and second on the ladder respectively, and Melbourne’s only loss of the season so far came against the weekend’s opposition – courtesy of a Milton Doyle masterclass in the final quarter.

He may have named Melbourne and Tasmania as his two best teams from the season so far, but Lowery isn’t sleeping on the chasing pack.

“Tasmania, the game they lost to the South East Melbourne Phoenix, they barely lost. You have to play your absolute a-game at this stage of the season to beat the Tasmania JackJumpers,” he said.

“Melbourne United is a juggernaut and they’re missing Delly, and ‘JLA’ (Jo Lual-Acuil Jr) and Ariel Hukporti? My God.

“Those two are clear and it’s looking like a Grand Final kind of setup between those two.

“But when DJ Hogg shows up in Sydney we’re going to have to have another conversation because the Kings aren’t going anywhere, and also the South East Melbourne Phoenix, they’re playing with all guns blazing.

“Those four teams right now are my top four – and keeping in mind New Zealand will be there in the end once the dust settles a bit.”

Tasmania host Melbourne at MyState Bank Arena on Friday, October 27 at 7:30pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo.