"These guys should be in the NBA": Roth on NBL stars

The NBL feels like Milton Doyle’s league at the moment, and Tasmania head coach Scott Roth believes his star guard should not even be in the NBL, such is his immense dominance.

Doyle picked up his third consecutive Foot Locker Player of the Game award in Thursday night’s win over Illawarra, as he led Tasmania to a dominant 30-point win over Illawarra.

He scored a game-high 19 points, while adding nine rebounds, five assists and three steals.

Roth believes Doyle should well and truly be an established NBA player.

“I always get a tickle out of someone like him (Doyle) or Bryce Cotton – it might be past him slightly but I wouldn’t get too carried away with that – is these guys should be in the NBA,” Roth said following the win.

“They’re not the hot item, they want the young kid who’s 18 or 19, they come all the way to Australia to scout them, but they’re not going back to the GM going ‘we need to sign Milton Doyle at 30’.

“He can play in the NBA, there’s no question about it, there’s multiple guys over here that can play in the NBA at their age, but they don’t get a chance because everyone wants the hot new toy, and that’s unfortunate, but it’s great for us.

“I can’t say enough about him as a person, his calmness and the way he handles our group – and our guys really respond off of him. He has this ‘silent assassin’ kind of image. He doesn’t get rattled, he plays at his own pace, and if we’re up 20 or down 20 you wouldn’t know by looking at him.

“That calmness carries over to the players and allows us to do our thing. He really empowers our players, he’s very much about ‘I gave you the ball, you should have shot that’ as opposed to yelling or trying to be a macho guy out there. He’s very much about empowering our players.”

Doyle was far from the only impressive performance for Tasmania in the side’s third straight win. Fellow import Jordon Crawford is continuing to elevate his game as he adapts to life in the NBL, while Jack McVeigh is thriving in his role at the power forward position.

New JackJumpers signing Majok Deng played his best game since joining the team and added 14 points from the bench in under 16 minutes of game-time.

Roth revealed he’s been a huge fan of the South Sudanese international for a number of years, and couldn’t believe he was available to bring to Tasmania.

“My first year in Perth when he was with Cairns I thought he was very good back then, and he’s a shot-maker,” Roth said.

“The good news is no one wanted him except the JackJumpers, and he’s a piece of gold we have, and he fits into our exact style.

“He’s a family guy, grounded, loves what he does, wanted a second chance and another opportunity to prove the people that had bypassed on him wrong.

“He fits our group fantastically and I can’t say enough good things about him, Junior (Madut) and ‘Drm’ (Anthony Drmic) – the three guys we’ve added.

“He’s got a skillset; he adds size and length and can shoot and he fits beautifully with our group.”

Tasmania will next play South East Melbourne on Saturday night, live on ESPN via Kayo 8pm AEDT.