United Pre-Season Off to Booming Start

Photos: Melbourne United Media

Melbourne United kicked off their pre-season with a bang today, as the club played host to a number of Australian NBA stars in its first full-roster scrimmage.

Josh Giddey, Dyson Daniels, and former United pair Jock Landale and Jack White all joined United’s training session, alongside the likes of fellow Boomers Matthew Dellavedova and Chris Goulding, and Tall Blacks Flynn Cameron and Shea Ili – all under the watchful eye of Australian coach Brian Goorjian.

Giddey, Daniels, Landale and White teamed up with Melbourne development player Zac Triplett for the session, while World Cup rostered stars Chris Goulding, Shea Ili and Matthew Dellavedova also hit the hardwood.

“The reason we put this camp together is because of the internationals we have on the roster, and to have the invites we had today to have a third team in practice that is at a pretty high level – and a pretty high salary cap – is exceptional for our first day,” Melbourne head coach Dean Vickerman said following the session.

“Just to see the standard of basketball these trainings have got to, and to see it all on the floor at once was great fun.

“In our review of last year there were a couple of things we wanted to achieve, and when you miss the post-season by a bucket or something, every possession matters. You see when you play against talent like that if you make an error or you get your spacing wrong you get punished for it, and so it was a great message from day one.

“The other part we wanted to get done was how we introduce people to our program, and so walking in day one, [there’s an] induction video we put together about what Melbourne United is about, but then [to] step onto the floor and have the gold standard of player on the floor to play against was a good statement.”

While there were plenty of highlights from both the Boomers and Melbourne contingent on the floor, a particularly notable moment came when Daniels threw a half-court lob to White - a lob which the NBA champion happily threw down.

That particular play came off the back of a heavily contested Matthew Dellavedova layup, while the likes of Tanner Krebs, Josh Giddey and Flynn Cameron all showcased some impressive shot-making.

Next Star Ariel Hukporti also announced his return from a serious Achilles injury with a rim-rattling windmill slam.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="tl" dir="ltr">Confirmed. Ariel Hukporti is ???? ?‍?<br><br>? via <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnited?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MelbUnited</a> <a href="https://t.co/OgVJ5VqZBN">pic.twitter.com/OgVJ5VqZBN</a></p>&mdash; NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1681526449482928128?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 19, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

In short, the quality of basketball – especially for day one of pre-season, was at an exceptional level.

Vickerman doubts he’s seen that level of performance at a club scrimmage before.

“There’s Boomers camps and different things,” he said of the talent. “Probably at NBL level you might struggle.

“Giddey and Dys have been working out of here and have a good relationship with Hoop City. Jock and Whitey have come back and always want to get involved in what we’re doing.

“They believe it gets them better.

“To have the four of them get a run, it’s something we did a few years ago when we were at MSAC, as well and Joe Ingles and other guys were back.

“We always want to be open to helping the Boomers campaign, and the Tall Blacks campaign.

“What impressed me so much today was Josh’s growth as a player coming through our junior program, and Dyson. They’re just huge guards and they’re such a problem.”

Melbourne’s season will get underway on Thursday, September 28 against South East Melbourne.