Unwanted to All-Time - the Story of United's "Greatest Ever"

Ask an Aussie basketball fan to name the best three-point shooter in the modern history of the NBL. The odds are the name they’ll spit back at you is ‘Chris Goulding’.

The Melbourne United sharpshooter brought up his 1000^th career three-pointer just a few games ago – he’s hit more than 400 more than the next highest active player in Cam Gliddon – and now he’s primed to set another brilliant career milestone. His 400^th career NBL game.

That remarkable career was almost over before it really began though. Those NBL championships, the All-NBL selections, the scoring title, the bronze medal. If it wasn’t for Chris Anstey and the Melbourne Tigers it’s highly likely Goulding’s time in the NBL would have come to a stuttering half a decade ago.

After spending time at Perth and Brisbane, Goulding’s time at the Gold Coast Blaze was coming to an end in 2012 – and after six years struggling to break into the Australian basketball landscape he was at a major career crossroads.

“I remember begging Wollongong, begging Adelaide – literally begging teams ‘please can I be the twelfth man, tenth man’, whatever it was and the answer was ‘no’,” Goulding said.

Chris Goulding competes with Damian Martin of the Perth Wildcats while playing for the Gold Coast Blaze in 2010.

“I was kind of resigned to the fact that it was time to move on into a different profession and then I got a random message from Chris Anstey one night saying ‘hey, do you want to come and play for Melbourne?’ The rest is history.”

At the time the Melbourne Tigers were a team in transition. They had finished outside the playoff places, Patty Mills arrived to great fanfare but departed after just nine rounds, and the bulk of the side’s guard rotation departed for new pastures all around the world.

Anstey reflected on his chance first encounter with Goulding ahead of his pupil’s milestone game.

“When I retired I went up and trained with the Gold Coast for three days – Mark Worthington said they were short on numbers, as I was up there he asked if I could fill in and be part of the third team,” Anstey told NBL Media.

“I just always remembered the brashness and toughness Chris had. The confidence he had. He absolutely fascinated me.

“When I got the Tigers coaching job I didn’t even know his name, I just remembered him as the kid with the long hair and the shoelace around his head, so I called ‘Wortho’ and had to ask for his name.

“I loved him. He didn’t have a job so I called him and said ‘mate, you’re my starter at the Tigers’. I’d seen enough and I just knew he was special. I’m not the only person who recognised that but in terms of time and place it worked out really well.

Goulding averaged over 32 minutes per game across 26 contests in his first season in Melbourne – and his average of 15.1 points per game was good enough for second in the team. He sat behind only former Minnesota Timberwolves guard Jonny Flynn in the scoring charts for the Tigers that year. His numbers definitely repaid the faith Anstey had shown in him – however Melbourne missed the playoffs once again, this time based on the head-to-head record with the Sydney Kings.

It was the next season where he would explode though. He took out the league’s scoring title with an average of 23 points per game to earn his first All-NBL selection and lead Melbourne to its first playoff run in five years.

Chris Goulding poses with the NBL All-Star Game MVP trophy alongside former Melbourne and South All-Stars teammate Seth Scott.

He was still rocking the “long hair and shoelace” that had made him so memorable to Anstey in the first place, but he was now one of the best players Australia had to offer.

It was no coincidence Goulding has reached the heights he has though, and Anstey remembers his former pupil’s insane work ethic.

“I had Chris for two-and-a-bit years and there weren’t a lot of people who saw what I saw,” Anstey said.

“Right after I signed him I was in Melbourne, it was 10:30 on a Friday night and I was watching my daughter play. I noticed someone shooting on one of the back courts with the lights out so I wandered around to have a look since it looked like he knew what he was doing.

“It was Chris.

“Turns out he’d been coming in most nights at that time when the stadium was free. I never went up to him, but I just knew I got the right guy.

“He just works in his own time, he gets better in his own time. Whatever awards and accolades Chris Goulding retires with I think the thing he might end up being most proud of is that he’ll retire knowing he got the absolute most out of his ability because he just worked his butt off.

“I have a lot of stories about Chris Goulding just doing work when he didn’t need to.”

Although Melbourne United draws on the history of many of the Melbourne-based sides, there’s no doubting the former club it is most aligned with is the Tigers. After all, United did rise from the ashes of the long and storied franchise.

Since its inception in 2015 Melbourne United has embraced and welcomed the history of all the other Melbourne-based NBL sides to pass through the competition over the years – so much so that it draws its name from its hope of uniting the city’s basketball faithful.

The great names of the Melbourne Tigers still hang in the rafters at United home games. Andrew Gaze, Lanard Copeland, Ray Gordon and company are honoured in the blazing orange and red that made the Tigers brand so recognisable within the Australian basketball landscape.

There are no banners hanging with the more muted navy blue and white of United though – after all, the side only rose from the ashes of the Tigers in 2015 – but Anstey believes Goulding is more than deserving of the honour when the time eventually comes.

“Chris is certainly Melbourne United’s greatest ever player,” Anstey said.

Chris Anstey and Chris Goulding during their time at the Melbourne Tigers.

“I think he’ll be that for a long time. He’s hit iconic shots, he’s had iconic games. To the best of my knowledge he’s the only NBL player in the modern era – in the 40 minute era – to have a 50 point game (against Sydney in 2014).

“I was fortunate enough to coach that and we didn’t complicate anything. We had Nate Tomlinson and Mark Worthington and the goal was to just get Chris open, and Chris was incredible.

“It was a close game and we won it which I think makes it even more special.

“Chris will certainly be in the conversation of one of the greatest players of Melbourne’s NBL teams over the generations, but he’s certainly the best Melbourne United has ever had – and I think he’ll hold that for a long time.”