Cairns adds serious NBL experience to growing roster

The Cairns Taipans have added more valuable experience to their Hungry Jack’s NBL27 roster, signing Sunday Dech.

The 210-game NBL veteran has agreed to a two-year deal.

It will be Dech’s fourth NBL club, having spent the past season with the Perth Wildcats in his second stint at the club, along with five seasons in Adelaide and a one-year spell at Illawarra.

The 32-year-old will be hoping for greater opportunity in Cairns after averaging just 9.5 minutes per game last season, down from 23.5 the year previous.

He has worked closely with Taipans coach Adam Forde previously, all the way back to when he first joined the East Perth Eagles as a teenager.

“I think this has been a long time coming. Our journey goes back to 2012 when I started playing basketball and we’ve joked about it nearly every off-season, but Fordey returning to Cairns created the perfect storm," Dech said.

“The opportunity to build and be a part of something that's growing in Cairns, under a coach who I’m familiar with at this stage of my career, is something I’m really looking forward to.

“My defence is how my bread is buttered. That's how I made my injection into the league and I want to get back to that.

“That also goes back to my relationship with Fordey. He's the guy who moulded me as a player from the beginning, shaping my identity, work ethic and approach to the game.

“I want to get back to my identity. I want to get back into the ‘Defensive Player of the Year’ conversations and be one of the best perimeter defenders in the league.”

Forde said he sees Dech as a key part of the Taipans' squad.

“We need an injection of defence this year after our worst showing last season. Every team will jokingly say they need a ‘Bryce Cotton stopper’ but that’s exactly what it is, and that will be Sunday for us,” Forde said.

“I trust Sunday with this task, because I’ve seen the work he has put in over the last 12-plus years.

“We’ve won state league titles together, NBL Championships together and since then he's performed on the Olympic stage for South Sudan.

“This version of Sunday we are getting now has another layer of maturity and hunger which should get the Cairns community excited.

“I might be biased, but we are getting the best version of him right now.”

Dech joins an exciting Taipans roster featuring Jack McVeigh, Reyne Smith, Kyrin Galloway, Shaun Bruce and Next Star Luke Paul.