Gleeson’s Role With Raps, Giddey Healthy in OKC: NBLxNBA 2021 Media Day Recap

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

The 2021/22 NBA season is fast approaching and there was no shortage of NBLxNBA headlines to come out from Media Day across the NBA world.

In Toronto, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse revealed what Trevor Gleeson’s role will be with the team. The 2021 NBL Coach of the Year and five-time championship-winning coach with the Perth Wildcats will now be taking up the challenge of coordinating Toronto’s offensive scheme.

“Trevor's a really interesting guy and he is a really really good coach,” Nurse said.

“I think he's won five of the last seven championships in Australia and the league's a pretty high level over there. He's got a lot of head coaching experience and he went through the minor leagues.

“He has got a lot of different experiences as a head coach, and I value that in my staff, somebody that can give you a viewpoint from all sides of it and knows what it feels like to be sitting in that seat.

“He's really smart and I think when you guys (the media) get to know him you're going to really like him. He's really smart and a really good coach and he's won a lot. I like all those characteristics.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Nurse says new assistant coach Trevor Gleeson will start in charge of the offence, in case you see some flex offence.</p>— (((Meaningful September Baseball))) (@ekoreen) <a href="https://twitter.com/ekoreen/status/1442503375841599489?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

NBL21 Rookie of the Year Josh Giddey spoke to the media ahead of his debut season with the Oklahoma City Thunder after the team selected him with the sixth pick in the 2021 draft.

After missing most of the Summer League with an ankle injury, Giddey confirmed he is good to go for training camp.

“The ankle is good, back to normal. It was frustrating, I was looking forward to playing in Summer League, but the medical team and me took the right steps,” Giddey said via Rylan Stiles of the Locked on Thunder podcast.

“We made the right decision not going back out there.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBLxNBA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBLxNBA</a> Media Day ??? <a href="https://t.co/IU49uEvNrR">pic.twitter.com/IU49uEvNrR</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1442654860256579591?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Giddey also reaffirmed how playing with the Thunder is “perfect” for his family as he is close to his sister Hannah, who is playing college basketball at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa.

“This is like a dream, we always use to joke about this a year ago, imagine I end up in Oklahoma with Hannah down the road [at ORU] it’s a perfect situation for us,” Giddey said via Rylan Stiles of the Locked on Thunder podcast.

“We are all here already. It’s perfect for the family.”

One of the feel-good stories of last NBA season was the emergence of Jae’Sean Tate with the Houston Rockets, after his strong 2019/20 campaign with the Sydney Kings.

Despite carving out a legitimate role in the Rockets rotation, Tate believes he still has a lot to prove and is looking forward to doing so this season.

“I'm still proving who I am,” Tate said.

“There's always still doubters, there's always still certain things that you have to prove, I wouldn't even say prove them wrong, it's just proving myself right.

“I want to have a long career in the NBA. Last year was a great start, but I'm nowhere near where I want to be.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"There's always still doubters. I want to have a long career in the NBA. Last season was a good start but I'm still nowhere near where I want to be."<br><br>- ???'???? ????<br>????? ??? ????<br><br>?? Watch here: <a href="https://t.co/wZkBeNLCCn">https://t.co/wZkBeNLCCn</a> <a href="https://t.co/Td92DcyiVJ">pic.twitter.com/Td92DcyiVJ</a></p>— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) <a href="https://twitter.com/HoustonRockets/status/1442558330103377921?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Former NBL Next Star with the Illawarra Hawks LaMelo Ball is ready for his second season with the Charlotte Hornets and isn’t putting an expectation on what the team can achieve.

“I feel great. I feel like we are just going to let the chips fall where they are going to go and not really put a limit on anything. The whole team feels like we could do real good with everything,” Ball said.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“They ain’t ready for this.” -<a href="https://twitter.com/T_Rozzay3?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@T_Rozzay3</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/AllFly?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#AllFly</a> <a href="https://t.co/kmK5oCs7zL">pic.twitter.com/kmK5oCs7zL</a></p>— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) <a href="https://twitter.com/hornets/status/1442518448123351044?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

There is a fresh NBL feeling in Orlando as the Magic have hired Jamahl Mosley to be their new head coach.

Mosley played for the Victoria Titans from 2001-2003 and can’t wait to lead Orlando’s rebuild.

“It’s extremely exciting,” Mosley said, via the Magic’s official website.

“Just the group of guys that we have, the staff, the organisation, the players, that’s the exciting part behind it for me is that we all get to do this. It’s our first run. Just building a foundation from there is what’s really exciting about getting going.”

One of the players Mosley will be helping develop is former New Zealand Breaker RJ Hampton, who impressed at the end of last season, winning the Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month award in May.

Hampton is ready to maintain that momentum this season with his new coach on the sidelines.

“I think the reason that everybody on the team is ready to go to war for Coach Mose is because he brings that energy every single day,” Hampton said via the Magic’s official website.

“He wants us to be a great team. He’s excited. He’s pumped up. He’s encouraging us. So, who wouldn’t want to play for a man like that?”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/J88szNatlD">pic.twitter.com/J88szNatlD</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1442654895669055488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Fresh off leading the Australian Boomers to a historic bronze medal at the Olympic Games, Patty Mills donned his new Brooklyn Nets uniform for the first time.

Joining a team of megastars in Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving, Mills is hoping to bring some of the ‘FIBA Patty’ attitude to Brooklyn.

"I think I am who I am and I think being able to never lose sight or touch of who I am because I am the same player," Mills said via Sporting News.

"Being on the Australian team is who I am and the confidence that I play with and the freedom that I play with is something that's very empowering, so to be able to bring that here and find my way with that type of swagger is going to be important.

"Watching this team last season and having conversations with people to be able to get ready for this season, knowing it's a free system and the way that Steve (Nash) coaches and being able to empower that is important and I guess it's just the identity piece at the end of the day, understanding who you are and not try to be someone else that you aren't."

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“Bright lights, big arena”<a href="https://twitter.com/Patty_Mills?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Patty_Mills</a> checking in from his first Media Day in the BK ? <a href="https://t.co/fNhFZDKLPl">pic.twitter.com/fNhFZDKLPl</a></p>— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) <a href="https://twitter.com/BrooklynNets/status/1442540319870832652?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 27, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Mills’ long-time Boomers teammate Joe Ingles spoke about Australia’s bronze medal during his media session at the Utah Jazz’s media day.

Via the Salt Lake Tribune, Ingles said he sat down with Mills after Australia lost to Team USA and mentioned the Boomers were 0-11 in bronze medal games. His message? “I told him, ‘That’s not happening again.’”

Ingles also believes the Jazz can win the championship this season, saying, “let’s go and do it. Why not us?”

New Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said the team signed Torrey Craig to help cover for the injured TJ Warren. The Pacers are excited at the defensive mindset Craig will provide on the court.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="und" dir="ltr"><a href="https://t.co/55EAaPh0S4">pic.twitter.com/55EAaPh0S4</a></p>— The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1442654879105748992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 28, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>