Taipans complete roster with signing of dynamic guard

The Cairns Taipans’ NBL26 roster is locked in after the club officially announced the signing of guard Andrew Andrews to a one-year deal on Monday.

The 32-year-old US point guard joins the Snakes after Ashton Hagans’ deal fell through at the request of his management, due to personal reasons.

Born in Portland, Oregon, Andrews played his college hoops with the Washington Huskies, where he was named first-team All-Pac-12 during his senior season.

After going undrafted in 2016, Andrews spent time with the Los Angeles Lakers (Summer League) and Charlotte Hornets (pre-season) before signing with Turkish outfit, Best Balikesir.

Since then, Andrews has enjoyed successful stints with the Delaware 87ers (NBA G-League), VEF Rīga (Latvia), Hapoel Afula (Israel), Büyükçekmece (Turkey), Maccabi Haifa (Israel), Darüşşafaka (Turkey), Türk Telekom (Turkey), Frutti Extra Bursaspor (Turkey), Panathinaikos (Greece), Joventut (Spain) and most recently, Wolves Twinsbet (Lithuania).

“Andrews was a player we explored few months back, but we pivoted in a different direction as he had some prior commitments that would rule him out for the pre-season," head coach Adam Forde said.

“But, as soon as we knew that we had to recruit another point guard – the call to his agent was the first one I made. I’m glad everything has fallen into place as he’s ready to make an instant impact.

“Andrews brings a decade of international basketball experience playing at the highest-level throughout Europe, and he’ll adapt to the NBL quickly.

“He’s a pro’s pro, I know he’ll slot in with this team and we are excited to have him join the group.”

Andrews and his fellow imports, Admiral Schofield and Marcus Lee, join the likes of Jack McVeigh, Sam Waardenburg, Reyne Smith, Alex Higgins-Titsha, Kyrin Galloway, Kyle Adnam, Kody Stattmann, Mawot Mag, Jed Richardson and Lloyd McVeigh on what is expected to be an exciting Taipans team, who tip-off their season on Saturday, September 20 against South East Melbourne at John Cain Arena.

That opening round fixture gets underway at 5.30pm AEST via ESPN.