2006–07 NBL season

2006–07 NBL season
League	National Basketball League
Sport	Basketball
Duration	20 September 2006 – 11 February 2007 14 – 23 February 2007 (Finals) 2 – 9 March 2007 (Grand Finals)
Number of teams	12
TV partner(s)	Fox Sports
Regular season
Top seed	Brisbane Bullets
Season MVP	Sam Mackinnon
Finals
Champions	Brisbane Bullets
Runners-up	Melbourne Tigers
Finals MVP	Sam Mackinnon

The 2006–07 NBL season was the 29th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. For the first time, a team was established from outside the Australasian area, with the Singapore Slingers taking over the licence of the Hunter Pirates. A new franchise, the South Dragons, was established in Melbourne, taking the number of teams to twelve.

The Brisbane Bullets established a new NBL record of 21 straight wins, including 18 in the regular season.

2006–07 league participants

Team	Region	CEO	Coach	Home Venue	Capacity
Adelaide 36ers	SA	Mike Daws	Phil Smyth	Distinctive Homes Dome	8,000
Brisbane Bullets	QLD	Jeff Van Groningen	Joey Wright	Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre	4,000
Cairns Taipans	QLD	Juanita O'Brien	Alan Black	Cairns Convention Centre	5,300
Melbourne Tigers	VIC	Seamus McPeake	Alan Westover	State Netball Centre	3,500
New Zealand Breakers	NZL	Richard Clarke	Andrej Lemanis	North Shore Events Centre	4,400
Perth Wildcats	WA	Nick Marvin	Scott Fisher	Challenge Stadium	4,500
Singapore Slingers	SIN	Bob Turner	Gordon McLeod	Singapore Indoor Stadium	12,000
South Dragons	VIC	Craig Armstead	Mark Price[1] Shane Heal	Vodafone Arena	10,500
Sydney Kings	NSW	Simon Allatson	Brian Goorjian	Sydney Entertainment Centre	10,517
Townsville Crocodiles	QLD	Ian Smythe	Trevor Gleeson	Townsville Entertainment Centre	5,257
West Sydney Razorbacks	NSW	Robbie Cadee	Mark Watkins[2] Cal Bruton	State Sports Centre	5,006
Wollongong Hawks	NSW	Paul Young	Brendan Joyce[3] Eric Cooks	WIN Entertainment Centre	6,000

Pre-Season Blitz

The Blitz, which is the official pre-season tournament of the Philips Championship, was held in Coffs Harbour on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales from 8–10 September and featured all 12 NBL teams including the Dragons and Slingers, who were on show for the first time.

Blitz Group Stage

• The top four teams of each pool qualify for quarter-finals.

Pool A   Team Pts W L PF PA Diff 1 Brisbane Bullets 9 3 0 197 169 +28 2 Perth Wildcats 7 2 1 173 172 -1 3 Adelaide 36ers 5 1 2 173 161 +12 4 Melbourne Tigers 5 1 2 159 165 -6 5 South Dragons 5 1 2 149 159 -10 6 West Sydney Razorbacks 5 1 2 142 167 -25

Fri 8 September 18:00 South Dragons 51 42 West Sydney Razorbacks Fri 8 September 18:00 Brisbane Bullets 57 45 Perth Wildcats Fri 8 September 18:00 Melbourne Tigers 63 56 Adelaide 36ers Fri 8 September 18:55 South Dragons 36 50 Adelaide 36ers Fri 8 September 18:55 Brisbane Bullets 68 57 West Sydney Razorbacks Fri 8 September 18:55 Melbourne Tigers 53 61 Perth Wildcats Sat 9 September 11:25 Melbourne Tigers 43 48 West Sydney Razorbacks Sat 9 September 11:25 Adelaide 36ers 67 72 Brisbane Bullets Sat 9 September 11:25 Perth Wildcats 67 62 South Dragons

Pool B   Team Pts W L PF PA Diff 1 Townsville Crocodiles 9 3 0 177 156 +21 2 Sydney Kings 9 3 0 174 158 +16 3 Cairns Taipans 7 2 1 179 165 +14 4 Wollongong Hawks 5 1 2 185 164 +21 5 New Zealand Breakers 3 0 3 159 189 -30 6 Singapore Slingers 3 0 3 140 182 -42

Fri 8 September 19:50 Singapore Slingers 50 58 Townsville Crocodiles Fri 8 September 19:50 Wollongong Hawks 60 67 Sydney Kings Fri 8 September 19:50 New Zealand Breakers 61 74 Cairns Taipans Fri 8 September 20:45 Singapore Slingers 51 56 Cairns Taipans Fri 8 September 20:45 Wollongong Hawks 57 58 Townsville Crocodiles Fri 8 September 20:45 New Zealand Breakers 49 54 Sydney Kings Sat 9 September 12:20 Cairns Taipans 49 53 Sydney Kings Sat 9 September 12:20 Townsville Crocodiles 61 49 New Zealand Breakers Sat 9 September 12:20 Singapore Slingers 39 68 Wollongong Hawks

Pre-Season Blitz finals series

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Grand Final

A1

Brisbane Bullets

82

B4

Wollongong Hawks

63

Brisbane Bullets

67

Sydney Kings

46

B2

Sydney Kings

73

A3

Adelaide 36ers

45

Brisbane Bullets

53

Melbourne Tigers

39

B1

Townsville Crocodiles

50

A4

Melbourne Tigers

73

Melbourne Tigers

67

Perth Wildcats

49

A2

Perth Wildcats (OT)

63

B3

Cairns Taipans

57

Pre-Season Blitz Awards

Most Valuable Player

C. J. Bruton (Brisbane Bullets)

All-Star Five

C. J. Bruton (Brisbane Bullets)

Cortez Groves (Wollongong Hawks)

Nick Horvath (Adelaide 36ers)

Sam Mackinnon (Brisbane Bullets)

Darryl McDonald (Melbourne Tigers)

Regular season

Home and away season

The home and away season will take place over 21 rounds between 20 September 2006 and 11 February 2007 with finals starting 14 February 2007

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Round 21

League Ladder

	Team	Pld	Won	Lost	Last 5	Streak	Home	Away	% Pts	% Won
1	Brisbane Bullets	39	33	6	4-1	W2	19-1	14-5	113.13%	84%
2	Melbourne Tigers	39	28	11	2-3	L2	17-3	11-8	105.99%	71%
3	Perth Wildcats	34	23	11	1-4	L1	15-3	11-8	106.70%	67%
4	Sydney Kings	36	21	15	2-3	L2	15-3	6-12	104.01%	58%
5	Townsville Crocodiles	35	20	15	3-2	L1	14-4	6-11	102.41%	57%
6	Cairns Taipans	37	19	18	2-3	L2	13-6	6-12	100.33%	51%
7	South Dragons	34	15	19	2-3	L1	8-8	7-11	96.78%	44%
8	Singapore Slingers	34	13	21	2-3	L3	9-7	4-14	95.74%	38%
9	New Zealand Breakers	33	11	22	2-3	L1	9-7	2-15	95.59%	33%
10	Wollongong Hawks	33	11	22	1-3	L1	6-11	5-11	95.35%	33%
11	Adelaide 36ers	33	11	22	1-4	W1	7-9	4-13	93.56%	33%
12	West Sydney Razorbacks	33	5	28	2-3	W1	4-12	1-16	89.47%	15%

Finals

Quarter Finals

The quarter finals were played over 4 days. The first two teams automatically went ahead to the semi finals. The winner of Game 1 went on to play the 4th placed team, while the winner of Game 2 went on to play the 3rd placed team.

Semi Finals

Grand Final

All Star Game

Dunk Competition

Carlos Powell (New Zealand Breakers)

Most Valuable Player

Rashad Tucker (Melbourne Tigers) representing the World All Starts - 21 points, 12 rebounds, 9 assists

Awards

• NBL Most Valuable Player: Sam Mackinnon, Brisbane Bullets
• Larry Sengstock Medal (GF MVP): Sam Mackinnon, Brisbane Bullets
• Coach of the Year: Joey Wright, Brisbane Bullets
• Best Defensive Player: Sam Mackinnon, Brisbane Bullets
• Rookie of the Year: Joe Ingles, South Dragons
• Most Improved Player: Liam Rush, West Sydney Razorbacks
• Best Sixth Man: Stephen Hoare, Melbourne Tigers

All NBL Team

#	Player	Team
PG	Dave Thomas[4]	Sydney Kings
SG	Sam Mackinnon	Brisbane Bullets
SF	Martin Cattalini	Cairns Taipans
PF	Carlos Powell	New Zealand Breakers
C	Chris Anstey	Melbourne Tigers

Philips Player of the Week

• Round 1: John Rillie (Townsville Crocodiles)
• Round 2: Martin Cattalini (Cairns Taipans)
• Round 3: Shawn Redhage (Perth Wildcats)
• Round 4: Cortez Groves (Wollongong Hawks)
• Round 5: Carlos Powell (New Zealand Breakers)
• Round 6: Brad Newley (Townsville Crocodiles)
• Round 7 – Carlos Powell (New Zealand Breakers) ^{Named twice}
• Round 8 – Shawn Redhage (Perth Wildcats) ^{Named twice}
• Round 9 – Larry Abney (Townsville Crocodiles)
• Round 10 – Martin Cattalini (Cairns Taipans) ^{Named twice}
• Round 11 - John Rillie (Townsville Crocodiles) ^{Named twice}
• Round 12: - Marquin Chandler (Singapore Slingers)
• Round 13 – Carlos Powell (New Zealand Breakers) ^{Named three times}
• Round 14 - Sam Mackinnon (Brisbane Bullets)
• Round 15 - Rosell Ellis (South Dragons)
• Round 16 - Ed Scott (Sydney Kings)
• Round 17 - Adam Ballinger (Wollongong Hawks)
• Round 18 - Chris Anstey (Melbourne Tigers)
• Round 19 - Dusty Rychart (Brisbane Bullets)
• Round 20 - Chris Anstey (Melbourne Tigers) ^{Named twice}
• Round 21 - John Rillie (Townsville Crocodiles) ^{Named three times}

Philips Player of the Month

• September/October: Martin Cattalini (Cairns Taipans)
• November – Carlos Powell (New Zealand Breakers)
• December - Carlos Powell (New Zealand Breakers) ^{Named twice}

Coach of the Month

• September/October: Scott Fisher (Perth Wildcats)
• November – Joey Wright (Brisbane Bullets)
• December - Trevor Gleeson (Townsville Crocodiles)

Statistics

• Matches played = 49 (Round 6)
• Points scored = 9,849 (Round 6)
• Total attendance = 133,036
• Average attendance = 3,596 (12 attendance figures missing)
• Points p/g leader = M.Cattalini 27.4
• Rebounds p/g leader = A.Ballinger 11.4
• Assists p/g leader = D.McDonald 6.3
• Steals p/g leader = D.McDonald 2.1

External links

• NBL official website, including live scores and fixtures
• International Basketball Federation
• AussieBBall

Notes and references

1. Mark Price resigned as South Dragons coach on 23 October 2006, Shane Heal took over the role as coach and became only the 23rd player/coach in NBL history.
2. Mark Watkins was sacked as West Sydney Razorbacks coach on 16 November 2006, Cal Bruton took over as head coach
3. Brendan Joyce was sacked as Wollongong Hawks coach on 27 December 2006, Eric Cooks took over as head coach
4. All-NBL team released