2018–19 Cairns Taipans season

2018–19 Cairns Taipans season
Head Coach	Mike Kelly
Captain	Alex Loughton
Stadium	Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns
NBL results
Ladder	8th
Finals	N/A
Wins	6
Losses	22
Uniforms
Home Away City Jersey Blackout Jersey
← 2017–18 2019–20 →

The 2018–19 NBL season was the 20th season for the Cairns Taipans in the National Basketball League (NBL).

Roster[]

2018–19 Cairns Taipans roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Wt. G 1 Trimble, Melo (I) 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) 88 kg (194 lb) F 3 Young, Mitchell 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 107 kg (236 lb) G 5 Hall, Devon (I) 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 93 kg (205 lb) G 6 Kenny, Jarrod 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 87 kg (192 lb) G 7 Kuany, Kuany 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 91 kg (201 lb) G 9 Kernich-Drew, Dexter 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 83 kg (183 lb) F 10  (DP) 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) F 12 Walker, Lucas 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) 102 kg (225 lb) C 14 Loe, Robert 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) 111 kg (245 lb) C 15 Jawai, Nathan 2.09 m (6 ft 10 in) 140 kg (309 lb) F 20 Krslovic, Fabijan (DP) 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) G 25 Newbill, D. J. (I) 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) 95 kg (209 lb) F/C 40 Loughton, Alex (C) 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 106 kg (234 lb)	Head coach Mike Kelly Assistant coach(es) Jamie O'Loughlin Brad Hill Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Development player (IN) Inactive (I) Import player (TP) Training player (NS) Next Star player Injured Roster Updated: 13 October 2018

Depth chart[]

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2	Development
C	Nate Jawai	Rob Loe
PF	Alex Loughton	Lucas Walker	Mitchell Young	Fabijan Krslovic
SF	D. J. Newbill	Kuany Kuany
SG	Melo Trimble	Devon Hall	Dexter Kernich-Drew
PG	Jarrod Kenny

Pre-season[]

As part of their pre-season, the Taipans played eight pre-season games. Their first game was held in Cairns against Drexel University, the second in Rockhampton against the Brisbane Bullets and the following two games were against Melbourne United. As a club in the NBL they also took part in the NBL Blitz, and played games against the Sydney Kings, the Perth Wildcats and the New Zealand Breakers, however they opted out of the NBLxNBA games.^[1] To finish their pre-season they played a final game in Adelaide against the Adelaide 36ers.^{[citation needed]}

Game log[]

2018–19 pre-season game log
show Pre-Season: 3–1 (Home: 1–0; Road: 2–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 23 August Drexel University W 92-76 Not announced Not announced Not announced Early Settler Stadium 1-0 2 31 August @ Brisbane Bullets W 74-95 Not announced Not announced Not announced CQUniversity Community Sports Centre 2-0 3 11 September @ Melbourne United L 89-88 Melo Trimble (19) Nate Jawai (6) Melo Trimble (6) Dandenong Basketball Stadium 2-1 4 13 September @ Melbourne United W 75-78 Not announced Not announced Not announced Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre 3-1
show NBL Blitz: 1–2 (Home: 0–0; Road: 1–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 20 September Sydney Kings L 75-60 Devon Hall (20) Devon Hall (9) D. J. Newbill (3) Bendigo Stadium 3-2 2 22 September Perth Wildcats L 78-99 Melo Trimble (17) Devon Hall (7) Rob Loe, D. J. Newbill (3) Ballarat Minerdome 3-3 3 23 September New Zealand Breakers W 89-96 D. J. Newbill (24) Kuany Kuany (6) D. J. Newbill, Melo Trimble (5) Ballarat Minerdome 4-3
show Pre-Season: 0–1 (Home: 0–0; Road: 0–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 5 25 September @ Adelaide 36ers L 99-75 Not announced Not announced Not announced Titanium Security Arena 4-4

Regular season[]

The regular season of the NBL consists of 28 games, with the Taipans' 14 home games to played at the Cairns Convention Centre.^[2]

Standings[]

#	Team	Played	Won	Loss	Win%	Last 5	Streak	Home	Away	For	Against	Points%
1	Perth Wildcats1	28	18	10	64.29%	4-1	Lost 1	12-2	6-8	2,499	2,355	106.11%
2	Melbourne United1	28	18	10	64.29%	3-2	Won 1	10-4	8-6	2,586	2,478	104.36%
3	Sydney Kings1	28	18	10	64.29%	4-1	Won 1	9-5	9-5	2,438	2,380	102.44%
4	Brisbane Bullets2	28	14	14	50.00%	2-3	Won 1	9-5	5-9	2,503	2,480	100.93%
5	Adelaide 36ers2	28	14	14	50.00%	2-3	Lost 2	6-8	8-6	2,687	2,681	100.22%
6	New Zealand Breakers3	28	12	16	42.86%	2-3	Lost 1	7-7	5-9	2,649	2,641	100.30%
7	Illawarra Hawks3	28	12	16	42.86%	1-4	Lost 3	8-6	4-10	2,493	2,664	93.58%
8	Cairns Taipans	28	6	22	21.43%	2-3	Lost 1	3-11	3-11	2,400	2,576	93.17%

Ladder progression[]

• Numbers highlighted in green indicate that the team finished the round inside the top four.
• Numbers highlighted in blue indicates the team finished first on the ladder in that round.
• Numbers highlighted in red indicates the team finished last place on the ladder in that round.

	Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18
	Adelaide 36ers	3	4	4	6	7	5	5	6	5	5	5	5	5	5	5	4	4	5
	Brisbane Bullets	5	6	6	3	5	6	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	5	5	4
	Cairns Taipans	2	3	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8	8
	Illawarra Hawks	8	7	7	7	6	7	7	5	6	6	6	7	6	6	6	6	6	7
	Melbourne United	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	1	3	3	2	2	1	1	2	2
	New Zealand Breakers	6	8	5	5	4	4	6	7	7	7	7	6	7	7	7	7	7	6
	Perth Wildcats	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	3	2	2	3	3	2	2	1	1
	Sydney Kings	7	5	3	4	3	3	3	3	2	2	1	1	1	1	3	3	3	3

Game log[]

2018–19 game log
show October: 1–3 (Home: 0–2; Road: 1–1) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 1 13 October @ Brisbane Bullets W 70-88 Melo Trimble (32) D. J. Newbill (10) Devon Hall (6) Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre 1-0 2 21 October Illawarra Hawks L 93-104 Melo Trimble (28) Mitchell Young (7) D. J. Newbill (7) Cairns Convention Centre 1-1 3 26 October Adelaide 36ers L 83-91 Dexter Kernich-Drew (17) Nate Jawai (9) Dexter Kernich-Drew, Melo Trimble, Jarrod Kenny (3) Cairns Convention Centre 1-2 4 28 October @ Sydney Kings L 98-90 Melo Trimble (29) D. J. Newbill (10) Melo Trimble (8) Qudos Bank Arena 1-3
show November: 0–5 (Home: 0–2; Road: 0–3) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 5 3 November Melbourne United L 85-98 Melo Trimble (34) D. J. Newbill (9) Melo Trimble (8) Cairns Convention Centre 1-4 6 9 November @ New Zealand Breakers L 104-81 Melo Trimble (23) Kuany Kuany, Rob Loe (6) Melo Trimble (3) Cairns Convention Centre 1-5 7 11 November @ Melbourne United L 87-80 Melo Trimble (19) Nate Jawai (10) Melo Trimble, Jarrod Kenny (4) Melbourne Arena 1-6 8 17 November Perth Wildcats L 83-99 Melo Trimble, Devon Hall (18) Melo Trimble (12) Melo Trimble (7) Cairns Convention Centre 1-7 9 23 November @ Adelaide 36ers L 109-95 Melo Trimble (23) Rob Loe (6) Devon Hall (6) Titanium Security Arena 1-8
show December: 0–6 (Home: 0–4; Road: 0–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 10 7 December Illawarra Hawks L 84-95 D. J. Newbill (21) Devon Hall (9) Melo Trimble, Nate Jawai (5) Cairns Convention Centre 1-9 11 9 December @ Perth Wildcats L 94-72 D. J. Newbill (17) Nate Jawai (9) D. J. Newbill (4) RAC Arena 1-10 12 16 December New Zealand Breakers L 78-89 Melo Trimble (23) Nate Jawai (9) Melo Trimble (6) Cairns Convention Centre 1-11 13 20 December Sydney Kings L 70-81 Melo Trimble (14) Nate Jawai (8) Melo Trimble (7) Cairns Convention Centre 1-12 14 22 December @ Adelaide 36ers L 87-82 Melo Trimble, Nate Jawai (18) Nate Jawai (9) Melo Trimble (6) Titanium Security Arena 1-13 15 31 December Perth Wildcats L 78-93 Melo Trimble (14) Lucas Walker, Rob Loe (6) Melo Trimble (4) Cairns Convention Centre 1-14
show January: 3–5 (Home: 2–2; Road: 1–3) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 16 3 January Brisbane Bullets W 109-80 Devon Hall (24) Lucas Walker (8) Devon Hall, D. J. Newbill (6) Cairns Convention Centre 2-14 17 7 January Sydney Kings L 82-86 Melo Trimble (22) D. J. Newbill (9) Nate Jawai (7) Cairns Convention Centre 2-15 18 11 January @ Perth Wildcats W 79-81 Melo Trimble (32) Nate Jawai, Lucas Walker (8) Nate Jawai (5) RAC Arena 3-15 19 13 January Melbourne United L 89-99 Melo Trimble (42) Alex Loughton (8) Melo Trimble, Devon Hall (2) Cairns Convention Centre 3-16 20 19 January @ Brisbane Bullets L 99-68 Melo Trimble (23) Rob Loe (7) Devon Hall (3) Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre 3-17 21 21 January New Zealand Breakers W 106-98 Melo Trimble (32) Lucas Walker (8) Melo Trimble, Rob Loe (5) Cairns Convention Centre 4-17 22 24 January @ New Zealand Breakers L 113-106 D. J. Newbill (32) Lucas Walker (9) Melo Trimble (6) TSB Stadium 4-18 23 26 January @ Illawarra Hawks L 82-81 Melo Trimble (24) Alex Loughton (8) D. J. Newbill (5) WIN Entertainment Centre 4-19
show February: 2–3 (Home: 1–1; Road: 1–2) Game Date Team Score High points High rebounds High assists Location Attendance Record 24 2 February Adelaide 36ers L 91-100 Melo Trimble (21) Devon Hall, Fabijan Krslovic (7) Melo Trimble (4) Cairns Convention Centre 4-20 25 4 February @ Illawarra Hawks L 110-95 D. J. Newbill (20) Lucas Walker, Rob Loe (8) Melo Trimble (11) WIN Entertainment Centre 4-21 26 9 February Brisbane Bullets W 79-68 Melo Trimble (23) Jarrod Kenny (7) Devon Hall (5) Cairns Convention Centre 5-21 27 14 February @ Melbourne United W 85-87 Melo Trimble (21) Rob Loe (10) Melo Trimble (9) Melbourne Arena 6-21 28 16 February @ Sydney Kings L 89-84 Melo Trimble (21) Melo Trimble (8) Melo Trimble (5) Qudos Bank Arena 6-22

Player statistics[]

Updated: 1/9/2019^[3]

Player	#	Position	GP	GS	Min	Pts	FGM	FGA	FG%	2PM	2PA	3PM	3PA	3P%	FTM	FTA	FT%	RB	AS	ST	BL	TO
Devon Hall	6	SG	28	19	29	9.2	3.2	9.0	36	1.7	4.4	1.7	4.5	34	1.1	1.5	75	4.3	2.5	0.7	0.2	1.2
Nathan Jawai	15	PF/C	27	20	21	10.1	4.0	7.1	57	4.0	7.1	0.0	0.0	0	2.0	2.6	75	5.2	1.9	0.4	0.3	2.3
Christian Jurlina	10	SF	3	0	1	0.0	0.0	0.6	0	0.0	0.3	0.0	0.3	0	0.0	0.0	0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0	0.0
Jarrod Kenny	6	PG	28	9	18	4.9	1.7	4.2	41	0.7	2.0	0.9	2.1	44	0.4	0.6	72	2.4	1.7	0.3	0.0	0.9
Dexter Kernich-Drew	9	SG	18	2	11	3.1	1.0	3.3	30	0.2	1.3	0.7	2.0	35	0.5	0.6	83	1.3	0.6	0.3	0.1	0.3
Fabijan Krslovic	20	C	8	0	4	1.8	0.8	1.2	70	0.7	1.0	0.1	0.2	50	0.0	0.2	0	1.2	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.0
Kuany Kuany	7	SG	22	0	6	2.1	0.7	1.7	44	0.7	1.2	0.0	0.5	9	0.5	0.7	75	1.4	0.1	0.2	0.0	0.1
Robert Loe	14	C	28	14	19	7.6	2.8	6.3	45	2.0	3.7	0.7	2.5	31	1.1	1.6	70	5.0	1.3	0.4	0.7	0.8
Alex Loughton	40	PF/C	25	9	19	6.6	2.3	6.1	38	1.2	2.8	1.0	3.2	33	0.8	1.0	81	3.0	0.8	0.4	0.1	0.6
D. J. Newbill	25	SG	27	26	32	14.6	5.1	12.3	42	3.4	7.3	1.6	5.0	33	2.6	4.3	62	4.2	2.5	1.1	0.2	2.2
Melo Trimble	1	SG	28	28	34	22.5	7.3	16.2	45	4.6	9.7	2.7	6.5	42	5.0	6.0	83	3.6	4.6	1.2	0.1	3.2
Lucas Walker	12	PF	26	13	17	6.1	2.3	5.3	45	1.9	3.9	0.4	1.3	31	0.9	1.2	78	4.0	0.8	0.8	0.1	1.0
Mitchell Young	3,9	PF	23	0	8	1.9	0.7	1.6	47	0.7	1.5	0.0	0.0	0	0.3	0.6	64	1.7	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.4

Awards[]

Most Valuable Player[]

Melo Trimble - "Melo Trimble was the clear choice for Taipans MVP this year, after breaking numerous club records and becoming the first player in over a decade to have at least 600 points, 100 rebounds, 100 assists and 50 made three-pointers in a regular season. The first-year import was also second in the NBL in scoring (22.6 points per game) third in assists (4.5 per game) seventh in three-pointers (43.1 per cent) and tied sixth for steals (1.2 per game)."^[4]

Coaches Award[]

Jarrod Kenny - "Selected by the coaches, the recipient of this award fulfils a variety of factors that they determine, whether that is the traits and values they bring to the team, their on-court efforts or their off-court contributions. This year, Jarrod Kenny was presented with the Coaches Award for bringing a competitive mentality and work ethic to training every day, while on game night he was consistently ready and was available to fill any role the team needed. Kenny is one of two players rostered for next season and alongside Rob Loe will return in the 2019/20 NBL season."^[4]

Best Defensive Player[]

D. J. Newbill - "DJ Newbill has been named Best Defensive Player by his club for two straight seasons now, after winning the same award with the New Zealand Breakers last year. Newbill often had the task of stopping some of the most lethal scorers the NBL, and proved to be a problem for opposition teams with his basketball IQ, strength, energy and quick hands. Newbill was also tied sixth in the NBL for steals, averaging 1.2 per game."^[4]

Member’s Choice MVP[]

Melo Trimble - "As one of the many benefits of being a Taipans member, the Orange Army get the privilege for voting for their very own MVP and ensuring their favourite player gets recognised at the end of the season. Melo Trimble took out the Member’s Choice MVP Award within an hour of voting being open, and the American gained the majority of votes from the 2018-19 Taipans members by a landslide."^[4]

Player's Player[]

Kuany Kuany - "Voted on by the playing group, each player confidentially provided a 3-2-1 vote for the best team mate throughout the season, with Kuany Kuany taking out the honour this season. Kuany is known for being the first to put his hand up to help, sticking to the team values, and always going the extra mile for his peers. His great attitude and warmth has made him a huge fan favourite in Cairns, with his outgoing personality and infectious energy a constant source of positivity for the Taipans."^[4]

Club Person of the Year[]

Anthony Fisher - "Previously awarded to a volunteer, part-time member of staff or external individual that contributes to the Taipans, Anthony Fisher became the first player to ever be named Club Person of the Year on Friday. As a training player, he was an integral part of the Taipans training squad throughout the 2018-19 season, focusing on improving his game and his team mates. He has also been recognised for actively engaged in the Cairns community through Taipans promotions, school visits and clinics at Cairns Basketball."^[4]

Commitment to Community[]

Nathan Jawai - "While all Taipans players and staff deliver a number of appearances, engagements and activities in the Cairns community, the Commitment to Community Award is presented to the player that goes above and beyond their Taipans duty. Nate Jawai took out this award for the second year in a row, thanks to his ongoing efforts with the Taipans Indigenous Program and Queensland Government commitments. Jawai continues to be a superstar in the local community and is extremely passionate about the work he conducts as an Indigenous role model."^[4]

See also[]

• 2018–19 NBL season
• Cairns Taipans

References[]

External links[]

• Official Website