Regulars, Returnees and Rookies: Coaches of NBL1 Central 2023
NBL1 Central commences on March 25. Three coaches of varying experiences share their insights as the 2023 season nears.
Credit: NBL1 Central/NBL/@snapshotphotography31 @Snap Shot Photography / Emma Hoppo
It’s an exciting time in the South Australian basketball league for the NBL1, with players having taken place in preseason and coaches now mostly settled for the year ahead. The coaching fraternity of the women varies from a 15-year veteran of the league to a four-time Halls medallist making her return to the Adelaide Lightning’s senior assistant. The men’s side have seen the return of familiar faces, plus a couple of debutants who have extensive basketball experience from earlier roles. Likewise, rookie coaches are keen to make an impact in their debut at the top job and Scott Freer is no exception to the rule.
Scott Freer: The Rookie
Many of the NBL1 Central commentators were talking about the Southern Tigers head men’s coaching position in the offseason, with one of our members unusually quiet for a patch there – that’s when it struck me.
To paraphrase what I said back then to now, Tigers head coach Freer, to which he replied later, on that he hadn’t had enough experience in the senior side of things. That was exactly what some clubs were looking for in the offseason to lead their club – that junior development background and ability to translate development to the top level.
“I've had a few teams approached me about coaching and have turned it down for different reasons at the time. This offseason though, I inquired about different positions, just kind of having a little bit more curiosity than anything and probably had one other club follow up and asked me to come in for an interview which I didn't apply for,” Freer shared with The Pick and Roll about the initial process.
“I got a little bit more intrigued and when the Southern role came up, a couple of people in the program at the time —including a couple of players and then even a former head coach— encouraged me to apply for the role.
“I went through the process and was privileged enough to be offered the role and you know, for me - I always like a challenge.”
Freer’s 24 years of basketball experience won him the role, most recently holding the Junior Development Officer (JDO) position at the Woodville Warriors. However, timing was everything for Freer, as the thought had not crossed his mind on stepping up to the next level. “I guess I never really envision being an NBL1 head coach. It's just something that I think once you get a certain amount of experience and you've been around a bit people start talking to you over the last couple years.”
One of the biggest challenges for a new coach is taking on board responsibilities they may have not considered before – for Freer, there is a mixture of newness as well as familiarity.
“There's a few things off-court to consider like housing different players from interstate and finding ways to accommodate them, trying to build some relationships and or maintain relationships with sponsors. Then there’s recruiting - you don't recruit as much in juniors. We used to find a lot of players from soccer and convince them basketballs the sport for them - It's similar but different to my previous role as a JDO.”
While it’s a big challenge for the rookie senior coach, Freer is embracing the different use of his time – that appears to be playing in his favour in the lead up to the season.
“While there are parallels with my previous role – the head coach role has been a small step back in my general basketball commitment. Getting my players to buy into my system is where the most energy goes of my time now on court.
“I might be proven wrong, but that's my approach. We have grown men [as] you know, and it's a lot different than I’d do in juniors anyway. It’s easier for juniors to buy into your system as a coach as seniors as you’ve got to earn [the seniors’] respect.”
Freer’s transition from junior to senior level has shown itself in his method and approach – that’s already showing a growth in his understanding of being an NBL1 head coach.
“The cool thing is at this level you often get to do a little bit more coaching-wise, because the guys you have are smart and experienced. I think at the start in our sessions though I was throwing too much out there and I've now tried to cut back a little bit. It's easy to kind of nerd out and try to replicate the college stuff but I think that probably the way that you try and get guys to buy in is a bit different now I realise.”
Freer has assembled a lineup that he thinks will buy into his system and keep the Tigers competitive. It includes some familiar faces like dunk machine Anthony Green (Norwood Flames), utility Jimma Dau (North Adelaide Rockets), former West Adelaide Bearcat Fabian Johnson (NBL1 West East Perth Eagles) and a New Zealand guard that he’s particularly excited about.
“Jett Thompson was backup decoy for Corey Webster in the NZNBL for the Franklin Bulls last season – he’s a pretty smart player and can be disruptive on the floor defensively. He can set the table and is great in the pick and roll – we showed some video of him to the other guys and they were keen to play with him.” Freer shared about his cagey recruit.
From the freshness of new ideas and learning on the run - another individual has been keenly observing the league from a far and felt it was time to return to the top role once again in Vikki Kelson.
Vikki Kelson: The Returnee
Vikki Kelson is a decorated individual from a playing perspective. She’s a four-time Halls medallist winner —which is the highest honour in the league— having won the award in 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005 with the Southern Tigers and the South Adelaide Panthers. She’s also a six-time defensive player of the year, and also played in the WNBL previously, having won a championship with the Adelaide Lightning in the process.
Kelson hasn’t coached since her last stint in 2016 with the Panthers, where she took out coach of the year in 2015. She has spent the last few years working with the Southern Tigers developing and mentoring the U18s/U23s in a part time capacity, but the time to return for her was now in a new role with the Eastern Mavericks.
“I was kind of ready - I stepped away after we had our son and I thought I would step away for two to three years possibly which rolled into a few more years. It was obviously family first and foremost,” Kelson explained about her absence from the top jobs in the league. “Being a bit of an older mum and first time mum, it was kind of a fairly large adjustment, so it took that little bit longer for me to find a real balance.”
The Mavs role was the perfect storm for Kelson as the opportunity to return and build a program with a youthful list was on the mind of the returnee.
“I’ve always wanting to get back amongst it because I feel that it’s ingrained in me. But I think it was the right time so soon as I saw this role advertised – I saw it as the kind of challenge I was looking for.
“I knew was it was time for me to lead again.”
The biggest shift in the league in Kelson’s eyes has been the demographic of the players since her last role. It’s something she noticed, with the NBL1 brand accommodating the CABL and SA Premier League makeup.
“I think the quality of players has improved and the allowance of players to improve within the league. Girls are getting more opportunity to thrive.
“I think that it was a little bit restricted back in my day when I coached last, and I think because there's so much youth coming through – opportunities have expanded.
“I think the league is more exciting in regard to these young girls wanting to impact and wanting to play and kind of learn and grow.”
With a squad of youthful players assembled, Kelson wants to build the Mavs with an exciting brand of basketball and look to develop the players in quick fashion. Plenty of what she channels on the sidelines, you can expect will flow onto the court.
“I think energy and those controllables — I feel a young group must have as a base to move forward. I’m a high energy individual, whether it's on the floor or off the floor. So, I think the younger group relates that really well and inspires them and puts them in a space where they can be themselves as well.
“If you can't be that I don't feel that you can move forward and be the best version of yourself.
“I think I’ll bring a broader level of accountability as well. I'm not sure what it's looked like in the past few years, but holding individuals to account is really important as well for growth and the expectations to have a higher standard this year for me.”
A key to the Mavs will be their import selections. Kelson believes she has the right fit with Jannon Otto’s signing, especially for a club like the Mavs that finished on the bottom end of the table last season.
“I need players to complement Taylah Levy [college returnee from Cleveland State], Olivia Bradley, Steph Formby, so we recruited Otto from UC Riverside via the NBL1 North’s Rockhampton Cyclones.
“She brings us versatility but more importantly she’s going to be fantastic individual for our group where it’s at. She’ll stretch the perimeter, and that’s something we need this season with our lineup.”
Brenton Johnston: The Regular
Also tasked with the growth of a women’s program is no strange task to another head NBL1 central coach who is back again for another season and is ready to take the North Adelaide Rockets back up the ladder, in Brenton Johnston.
Johnston, who has taken the historic club of the Rockets to the final four times since 2015, is the Rockets iron man. The iron man competitor off-court has been in the league for over 15 years, and is familiar with every conceivable preseason challenge preseason. Despite the raft of experience Johnston has over many of this year’s crop of coaches, he doesn’t think about the experience being an advantage necessarily.
“I never think about it like that [the advantages of being a regular coach in the league]. Both Vicky [Kelson] and Joe [Noone] are still very experienced coaches that might have been out of the league for a while but they know how to put a team together,” Johnston explained his viewpoint.
“I suppose for me, it’s more understanding my players because I've had these players for a while. Last year because we knew what was happening with us we got people some minutes that may not have got minutes whereas if we were pushing for finals and all that — we knew where we're at.
“Which meant they got experience and they got better developed. So hopefully, that's helped set up some ground for us in the depth department for this year.”
Part of Johnston’s experience in preseason involves taking learnings from previous seasons and watching some of what other teams do across preseason as well. Although the reserves competition on Tuesday gives some indicators, the key for Johnston has been some different preparation, due to the season starting much earlier and more condensed.
“You’re looking at the structures and what they're trying to do and achieve. My assistant Glenn [Shaw] is coming back for the Woodville Warriors as a senior so someone like him knows my thought patterns well. So seeing what [the opposition] are doing is still important. I’ve watched a bit of Central [Lions] games this year through my two different assistant coaches but I’ve also been out on the Tuesday nights and live watching more so this year.
“We’ve had a solid preseason this year and with the season starting a lot earlier than it has in the past - we've mostly gone a touch bit more into it in the running sessions.
“I know what is coming and that is a lot of basketball in a four weekly period, and we need to be able to backup like we're going to play Saturday you need to be able to backup recover and go again on the Tuesday and be ready to bring a game - because if you don’t, you're going to lose.”
What Johnston is referring to is a stretch of four games over a week in late April including the emotional ANZAC day clashes. It’s the kind of nuanced perspective an experienced head coach brings to the fold.
“If you fall behind and you're playing catch up, it really can be extremely hard. The exception for us was 2021 where we were very, very fortunate we scraped in and we went all the way but that's a very rare thing.
“You really want to be in a good position to control some of your destiny but you can't win the grand final in the first month but you can set yourself up to put yourself in the right position rather than chasing your tail which is no different to any sport.”
With that in mind, Johnston doesn’t have his full team yet, unlike some other clubs.
“We’ve still got a couple of little puzzle pieces to come into play like Lauren Mansfield and our import Erica Meyer has arrived now – Erica brings the height we need at 6’3 she screens the ball well and rolls down very well and will be able to finish around the rim very well for us,” Johnston summarised the pieces of his 2023 puzzle.
“We’ve got Tayla Corrigan back which gives us more flexibility, Jordy Freer comes from Forestville [Eagles] and Grace Facchini and Lily Zbierski who are part of our youth coming through will help our team develop together.”
The Board is Set
Following the progress of these three coaches and goals across their respective journeys is something I look forward to tracking.
With only five training sessions before the NBL1 season to get his whole group together, Freer shared it’ll take time but be worth the grind in the long run.
“We are going to have fun with it – embrace the challenge and I’m aiming to apply the knowledge I’ve gathered on the floor and see what happens.”
Kelson knows what it takes to get her side up and running with only weeks away from the season start - having obviously been here before.
“We have some KPIs in regards to what we want to get done each game, and I think if we focus on those things we can improve week after week. Individual growth is first and foremost within the program for me and trying to implement that discipline within our actions throughout the year to create a comfortable and positive environment is the definition of success for us.”
When you’ve been in the league as long as Johnston has, player relationships over multiple years and coaches certainly help in assembling the team you desire weeks from the start line. Johnston knows that adapting to the next generation of players coming through is key to future success for the storied club in 2023.
“I think you’ll always use your experience, or you always go to people to talk to about things and bounce ideas off to make sure we're on the right track. We've also got to be prepared to change things. The season changes but the new generation come through it’s different to you know, what we did in 2012 or 2015.
“We need to educate and teach young kids so we keep that flow on effect happening.”
The NBL1 Central as we can see will clearly throw up just as much intrigue off the court as on it. The chessboard is now set with the setups, the pieces and ultimately the moves that will determine their club’s fate for season 2023.