Basketball Expressions QBL Season Awards
Most Valuable Player: Tanner McGrew (South West Metro)
Really hard choice between Tanner McGrew and Aaron Anderson. McGrew was what the doctor order for South West, a physical tough big that could rebound, provide interior scoring and basically make life easier for Ryan Vines, Brendan Teys and Jarred Bairstow. Anderson has been the ultimate glue guy for a veteran Capitals team, having ridiculous numbers compared to his playing time. McGrew takes the edge for me partially because South West were horrible without him losing to Gladstone and SC Rip.
Honorable Mentions: Aaron Anderson (Brisbane), Mitch Young (Logan), Cam Tragardh (Cairns)
Coach of the Year: Jaime Pearlman (Cairns)
Pearlman is one of the best coaches in the league and you could agree he has a stacked team, but when you lose Cam Tragardh for the majority of the season, you have Loughton unavailable for several games and you are able to hang in against teams like Brisbane and Rockhampton in the fourth quarter, tells you how well drilled that team is. Their form towards the end of the season and during the playoffs has been phenomenal. Anderson deserves a mention getting his team to a 10 game winning streak and then hitting roadblocks with unavailability and tough road schedules as does Derek Rucker for the improvements he made in Logan
Honorable Mentions: Rodney Anderson (Townsville), Derek Rucker (Logan), Geoff Tarrant (Brisbane)
Sixth Man of the Year: Luke Schenscher (Townsville)
Really tough to make a decision, purely on the fact that most of the players in this list have spend time in the starting lineups of their teams. Schenscher gets it on my account purely cos of his consistency and ability to compliment Matt Rees and Luke Brennan.
Honorable Mention:Jaryd Eustace (Ipswich), Nelson Kahler (SC Phoenix-Clippers), Illiwa Baldwin (Logan) Youth Player of the Year: Mirko Djeric (Townsville)
People will disagree with me on this selection, because a) Djeric is an established NBL Player and b) he only played 10 games. While that is a valid argument, he is born in 1995 making him eligible. Djeric made the Heat into a legitimate contender, he was their go to guy in scoring, formed a great backcourt with Josh Wilcher and his loss was really felt when he left.
Honorable Mention: Anthony Fisher (Cairns), Harrison Froling (Townsville), Jacob Davis (Brisbane)
Most Improved Player: Damon Heuir (Cairns)
Last season Cairns has a strong core of guards at some stage included Nathan Sobey, Corey Maynard and Shaun Bruce. Without them, he went from a decent guard to a bona fide star in this league. Carried the team while Tragardh was out, while out of position and has made huge inroads in his development as a player.
Honorable Mention: James Mitchell (Cairns), Hayden Reed (SC Rip), Jake Allen (Gladstone)
QBL All-First Team C Mitch Young (Logan) PF Tanner McGrew (South West Metro) SF Peter Crawford (Townsville) SG Michael Cedar (Logan) PG Aaron Anderson (Brisbane) QBL All-Second Team C Cameron Tragardh (Cairns) PF Justin Baker (Logan) SF Damon Heuir (Cairns) SG Mirko Djeric (Townsville) PG Josh Wilcher (Townsville)
Honorable Mention: Shaun Bruce (Mackay), Alex Loughton (Cairns), Dusty Rychart (Brisbane) James Legan (Ipswich), Jordan Gregory (Rockhampton), Ray Willis (Gladstone), Chris Whitehead (Toowoomba), Jarred Bairstow (South West Metro), Tidjane Diop (Mackay), Chris Cedar (Mackay)
For Rob Scheibner's Season Awards click here
