Australian Famous NBA Player

Andrew Bogut

7’0″, 245lbs, born in Melbourne, Australia.

Before Andrew Bogut came on the scene there were essentially two types of Aussies that made it to the NBA: 1) Really tall guys (Longley, Bradtke, Anstey) who were good at being tall, and 2) Great outside shooters (Heal, Gaze) who were good at shooting threes. Either way they were pretty limited roles that didn’t lend themselves to a lot of NBA court time unless you were lucky enough to be on a team with Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Aussies in the NBA were essentially a novelty, a foreign experiment. That was until Andrew Bogut came on to the scene. After catching the eye of many scouts in college as a big man with a soft touch and great smarts, Bogut rode the wave of hype all the way to a #1 selection in the 2005 NBA Draft. An Australian, the number 1 pick in the NBA Draft!! I’ll never forget that day. It was the day Australian basketball was stamped on the map.

Signature Move: The up-and-under left-handed hook shot, made so impressive by the fact he’s actually right-handed.

Andrew Gaze

6’7″, 205lbs, born in Melbourne, Australia.

Andrew Gaze is the greatest basketballer in the history of Australia’s National Basketball League, and will be for all eternity. Why? Because if Australia ever produces a player this good again, he will not spend 20 years playing in the NBL. To put it simply, Andrew Gaze is the Michael Jordan of the NBL. Just check his career achievements:

• 2 time NBL Champion with the Melbourne Tigers in 1993 and 1997
• 7 time Most Valuable Player (91, 92, 94, 95, 96, 97, 98)
• Won the NBL’s Most Efficient Player Award 8-straight years from 1990-1997
• NBL Leading Scorer 14 times (including 11-straight years from 1991-2001)
• All time NBA leading points scorer (18,908 points)
• A season average of 37.6 ppg back in 1990, only to be topped the following season with 38.8 pppg
• In 1995 he averaged 31.1 points, 8.1 assists and 5.3 rebounds

Signature Move: The layup.

Chris Anstey

7’0″, 249lbs, born in Melbourne, Australia.

Chris Anstey began his career as a nineteen year old playing for the Melbourne Tigers in 1994. It wasn’t until he moved to the South East Melbourne Magic the following season that his career really took off, being named the NBL’s Most Improved Player in 1996 and helping his team win the Championship that season (against his old team the Tigers, no less). Having established himself as one of Australia’s best big men he elected for the 1997 NBA Draft where he was taken at pick 18 by the Trail Blazers. His draft rights were then traded to the Mavericks for cash plus Kelvin Cato (how amusing!) and Anstey enjoyed reasonable success coming off the Mavericks bench, and actually starting in 8 games.

Signature Move: The three-pointer – no other Australian center has the range Anstey has.

Lanard Copeland

6’6″, 190lbs, born in Atlanta, Georgia.

Lanard Copeland is not Australian, but between the years of 1992 and 1999 approximately 82% of every dunk or alley-oop performed in Australia’s NBL was actually performed by Lanard Copeland. He was the guy that brought the essence of the NBA – crazy athleticism, soaring dunks, and black men – to Australia’s National Basketball League. Sure, more kids probably turned up to the games wearing Gaze jerseys, but it was a Lanard Copeland fast-break tomahawk they were all waiting to see. Copeland first tried his luck in the NBA, picked up undrafted by the 76′ers in 1989 where his career highlight was probably an 8 point, 2 rebound, 2 assist performance against the Hersey Hawkins-lead Los Angeles Clippers. Copeland got to play alongside Charles Barkley that season, but it would be the last season he played for the Sixers. He was later signed to a 10-day contract by the Clippers in 1991, but he mainly got garbage time minutes and struggled to make an impression. The following year he came to the NBL and thoroughly dominated – he averaged 28-4-3 in his rookie season and formed a unique bond with Melbourne Tigers teammate Andrew Gaze that would last over a decade.

Signature Move: The Gaze-to-Copeland alley-oop.

Luke Schenscher

7’1″, 255lbs, born in Hope Forrest, Australia.

Luke Schenscher played alongside Jarret Jack for Georgia Tech where he made the 2004 NCAA Championship Game (and lost to the Huskies). His NBA career was unfortunately not as successful. Despite not being drafted he found himself on both the Kings and Nuggets pre-season rosters, but ended up playing in the D-League that season for the Fort Worth Flyers. In March 2006 he signed a 10-day contract with the Bulls, becoming the third Aussie along with Longley and Anstey to play for Chicago. It was during this contract he exploded for his career-high 10 points to go with 4 rebounds against the Trailblazers and his former college teammate, Jack. So impressed were the Bulls they offered him another 10-day contract, then signed him for the remainder of the season. Schensher even got some playoff burn against the Heat, but similar to Heal, Gaze and Anstey before him, it was only garbage time minutes. He played a few games for the Trailblazers the next season but didn’t really make an impact. After playing a year in the German League he returned home to Australia to play for Adelaide in the NBL, where he is currently second in the league in rebounding behind Chris Anstey.

Signature Move: Setting screens