Culture king Cummings embraces Aussie life

Thursday, August 24, 2023

New South East Melbourne recruit Will Cummings is ready to embrace the Australian way of life while playing in the NBL.

Photo via South East Melbourne Phoenix

Will Cummings has a passport chock full of stamps. The guard has made a career for himself across several stops in Europe, but has cited the continued growth of the NBL as a key reason for joining the South East Melbourne Phoenix ahead of NBL24.

Cummings, 30, started his career in the NBA G-League and has since played in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Germany, Russia, France and China – with his stint in Russia seeing him become teammates with fellow Phoenix import Alan Williams.

In his travels he’s pulled together a resume that matches the size of his passport. His veritable pile of awards is topped with MVP gongs from both Germany and France, and a EuroCup title.

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Now he’s brought his talents to the NBL, and Cummings says he’s looking forward to figuring out what the NBL is all about.

“This is a new space for me, I’ve been in the European bubble for so long and I really wanted to make the jump over here to Australia, embrace the culture and learn everything,” Cummings told SEN.

“I feel like at this point I’ve been in the cycle of the European season – 10 months on and a month and a half off – the Australian season is built how it should be, at seven months.

“You can play all the games you need to play and not have that excess down time. It works perfectly for me to be able to still have a life and be able to go back home to America.

“The NBL is growing, it’s getting bigger and bigger every year and you see a lot of draft picks coming from the NBL. I wanted to be a part of it, come over here for a change of scenery, put it to the test and see what I can do over here.”

In the era of positionless basketball, Cummings is a guard’s guard. Whether he’s running point or playing as the two, he prides himself on his ability to help drive his team’s offence, whenever and wherever is needed.

He was named the top scorer of the German BBL in 2019 and the Greek League in 2017, but he averaged over five assists per game when he was named MVP of the French LNB Pro A in 2022.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">What’s the best way to learn the rules of the AFL?</p>— William Cummings (@willcummings_) <a href="https://twitter.com/willcummings_/status/1693832226218381398?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 22, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

He says his game style is simple – he plays to win.

“If I need to go out and fill it up, I can do that based on my track record. I can become a pass-first if someone else like Gary (Browne), Mitch (Creek) or Alan (Williams) is going, they can get their touches. I’m not that guy who’s just going to keep putting it up.

“I can diversify, fill it up or pass it and just do whatever I need to get the win.

“I just go and play to win.”

South East Melbourne will open their NBL24 season on Thursday, September 28 against South East Melbourne.

Tickets are available here