From Master's to Main Man - Super Snake Sam's Full-Circle NBL Journey

Like all other professions decisions define a basketballers career. What college to go to, how long to stay in college, what country to sign in, what role you want to play on a team, and, finally, which team to play for.

Sam Waardenburg’s decision to sign with Cairns is looking like more of a masterstroke on his part with each passing game. The NBL rookie has formed a key part of a young and exciting Taipans side that has absolutely taken the competition by storm this season.

He’s been steadily improving across the Taipans' campaign so far, to place himself in the early box seat for the NBL Rookie of the Year award and has massively stepped up in the absence of injured star import Tahjere McCall.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Sam Waardenburg, aka, the Ring Whisperer ?<br><br>The <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CairnsTaipans</a> man has 14 points at half-time.<br><br>Watch the second half on ESPN via Kayo Sports and Foxtel. <a href="https://t.co/kAwbusstUr">pic.twitter.com/kAwbusstUr</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1579401504397885440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Graduating from the University of Miami with a Bachelor’s Degree majoring in geography and minoring in sociology before adding a Master’s Degree in sport administration, we could have seen Waardenburg in the professional ranks last year – but unfinished business in the college game saw him head back to Miami for one last dance.

“When I first got to Miami we were a really good team,” Waardenburg told NBL Media. “We had Lonnie Walker who’s playing in LA now for the Lakers and Bruce Brown – these NBA guys around the program. It was really kind of Miami at its highest point.

“You can blame injuries and then Covid and everything like that – we had the years after that where we only had seven scholarship guys playing and that was super tough. We couldn’t even practice five on five. We had really subpar seasons – 14 and 14 on the win/loss column. Getting into that questionable year I was asking myself ‘do I return or do I leave?’

“I just had this mindset of ‘I don't feel comfortable leaving the program worse than when I came into it as a freshman’ … it was pretty certain at that point that I was going to return and I wanted to leave something at Miami to build on and be better. We made that Elite Eight run [in March Madness] – that’s probably one of my fondest memories playing basketball. Memories I’ll remember for the rest of my life.”

Waardenburg defends former number four NBA draft pick and current Atlanta forward De'Andre Hunter while playing for the University of Miami.

After finishing his time at Miami – a college that also boasts current NBL star DJ Vasiljevic amongst its alumni – Waardenburg’s next decision would be where he would start his professional career. Would the Auckland born star head to the NBL, or pursue opportunities abroad?

“I grew up around the Breakers, the Breakers Academy and all that, going to games constantly. I got to see and live those Breakers/Taipans finals series’,” he said.

“That was kind of important to me, to come back here and start playing in the league that I got to grow up watching.

“I wanted to do Summer League once our college season finished … I got an opportunity with the Dallas Mavericks that ended quickly with a bad ankle injury, but that’s a connection that’s still there and hopefully in the future I can return to Dallas and play in the Summer League with them, or any other team.”

Sam Waardenburg spent time as a development player at the Breakers before heading to the University of Miami.

Taipans coach Adam Forde spoke on The Huddle earlier this year and discussed how difficult it was to pitch Cairns as a destination club to emerging talents like Waardenburg after suffering big losses and finishing second-bottom on the ladder in NBL22.

Waardenburg elected to join forces with Forde in Cairns though, with great effect. He’s one of a number of new faces this season who has come in to reverse the fortunes of the historic club.

“I talked to quite a few teams just sitting down like this on Zoom calls and whatnot, just kind of trying to get familiar with the coaches around the league and what they saw in me. I clicked pretty quickly and easily with ‘Fordey’,” Waardenburg reflected.

RELATED: Adam Forde on The Huddle

“Seeing his vision, what he wanted to do, what players he wanted to bring into the team and what type of offence and defence he wanted to run. It was pretty clear what he wanted was a young, energetic team - very disruptive, but also a lot of freedom for guys to do what they are comfortable doing on the offensive and defensive end.

“He was always very clear on the process and what was going to happen if I picked them, and his mindset of what he saw from me. He knew I wanted to finish my master's degree so I wasn't pressured to get to Cairns as quickly as possible. He gave me all the time up until August when a lot of our imports were coming in.

“That opportunity was there for playing time when I was picking Cairns. We have an exciting young group and you see it every day of practice, the energy the guys are bringing and the leadership some of the guys have.

“This team isn't last year's team or anything like that. It's really like the first team he hasn't inherited. It's like he's gone out and got the guys he's wanted.

“I don't see why we can't be top team in the league, or top two and competing in the final series … I think we're one of the better defensive teams in the league right now, but we should be the best defensive team.

“You see guys offensively in practice do amazing things. Maybe it's not happening in the game right now, but we know that each guy can do these certain things. Only time will tell.”

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">? AND ONE!!<br><br>Sam Waardenburg starting off strong with a fast 6?? points! <a href="https://t.co/FQGMFe435g">pic.twitter.com/FQGMFe435g</a></p>&mdash; Cairns Taipans (@CairnsTaipans) <a href="https://twitter.com/CairnsTaipans/status/1579392953503842304?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 10, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

One key part of becoming that top side that Waardenburg envisions the Taipans being is the ability to close out tight games. Young sides, traditionally, often struggle to win those close games – and it’s no different for Cairns.

After holding New Zealand to just five points in the opening quarter of their Round 4 clash Cairns couldn’t take advantage and went on to lose by four points, and against Sydney in Round 5 the Kings came back to sink the Snakes courtesy of a buzzer-beating game-winner from former forward Kouat Noi.

“It’s been tough,” Waardenburg said. “With the Breakers that was a pretty gruelling game – low scoring.

“It hasn’t really been like that the last few minutes of a game. Like playing Melbourne United we were down six with a few minutes left in the game and we came back to win it.

“There’s been moments like that in the third quarter, or with the Breakers when we held them to five points in the first quarter, we’re getting these moments where we’re doing what we want to do, but then kind of settling back a bit, not putting the foot on the pedal and trying to run up the score and continue to play championship level basketball.

“That’s our struggle right now. We know that’s our mistakes and we know what we’re doing to address those, and we continue to hold each other accountable and ourselves accountable. We all know this is a learning process.

“We're not worried about it. We'll fix it. We'll figure it out.”

For now though, Waardenburg and his Taipans will continue their season on Friday night, and will once again play Melbourne United.

How Waardenburg’s role and minutes will look when McCall returns to the side after the upcoming FIBA break remains to be seen, however the young forward isn’t worried about how his output might change once one of the team’s stars returns.

“We’re looking forward to having him (McCall) back, especially on defence,” Waardenburg said.

“He’s a great leader for us, and he really just talks us through the game.

“I believe he’s one of the better defenders in the league, and that energy he brings is only going to elevate us all.”