How Josh Magette Could Return to the JackJumpers

The discussion around whether Milton Doyle re-signs for the Tasmania JackJumpers has dominated the external chatter surrounding the club for the entire NBL off-season so far, however Peter Hooley believes the potential return of the All-NBL First Team selection is just the first domino to fall in the side’s search for its NBL24 import trio.

Josh Magette is the only import to have played in both of Tasmania’s NBL seasons to date. In the club’s first campaign in the competition he was joined by MiKyle McIntosh and All-NBL Second Team selection Josh Adams, while last season Doyle and Rashard Kelly helped fill the import ranks.

While the return of Magette to the club for NBL24 is far from a certainly, Hooley says there’s a clear scenario in which it could happen.

“We think about Tasmania, they’ve never had that explosive type of import guard that’s won the MVPs in recent seasons,” he said on The Marketplace. “So you think how that would look in a JackJumpers uniform.

“It all depends on what happens with Milton Doyle, doesn’t it? That’s the next piece to fall.

“If you get him done you still need another scoring weapon to be able to go alongside him and take the pressure off. If you got Milton Doyle done and you can get a really strong Rayjon Tucker-type in the three, then maybe you do have that conversation with Josh Magette.

“He wants to come, you’ve got that leadership on and off the floor, but there’s some really big gaps to fill.”

Regardless of whether the JackJumpers do re-sign one of – or both of – Doyle and Magette, there will still be pressure on whichever group of imports links up with the side to perform.

So far this free agency Tasmania has added Anthony Drmic from Adelaide and Junior Madut from South East Melbourne, but Hooley has implored the club to search for a potential big-name, game-changing talent.

“They need that marquee signing,” he said. “They need that piece that can carry them.

“It was Josh Adams in season one, it was Milton Doyle last season.

“There’s really no ifs, ands or buts – they need to get that done.

“If they can’t do that then it’s back to the drawing board, but they also need to nail all three import spots. I wouldn’t say they’ve done that in the first two years.

“They’ve nailed two, one-and-a-half out of three in the first two years, but the way it looks right now I don’t mind the bench, we know the culture with Scott Roth. They need to nail these three import spots.”