Jack out of the Box or Sustained Success?

By Dan Woods - NBL Media

Whether the Tasmania JackJumpers can repeat last season’s miraculous run to the grand final is one of the most pertinent questions across the league heading into NBL23. A man who had high hopes for them last season, Corey Williams, believes they can back it up. 

Speaking on NBL Overtime, Williams bullishly explained ten reasons why he believes the JackJumpers can, once again, shock the nation.

Check out the full episode of NBL Overtime below. 

“They’re mentally tough,” Williams said. “They have the ability to close out games. Their home court is a fortress.

“They have a quality point guard [in] Josh Magette. They have a state behind them – support. They [have] Coach of the Year (Scott Roth). They can defend. I like the imports Rashard Kelly and Milton Doyle. Jack McVeigh is going to another level. They’ve been there before, grand finalists, they know what it takes to get into the finals.

“This is why I know [they can make the finals]. Not I think, I know”.

If the JackJumpers are to repeat their fouth-placed finish and eventual grand final appearance of last season, they’ll have to do it without sparkplug guard Josh Adams.

Adams went through somewhat of a messy departure from the organisation at the end of last season, with he and coach Scott Roth declaring different stories of what went on during contract negotiations.

Williams says not only does he like the look of Tasmania’s new imports Rashard Kelly and Milton Doyle, but holding onto Josh Magette was more important than keeping scoring machine Adams.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">A tight tussle to the end but we finish up our <a href="https://twitter.com/BulkNutrients?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BulkNutrients</a> Pre-Season Camp with a win! <br><br>Thanks for Begents the presenting partner of our Pre-Season Games. <a href="https://t.co/sRP43UdzKq">pic.twitter.com/sRP43UdzKq</a></p>&mdash; Tasmania JackJumpers ? (@JackJumpers) <a href="https://twitter.com/JackJumpers/status/1567828646878146562?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 8, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“It was up and down for him (Adams) a huge part of the year. He got cooking towards the end of the season and then we saw what he did in finals and grand finals,” Williams said.

“It was really a team effort and that’s when it comes down to the playmaking ability of Josh Magette.

“I like the additions. I like Rashard Kelly, he put up some good numbers and Milton Doyle played some really solid basketball. I think they’re a really good fit for the team.

“Rashard Kelly is a good player … he’s in shape, he’s coming in moving well, getting it done on the defensive end. I feel putting him in the right offensive places and running the right sets for him he’s going to be big for them.”

However confident Williams is in Tassie’s hopes of taking the competition by storm, the JackJumpers will once again have to convince a large number of the population of their quality.

NBL analyst Liam Santamaria contests that last season’s success was merely a flash in the pan fairy tale, and that the absence of Adams will be telling.

“The thing about Tassie, last year was a sports movie for Tassie,” Santamaria rebutted.

“What we know about movies is most of the time sequels suck. There are exceptions to the rule but they caught lightening in a bottle last season and a lot of that had to do with Josh Adams. For them to do that again, it’s going to be tough."