JackJumpers Preach Patience in Roster Build

Co-CEO of the Tasmania JackJumpers Jorrick Chivers has called for patience with the continued build of the side’s NBL24 roster, and says things are “a lot slower” than last off-season.

The JackJumpers confirmed the signing of former South East Melbourne wing Junior Madut on Tuesday morning, and now have just one local roster spot remaining for the upcoming season.

As reported on The Marketplace by ESPN Insider Olgun Uluc, Tassie-born point guard Taran Armstrong will not be filling that final spot having reportedly agreed to link up with the Cairns Taipans, and Chivers says the club will be patient in adding the final local piece.

“In terms of Australian talent coming through the door we’ll leave that spot open for a few more weeks or another month or so, we’ll see what happens in the market and see if any of these Australians come back from overseas,” Chivers said.

“When you’re pitching to a player it’s more about what we can offer them in – it’s an opportunity for these guys to get better and work with a world-renowned coach. We’re still confident we can attract players to Tasmania.

“Once you get guys here, they love it and they want to stay, so we’re really confident we can still sell the dream to them and still recruit hard.

“The difference with free agency with this year to last year – and this is a learning point for everyone in the market – is things are a lot slower when there’s a lot more time between seasons. We’re being patient and we’re asking the public to be patient with us.”

Despite apparently missing out on the highly sought after signature of Taran Armstrong, the club is still in discussions to bring Taran’s older brother, Tre, into the fold for NBL24.

Both brothers represented California Baptist in the NCAA last season alongside newly minted Adelaide development player Keanu Rasmussen, with 23-year-old Tre playing 121 games for the program over the past four years.

“We haven’t treated them as a package,” Chivers said of the two Tasmanian-born brothers. “We’ve treated them as individual players with different skillsets.

“We’re still in conversations with Tre around potentially coming down here next year as a DP, but, again, the timeline for making that decision is something he’s going to work through with his group.

“We’re still confident of being able to get something done with him.

“We’ve also got to remember there’s another nine other clubs. Just because they’re Tasmanian doesn’t mean they’re going to pick us.

“We just have to be realistic that it is a professional sport and we’re not going to have an all-Tasmanian line-up, and not all Tasmanian players are going to want to play for us.”