Tasmania pair Scott Roth and Jack McVeigh have thrown their support behind interim 36ers coach Scott Ninnis, with Roth in particular believing his Adelaide counterpart should be given the side’s coaching job in NBL25.

The comments came in the aftermath of the JackJumpers’ 23-point win over the 36ers on Sunday afternoon in a game that struck a crucial blow against Adelaide’s hopes of a Finals berth.

The 36ers were rooted to the bottom of the NBL ladder when Ninnis took over, but have since won seven of their last 13 games to haul themselves back into contention for a spot in the top six.

“Scott Ninnis deserves this job,” Roth said post-game.

“When you flip a team around in the middle of a season, that’s one of the hardest things to do, and the way they’ve been playing has been fantastic and he deserves to be honoured by that in the right way.

“I’m sure they’ve got more wins ahead of them and he did a fantastic job of flipping this team around in the last two months. It’s a credit to him and I hope he gets a job moving forward.”

Roth also became visibly emotional when he was told Ninnis had revealed he was using Roth’s influence at Tasmania to try and build something similar at Adelaide.

“That’s a strong statement. I’m proud of what we’ve done here and for other teams to emulate anything we’re doing here is a credit to our layers, our staff,” Roth continued.

“I can’t thank him enough for that comment.”

Having been born and raised in Adelaide, McVeigh grew up well aware of Ninnis’ influence on the 36ers organisation.

Ninnis is the only person to have been involved in all four of Adelaide’s NBL triumphs to date. He was a player in both of the 1986 and 1998 titles, while he acted as an assistant coach to Phil Smyth in the side’s 1999 and 2002 triumphs.

McVeigh made his NBL debut with the 36ers in 2018 and spent three seasons with the club before departing for Tasmania.

“Scotty Ninnis was kind of a mentor for me in Adelaide. He rocked number nine back in the day and he gave me one of his game-worn jerseys that I used to rock in to training and workout in, so it’s always a great honour,” McVeigh said.

“This off-season I was training with him, I sent my brother (Lloyd) to Adelaide to play for him in the off-season league (NBL1), our community is small and to go out there and compete is the best honour we have at this level.

“It was a good, fun game. I’m glad we came out on top but he’s doing a great job and he’s a great man.”

The JackJumpers will enter Round 19 third on the ladder, and continue their season against South East Melbourne on Saturday at 5:30pm AEDT, live on ESPN via Kayo.