Bucking the trend: Lowery's controversial All-NBL calls

NBL expert Damon Lowery has made not one, but two bold calls on who he believes will and won’t make this season’s All-NBL First Team.

During Monday’s episode of NBL Overtime, Lowery somewhat controversially left out both Adelaide’s Bryce Cotton and Sydney’s Kendric Davis, last season’s MVP and MVP Runner-Up.

“It’s not like I said there’s going to be no Christmas this year, [in my opinion] Bryce doesn’t have to make every single All-NBL First Team,” Lowery said.

“Look, he’s going to have some absolutely dominant performances and let everyone know that he’s still Bryce Cotton.

“But with all that talent in Adelaide, will he still be able to put up those MVP-type numbers? I say no.

“Yes, he will have games of 28 [points], 38 and he might even drop a 50, but over the course of the season, there’s too much depth in their [Adelaide’s] scoring department, so Bryce isn’t a one-man show.

“For that reason, I’ve got other guys in my All-NBL First Team.”

That aforementioned All-NBL First Team projection includes Sydney’s Xavier Cooks, New Zealand’s Izaiah Brockington, Tasmania’s Bryce Hamilton, Perth’s Jo-Lual Acuil Jr. and Illawarra’s Tyler Harvey.

“They [the Kings] are better all-around, and with Tim Soares at the five, it’ll allow Xav to play more at the four, and the last time that happened, he was the League MVP,” Lowery said.

“Then I’m going Izaiah ‘Buckington’, Bryce Hamilton, JLA and the defending champion, Tyler ‘The Creator’ Harvey.”

Lowery leaned further into this call, saying Brockington would average 25 points a game in NBL26.

“In New Zealand, the fans have got to start making the Izaiah Buckington shirts now, because no one is going to turn a blind eye when he’s averaging 25 points a game this season,” he said.

“Last year, KD got 25 a game and Bryce had 28, so I can’t see any reason that Brockington doesn’t average 25.”

Watch NBL Overtime every Monday from 7pm AEST, live on ESPN.