Mennenga’s mission: “I want the respect”

Sam Mennenga is in career-best form in Puerto Rico, driven by the goal of emerging as one of the NBL’s elite big men next season.

“I want the respect. I want to be one of the bigger names ... who doesn’t want that?” he said on NBL Now.

“The only way to do that is to take down some of the bigger names.”

The 23-year-old is putting together an incredibly strong season overseas, which has included some viral moments online - one of those being a poster dunk and the other being an altercation with Adelaide 36ers star big man Montrezl Harrell.

“I enjoy the competitive nature,” Mennenga said.

“Firstly, it’s a respect factor from my initial standpoint.

“I don’t feel any way of backing down… when people get to butting heads, I want to stand my ground.

“Out here it’s for sure that environment. I might take a little bit of that back to the NBL.”

Mennenga is entering his third season in the NBL after showing glimpses of a big man who can do it all on the floor during his time in Cairns and his first year at the Breakers.

“I think there’s a lot of growth that has happened in a small amount of time,” he said.

“I've begun slowly to figure out where I'm going to be most valuable and what assets I can bring to a team.

“It's about winning games and how you can do that. And so it's understanding what you can bring, how you can do it and how you can be most efficient.”

Mennenga is still very early in his professional career and he knows that it’s going to take a lot of hard work to get to where he wants to be. However, for a man who lives in the gym, it’s all about winning.

“That ultimate goal is the NBA and should always be the NBA for any basketball player,” he added.

“But in the short term it’s being able to bring winning back to the Breakers and win a Championship there.”

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