Phoenix: Browne Signing a 'No-Brainer'

By Dan Woods - NBL Media

South East Melbourne coach Simon Mitchell says Gary Browne was on the club's radar well before he finally signed in June. 

The Phoenix were close to securing Browne for NBL22 and couldn't be happier to have him on board for this season. 

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">?? (NEW) HUDDLE UP ??<a href="https://twitter.com/Liam_Santa?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Liam_Santa</a> caught up with <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SEMelbPhoenix</a> head coach Simon Mitchell to talk about the fresh faces in the Heartland, forming their own identity away from United, and what a successful <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> looks like for them ?<br><br>Full chat at <a href="https://t.co/BuSVml0VI1">https://t.co/BuSVml0VI1</a> <a href="https://t.co/eTmEtM2dMh">pic.twitter.com/eTmEtM2dMh</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1563322248584663045?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 27, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“[Last season] Gary was someone we spoke to relatively late in the proceedings (last year),” Mitchell said on The Huddle podcast.

“He had a contract offer on the table already and the timing didn’t quite work out.

“Having said that, that’s not to say we were taking Gary over Xavier (Munford) at that point in time. We were still constructing the roster.

“When the off-season came around, it was a bit of a no-brainer to get him.”

Given Browne played much of last season with Petkim Spor, it's fair to ponder the offer Mitchell refers to was from the Turkish club. 

It only takes a quick scan of Petkim Spor's results to see how effective Brown was on offence. He was a near-constant fixture in the side's leading assists and scorers. 

With eight games to go in the season though, Browne returned to his home country of Puerto Rico to see out the campaign with Piratas de Quebradillas.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">New <a href="https://twitter.com/SEMelbPhoenix?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SEMelbPhoenix</a> import Gary Browne has that clutch gene.<br><br>He hit this game winner at the <a href="https://twitter.com/FIBAWC?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FIBAWC</a> in 2019 for the Puerto Rico ??<a href="https://twitter.com/Gbrowne14?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Gbrowne14</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NBL23?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NBL23</a> <a href="https://t.co/R2VC12LLik">pic.twitter.com/R2VC12LLik</a></p>&mdash; The NBL (@NBL) <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL/status/1536843445536706561?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 14, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Mitchell says he was keeping close tabs on his new import across the season, so he could pounce if Browne became available.

“I watched him during the year and there were elements of his game where I was thinking ‘jeez, we could really do with that on our roster’,” Mitchell said.

“We got on the line [and] had an unbelievable conversation. We were rapping for an hour before basketball even came up.

“Last year I was like ‘man, I’d like to work together sometime’, and it was reciprocated.”

Mitchell isn't just expecting Browne to be an impactful signing on the offensive side of the ball. He believes the six foot one inch guard can provide a number of intangibles to help his side lift on defence, especially when closing out quarters and tight games.

The Phoenix head coach admits that's somewhere is side struggled last season - but adds that having Browne won't allow those kind of fadeouts we became accustomed to seeing in NBL22.

"One of the things we had a lot of trouble with in live ball situations down the stretch of games was decision making ... that's Gary's bread and butter," Mitchell said.

"You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see our struggles in the last two minutes of quarters or the last two minutes of the game. We were up 13 points with two minutes to play in the third quarter against Illawarra and we were down at three quarter time. 

"These are things Gary won’t allow to happen in live play. He’s a clutch performer, a clutch guy, and a leader. I feel like that’s going to help us go a long way."