Taipans Complete Roster with Experienced Point Guard

The Cairns Taipans have announced the signing of point guard Shannon Scott, completing their roster for NBL23.

The 29-year-old boasts international experience in Germany, Greece, Lithuania and Venezuela, as well as playing for the Long Island Nets in the G-League in recent seasons.

Scott attended Ohio State University after being named “Mr. Georgia Basketball” in high school. He went on to be named a McDonald’s All-American and was included in the Big Ten All-Defensive, while earning a Honourable Mention All-Big Team.

He began his pro career when he was selected to the Raptors 905 for their inaugural season and became the first player in franchise history to score a triple-double (24 points, 11 rebounds, 11 assists) in March 2016, against the Westchester Knicks.

Taipans coach Adam Forde said the guard was the last tick on his wish list.

“I feel very relaxed and confident with Shannon joining our team,” Forde told the club’s website.

“He becomes the final piece to the puzzle as he presents the ideal complement to balance our current roster.

"We’ve gone younger and faster. But our youthful exuberance may also experience some teachable bumps in the journey. This is where Shannon comes into play.

“Shannon has built a reputation for himself as a defensive-minded, pass-first leader that operates on a high-level of thinking. These qualities were important to us, as well as already experiencing life and basketball playing internationally."

Forde admitted that the very last Taipans signing took the most time, ensuring that all due diligence was done before finalising the roster.

“Like most clubs, we’ve had a robust off-season and this has been the most aggressive recruitment drive I’ve ever been part of,” he said.

“We welcome six new faces, and this has been motivated by the poor performance we presented to our fan base last season. The result however is we have been successful with the players we wanted to target, and now the prerequisites for the point guard become ever more important.

“We’ve done multiple character checks for Shannon as we continue to seek like-minded individuals.

“One of his G League coaches referred to him as a calculated stockbroker. We also contacted Bamburg and they said he was a coach on the court that put the team ahead of himself.”

Shannon Scott joins Tahjere McCall, DJ Hogg, Keanu Pinder, Bul Kuol, Jonah Antonio, Sam Waardenburg, Lat Mayen, Mirko Djeric, Majok Deng and Ben Ayre on the Taipans’ roster.