Tasmania Always Home but Brisbane Has Krebs' Heart

Written for nbl.com.au by Chris Pike

Tanner Krebs is excited to play games in Tasmania having grown up wishing he had a local NBL team to strive to play for and he is jealous that the next generation has the JackJumpers to look up to, but don't read too much into it – Brisbane and the Bullets have his heart now.

Krebs grew up in Hobart and heard plenty about the days when there was a local NBL team and that all started in his own house with his father, Dan, a former player with the Devils.

The JackJumpers enter the competition for the #NBL22 season and Krebs can't hide how happy he is for the state of Tasmania and city of Hobart to have an NBL club once again, and he is delighted yet jealous of the next generation who can now set playing for their local team as their lifelong dream.

Krebs also can't wait to head to Tasmania next month with his new-look Bullets team under head coach James Duncan to play in the NBL Blitz to showcase what he's capable of in front of his family and friends for the first time in years.

Having said all of that, Krebs has found his home in Brisbane having joined the Bullets last season fresh out of his college career at Saint Mary's, and while Tasmania is always home, this is where his heart lies now.

"I've made some great relationships here already within people inside the team and outside the team, and my best friends all live here now," Krebs said. 

"Brisbane is home to me and in my basketball journey and the places it's taken me, Brisbane is my favourite place I've been to. It's just an amazing city, it's an amazing place and our Bullets fans are great. Everyone who is part of the club has been so supportive and I love my teammates, and I couldn’t ask for anything better.

"Ever since the announcement was made that JackJumpers were going to be a team I've always had a line of communication with them, but obviously with me coming out of college a year early, the timing wasn’t right and I wanted to start playing in the NBL right away. 

"Now I've found a home in Brisbane so my heart is in Brisbane at the moment, and with the Bullets. That opportunity might present down the line at some point, but I love Brisbane as a city and I love our Bullets team. That's where my head and heart is right now."

Krebs will always have a soft spot for Tasmania and while JackJumpers will likely come calling with an enticing offer at some point in his career, for now he'll just be proud to see them existing and he'll be happy to come to town as a visiting player.

"As a kid growing up it was always a dream of playing for a Tassie NBL team and there was always talks about it, but nothing came through," Krebs said.

"To have it actually now being a reality now, I'm excited for Tassie and the people of Tassie and I'm a little jealous of the kids who now can grow up idolising these guys who they get to see playing for their team. 

"I wanted that myself growing up but never got the opportunity so I think it's just a great thing for Tasmanian basketball. It's the biggest growing sport in Tassie at the moment and this is just perfect for that to be the icing on the cake to make the most of everyone interested in basketball."

It's been a long off-season for a lot of players and Krebs enjoyed the chance to play with USC Rip City out of the Sunshine Coast in the NBL1 North season, but there's been plenty of time for the Bullets pre-season work. 

That's why he can't wait to get to Tasmania next month to be part of the Blitz and play against real opposition again.

"I'm excited. It's been a long time since we've been able to step onto the court together as a team so I think everyone's feeling very excited and eager to get down to Tassie and play some games," Krebs said.

"It's a new group for us and we're kind of sick of beating up on each other in practice so we're looking forward to giving it to some other teams, and going up against people who don't know every play that we're going to run inside out.

"I think the feeling within the group is really excited and I'm excited to get down to Tassie to get down and play. Obviously being from Tassie myself, I can't wait to get to Hobart with the opportunity to play in front of some family and friends. I'm extremely excited to get down to work."

Krebs did manage to sneak back to Tasmania for a visit recently, but this chance during the Blitz will be the first time for him to play in front of family and friends at home for a long time, and there's plenty for him to look forward to about it.

"I was fortunate enough a few weeks ago to get back down there to Tassie for a little bit to see some family and catch up with a few mates," he said. 

"But I haven’t had the opportunity to play down in Hobart in front of family for a few years so I'm excited for that and am thrilled to have the opportunity to do that. I'm eager to showcase how much I've improved as a player and put my skills to work.

"I'm really interested to see how the DEC looks now too. Me personally I only saw it in its old state and going back to vision of seeing my dad play so I'm really interested to see how it has turned out. I've seen a few photos of the modelling of it and all that, and it looks amazing but I'm keen to see it firsthand now."

As for the Bullets, Krebs had a rollercoaster rookie NBL season appearing in 24 of the 36 games. He averaged 4.9 points and 2.0 rebounds but he did offer a glimpse of his potential with several double-figure scoring games.

His focus is all on helping the Bullets reach their potential, though, and after only narrowly missing last season's playoffs, he has no doubt they will be a force to be reckoned with in #NBL22.

"We talk about it all the time and we feel like we left a lot out on the table last season, and there's a few things that didn’t quite go our way like injuries that meant we didn’t achieve what we thought we could," Krebs said.

"We can't wait to get out there and show that we are a real force in the league. I think people are undermining us a little bit and that just kind of adds fuel to the fire, and we want to prove everyone wrong.

"We've got some real competitors on our team and Sobey obviously is at the forefront of that. Then you've got Cadee, Drmic, LP, myself and everyone else so we've got some fiery competitive dudes on this squad and we are going to bring it every night. We want to be a force and are confident we can do that."

For the first time since the Bullets returned to the NBL, they won't be coached by Andrej Lemanis either this coming season with American James Duncan taking over at the helm.

Krebs already couldn’t be more impressed with the new coach especially for the freedom he is giving the players to be themselves.

"JD has been great already. He came in and fitted in really nicely, and he is getting his message across really well to the players and he does a good job of letting us just be us, and be our true selves as players," Krebs said.

"I really like that with a coach and I feel like if I can be myself then I'll perform at my best, and he does well in letting us do that. He has been great and I'm excited to play under him in some real games and get those games under our belt to see how we go from there."

Krebs also enjoyed the chance he had over the off-season with USC Rip City to be a key cog in their wheel where he put up 26.0 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists a game.

He has no doubt that will only help him now having a bigger impact this NBL season.

"I really enjoyed my time on the Sunny Coast playing. We had a really good team and the club was great, and I really enjoyed being part of that community," Krebs said.

"The team gave me an important role to play as well and gave me the keys to the ship in a lot of ways, and it was an awesome experience. I haven't been in that position for a long time so I thoroughly enjoyed that aspect of it.

"It just gave me an opportunity to expand my game a little bit and I definitely worked on some things, but mostly for me it was about a lot of confidence building. 

"I was injured last year a little bit so I came in to the NBL1 season fully healthy again, and I was just eager to get to play and try to be dominant and do what I could for the team. It was just fun to go out there and play, and kind of just be free a little to show what you can do."