Vickerman: "This Team's Different"

Friday, August 19, 2022

After a championship in 2021 and a playoff appearance in 2022, last season’s ladder-leaders Melbourne United have had to retool ahead of the new campaign

By Dan Woods - NBL Media
Photo: Melbourne United Media

After a championship in 2021 and a playoff appearance in 2022, last season’s ladder-leaders Melbourne United have had to retool ahead of the new campaign as they look to keep their championship window open heading into the new season.

With Matthew Dellavedova and Jack White NBA-bound, and third-placed MVP Jo Lual-Acuil departing for China, United have lost three key talents in their quest to get back to the pinnacle of the NBL.

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The incoming Isaac Humphries represents an elite-level local talent coming into the side, but head coach Dean Vickerman says United altered their recruiting style when putting this new roster together.

“This team’s different,” Vickerman said.

“We’ve built those last two rosters on elite local talent. We lost that elite local talent this off-season and we’ve tried to replace that with some import talent.

“’X’ (Xavier Rathan-Mayes) can create an advantage with his great vision and passing, ‘Tuck’ (Rayjon Tucker) already could be one of the best athletes that I’ve seen for a long time ... Jordan (Caroline) is a beast. He plays physical both defensively and offensively.

“We’ve got quality people to start with that all are unselfish and have an intent to help everyone else get better. I think that’s an important part of being an import.”

United assistant Darryl McDonald labelled Tucker as “an energy guy” during the week, but that’s a mentality all three of United’s imports are keen to bring to the table.

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Vickerman says he can already see the lift in intensity amongst the group.

“I hope there’s great buy-in – and I thought there was today – with how we want to compete defensively. There was great celebrations when getting a shot clock violation or a stop and they drew a lot of energy from playing basketball that way,” he said.

“If we can get stops and steals and create a fast-paced game going the other way we can get some easy baskets.

“I thought their intent to pick up our system, play at an intensity and play at great energy was what we were looking for today.”

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