Melbourne United’s roster is almost complete, and head coach Dean Vickerman says the club could use its upcoming pre-season games against the JackJumpers as a trial run for any potential new signings.

United is heading to Tasmania to face their NBL24 rivals in a pair of tune-up clashes on the 28^th and 30^th of August, but with Chris Goulding on World Cup duty, Luke Travers and Matthew Dellavedova nursing “niggles”, and Jo Lual-Acuil Jr out with a long-term wrist injury, Vickerman says it will be a young side that takes on the JackJumpers.

“We are really taking a team that’s full of youth, and a lot of training players and development players will get a great opportunity to find out what they’re like at NBL level,” Vickerman said.

“We still have development spots available so we’ve tried a couple of guys out for that, and there’s still a roster spot that we have to sign, and we believe that will potentially come from one of our development players.

“These games for these guys to advance a little bit in their careers is huge and you just want the opportunity to see them play against NBL talent.”

Next Star Ariel Hukporti has been confirmed to play against Tasmania, as he looks to continue his recovery from the ruptured Achilles he suffered at last year’s NBL Blitz.

Hukporti made his official return to the court in United’s opening pre-season clash with California Baptist University, where he registered seven points and four boards in just under 18 minutes of action.

Vickerman says the 22-year-old is primed to continue to elevate his time on court, as he looks to get back to his best.

“The first pre-season games we played him for something like 16 or 17 minutes, and we think we can get him up to somewhere like 22 or 23 per game for two games,” Vickerman said of Hukporti.

“He’s creeping up and what we’ve seen in practice is he hasn’t been exhausted after three or four minutes, he’s been able to push through and keep going and he doesn’t need to be managed at all in practice anymore.”

Hukporti himself says he’s looking forward to the test Tasmania will provide.

“It’s pretty exciting. We’ve got a lot of young guys playing, we’ve got a lot of DPs playing and new guys coming in as well. I see myself as a new guy as well, because I haven’t played for a year,” he said.

“It’s great to have some more games coming in, for myself as well, so I can get used to the game again.

“I feel great, especially on the court. I just need to get used to playing basketball again ... the pace of the game is pretty fast.”

Hukporti is also expecting first-year development player Campbell Blogg to impress in the upcoming games.

Blogg was a train-on player with United last season and led the Sandringham Sabres to an NBL1 South Grand Final performance as captain earlier this month.

“Campbell impressed me last year as well. His confidence just rises madly, he’s such a good player and such a good shooter and his development is so great – he’s getting better every single day.”