WHEN he signed with the Adelaide 36ers in the National Basketball League (NBL) on Wednesday, Kai Sotto joined not just any other ballclub. The 36ers have a long and rich tradition in Australian basketball.
The 36ers were founded in 1982 when they were still known as the Adelaide City Eagles before switching to their current moniker in honor of the Adelaide settlement in 1836.
Here are 10 things you may not know about Sotto’s new ballclub.
1. The 36ers are one of the top teams in the history of the NBL, having won four championships. Its most recent championship came in 2002 when they won over Victoria, with Brett Maher capturing the Grand Final MVP. Adelaide also won in 1986 before becoming the second club to take back-to-back crowns in 1998 and 1999. Only the Perth Wildcats (10) and the Melbourne United (5) have won more championships than the 36ers.
2. The last time the 36ers reached the finals was in the 2017-2018 season, but the team fell to Melbourne United in five grueling matches.
3. Adelaide had two American players who were named as NBL Season MVP in Temple and St. Augustine’s product Mark Davis in 1987 and California alumnus Jerome Randle in 2016-2017. Davis is a revered figure in the franchise, with a trophy even named after him given to the MVP of the club for the season.
4. Joey Wright, who coached the 36ers from 2013 to 2020, once played for Presto in the 1992 PBA import as an import alongside Allan Caidic. He also won the NBL Coach of the Year award in the 2016-2017 season after the team finished first during the regular season.
5. Several members of the Adelaide 36ers also suited up for the Australia Boomers in international play during their time with the ballclub. Among the notables are Australian Hall of Famer Daryl Pearce, Mark Bradtke, Brett Maher, Daniel Johnson, Mitch Creek, and Nathan Sobey.
6. Brett Maher is considered one of the best players in Adelaide 36ers history. In honor of the player, they named the main court of their home arena as Brett Maher Court.
7. A player for the 36ers from 2015 to 2019, Nathan Sobey is known by Filipino fans as the player who was punched by Jio Jalalon during the Gilas Pilipinas-Australia brawl at the Philippine Arena in 2019. Sobey, who now plays for the Brisbane Bullets, is second in the league in scoring this season.
8. NBA players had stops with the Adelaide 36ers, among them former Barangay Ginebra import Donald Sloan, Rick Brunson, Josh Childress, and Isaac Humphries, who returned to the ballclub this year after seeing action with the Atlanta Hawks in 2019.
9. Perhaps Sotto can related to one player of the 36ers in Josh Giddey. One of the highly-touted young players, Giddey recently signed with the Adelaide 36ers and considered the country’s ‘next big thing’ as described by ABC News in Australia. The 18-year-old is the youngest player to wear the Boomers uniform since Ben Simmons, who now plays for the Philadelphia 76ers.
10. The NBL and NBA, over the past few years, held preseason matches for their respective teams, and perhaps had it not been for the pandemic, Sotto might have had a chance to play a preseason game on the NBA floor. The Adelaide 36ers already logged two preseason stints in the NBA against the Utah Jazz as part of the NBAxNBL annual series. The Sydney Kings, Melbourne United, Brisbane Bullets, and the New Zealand Breakers also playing exhibition games against NBA teams. There were no preseason games between NBA and NBL teams in 2020 of course due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Ex-PBA imports, Sobey and other things about Kai Sotto's new team - Sports Interactive Network Philippines
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