How United helped Delany find his best basketball

After two seasons away from the NBL, plenty of people around the league had questions about exactly what Finn Delany’s return to the competition would look like.

Playing for a team not named the New Zealand Breakers for the first time in his NBL career, Delany quickly reminded pundits why he was such a highly sought after signature, plugging into our lineup perfectly.

Looking back on the season that was, Delany touched on how he believes he was able to produce some of the best basketball of his career in NBL26. 

“I think just playing with great players around me and seeing myself as a connector and connecting the floor was a great role for me,” he explained.

“There were patches during the season where I probably needed to be more aggressive and look to score more and, so it’s just about continuing to learn and always being aggressive, but the role for me I think has been perfect this season and just so happy I made the choice to come in. 

“I think I became a better player here and learnt a lot, and that's just thanks to the people and the group here.”

In a touch over 26 minutes per game, Delany averaged 11.4 points, while adding career highs in steals, assists and offensive rebounds.

The forward attributed part of this growth to Head Coach Dean Vickerman’s elite practice environment, which helped him continue to improve across the court of the season.

“Every day here and in the process under Dean is super competitive, so every day you're coming in there there's no break.

“Guys are competing against each other and wanting to make each other better. It sounds a little cliche, but it's not like that everywhere, so for me I really loved it. 

“I enjoyed coming in here every day, probably more than any other place I've been… I think the the the way we we practice here and go about it every day, it's great for a player because you're encouraged to expand your game a little bit and it's encouraged to almost make mistakes in the sense that it's a place where you can grow as a player and expand your game, so it's great for me.”

Delany showcased exactly how good he can be at his aggressive best in our final home game of the season, scoring an equal-career high 33 points.

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