Newley’s ‘veteran head’ crucial for United’s Championship aspirations

Written by Melbourne United Media

Melbourne United’s latest player signing, the return of Brad Newley, is one that Head Coach Dean Vickerman can’t hide the importance of.

Bringing back the Australian basketball legend for his 20th professional season not only helps Vickerman’s side on the floor, with his defence and electric ability to score in the paint, but also off the floor, where Newley’s leadership shines through.

“We just signed Brad Newley which was an important part of just having one more veteran on our team,” he told RSN Breakfast this morning.

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“Potentially we may have Chris (Goulding), Jo Lual-Acuil Jr and Shea Ili all away at the World Cup which takes up a massive part of our preseason, so Newley is really important to have that veteran head throughout the early part of the year.”

Looking at the team United have assembled so far this offseason, Vickerman is bullish on the group’s potential, while adding his intentions to potentially bolster his side’s scoring punch moving forward.

“The intention of our club is to always try and challenge for a Championship,” he continued. 

“We’re never in a rebuilding phase, but obviously after the year before where we lost a few guys to the NBA we were trying to consolidate with a few imports to hold down the fort and this year we’ve really come back with trying to build our local core again.

“Hopefully those guys can be with us for a number of years, but they’re high-level talents that have the opportunity to go to another level.

“We’ve still got a couple of guard positions to fill on our roster. We’re looking at two-way guys, certainly a guy that can come off the bench and give us a real punch.”

Make sure you’re keeping up with all of United’s roster moves across the remainder of the offseason through the club’s app on iOs and Android.

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