United comfortable with variety of roster makeups

Written by Melbourne United Media

With NBL Free Agency set to officially begin in less than 48 hours, Melbourne United are eyeing a number of options to build a contender for next season.

Since joining the team as Head Coach for the 2017-18 season, Dean Vickerman has employed a varying collection of roster makeups, generally leading to positive results.

LISTEN TO VICKERMAN PREVIEW UNITEDS FREE AGENCY HERE:

Most recently, Vickerman went to a three-import model for the NBL23 season, a construction which he had enjoyed success with in the past, such as in his Championship winning debut season with the club.

Over the back half of last season, this roster thrived, putting together a 10-3 record over the team’s final 13 games.

Vickerman however is not beholden to this lineup as he searches for talent.

Across NBL21 and NBL22 the three-time Championship winner carried only one import on his roster each season, opting instead to build his teams around strong local talent, supplemented by Special Restricted Players (Yudai Baba) and Next Stars (Ariel Hukporti).

WATCH VICKERMAN TALK THROUGH UNITED’S FREE AGENCY OUTLOOK:

Speaking to MU Media previewing United’s Free Agency outlook, Vickerman said he’s ready to build a team based on the best talent he can collect.

“The two Championships that we’ve won have both been different,” he said.

“We had a three-import model (in 2018) and more recently a one-import model with Scotty Hopson and Yudai Baba as an Asian player (Special Restricted Player).

“We’re always going to look at the highest level local talent possible if we believe that it’s at a point where they match or exceed imported talent, we’ll certainly want to look at that.

“There’s always going to be some skill sets that your roster is going to be missing and once we identify those we’ll look at the best imported talent possible.”

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