 Wheeler with theSydney Kings in 2005 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1971-11-21)21 November 1971 (age 53) Adelaide, South Australia, Australia |
| Listed height | 208 cm (6 ft 10 in) |
| Listed weight | 102 kg (225 lb) |
| Career information | |
| Playing career | 1991–2007 |
| Position | Centre /power forward |
| Career history | |
| 1991–1997 | Adelaide 36ers |
| 1998 | South East Melbourne Magic |
| 1999–2002 | Victoria Titans |
| 2002–2003 | Perth Wildcats |
| 2003–2006 | Sydney Kings |
| 2006–2007 | Adelaide 36ers |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| |
Brett Wheeler (born 21 November 1971 inAdelaide, South Australia) is a former professional basketball player in theNational Basketball League. A 6'10" (208 cm) tallCentre orPower forward, Wheeler played for theAdelaide 36ers,South East Melbourne Magic,Victoria Titans,Perth Wildcats and theSydney Kings during his 17-year career, appearing in a record 8NBL Grand Finals (at least once with each team) and won the2003–04 and2004–05NBL championship with the Kings. He also representedAustralia at international level during his career.
Wheeler played his junior basketball with the Noarlunga Tigers in southern Adelaide, began his NBL career as a lanky 19 year old with theAdelaide 36ers in1991 as backup to the team'sBoomers centreMark Bradtke. He made his NBL debut for Adelaide, playing 7:46 and scoring 1 point in a 93–90 loss to thePerth Wildcats at thePerth Entertainment Centre on 29 June 1991.[1] His first season saw the 36ers reach the Semi-Finals where they were defeated by Perth Wildcats who would go on to win their first NBL title that season. 1991 was also the 36ers final season at the 3,000 seatApollo Stadium before moving into the 8,000 seatClipsal Powerhouse in1992. Wheeler became the first choice centre for the 36ers in1993 when Bradtke moved to theMelbourne Tigers.
Brett Wheeler played in his only Grand Final series for the 36ers under the coaching ofMike Dunlap in1994. Unfortunately though in what would be a pattern through his career, the 1994 36ers, including players such asMark Davis,Robert Rose,Phil Smyth,Mike McKay, Scott Ninnis andBrett Maher, went down 2–0 in the GF to theNorth Melbourne Giants.
After moving to a bench role in 1994, Wheeler again became the 36ers starting centre in1995 and remained there until the end of1997. He actually became the starting centre almost by accident. In 1995 he was set to play centre and power forward off the bench with 6'11" Willie Simmons to be the starting centre. However, only a couple of games into the season Mike McKay took a charge and when falling back, fell on Simmons' leg which forced him out for the season after needing a knee reconstruction. Wheeler then moved into the starting role and began to play some of the best basketball of his career to that point.
He stayed with the 36ers until moving to theBrian Goorjian coachedSouth East Melbourne Magic in1998 to replace 7'0" (213 cm) tall centreChris Anstey who had left to join theDallas Mavericks in theNBA. Unfortunately for Wheeler who never won a championship in his time with Adelaide (losing the 1994 GF and two semi-final series in 1991 and1995), while the Magic made it to the 1998 Grand Final series, they were defeated 2–0 in the best of three series by none other than the Adelaide 36ers.
Following the merger of the Magic and their cross-Melbourne rivals theNorth Melbourne Giants at the end of the 1998 season, theVictoria Titans were born and due to the presence of 7'0" (213 cm) tall centreBen Pepper who came from the Giants, Wheeler often started atpower forward giving the Titans arguably the largest front court in the league at the time. He would stay with the Titans until the end of 2002, helping the club to the NBL grand final series in both the1998–99 and1999–2000 seasons. The 1998–99 title loss was again to the 36ers while in the 1999–2000 season, the Titans lost to thePerth Wildcats.
As a measure of his development as a player at the time, Wheeler (now a 10-year veteran of the league) kept his starting spot for the Titans in2000–01 despite the team signing Chris Anstey upon his return to the NBL after three seasons in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks andChicago Bulls.
Following the 2001–02 season, Wheeler was on the move again, this time joining the Perth Wildcats for the2002–03 season where he would play in his 4th losing grand final series, this time going down to theSydney Kings. He would finally get to win the NBL championship after moving to the defending champion Kings the next season, winning both the2003–04 and2004–05 championships with the Kings under the coaching of his former Magic and Titans coachBrian Goorjian.
After losing his 5th grand final series to theMelbourne Tigers in2005–06, Wheeler moved back to Adelaide for the2006–07 season before retiring from the NBL at age 36 having played 448 games over 17 seasons.[2]
Brett Wheeler holds the record for most points in an NBL gamewithout scoring a field goal. He scored 9 points on 9-of-10 free throws for the Magic againstTownsville on 27 February 1998.[3] He also holds the record for the most appearances in the NBL Grand Final with 8.
Wheeler's play in the NBL also saw him selected to play for the Australian Boomers 19 times. He made his Australian team debut at theClipsal Powerhouse in Adelaide on 7 March 1995 in Game 1 of a 5 games series between the Boomers and the visitingMagic Johnson All-Stars.[4]
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| NBL career: | 1991–2007 |
|---|---|
| NBL Championships: | 2 (2003/04, 2004/05) |
| NBL Grand Final appearances: | 8 (1994, 1998, 1998/99, 1999/2000, 2002/03, 2003/04, 2004/05, 2005/06) |
| NBL Finals appearances: | 14 (1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1998/99, 1999/2000, 2000/01, 2001/02, 2002/03, 2003/04, 2004/05, 2005/06) |
| Games: | 448 (154 Ade, 34 SEM, 126 Vic, 34 Per, 100 Syd) |
|---|---|
| Rebounds: | 6.0 pg |
| Points: | 3,809 (8.5 pg) |
| Free Throws: | 998 / 1,536 (65.0%) |
| Field Goals: | 1,404 / 2,591 (54.2%) |
| 3 Points: | 1 / 5 (20.0%) |
| Steals: | 0.5 pg |
| Assists: | 0.6 pg |
| Blocks: | 0.6 pg |