IN the most even spread of National Basketball League (NBL) Team of the Week’s for Draft Central, every single side has at least one nominee in the team for Round 5. The only team with two players is Sydney Kings, because of the 10-player squad and only nine teams, there had to be a double-up somewhere. Many of the names are familiar to our Team of the Week, though some have swapped between the starting five and bench positions.

Sydney Kings have a couple of bench players who just missed out on making the starting side in Casper Ware and Andrew Bogut, the latter of whom made it four consecutive Team of the Week’s in 2019/20. The starting center position was taken by Melbourne United’s Shawn Long who had a massive weekend of 25.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.0 blocks, shooting at 63.6 per cent from the field. Up forward, South East Melbourne Phoenix’s Mitch Creek bounced back from the first week out of the team to nab a starting five position, sinking 23 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in the Phoenix’s loss to United. Beside him in the other forward position is Lamar Patterson who produced 13.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 1.0 steals across two games to be consistent at both ends.

Up the other end of the court, New Zealand Breakers’ Corey Webster was arguably the most consistent with Long across two games. Webster averaged 22.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 1.0 steals from his two games this weekend. Rounding out the starting five is Perth Wildcats’ Terrico White, who in his second game for the weekend, stepped up in the absence of Bryce Cotton. White posted 20.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists from his two matches. Looking to the bench, Illawarra Hawks’ young gun, LaMelo Ball was named in the team again despite another Hawks loss, while Adelaide’s Anthony Drmic and Cairns’ Cameron Oliver finish the 10-player team.

It was a difficult team to pick this week, particularly the four guards, with Melbourne’s Melo Trimble, Brisbane’s Nathan Sobey and Cairns’ DJ Newbill all unlucky. With multiple narrow misses on the team, Adelaide’s Jerome Randle and Daniel Johnson and New Zealand’s RJ Hampton and Brandon Ashley also put themselves in contention, as did Jae’Sean Tate who was one spot away from filling out the final bench position.

STARTING FIVE:

G: Corey Webster (NZ) – 22.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 7.0 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.5 block, 51.7 FG%
G: Terrico White (PW) – 20.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.0 blocks, 41.2 FG%
C: Shawn Long (MU) – 25.5 points, 12.5 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.5 steals, 1.0 blocks, 63.6 FG%
F: Mitch Creek (SEM) – 23 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 0 steals, 0 blocks, 57.1 FG%
F: Lamar Patterson (BB) 13.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.0 blocks, 34.4 FG%

BENCH:

G: Casper Ware (SK) – 24.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists, 1.0 steals, 0.5 block, 37.8 FG%
G: LaMelo Ball (IH) – 19 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 0 blocks, 33.3 FG%
C: Andrew Bogut (SK) – 11.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 0.0 steals, 1.0 blocks, 58.8 FG%
F: Anthony Drmic (AD) – 11 points, 15 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 0 blocks, 40.0 FG%
F: Cameron Oliver (CT) – 23 points 5 rebounds, 0 assists, 0 steals, 3 blocks, 66.7 FG%