Image: Supplied Out on Coonoolcra Station, in rural New South Wales, some six hours and 550 kilometres away from her hometown of Renmark, and further still to where she became a basketball star in Adelaide, the day begins like any other for Nicole Seekamp. She’s awake sometime around 4am, now out of habit, but mostly due to the heat. During the height of summer, locals in Wilcannia – the closest town – can expect highs of above 40 degrees for two to three months straight. But as soon as she’s up, it’s straight to work. There’s plenty to do on a goat farm. On any given day, Seekamp is a farm ..read more

Credit: EuroCup Women Nestled along the Warta River in Poland is the city of Gorzów Wielkopolski (often shortened to ‘Gorzów’). It’s around the same size as Ballarat and is similarly noted for its love of sports and its penchant for producing high-end athletes. It’s where Chloe Bibby plied her trade last season and took her game to a new level. “It was everything and more than I could have hoped for,” Bibby tells The Pick and Roll. “Poland was honestly great. It’s a country I hadn’t heard much about, but I thought: ‘You know what, why not give it a crack and see what it’s like over there ..read more

Credit: JBC Studios Before free agency opened on Monday, NBL teams had key decisions to make on their 2023/24 season personnel. These included player or team options on contracts needing to be confirmed, as well as the opportunity to finalise any re-signings or extensions. In some cases, existing deals were torn up and buy-outs were given to allow a player to move to a new situation. Here's my reaction to each decision. Read more ..read more

When the proverbial, and literal, lights are at their brightest, David Andersen is unmoved. Picture the Final Four of the Euroleague, one of the grandest of stages and the pinnacle of European basketball. A frenzied atmosphere fills the stadium, and the noise is deafening. Barrel-chested men, hairs bristling, chant furious slogans, baying for blood. It is a literal colosseum. “The truth is to keep your emotions in check,” Andersen tells The Pick and Roll, “so you’re not overly nervous.”  On this stage, it’s either flight or fight. The scrutiny on the court feels amplified to preposterous ..read more

It’s that time of the year again, when dreams are turned into reality. There will be 36 selections in the 2024 WNBA Draft, which gets underway on Tuesday morning (AEST), and there will be some Australians waiting and hoping to hear their name called. Isobel Borlase, Nyadiew Puoch and Jaz Shelley have been on the radar of WNBA teams for some time now. While Borlase and Puoch may go as early as the second half of the first round, Shelley’s tremendous final season at Nebraska has her in with a strong chance to be selected perhaps in the second round. It must be mentioned that fellow Aussie Georgi ..read more

Adam is joined by Hayley Wildes to go over the three Aussies tipped to be drafted to the WNBA, the rise of Caitlin Clark and the criticisms coming from more experienced players like Diana Taurasi. Adam then runs through Aussies performing well in Europe, in the NCAA and the recent Albert Schweitzer Tournament. The Pick and Roll is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber ..read more

Every generation of hoops in Australia always has a few long-term imports whose names garner national team interest through possible naturalisation. Fans only have to think as recently as the 2020(1) Olympics, with Bryce Cotton’s name constantly thrown around in Boomers discussions. It never eventuated, which meant Australia didn’t have to try to decide between the Perth superstar and eventual bronzed Boomer Matisse Thybulle, as FIBA’s rules state you are only allowed one naturalised player in a tournament team. Thybulle comes from the other portion of what FIBA classifies as ‘naturalisation ..read more

Sometimes, things happen quickly. That’s true in every aspect of life, but doubly so in the sports world, where the momentum of a game can shift in an instant, the future of a player can change in a second, and the direction of an entire club can be upset with just a handful of conversations. Take the Brisbane Bullets, for example. On 5 March, it was reported that the Bullets had picked up the team option on star guard Nathan Sobey’s contract, keeping him on their roster for next season. On the night of March 28, Sobey was presented with the team’s MVP award, a deserved reward for a season in ..read more

Going back one month in time, few would have expected the Houston Rockets to contend for an NBA play-in spot. After slumping to a fifth straight loss on the 29th of February, they were sitting on a 25-34 record, and some ways off a top ten record in the Western conference. When Alperen Şengün subsequently went down with a season-ending injury on the 11th of March, it looked as though it was all over for Houston. But against all odds, the month of March brought about a turn in their fortunes, and Aussie Jock Landale has been the man in the middle of it all. Şengün was enjoying a breakout season ..read more

Adam Webster is joined by Jacob Doole as they discuss the 2024 NBL Finals Series, including the five game championship series won by Tasmania, what's next for Melbourne United, the Perth Wildcats, and Illawarra Hawks. Plus, the reported move by Nathan Sobey from Brisbane to South East Melbourne. Unwrapped is presented by FBL - Fantasy Ballers League; the official apparel sponsor of the podcast. Be bold with gold - head to fblsport.com to check out the whole collection. The Pick and Roll is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support our work, consider becomin ..read more