Basketball New Zealand

Pistons Pero Cameron (Photosport)

Waikato Pistons legend Pero Cameron will play his 300th NBL game and it will be ironically at the gym where he led his Pistons to the 2008 championship.

Cameron scored a game high 20 points in the Pistons 84-79 victory over the Century City Saints at TSB Bank Arena to win his 8th NBL championship.

On Friday Cameron and his Pistons side will be returning to TSB Bank Arena for the first time since that victory and be looking to move to the top of the table if they defeat the Saints.

2009 is Cameron’s 17th season in the NBL which began with the Waikato Warriors in 1992 where he won the NBL Rookie of the Year. Cameron would lead the league in rebounding the next year at 12.3 rebounds per game.

In 1994 he joined the Auckland Stars where he would play seven seasons winning five championships and being named in the All Star Five an incredible six times in a row.

In that same season he made his Tall Black debut going on to play in two Olympics (Sydney 2000, Athens 2004). Cameron was a member in the 2002 World Championships side that finished fourth, averaging 14.7 points and also making the tournament team alongside NBA superstars Yao Ming and Dirk Nowitzki.

Cameron would bring his winning ways with him back to Waikato in 2001 winning the championship in that year and in 2002.

So far in his career Cameron has been in the playoffs thirteen of seventeen seasons playing 35 games averaging 15.3 points and 7.3 rebounds. In 299 games he has a career average of 12.7 points, 7.6 rebounds and a career field goal percentage of 54.4%.

NBL Titles (8)

1995 (Auckland), 1996 (Auckland), 1997 (Auckland), 1999 (Auckland), 2000 (Auckland), 2001 (Waikato), 2002 (Waikato), 2008 (Waikato)

NBL Awards

Rookie of the Year – 1992
Rebound Champion – 1993
Outstanding Forward – 1998
Kiwi MVP – 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999
Outstanding NZ Forward – 1994, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999
All-Star Five – 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2001

Career Stats