Basketball New Zealand

ANBL MVP Kirk Penney (Photosport)

Tall Blacks and New Zealand Breakers star shooting guard Kirk Penney has collected the Andrew Gaze Trophy as the Australian National Basketball League’s Most Valuable Player for 2008-09.

Penney registered 92 votes to narrowly take out the award from Sydney Spirit big man Matthew Knight on 90 and became the first New Zealander to win the ANBL’s top award.

Melbourne Tigers’ Nigerian import Ebi Ere came third with 89 votes, while Mark Worthington of the South Dragons (87) and Shawn Redhage of the Perth Wildcats (86) rounded out the top five in an extremely tight race.

Penney, who previously played for the Miami Heat and the Los Angeles Clippers in the American NBA, averaged 24.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 28 regular season games for the Breakers in 2008/09. He shot the ball at 45.6 percent from the field, 37.3 percent from three-point territory and 80.4 percent from the free-throw line.

The Tall Blacks star also led his team to their best-ever season, helping the Breakers to the semifinals for the first time in club history.

While Penney was delighted with the award, he was also disappointed that the Breakers’ season ended with a 2-0 sweep at the hands of the Melbourne Tigers.

“We, the players and coaches, definitely had a bit of a sour taste in how we lost to the Tigers. We felt like we should have played better and had a chance of winning the series,” Penney said.

“I guess it is a little [bittersweet] because you want to win a championship, and they’re the memories that never leave you. But as a personal accolade it’s just a huge honour.”

Voting for the MVP award is conducted following each regular season game by the coaching staffs of each team, with the player amassing the most votes at the end of the season being declared the winner.

The NBL’s MVP award is named after Melbourne Tigers great Andrew Gaze, with the trophy being a specially commissioned sculpture of Gaze in action.

ANBL Most Valuable Player

The Andrew Gaze Trophy

Final Votes
Kirk Penney (Breakers) 92
Matthew Knight (Spirit) 90
Ebi Ere (Tigers) 89
Mark Worthington (Dragons) 88
Shawn Redhage (Wildcats) 86

Previous Winners
1979 Ken Richardson (West Adelaide Bearcats)
1980 Rocky Smith (St. Kilda Saints)
1981 Mike Jones (Illawarra Hawks)
1982 Al Green (West Adelaide Bearcats)
1983 Owen Wells (Sydney Supersonics)
1984 Leroy Loggins (Brisbane Bullets)
1985 Ray Borner (Coburg Giants)
1986 Leroy Loggins (Brisbane Bullets)
1987 Mark Davis (Adelaide 36ers) &
Leroy Loggins (Brisbane Bullets)
1988 Joe Hurst (Hobart Tassie Devils)
1989 Scott Fisher (North Melbourne Giants)
1990 Derek Rucker (Brisbane Bullets)
1991 Andrew Gaze (Melbourne Tigers)
1992 Scott Fisher (North Melbourne Giants) & Andrew Gaze (Melbourne Tigers)
1993 Robert Rose (South East Melbourne Magic)
1994 Andrew Gaze (Melbourne Tigers)
1995 Andrew Gaze (Melbourne Tigers)
1996 Andrew Gaze (Melbourne Tigers)
1997 Andrew Gaze (Melbourne Tigers)
1998 Andrew Gaze (Melbourne Tigers)
1999 Steve Woodberry (Brisbane Bullets)
2000 Paul Rogers (Perth Wildcats)
2001 Robert Rose (Townsville Crocodiles)
2002 Mark Bradtke (Melbourne Tigers)
2003 Chris Williams (Sydney Kings)
2004 Matthew Nielsen (Sydney Kings)
2005 Brian Wethers (Hunter Pirates)
2006 Chris Anstey (Melbourne Tigers)
2007 Sam Mackinnon (Brisbane Bullets)
2008 Chris Anstey (Melbourne Tigers)
2009 Kirk Penney (NZ Breakers)