Penney In All-NBL Team
Tagged in: NZ Breakers
Harvey Norman NZ Breakers guard Kirk Penney has become the first New Zealander to make the All-NBL First Team, announced Thursday.
Chris Anstey of the Melbourne Tigers and Sydney Kings star Mark Worthington, two men who are currently battling each other in the Grand Final series of the HUMMER Championship NBL, were also named to the All-NBL First Team.
Penney, who averaged 24 points per game and 43.5 percent on three-point shots and won all three major awards - MVP, Players’ MVP and Fans MVP - at the Breakers’ awards night, joined Carlos Powell, in 2007, as the club’s first team selections.
Penney, Anstey and Worthington have joined Brisbane’s Ebi Ere and Perth’s Shawn Redhage, a former Breaker.
Ere and Anstey were both locked in a mortal struggle to win the NBL’s Andrew Gaze Trophy for the league’s Most Valuable Player this season, with Anstey ultimately taking the prize and the HUMMER H3 car valued at over $60,000, but Ere may just have had the last laugh.
The Brisbane Bullets star polled the maximum 96 votes for inclusion on the All-NBL First team, while Anstey controversially fell one ballot short of a unanimous inclusion on 95. Worthington polled 81 votes, Penney had 71 and Redhage finished with 68.
It is Anstey’s third consecutive selection to the All-NBL First Team and his fourth overall, while it is the first time for Worthington, Ere, Redhage and Penney.
Cairns Taipans first-year sensation Nathan Jawai came tantalisingly close to a berth in the First Team in just his rookie season, but ultimately had to settle for the All-NBL Second Team with 64 votes. Jawai earlier captured the Virgin Blue NBL Rookie of the year award in a unanimous decision.
Jawai was joined in the All-NBL Second Team by Adelaide 36ers big man Adam Ballinger (64 votes), Townsville Crocodiles mercurial guard Corey ‘Homicide’ Williams (61), Brisbane Bullets floor general CJ Bruton (59) and Gold Coast Blaze sharpshooter James Harvey (47).
Despite only joining the HUMMER Championship late in the season, Adelaide 36ers import Julius Hodge showed just what sort of impact he had by being named to the All-NBL Third Team.
Hodge polled 28 votes and was also joined by Kavossy Franklin of Wollongong (43 votes), Perth’s Paul Rogers (36), Kings sparkplug and recently announced Best Sixth Man Dontaye Draper (28) and Darnell Hinson of West Sydney (22) on the All-NBL Third Team.
The head coach, one assistant coach and one captain from each team vote on the award. Voting takes into account regular season performances only and voters cannot include members of their own team on the ballot.
Each All-NBL team submitted by the voters must feature three outside players and two inside players.
All-NBL First Team
Ebi Ere (Brisbane)
Chris Anstey (Melbourne)
Mark Worthington (Sydney)
Kirk Penney (New Zealand)
Shawn Redhage (Perth)
All-NBL Second Team
Nathan Jawai (Cairns)
Adam Ballinger (Adelaide)
Corey Williams (Townsville)
CJ Bruton (Brisbane)
James Harvey (Gold Coast)
All-NBL Third Team
Kavossy Franklin (Wollongong)
Paul Rogers (Perth)
Julius Hodge (Adelaide)
Dontaye Draper (Sydney)
Darnell Hinson (West Sydney)
Others to Receive votes:
Larry Abney (Cairns), Rod Grizzard (Singapore), David Barlow (Melbourne), Dusty Rychart (Brisbane), Jason Crowe (Gold Coast), Joe Ingles (South), Alex Loughton (Perth), Cameron Tragardh (Wollongong), Stephen Black (Cairns), Jason Smith (Sydney), Sean Lampley (Melbourne), John Rillie (Townsville), Mike Helms (Singapore), Sam Mackinnon (Brisbane), Orien Greene (New Zealand), Mika Vukona (New Zealand), Phill Jones (New Zealand), Glen Saville (Sydney), Gerald Brown (Perth), Tony Ronaldson (New Zealand), Pero Cameron (Gold Coast), Stephen Hoare (Melbourne), Juaquin Hawkins (Gold Coast), Galen Young (Townsville), Rick Rickert (New Zealand), Martin Cattalini (Cairns), Craig Bradshaw (Brisbane), Troy DeVries (West Sydney), Cortez Groves (South), Ben Knight (Singapore), Shane Heal (South), Matthew Knight (West Sydney), Ben Pepper (Townsville), David Cooper (Adelaide), Luke Kendall (Sydney)
