NBL24 Season Review South East Melbourne Phoenix: A season that could have been

South East Melbourne Phoenix NBL24 Ranking: 10th 

NBL24 Record: 10-18 

Basketball Fix NBL24 Season Grade: F

For South East Melbourne it was a season that began with so much promise and ended with everyone in the organisation counting down the days until the last game of the year. Injury played its part and a lack of chemistry in what was a star-studded lineup ended the Phoenix season in bitter disappointment.

NBL24 Season Review South East Melbourne Phoenix: The Good, Bad & Ugly

Good:

Looking for a good in NBL24 through the eyes of the Phoenix, it’s hard to look past the season coming to an end. Finishing at the bottom of the ladder with a record of 10 wins and 18 losses, it was a season that started with a lot of promise but didn't live up to it.

Coming off of a season in NBL23 where they made the NBL Play-In Game and eventually lost to the Perth Wildcats 99-106, it looked like the next step was making the playoffs for the first time in franchise history in NBL24.

It was a chance this season though to bleed some of the young local players such as Ben Ayre, Owen Foxwell, Anzac Rissetto and Gorjok Gak who all really showed promise last season.

To summarise the season in a positive sense, the season coming to an end and the ability to play some young players to help this team improve for years to come was the most positive thing to say about SEM in the NBL24 season.

Bad:

Where do we start when talking about some of the bad outcomes and statistics for SEM?

How about we start with the injuries that plagued them from the start of the season and throughout. Not being able to start the season with MVP calibre player Alan Williams due to an ongoing issue with a knee injury which he suffered in the off season. Mitch Creek went down multiple times throughout the season with various injuries due to the heavy load put on him throughout the year. Then there is the rest of their imports (Will Cummings, Gary Browne, Tyler Cook & Abdel Nader) who were out for multiple games at crucial times of the year due to numerous injuries.

When we look at some of the statistics that showed a massive reason as to why they finished where they did, it's hard to look past their inability to win away from home. With a record of 3-11 on the road and that mixed with the fact that they averaged the fewest amount of points per game in the league with an average of 86.6 PPG and allowing a league high 96.1 PPG scored against them set them up for a catastrophic season.

The lack of consistency in the lineups from game to game was a major contributor to the poor defensive stats across the board throughout the NBL24 season. They had a league high 28 different starting lineup combinations throughout the 28 games in NBL24 and this statistic does back up the shortcomings on the defensive end as they were not able to find the correct lineups or able to allow their players to gel on the court together in a match sense.

Ugly:

It's hard to have an uglier situation than the Will Cummings saga. Clearly the issue was brewing behind closed doors and was something that had to happen in the eyes of the Phoenix front office.

I believe the biggest question is, why did it happen and could it have been avoided?

Many rumours have swirled about Cummings and his departure, but it came at a time where the former French LNB Pro A MVP was making an impact on the court for SEM, averaging 14.5 PPG, 2.7 APG and 1.7 SPG.

The first sign that something wasn't quite right was him coming off the bench in a game on December 2nd, 2023 against the New Zealand Breakers. In that game he went on to score 15 points and had 3 rebounds and 3 assists to go with it. This was to be his last game in the NBL and was released effective immediately and never seen again in the NBL24 season.

It was a massive blow for SEM, who at the time were still in the playoff hunt, but having to find a new import at the mid-way point of the season was never an easy task and it proved very difficult for them.