Saturday sees the start of the NBL Division One season, with Hemel Storm facing Bradford Dragons at the StormDome.
Storm were impressive in taking down Loughborough Riders in their KitKing Trophy quarter-final assignment on Saturday as a Sam Newman triple-double helped them secure a 13-point victory over the university-based outfit.
That performance earned the Storm captain recognition as NBL’s Player of the Week and he’ll be hoping to back that accolade up with another commanding display against a strong looking Bradford team.
Mark Clark’s side produced arguably their best offensive showing of the season - 95 points their highest tally since opening day victory over London Elite - and it was clear to see the new unit were developing a stronger sense of chemistry.
Trent Monkman and Matt Ellis continue to look like standout summer signings while American Tra’Michael Moton will hope his 15 points ignites his career in Hemel, as he unveiled a scoring ability to go alongside his selfless team displays.
Darien Nelson-Henry’s solid start to the season comes as no shock, his experience and wily knowhow guiding the side through the early stages of the campaign and his height naturally causing problems for the opposition.
Three wins and just one loss so far will be of encouragement to Head Coach Mark Clark; his side topping their KitKing group and winning their quarter-final just about all he could ask for.
He’ll be aware they are far from the finished article, with improvements to be made on both ends of the floor but there are positive signs as they spend more time together and better understand the play styles of the new faces.
Their visitors, from Bradford, have won two and lost two to date and saw themselves knocked out of the Trophy by MK Breakers last week. Ironically, it is the Breakers who Storm will face in the semi-final of the competition - a stage where these two sides have history.
Just one year ago, it was the Dragons who curtailed Storm’s hopes of retaining their KitKing title at the penultimate hurdle and they also overcame them in league action. Storm, then, won’t be taking their visitors lightly on Saturday night.
While American Justin Williams, who did most of the damage last year, is no longer with the team, some familiar faces have been joined by some dangerous additions in West Yorkshire.
Division One’s all-time rebound leader and second highest point scorer Rihards Sulcs returns as captain for yet another season and it will be his final visit to the StormDome, as he will leave the Dragons at the conclusion of the campaign.
Jordan Whelan, a man with BBL experience having spent time with the Manchester Giants, London Lions and Worcester Wolves, as well as competing abroad in Germany, is also back. The British guard had a 23-point display in the side’s statement victory over Newcastle Knights in their first outing and is certainly capable of hurting Storm this weekend.
Kofi Josephs, another former top-tier stalwart, has joined from Manchester and has been consistent so far, averaging 17 points per game. Josephs also plied his trade in Europe and competed for Britain at EuroBasket 2017. The destructive guard, who held the league’s points record for a British-born player with 46 in his time at Plymouth, now runs his own company ‘Why Not I’ which looks to destigmatize mental health problems in the UK.
Promising US guard Jevon Laidler is ready to burst onto the British basketball scene with the Dragons and the recruitment of Martyn Gayle, another man in the top-5 all time scoring charts for Division One, adds to the wealth of experience in the squad.
Notably, last week’s defeat in Milton Keynes saw the Dragons take only seven men. That was after just eight made the trip to Nottingham and their squad has never featured more than nine.
Storm may look to use that to their advantage and utilise a fast-paced tempo to wear their opposition down. Clark will encourage his side to push the pace of the tie in the expectation the Dragons will fatigue come the closing stages, where Storm will look to punish them and close out the game with comfort.
An intriguing matchup awaits as Storm begin what they hope will be another memorable season of NBL action. Tickets are available via the Fanbase platform with tip-off at the usual time of 7pm at the StormDome.
By Callum Humphrey