Coach still has ‘a lot to offer’

Life is a beach…again. Brent Matehaere will return to his day job as Otago-Southland Development Officer for Surf Life Saving New Zealand.

But the Otago Nuggets coach hopes to make another tilt at the National Basketball League title next year.

His coaching contract will expire once he completes an exit interview with the club.

But Matehaere, who led the Nuggets to NBL Showdown glory in 2020 and was also at the helm when they won the league proper in 2022, is keen to return in 2025 and build on what he learned from a disappointing season .

“I still want to be involved,” he said.

“I feel like I’ve learned more this season than I did when I was successful, and I still feel like I have a lot to offer.”

The Nuggets finished ninth this season. The campaign started brightly but faded quickly.

A damaging five-game losing streak midway through the game

the season actually puts

the play-off at hand.

“On the NCEA scale, you would get a ‘not achieved’.

“In our minds, we definitely had the tools to be in playoff contention and we just didn’t do it,” Matehaere said.

There were several challenges that contributed to the slide.

Former Tall Blacks guard Tai Webster left after eight games to be with his partner, who was expecting the couple’s first child, 20-year-old Australian shooting guard Ben Henshall missed the final five games of the season and the talented young guard Dontae Russo. -Nance missed games at each end of the season due to injury.

“Having players come in and out has been a challenge, especially when they are scoring players.

“But personally, there are areas where I felt I could have done a better job of mentoring some of the younger players.

“Dontae only ended up playing seven games for us, but only five when he was tasked with being the guy. And Ben Henshall, his performances were sometimes sublime and sometimes the opposite of sublime.

“This is the challenge of young people. But I think the opportunities they’ve had to grow will serve them well in the future.”

Darcy Knox, Matthew Bardsley and Josh Aitcheson have been given more opportunities as a result of the roster change, and Jack Andrew has made the step up from reserve to starting centre.

“I think the way we played, only using Jack in ball screens, probably didn’t give him the opportunity to showcase his skills as much as we would have liked. But I think when Dontae was on the court with Jack, they might have been the best games he had.

“If you look at the way he’s handled himself in those situations, there’s a lot of promise in Jack.

“He’s made great strides and is headed in the right direction.”

The two American imports turned out to be mixed.

Kimani Lawrence was “unstoppable in the paint when he had one-on-one opportunities.”

“But when we didn’t have the firepower around Kimani, then teams were able to clog the paint and create challenges for him.

“I feel like I didn’t get the best out of Zee (Zaccheus Darko-Kelly). We saw what he can do when he hit 34 on an away trip to Nelson.

“The boy can play. He had the ability to score, but I don’t think playing in traffic is one of his strengths.

“I think there were areas there where the symmetry on the pitch was not what we would like.”

Darko-Kelly battled illness early in the campaign and “took some time to get back up to speed”.

“That was definitely a factor for him. But if you look at the other side of it, they gave up. They were great in the community.

“The game is the focus. But being in the community is also something the Nuggets try to do well. And those two have been great at that.”