Hobba eyes NBL prize

By Paul Pickering
DANDENONG Rangers star Brent Hobba could only watch as the National Basketball League entered a new era on the weekend.
The 26-year-old big man was enjoying a rare Saturday night off as his former team-mates at the South Dragons took the court in Cairns for the NBL’s season-opener.
Hobba has played the last two NBL summers with the Dragons before returning to the Rangers Big V league side during the winter, so his weekends have traditionally been devoted to the business of basketball.
But, when the NBL’s tumultuous off-season saw the competition reduced from 12 teams to 10, the 205cm forward/centre was squeezed out of his spot in the country’s top league.
“It was very disappointing, because it was my dream to continue playing in the NBL,” Hobba said. “But the way the league is now there’s a lot guys missing out on jobs, and unfortunately I’m one of them.”
Hobba said it had been a frustrating second season with the struggling Dragons.
“I thought I had a pretty good year the first year, but nothing really happened for me in the second year,” he explained. “I still really enjoyed my time there, but a lot of the coaches just said they didn’t really get the opportunity to see me play much.”
Hobba joined Dandenong team-mate Ash Cannan in a last-minute trial with the New Zealand Breakers, but the Kiwi club eventually went for a younger player who had just returned from the American college system.
Hobba is not one to dwell on his own plight, but Rangers coach Warren Dawson believes the sweet-shooting West Australian is desperately unlucky to be overlooked by NBL recruiters.
“It’s got me stumped as to why they wouldn’t think he’s capable of playing regular minutes in that league,” Dawson said. “The guy’s averaging 20-plus points and 14 rebounds (in the Big V), he’s got all the tools and I couldn’t speak highly enough of him as a person.
“I definitely think he could be a solid contributor playing as that seventh or eighth man.”
Dawson says NBL clubs should be looking more closely at players in the second-tier Australian Basketball Association (ABA) leagues – such as the Big V – in a bid to encourage emerging players to continue with the sport.
Hobba has no intention of hanging up the sneakers just yet, but he is now settling into a full-time position as a project manager with a business solutions company.