WHEN the NBL’s Wollongong Hawks were forced to fold earlier this year — temporarily, as it turned out — promising guard James Quinn was suddenly left with only two options.
One was to head north for the winter sunshine of Queensland and find a team willing to give him some court time.
The other was to travel south to the chilly confines of North East Victoria, where the Albury-Wodonga Bandits were in desperate need of talented players.
“The Hawks had pretty much collapsed and hadn’t had time to organise a team in the Waratah league,” Quinn said.
“Basically I got some help from (former Bandits captain) Andrew Rice’s agent who talked to some clubs in Queensland for me and also spoke to the Bandits and he reckoned here would be the best fit for me.
“And it’s been great, I really like it here, the people are awesome and the basketball has been pretty good as well.
“I’ll definitely be looking at coming back next year, especially if I’m playing with Wollongong, I’d like to come back down here again.”
And while the word on Quinn was he would bring a solid defensive presence to the Border club, it has been at the other end of the court the stocky guard has been a pleasant surprise.
In 14 games Quinn has averaged 14.5 points, 2.8 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game with a season-high 25 points against the league-leading Brisbane Spartans in round 12.
After a solid debut, Quinn tailed off throughout April and into May and it has been no coincidence that his best play has surfaced since the arrival of second import Jermaine Williams.
Alleviated from the pressure of being a primary scoring and distributing option, Quinn has flourished at the offensive end and was instrumental in the Bandits’ road triumph over Kilsyth, hitting five three-pointers on his way to 22 points.
“At the start, I don’t think I was too good but the last month has been really solid,” Quinn said.
“I think, just feeling comfortable and with Jermaine coming in, I haven’t had to create for everyone else either, it gives me a fair few open shots, which has been great.”
With Wollongong to be part of the revamped NBL, Quinn is hopeful of being a part of the only original national league franchise still in existence.
However, the 20-year-old admitted he might struggle to make the 12-man roster, given there are only eight teams participating in the 2009-10 season, which would mean staying with the Hawks as one of their Young Australian Players, similar to the AFL’s rookie-listed players.
“I spoke to the Hawks last week and they’ve only signed one player so far in Mat Campbell,” Quinn said.
“(New coach) Gordie McLeod doesn’t know what he’s going to do yet in terms of players but they reckon they should have a better idea at the end of this month. If I don’t make the team it’ll probably be another year as a development player with the Hawks, but that’s OK, the NBL could be expanding in 2010-11, which might mean a spot opening up for me.”
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