Challenged to regain the fitness that would allow him to guard the quickest players in the NBL, at 37, Brad Newley found a renewed love for the game.
The former Australian Boomer has played all over the world, but one thing still eludes him — an NBL championship.
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He got close two years ago with the Sydney Kings, but that was ruined by the dark cloud of a Covid crisis that, at the time, we were all still learning about.
Fast forward and he is now playing a small, but significant role on a team that currently sits on top of the NBL ladder and has designs on winning back-to-back titles.
He might be one of the league’s oldest players, but his rejuvenation dates back to the ink landing on his contract with United and an intense quarantine and then pre-season regimen with former club high performance manager Nik Popovic.
“I basically used lockdown in Sydney to train personally with (Nik) to be ready to come in and play well for these guys,” Newley said after his finest performance in a United jersey — 15 points in a dominant win over Adelaide.
“The challenge from (coach) Dean (Vickerman) was ‘can you guard a two (shooting guard)? Can you guard a three (small forward)?’ I had to be ready to do that.
“That meant dropping a bit of weight and getting a bit of my speed back and that’s probably what’s kept me in the game, being able to defend (and) … just looking after my body.”
Newley has plenty of basketball history with a number of the United crew, including captain Chris Goulding, Matthew Dellavedova and David Barlow and that has helped light a fire under the 199cm dual-Commonwealth Games gold medallist.
“Just being around guys that I know and (have) grown up playing basketball with is fun and it’s almost like you’re playing with your mates, not necessarily just guys who are here to do a job,” he said.
“Getting to know some of the other guys — I’m enjoying hearing their stories and where they have come from — (and) just immersing myself in the team and the Melbourne culture.”
Newley made his name as an explosive swingman with hops and swagger in the NBL and on basketball journeys in Greece, Turkey, Lithuania and Spain.
He was under no illusion as to what his role would be on talent-laden United.
“xjmtzywI kind of knew coming in what my expectation was: it’s anywhere between 10 and 20 minutes, it could be anything,” he said.
“I guess my role is just to bring as much as I can with the energy on the defensive end and try to convert that into offence down the other end.
“I don’t feel a lot of pressure to do things out of this world that I might have done 10 years ago but, every now and then, I have moments and they’re pretty cool.”
He had one of those cool moments against the Sixers Sunday when, with Caleb Agada in Covid protocols, he led United in scoring with 15 points — including a trio of makes from deep — in a 27-point win.
Expect him to be ready when the Illawarra Hawks come to town Sunday.
