Jack McVeigh and Milton Doyle both earned NBL all-second team honours while Sean McDonald won most improved player award at the NBL end of season awards.
Another winning season by the JackJumpers has been rewarded with multiple players receiving accolades at the NBL’s end of season awards.
After an improved year at both ends of the floor Jack Mcveigh was awarded with a spot on the All-NBL second team. This is McVeigh’s first time being rewarded an All-NBL team position and follows a productive season where he averaged career highs of 16.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 29 minutes per game.
Joining him on the the all NBL second team is teammate Milton Doyle, the second time he’s received all NBL honours after making the first team last season. It was a season of adjustment for the second year import shooting guard, who was eased of the offensive load he had to carry last year with the additions of Jordon Crawford, Majok Deng and Anthony Drmic. But Doyle adjusted his game to become more of a distributor, making him a tough catchup for opposition guards. He now leads the JackJumpers in assists with 4.8 per game, to go with 16 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game.
All NBL team voting
First team
Bryce Cotton (Perth) – 54 votes
Chris Goulding (Melbourne) – 47 votes
Gary Clark (Illawarra) – 47 votes
Anthony Lamb (New Zealand) – 44 votes
Parker Jackson-Cartwright (New Zealand) – 38 votes
Second Team
Mitch Creek (South East Melbourne) – 30 votes
Nathan Sobey (Brisbane) – 29 votes
Jo Lual-Acuil Jr (Melbourne) – 26 votes
Milton Doyle (Tasmania) – 26 votes
Jack McVeigh (Tasmania) – 21 votes
MacDonald most improved
Third year development player Sean MacDonald was also successful on the night, winning the NBL’s most improved award. It was the second year straight year MacDonald was nominated for the award, as he continues to develop into one of Australia’s premier young guards.
His stats didn’t have the jump as they did from the previous two seasons, but his overall shooting percentages made him a threat at the offensive end whenever he was on court, average 45% from the field and an impressive 47% from outside. In his third season Macdonald averaged 22 minutes 7.4 points, 2.3 assists and 2.2 rebounds.
Most Improved player voting
Sean Macdonald (Tasmania) – 48 votes
Jaylin Galloway (Sydney) – 40 votes
Tyrell Harrison (Brisbane) – 36 votes
Across the awards night several other JackJumpers were nominated for awards. Will Magnay and Sean Macdonald were finalists for the sixth man if the year. But were runners up to runaway favourite Ian Clarke.
Best sixth man
Ian Clark (Melbourne) – 73 votes
Will Magnay (Tasmania) – 29 votes
Sean Macdonald (Tasmania) – 28 votes
While Will Magnay’s work on the defensive end was also recognised with him being nominated as a finalist for Defensive player of the year. Although eventually lost out to Melbourne Unite’s Shea Illi he still managed to poll 36 votes for to finish second, an impressive result despite missing the first 10 games of the season
Best defensive player
Shea Ili (Melbourne) – 59 votes
Will Magnay (Tasmania) – 36 votes
Sam McDaniel (Brisbane) – 34 votes
