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Former NBL champion and Australian Boomer Mitch McCarron joins the podcast to discuss retiring from professional basketball at just 32, what went wrong during his three seasons with the Adelaide 36ers and the frustration of repeatedly representing Australia through qualifying windows but narrowly missing selection for an Olympics or World Cup.
Host Dan Boyce chats with McCarron about leaving Cairns for Melbourne United, why Dean Vickerman’s system brought out the best basketball of his career, winning the 2021 NBL championship and the defensive criticism he faced playing point guard at 6’3.
McCarron also opens up on why he left a championship-winning Melbourne team to sign a three-year deal with Adelaide, why three talented 36ers rosters continually failed to reach the postseason, the Craig Randall situation, CJ Bruton’s departure and whether Adelaide ultimately asked him to be a type of point guard that didn’t suit his game.
The conversation also covers Aaron Fearne’s underrated Taipans teams, Cairns’ 2017 playoff run, his final season playing through knee problems with the New Zealand Breakers, playing alongside Parker Jackson-Cartwright, missing the 2019 World Cup and Tokyo Olympics and captaining Australia to Asia Cup gold.
Topics include:
Retiring from the NBL at just 32 and the injuries behind the decision Why he continues playing NBL1 basketball despite retiring professionally Aaron Fearne’s system and why Cairns consistently exceeded expectations What stopped the Taipans from going further during their 2017 playoff run Leaving Cairns as his value around the NBL continued to rise Why Dean Vickerman and Melbourne United brought out the best version of Mitch McCarron Winning the 2021 NBL championship and earning All-NBL Second Team honours The criticism around whether United needed to hide him defensively against quicker point guards Why he walked away from a championship team to sign with Adelaide What went wrong during three straight seasons without finals basketball at the 36ers The Craig Randall situation and the problems inside Adelaide during CJ Bruton’s tenure Whether the 36ers asked McCarron to become the wrong type of point guard The frustration of captaining talented Adelaide teams that continually fell short Joining the New Zealand Breakers and playing alongside Parker Jackson-Cartwright Playing through serious knee problems during his final NBL season Missing the 2019 World Cup and Tokyo Olympic teams despite becoming a regular Boomer The frustration of playing FIBA qualifying windows but missing the major tournaments Captaining Australia to Asia Cup gold Comparing the systems he played in at Cairns, Melbourne, Adelaide and New Zealand What the perfect offence for peak Mitch McCarron would actually look likeAll of this and a whole lot more...
