Sharks coach: 'I've built a team; I didn’t acquire talent'
“For the teams I coach it’s very rare we have a league-leading scorer. My teams don’t play that way, it tends to be a shared thing where five or six of the guys average double figures."
The Southland Sharks have somewhat flown under the radar through its preseason and even during the first three rounds of the 2023 NBL.
Outside of Southland, the Sharks haven’t created a heap of discussion. Even with a two-win, one loss record to start the season - including the scalp of the Auckland Tuatara on Friday night.
Coach Guy Molloy has got a theory about that. And is more than happy with the situation.
He says his team probably doesn’t possess the flashy imports which might attract the attention other teams do.
Molloy’s also pretty certain you won’t find a Sharks player at the top of the point-scoring league leaders in 2023.
“When I put this team together it was put together as a collective. We probably don’t get much attention in terms of the league itself and imports because there are a lot of high-flying imports around.
“The Sharks weren’t put together that way. I built a team; I didn’t acquire talent. That’s the mantra I had.”
“For the teams I coach it’s very rare we have a league-leading scorer. My teams don’t play that way, it tends to be a shared thing where five or six of the guys average double figures which it makes it hard to play against and prepare for.
“If someone has an off night there’s someone there.”
On Friday night it was Ben Hall who played that role for the Sharks with his return of 15 points and nine rebounds off the bench.
Five players scored 13-plus points in the 97-77 victory over the Tuatara at ILT Stadium Southland.
It didn’t inlcude import Grant Anticevich, a usual key figure in the Sharks setup.
Molloy says his approach has generated the odd critic over the years with some suggesting it holds players back. But Molloy circles back to the ‘team’ rather than ‘individual’ thinking.
“I don’t think it holds the team back, and that’s one of the distinctions.”
As good as Friday night’s win was it did come against a Tuatara team who was without Rob Loe.
Loe is the Tuatara’s experienced big man and without him, they lack size. It caught the Sharks a little off guard given they’d prepared all week for a Tuatara team with Loe in it.
While the Tuatara was missing Loe, the Sharks itself had a pretty important piece of its roster sitting on the bench watching on.
Brayden Inger hasn’t featured in the first three games of the Sharks campaign because of an ankle injury but Molloy is optimistic he will feature this coming weekend.
The Sharks have a tough road trip ahead playing the Canterbury Rams in Christchurch on Friday night before heading to play the Hawke’s Bay Hawks on Sunday.