By Lachlan Onions
FRESH off the back of a strong NBL1 South season where he was named the Mount Gambier Pioneers’ MVP, Nick Marshall has risen to new heights as he took on some of basketball’s best players for the Adelaide 36ers’ NBLxNBA preseason tour in the USA.
The preseason tour saw Adelaide take on Overtime Elite, the Phoenix Suns and the Oklahoma City Thunder last week.
Marshall spoke to The Border Watch and said the week was a “pretty crazy” experience.
“I have enjoyed it a lot,” he said.
“I got to play against my favourite player and got to ball-out and get some buckets against Overtime Elite, so that was pretty fun.”
The 23-year-old started against Overtime Elite and made his presence felt in front of a number of NBA scouts with a double-double which included 23 points and 10 rebounds.
“I got to start so I could find my rhythm and took over in the third and fourth quarter and scored something like 12 points straight,” Marshall said.
“It was a surprise (to start), I didn’t find out until I was in the locker room before the game.
“C.J. (Bruton – Adelaide 36ers coach) had the initials written up on the board and he started the young guys.”
Marshall said it was pretty cool to play in front of over 40 NBA scouts from all franchises.
After defeating Overtime Elite by five points with limited minutes for the starters, Bruton fielded a full-strength side against the Phoenix Suns last week.
As a result, Marshall was only on the court for five minutes but he remained a part of history as the 36ers defeated the Suns, who had the best record in the NBA regular season last year.
This was the first time an NBA team has been defeated by an overseas side in six years and the first time ever an NBL side has defeated an NBA team.
Marshall got to rub shoulders with some of the game’s best players, as the Suns fielded a star-studded line-up with Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges all on the court for more than 20 minutes.
“It was pretty cool being on the court with Chris Paul and Devin Booker, so I enjoyed that a lot,” he said.
“It was pretty surreal to be able to measure where I’m at and where I want to get to.
“It was cool to go against the guys who are already at the level to give me a gauge of what I need to work on.
“Hopefully in the next couple of years I can be out there full-time.”
Marshall was on the floor for just under 12 minutes in Adelaide’s loss to Josh Giddey’s Thunder on Thursday night.
He made four rebounds, one assist and a block at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma.
Marshall said there is much more spacing on the court when playing against NBA teams as opposed to NBL teams.
“I feel like the NBL is more physical and fast-paced compared to the NBA,” he said.
“It was pre-season so I guess in-season those NBA teams will definitely ramp things up a bit.”
Marshall felt comfortable with the pace of the game and said the main area he needed to work on was the strength side.
“I need to get stronger and bigger with my body so that I can maintain the physicality that some of those bigger guards have,” he said.
“OKC had three dudes who were like seven foot who were all handling the ball and I need to be able to stay in front and not get run over when they body me.”
Marshall is feeling confident heading into this season which starts for the 36ers on Thursday, when they take on the Tasmania JackJumpers.
“We have a really talented group so I think we can do something special,” he said.
“We can come back from this trip and show Australia how good we are … I am looking forward to it.”
On a personal level, Marshall hopes to build on last year and continue to get stronger as well as learning from the older players within the squad.
