BASKETBALL<\/p>\n
NBL<\/p>\n
BY BLAKE METCALF-HOLT<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
NEXT Traralgon man up for Melbourne United.<\/p>\n
The National Basketball League (NBL) club recently announced local export Christian D\u2019Angelo as its first development player signed for the 2026-27 season.<\/p>\n
D\u2019Angelo spent last season as a training player for United, which saw him act as a standard rostered player bar participating in games, treated to all the perks of a professional basketballer and able to sit on the bench during select regular season matches.<\/p>\n
Now, as a development player, the former Traralgon T-Bird will get the opportunity to actually step onto the court when the next NBL season comes around.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is something that I\u2019ve worked towards for a really long time and to finally reach a big goal of mine is really exciting,\u201d D\u2019Angelo told Melbourne United media.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously having a year as a training player, I got a taste of what it\u2019s like and I kind of got addicted to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking with the guys every day and seeing how they\u2019re always looking to improve was huge for me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think I have a lot more confidence in my game now and I\u2019m only wanting to get better to help this team win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Melbourne previously featured fellow Traralgon basketballer Jack White on two separate instances, most recently during the 2024-25 season, and previous to that, winning an NBL title with United in 2021, although missed due to injury.<\/p>\n
Currently into his sixth season with NBL1 South club Nunawading Spectres, D\u2019Angelo featured in an exhibition match with the NBL1 South Under 25 select team against the Chinese National U18 men\u2019s side last week.<\/p>\n
D\u2019Angelo played alongside Moe\u2019s Austin Shelley, who during the 2024-25 NBL season, was a training player with the Cairns Taipans.<\/p>\n
During the international exhibition showcase on Monday, April 27, China also played against a Big V Championship select team, which included Gippsland United players Matt Berkec and team captain and Traralgon\u2019s Ben Barlow.<\/p>\n
For the Spectres, D\u2019Angelo has shot out to his best season yet through the first three rounds, averaging 21 points, five rebounds and 1.4 steals per game.<\/p>\n
D\u2019Angelo is the younger brother of former junior national basketballer and Melbourne Boomer, Chelsea D\u2019Angelo, who currently plays overseas in New Zealand before returning for NBL1 side Frankston Blues.<\/p>\n
Their football brother Luis plays for Casey Demons in the VFL and for Traralgon in the Gippsland League. Luis and Christian played in Traralgon T-Birds\u2019 last CBL title in 2022.<\/p>\n
Melbourne United head coach Dean Vickerman said that the youngest D\u2019Angelo sibling is capable of making a real impact whenever pushed into the rotation.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe really earned his position as a training player last year and now he\u2019s earned this opportunity as a development player,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Vickerman continued by describing D\u2019Angelo as \u201ca really balanced athlete\u201d and as a \u201ctwo-guard\u201d and \u201ccombo guard\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlayers like him are a real valuable commodity right now with the ability to stretch the floor, play in transition and be a willing defender, while still growing as a player,\u201d Vickerman added.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s someone that can really challenge for a roster spot in years to come.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vickerman may not be there to see D\u2019Angelo develop however, as it was recently reported that the nine-year Melbourne coach was in active discussions with the club regarding a release from the remainder of his contract.<\/p>\n
The Warragul-raised basketball coach is contracted until the end of the 2027-28 NBL season, with ESPN sources saying that he has a head coaching job lined up in Japan.<\/p>\n
Vickerman has been a pillar for United since his arrival in 2017, and has won two NBL championships (2018, 2021) and reached a further three grand final series.<\/p>\n
He won his first NBL title as head coach of the New Zealand Breakers in 2015.<\/p>\n
That championship-winning team included Sale\u2019s Rhys Carter, who currently serves as an assistant coach at United, and took charge as interim head coach when Vickerman was unavailable at the latter stages of the last home-and-away season.<\/p>\n
Vickerman has also served as head coach of the Australian Boomers two different times, in 2023 for the FIBA World Cup Qualifiers, and in 2025 he became the associate head coach under most recently appointed Adam Caporn.<\/p>\n
After United lost in the very last possible match in the 2025 NBL Grand Final series to Illawarra Hawks, the Melbourne side then finished fifth on the ladder and were ousted in the play-in game by the Perth Wildcats in March this year.<\/p>\n
Once his NBA playoff campaign concludes with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Australian basketball star Joe Ingles plans to sign with Melbourne, per ESPN.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BASKETBALL NBL BY BLAKE METCALF-HOLT \u00a0 NEXT Traralgon man up for Melbourne United. The National Basketball League (NBL)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4859,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6156,6157,6158,6159,6160,6161,6162,6163,260,6164,6110,6165,6166,73,6167,5795],"class_list":{"0":"post-4858","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-melbourne","8":"tag-casey-demons","9":"tag-cbl","10":"tag-chelsea-dangelo","11":"tag-christian-dangelo","12":"tag-dean-vickerman","13":"tag-jack-white","14":"tag-joe-ingles","15":"tag-luis-dangelo","16":"tag-melbourne","17":"tag-nbl","18":"tag-nbl1","19":"tag-nunawading-spectres","20":"tag-rhys-carter","21":"tag-traralgon","22":"tag-traralgon-t-birds","23":"tag-vfl"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4858"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4858\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}