Cairns Taipans

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Cairns Taipans

Established	1999/00
Team Colours	Navy and White
Home Venue	Cairns Convention Centre, Cairns
Major Sponsor	Rawnet
Championships	None
Team History	Cairns Taipans (1999-Present)
Chief Executive	Juanita O'Brien
Coach	Alan Black
Captain	Anthony Stewart
Website	www.taipans.com

The Cairns Taipans are a professional basketball team competing in Australia's National Basketball League. The club is based in the northern Queensland city of Cairns. The Taipans, named after a species of venomous snake native to Australia, entered the NBL in the 1999/2000 season. The Taipans play at the Cairns Convention Centre, and play in navy and white colours.

1 History
2 Honour Roll
3 Club MVP
4 Current roster
5 Websites

[edit] History

The first coach in franchise history was former Cairns Marlins ABA coach Rod Popp. Playing at the newly expanded Cairns Convention Centre, the Taipans played their first game against the Sydney Kings in front of 4,407 fans. However, there would be few highlights in their first season, finishing last with a 2-26 record.

With a large turn-over of players in their second season, expectations for Cairns were low. Headed by Guy Molloy, a former South-East Melbourne Magic and Australian women's national team assistant coach, the Taipans would improve to 6-22, sell out five of fourteen home games and attract over 4,300 spectators per match.

Midway through the 2001/02 season, Taipans released import forward Matt Garrison replacing him with the exciting Jayson Wells, who made an immediate impact on the team averaging over 22 points and 10 rebounds per game including a season high 40 points against Canberra and 39 points against reigning NBL champions Wollongong. During the season the club registered their first ever wins against North Queensland rivals Townsville, Wollongong, Adelaide and Victoria. The club also recorded their biggest winning margin in a match against Canberra and won the best of head to head battles against reigning title holders Wollongong and the Victoria Titans. The club again showed significant improvement to earn nine victories.

In 2002/03, the Taipans took another significant step forward by winning 13 games while finishing in eighth position, showing that the club should make the playoffs for the first time in the near future.

The 2003/04 season proved to be an exciting one for the Taipans, with the recruitment of experienced NBL championship-winning forwards Melvin Thomas and Marcus Timmons helping the Taipans to reach their first playoffs in franchise history. The Taipans first finals appearance resulted in a win, as Cairns upset Perth 103-96. Ultimately, the Taipans maiden post-season foray was stopped by the West Sydney Razorbacks who would go on to come within a single game of the title. Timmons earned his team’s MVP award for the season.

The 2004/05 season witnessed the first-ever reversal of the Taipan’s forward progress from the past five seasons, resulting in championship coach Alan Black being signed to replace Molloy. The addition of All-Star Martin Cattalini and Darnell Mee, as well as AIS up-and-comer Adam Gibson helped the Taipans to a fifth-place finish in 2005-06. Cairns defeated the Hunter Pirates in the first round, and Anthony Stewart hit a three late in overtime to help the Taipans past the Adelaide 36ers, and advance the Taipans to their first ever semi-final. The Taipans lost this to the defending champion Sydney Kings in two straight games, narrowly going down 84-82 in game two in Cairns.

[edit] Honour Roll

NBL Championships:	0
NBL Finals Appearances:	2 (2004, 2006)
NBL Grand Final appearances:	0
All-NBL First Team:	Chris Burgess (2005)

Source: www.nbl.com.au

[edit] Club MVP

2001 Ben Knight & Aaron Trahair
2002 Jayson Wells
2003 Ben Knight & Anthony Stewart
2004 Marcus Timmons
2005 Chris Burgess
2006 Martin Cattalini

Source: www.taipans.com.au

[edit] Current roster

Cairns Taipans Current Roster
Head Coach: Alan Black			Edit
F	20	Gary Boodnikoff	(SA; Augusta State University)
F	6	Martin Cattalini	(WA)
G	15	Deba George	(QLD)
G	8	Aaron Grabau	(VIC)
G	11	Luke Martin	(NSW; University of Texas at El Paso)
G	13	Darnell Mee	(Cleveland; Western Kentucky University)
F	10	Kane Oakley	(VIC; Metropolitan State College of Denver)
C		Kevin Owens	(USA; Monmouth College)
G	21	Robert Rose	(New York; George Mason University)
C	50	Matt Smith	(VIC; Lander University)
G	23	Anthony Stewart - Captain	(TAS)
F	5	Dwayne Vale	(QLD)
(FA) - Free Agent			Cairns Taipans