Tom Wilson (basketball)

Thomas "Tom" Wilson (born 24 June 1997) is an Australian professional basketball player for Partizan of the ABA League and the Basketball League of Serbia.

Early life

Wilson was born in Melbourne, Victoria, to John and Michelle Wilson and is the younger brother of Jack. Wilson played two years (2008–2009) at Sandringham Sabres and four years at Melbourne Tigers (2010–2013).^[1] In 2012 Wilson started as a freshman (Year 9) in Caulfield Grammar School’s Basketball Australia's Australian Schools Championship winning side defeating Canberra’s UCSSC Lake Ginninderra containing Junior (Year 11) Dante Exum.^[2]

Wilson was also an elite sportsman in Cricket and Australian Rules Football (AFL). Wilson gained selection in several representative Cricket teams (CMCA, Southern Rangers and South Metro Bayside Breakers).^[3]

Wilson represented his State, Victoria, in the 2013 NAB AFL U16 Championship at Bankstown International Sports Park and Skoda Stadium. Shortly after the completion of these Championships Wilson was awarded an NAB AFL Level 1 scholarship.^[4]

Around the same time Wilson was offered a scholarship to attend Basketball Australia’s Centre of Excellence (COE) at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, Australia.

Wilson chose to forgo the NAB AFL Level 1 Scholarship and accepted Basketball Australia’s COE scholarship and moved to Canberra in January 2014 and completed his Junior and Senior years of school in 2014 & 2015 respectively.

Wilson was highly recruited by many colleges (Gonzaga, St Mary’s Gaels, Boise State Broncos, Davidson Wildcats, SMU Mustangs, GCU Lopes). Wilson chose to attend the SMU Mustangs believing a chance to be coached by NBA Hall of Fame coach, Larry Brown, who also coached one of his childhood idols, NBA point guard Allan Iverson was an opportunity he could not miss.

Wilson attended Basketball Australia’s prestigious Centre of Excellence at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra for two years, 2014–2015.

Wilson had a highly successful junior basketball career playing for his native state, Victoria, not only winning every Australian Junior Championship he competed in, but also never to have lost a single game in any Australian Junior Championship. His first Australian Junior Championship was the U14 Australian Club Championship in Canberra in 2010, followed by the U16 National Junior Championship in Tamworth in 2012. Wilson followed this by playing two consecutive years in the Victorian U18 team in the U18 National Championships in Brisbane in 2013 and Canberra in 2014. Wilson was a member of the starting 5 both years and captained the team in 2014. Wilson graduated to the U20 Victorian team and again played two consecutive years in the U20 National Junior Championships in 2015 (Dandenong, Victoria) and 2016 (Ipswich, Queensland). He captained the team in both years and was named the tournament MVP winning the prestigious Bob Staunton Medal in 2016.^[5]

Wilson attended several NBA camps:

• 2013 NBA Asia Pacific Camp – China
• 2014 NBA Basketball Without Borders – Taipei (Camp All Star)
• 2015 NBA/FIBA Inaugural Global Basketball Without Borders Camp – New York (Camp All Star)^{[6][7][8][9][10]}

College career

A highly ranked college recruit, he played college basketball for the SMU Mustangs.^[11][12][13] Wilson was recruited by the Mustangs Head Coach, Larry Brown, an NBA Hall of Fame Coach.^[14] One month after Wilson’s arrival at SMU Larry Brown resigned in controversial circumstances. Wilson left the Mustangs midway through his Freshman year along with fellow Australian Freshman Harry Froling. Wilson transferred mid year to Boise State University, but decided to leave College to turn professional.

Wilson, a 6’4 ½ ” (1.94) point guard was recruited to the Mustangs as a Point Guard and had represented Australian junior teams as a Point Guard.^[15] However, Wilson felt he was underutilised and playing out of position at SMU in his Freshman year.^[16][17][18] Wilson transferred midway through his Freshman year to Boise State University’s Broncos in late January 2017.^[19] NCAA rules meant Wilson would have to Red Shirt the remainder of his Freshman year and the first semester of his sophomore year. Not wanting to ‘sit out’ of basketball for so long, Wilson chose to leave the Broncos and turn professional. Possessing potential talent to play in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Wilson decided to forego his remaining 3 ½ years of college eligibility and play professionally.^[20]

Professional career

On 10 August 2017, Wilson signed a three-year deal with Serbian club Partizan.^[21]

National team career

Wilson represented Australia in several Junior FIBA tournaments: FIBA – 9th Pacific Youth Tournament where Australia won Gold Medal in 2012 and next year at FIBA – U17 Oceania Championship where Australia also won Gold Medal.

Wilson was captain and played for the Australia national under-17 team at the 2014 FIBA Under-17 World Championship in Dubai, UAE – losing the Gold Medal game to USA 99-92. He played in the seven games that Australia competed in, averaging 12 points and 6.5 rebounds, 1.7 Assists, 1 steal while playing 32.8 minutes per game.^[22] His top performance was in the Gold Medal game against the USA - a 23-point, 6 rebound, 7 assist, 1 steal game. Wilson had the highest player efficiency in this game.

Wilson was captain and played for the Australia national under-19 team at the 2015 FIBA Under-19 World Championship in Heraklion, Greece – finishing 7th. Wilson only played in five of the seven games that Australia competed in. Wilson received a non-displaced fracture to his left fibula early in the 1st quarter of game five against Turkey and took no further part in the remainder of the Championship. Wilson averaged 6.4 points and 4.4 rebounds, 2.8 Assists, 0.7 steals while playing 18.6 minutes per game.^[23] His top performance was a 13-point, 6 rebound, 2 assist, 2 steal game against Tunisia.

References