CAMBEWARRA product James Hunter is edging closer to a potential return to the National Basketball League, after a successful trip to China with the competition's newest franchise, the South East Melbourne Phoenix.
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Following a stint with the New Zealand Breakers in 2017/18, which was followed by him training with the Illawatta Hawks last season, the Shoalhaven Tigers' junior decided to move to Melbourne to give himself the best chance of returning to the league.
"At the end of last season, I spoke to a couple of people and they thought the best thing for me right now was to move to Melbourne, as the NBL was launching their newest franchise, the Phoenix," Hunter said.
"So I moved to Melbourne and signed on with the Knox Raiders, in the new NBL1 competition."
Despite an up and down start to the season for Knox, which included losses to Kilsyth and Geelong before winning against the Southern Sabres, Hunter strung together a number of strong performances, which led to him being invited to train with the Phoenix.
"It worked out really well, as both Knox and the Phoenix train at the same stadium, so I'm Tuesday and Thursdays with the SEM and there the other days with the Raiders," Hunter said.
"After impressive at training, Phoenix coach Simon Mitchell and I got talking about the upcoming tour of China for his team.
"We talked about the prospects of them taking a few extra guys over there, as well as their contracted players - thankfully I was one one of those guys they brought into the squad."
This tour marked the sixth time Hunter has been on a tour to China, which saw the Phoenix play the Jiangsu Dragons in Nanjing on May 29, before taking on the Shanghai Sharks in Shanghai on May 31.
Hunter's side opened the tour with an impressive 92-73 win against Jiangsu before going down by five points (76-71) to Shanghai.
"It's always a little tough on quick tours like that to feel out the new country and adjust to the style of play," Hunter said.
"But In game one, I thought I was solid and did my role to help the team win.
"Then in game two, I thought I rebounded really well on the offensive glass.
"After the games, Simon [Mitchell] pulled a couple of us aside and talked to us about he thought we went.
"He was really happy with how I played and gave me feedback on that things I should work on."
Now that he is back in Australia, the 27-year-old will resume his season with the Knox Raiders, who are 4-7 on the season.
"While I'll still be training with the Phoenix, I'll be concentrating primarily on helping Knox win games of basketball," the 208cm Hunter said.
"We've got a really good group here and everyone is starting to get on the same page, after a disrupted start with injuries and then me missing games.
"The table is so close, that if you string a couple of wins together, you can move very quickly up the table."
Related content: Wide Ward of Sports: James Hunter (basketball)
This season marks Hunter's second playing in Victoria, after he had a season in the then SEABL competition with Ballarat.
"Since the rebranding of the NBL1 competition, I think the level of play has increased - it's definitely higher than when I was here four years ago," he said.
"It's great there are so many strong teams - it means you need to bring your A game each and every week.
"It also makes you keep working hard, in case the Phoenix or any other NBL franchise comes calling.
"So I'll just keep putting in the work for the rest of the NBL1 and then reevaluate my situation and see if anything comes up."
In his eight games this season for the Raiders, Hunter, who has also represented the New Zealand Tall Blacks, is averaging 14.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 0.6 blocks per game.
Next up for the Raiders is a trip to Kilsyth this Saturday.