Adam Ballinger on his NBL Career, Michigan State’s 2000 NCAA championship and NBA art

Adam Ballinger played twelve seasons in the NBL, spending time with the Victoria Giants, Wollongong Hawks, Adelaide 36ers and Melbourne Tigers. Over his career, he averaged 15.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 340 NBL games.

Prior to the NBL he played college basketball with Michigan State where he won a national championship alongside NBA stars Jason Richardson, Mateen Cleaves and future NBL stars Mike Chappell and Dave Thomas.

Topics include...

• Ballinger on making a living post-basketball as an artist/cartoonist (2:00)
• Growing up in Indiana and gaining a scholarship to Michigan State University (7:00)
• Winning the 2000 NCAA National Championship alongside Mateen Cleaves, Jason Richardson and future NBL stars Mike Chappelle and Dave Thomas (11:00)
• The NBL connection that exists within that team (17:00)
• That game where Michigan State University faced the Canberra Cannons featuring Magic Johnson (19:00)
• Finding his way to Australia and his debut season with the Victoria Giants (21:00)
• Moving to the Wollongong Hawks for his second season in the NBL (25:00)
• Moving to Adelaide to play with the 36ers (27:00)
• Becoming an Australian citizen and a "local" player in 2009 (31:00)
• An ankle injury limits what Adam can deliver to NBL teams after 2011 (35:00)
• Returning to Melbourne to play with the Tigers (37:00)
• His difficult exit from the Tigers (38:00)
• Thoughts on the coaches he experienced during his career and what he took from them for his own coaching strategies (40:30)
• The rivalry between Adam Ballinger and Shawn Redhage (43:30)
• Players Adam loved to face off against the most (44:30)
• The biggest challenges Adam faced during his NBL career (46:30)
• The highlight from his 10 years in the NBL (49:00)

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Listen to our previous interviews with the biggest stars in Australian Basketball, head to Aussiehoopla.com. Check out previous podcasts featuring;

Australian Basketball Legends - Luc Longley, Andrew Gaze, Shane Heal, Mark Bradtke, Leroy Loggins, David Andersen, Andrew Vlahov, Phil Smyth, CJ Bruton, Chris Anstey, Brett Maher, John Rillie, Tony Ronaldson, Damian Martin, AJ Ogilvy, Daniel Kickert

Current NBL Stars - Bryce Cotton, Chris Goulding, Vic Law, Jack White, Dejan Vasiljevic, Thomas Abercrombie, Jason Cadee, Mitch McCarron, Anthony Drmic, Brad Newley, Dusty Hannahs

Our Finest Coaching Minds - Brian Goorjian, Barry Barnes, Joey Wright, Adrian Hurley, Aaron Fearne, Rob Beveridge, Ian Stacker, Shawn Dennis, Dean Vickerman, Trevor Gleeson, Lindsey Gaze, Ken Cole, Will Weaver, Bruce Palmer

NBA Stars Past & Present - Andrew Bogut, Matthew Dellavedova, Stephen Jackson, Randy Livingston, Torrey Craig, Acie Earl, Josh Childress, Reggie Smith, Todd Lichti, Ryan Broekhoff, Doug Overton, Donald Sloan

The NBL's Greatest Imports - Darryl McDonald, Ricky Grace, Derek Rucker, Leon Trimmingham, Scott Fisher, Lanard Copeland, Mike Mitchell, Darnell Mee, Isaac Burton, Adonis Jordan, Shawn Redhage, Willie Farley, Al Green, Corey "Homicide" Williams, Andre Moore, Steve Woodberry, Gary Ervin, Ebi Ere, Doug Overton, Kevin Lisch

And the men who run things - Larry Kestelman, Mal Speed, Paul Maley, Vince Crivelli, Jeremy Loeliger, Chuck Harmison, Jeff Van Groningen, Bob Turner

All that and much more.

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