2017 New Zealand NBL season

The 2017 NBL season was the 36th season of the National Basketball League. For the second year in a row, the league fielded seven teams.

2017 New Zealand NBL season
League	New Zealand NBL
Sport	Basketball
Duration	16 March – 17 June
Number of games	18
Number of teams	7
Regular season
Minor premiers	Wellington Saints
Season MVP	Corey Webster (Wellington Saints)
Top scorer	Corey Webster (Wellington Saints)
Final Four
Champions	Wellington Saints
Runners-up	Southland Sharks
Finals MVP	Shea Ili

The regular season commenced on Thursday 16 March in Invercargill with the Southland Sharks hosting the Nelson Giants at Stadium Southland. The season contained 13 weeks of regular season games followed by a Final Four weekend in June at Tauranga's ASB BayPark Arena.^[1][2][3] The seven teams played every team on three occasions to make up an 18-game round robin season.^[4]

With an 18–0 record, the Wellington Saints made NBL history by becoming the first team to complete a perfect regular season.^[5][6] They went on to post a perfect 20–0 campaign after sweeping the Final Four and collecting their 10th NBL championship in the process.^[7]

Team information

Team	City	Arena	Colours	Head coach	Import	Import
Canterbury Rams	Christchurch	Cowles Stadium		Mark Dickel	Jeremy Kendle	McKenzie Moore
Hawke's Bay Hawks	Napier	Pettigrew Green Arena		Ben Hill	Kareem Johnson	Amir Williams
Nelson Giants	Nelson	Trafalgar Centre		Brendon Bailey	Kyle Adnam	Morgan Grim
Southland Sharks	Invercargill	Stadium Southland		Judd Flavell	Nick Kay	Mitch Norton
Super City Rangers	Auckland	The Trusts Arena		Jeff Green	Nnanna Egwu	Mitch McCarron
Taranaki Mountainairs	New Plymouth	TSB Stadium		Trent Adam	Daniel Gomis	Tylor Ongwae
Wellington Saints	Wellington	TSB Bank Arena		Kevin Braswell	Josh Duinker

Summary

Regular season standings

Pos
	Team	W	L
1	Wellington Saints	18	0
2	Southland Sharks	12	6
3	Super City Rangers	11	7
4	Canterbury Rams	10	8
5	Hawke's Bay Hawks	4	14
6	Nelson Giants	4	14
7	Taranaki Mountainairs	4	14

Final Four

	Semi-finals					Final
	1	Wellington Saints	94
	4	Canterbury Rams	73
							Wellington Saints	108
							Southland Sharks	75
	2	Southland Sharks	106
	3	Super City Rangers	67

Awards

Player of the Week

Round	Player	Team	Ref
1	Marcel Jones	Canterbury Rams	[8]
2	Jeremy Kendle	Canterbury Rams	[9]
3	Corey Webster	Wellington Saints	[10]
4	Corey Webster	Wellington Saints	[10]
5	Corey Webster	Wellington Saints	[11]
6	Leon Henry	Wellington Saints	[12]
7	Marcel Jones	Canterbury Rams	[13]
8	Corey Webster	Wellington Saints	[14]
9	Nick Kay	Southland Sharks	[15]
10	McKenzie Moore	Canterbury Rams	[16]
11	McKenzie Moore	Canterbury Rams	[17]
12	Tai Wesley	Wellington Saints	[18]
13	Jeremy Kendle	Canterbury Rams	[12]

Statistics leaders

Stats as of the end of the regular season^[19]

Category	Player	Team	Stat
Points per game	Corey Webster	Wellington Saints	26.0
Rebounds per game	Amir Williams	Hawke's Bay Hawks	10.2
Assists per game	Jarrod Kenny	Hawke's Bay Hawks	7.5
Steals per game	Dillon Boucher	Super City Rangers	2.4
Blocks per game	Amir Williams	Hawke's Bay Hawks	1.7

Regular season

• Most Valuable Player: Corey Webster (Wellington Saints)^[20]
• NZ Most Valuable Player: Corey Webster (Wellington Saints)
• Most Outstanding Guard: Corey Webster (Wellington Saints)
• Most Outstanding NZ Guard: Corey Webster (Wellington Saints)
• Most Outstanding Forward: Tai Wesley (Wellington Saints)
• Most Outstanding NZ Forward/Centre: Marcel Jones (Canterbury Rams)
• Scoring Champion: Corey Webster (Wellington Saints)
• Rebounding Champion: Amir Williams (Hawke's Bay Hawks)
• Assist Champion: Jarrod Kenny (Hawke's Bay Hawks)
• Coach of the Year: Kevin Braswell (Wellington Saints)
• All-Star Five:
  • G: Shea Ili (Wellington Saints)
  • G: Corey Webster (Wellington Saints)
  • F: Mitch McCarron (Super City Rangers)
  • F: Marcel Jones (Canterbury Rams)
  • C: Tai Wesley (Wellington Saints)

Final Four

• Finals MVP: Shea Ili (Wellington Saints)^[20]