ANTHONY Fisher is set to be the latest Ballarat Miner signed by National Basketball League club Cairns Taipans.
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He follows in the footsteps of Shaun Bruce, Nathan Sobey, and Ash Constable. Sobey is now preparing for his first season with Adelaide 36ers.
Fisher is expected to sign on as a development player for the upcoming NBL season
Basketball Ballarat announced Fisher’s pending new NBL contract on Monday, with Miners head coach Eric Hayes saying Fisher had put in a lot of time to develop his game so it was great he was being rewarded.
Cairns will be Fisher’s second NBL club. The Ballarat 21-year-old was a development player with Perth Wildcats last season.
Elite teams Miners Program Nick Grylewicz said Fishers provided a perfect example of the pathway that Basketball Ballarat offered to reach the elite level.
“Anthony started his development with the Wildcats Basketball Club and made his way through the Ballarat representative program, making numerous state teams, as well as national teams along the way, before playing with the Miners and then on to Perth and now Cairns,” Grylewicz said.
News of Fisher’s signing comes as the Taipans, which were runners-up in the NBL last season, are preparing to visit Ballarat.
They will play a pre-season practice game against Melbourne United at the Minerdome on Saturday night.
United arrives in the city on Thursday for a training and community camp, while Cairns will arrive on Friday.
Bruce and Constable will be part of the Cairns squad to face United. Melbourne will feature newly signed import Stephan Holt and Australian Boomer Chris Goulding, who played in the Oceania Olympic qualifiers in August.
The NBL game is a launching for a big few weeks for the Ballarat basketball fraternity.
WNBL’s Melbourne Boomers will also have a community visit next week, featuring a practice game against Bendigo Spirit on Saturday, September 19. Bendigo will then back up the next day against another WNBL team in Perth Lynx at the Minerdome.