Original Piece By Ben Hann (The Advocate Newspaper)
Tasmania JackJumpers head coach Scott Roth has announced North-West duo Tre Armstrong and Kye Savage will be offered contracts to join the NBL franchise.
Roth said they will be offering development-player contracts.
"We'll offer a contract, a developmental contract to Tre at some point this week and also Savage and see where they sit and see what their thoughts are," he said. "I know they want to play a little bit longer and see if they can get a roster spot, which is perfectly fine, we'll wait for them and let them make their decisions."
If they accept the offers, Armstrong and Savage will become just the second and third Tasmanian players to be currently competing at Australia's highest level.
"The fact that in the next year, and two and three years there are going to be Tasmanians back in the NBL, is a great benefit," Roth said. "One for the state, but more importantly, to the league, that we're just not having one in Tanner Krebs and that there's going to be multiple guys, either coming back from school or making this jump and see if they can have some success."
Tre's brother Taran Armstrong is still in conversations with the franchise, according to Roth. "I think Taran is going to end up playing in the NBL at some point or another, I don't think he's going to go back to college," he said. "We've gone down the path with him and had conversations with him, he is going to make a decision here pretty soon about considering his future."
At the moment, Tre Armstrong and Savage are aplying their trade at the North West Thunder in the NBL1 South, while Taran is in the US.
Meanwhile, it was also announced that The Tasmania JackJumpers Junior League (TJJJL) will be the new name for the Tasmanian Junior Basketball League (TJBL).
The alignment with the state's NBL franchise is a step in the right direction for continued growth in participation numbers, according to Basketball Tasmania chief executive Ben Smith.
"Over 2000 athletes, across more than 200 teams from 16 associations in all parts of Tasmania will take part in the TJJJL this season," he said. "We're thrilled that the junior league will be aligned with the JackJumpers ... the sport continues to go from strength to strength with a 15 per cent increase in overall participants last year."
The TJJJL will be divided into Northern and Southern conferences with competitions provided for boys and girls from under-12 through to under-18.
Tasmania JackJumpers co-chief executive Christine Finnegan said the announcement will aid the development of basketball in the state.
"The JackJumpers will support Basketball Tasmania to continue to increase participation and interest in basketball and provide opportunities for athletes to develop and aspire to play at the elite level," she said.
"We are well on the way to reaching our strategic goal to make basketball the number one junior participation sport in Tasmania by 2024, with now over 16,000 Tasmanians involved in the sport and continuing to grow."
Following a Grading Tournament over recent weeks, the Northern and Southern Conferences of the TJJJL will tip-off this weekend at court facilities across the state including Kingborough Sports Centre, Burnie Sports Centre and Deloraine Community Conference.
