Bertram grateful to be living the dream with Mandurah

Lachlan Bertram almost played hero on Sunday on the back of the best basketball of his NBL1 West career including a memorable win against his old team with his move to Mandurah Magic allowing him to live his dream of showing his potential.

Bertram spent his basketball life at the Perth Redbacks up until the end of last year and while he did play 47 games after making his then SBL debut back in 2019, he never quite had the role on the team he dreamed of.

He had offered a glimpse of what he was capable of with a 19-point performance against the Warwick Senators back in 2021 and his Championship Men's form highlighted him as a prolific scorer, but he was after a chance to show what he could do in the NBL1.

By the end of 2023, Bertram was at a point where it might have been time to move on from that NBL1 dream, but then fate came together to see him join the Mandurah Magic and now he is in the form of his life.

Bertram has settled right into a key role with the Magic and is averaging 15.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists over the opening five games, and he's coming up huge.

Going back Round 2 and he had the highlight of his career when part of a winning Magic team back on his old Belmont Oasis floor against the Redbacks where he put up a career-high 22 points.

The following Friday he equalled that with a big win over the Lakeside Lightning and then on Sunday he looked like he could have hit the game winner with eight seconds to go against the Geraldton Buccaneers.

Career highlight beating old team

While the Redbacks will always have a significant piece of Bertram's heart given how long he spent there since before he was even a teenager, last Friday's win for the Magic against them is his NBL1 career highlight to date.

For Mandurah to not only score the 99-96 against Bertram's old team, but for him to come up huge late and finishing with 22 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two steals will be hard to top as a career highlight.

"That's probably the best feeling I've ever had in basketball, even more than the shot on Sunday," Bertram said.

"It's going back to play against the team I'd played for since under 12s and I had moved on to get a bigger opportunity that wasn’t offered at Redbacks. They did take me back after a year off which I'll always be thankful for, but I just felt like I needed more and Mandurah gave me that opportunity.

"To then go back to that old court and get that win, words can't really describe it, I was through the roof to not only take the win, but having a great game as well. Being impactful in that win was the best feeling I've ever had in my career."

Bit of a point to prove

While Bertram has no ill-feeling towards the Redbacks nor any of his former teammates or coaches there, he did find himself with a point to prove heading back to Belmont to take them on just because he wanted to show what he was capable of.

To not only be part of a Magic team that beat the Redbacks, but to play such a pivotal role in that was everything he hoped for and more.

"I think that every game that I play right now I've got a point to prove, and you can always take small meanings out of big games," he said.

"I think that one obviously had a lot more meaning to it for me and it was a bit of a way of me showing what I could have been doing at Redbacks.

"At the same time, I have nothing but respect for Redbacks and the coaches and players there, it wasn’t anything personal. But there's naturally that small rivalry there for me now that made that game even more important for me to come out and perform in and win, which we did."

Thought you hit the game winner against Buccs

Bertram backed up that big occasion with the win against the Redbacks this past weekend by starring in the big win over the Lightning with another 22 points before then he looked like he could have been the hero at home to the defending champion Buccs on Sunday.

He knocked down a massive corner three with eight seconds on the clock to put Mandurah in front, but as Geraldton tends to do, the Buccs found a way to win when Joshua Keyes was fouled attempting a three-pointer.

Bertram did allow himself to think he might have just hit the biggest shot of his life, but he was also fully aware what the Buccaneers are capable of.

"There was a little bit in me thinking that shot might have been it for the game, but there was still eight seconds left on the clock and anything can happen in basketball," Bertram said.

"I was over the moon that I hit the shot and we were up, but obviously Geraldton's a tough team and I've seen them do crazier things to win games.

"It's just unfortunate that that's how it played out and on reflection I do think if we don't foul there than I could have hit the game winner and it would have been the biggest shot I hit ever."

How did joining Mandurah come about

By the end of the 2023 season and Bertram was weighing up his basketball future. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to keep plugging away at the Redbacks and was considering stepping away from NBL1 altogether.

While still only 22 years of age, Bertram was up in the air on what to do with his basketball but when he got a call from Julian Pesava who had just signed at the Magic everything changed.

Immediately Bertram's interest was piqued on making a new start with Mandurah, he then spoke with coach Mark Utley and everything quickly came together and now the rest is history.

"Jules was actually the one that initiated the conversation and asked what I was doing for basketball this year," he said.

"At the time to be honest I wasn’t getting what I wanted out of basketball and wasn’t really enjoying it so I wasn’t sure if I would keep pursuing it. But then Jules hit me up and asked if I wanted to come down to Mandurah with him.

"He put a good word in for me to Utley, then he reached out and next thing you know I'm playing there full-time now. Jules started it, then Utley approached me and we got the ball rolling, and that's the new home."

Thriving under coach Utley

You won't find many more respected men in West Australian basketball than Utley for everything he has done in a lifetime in the game as a player firstly, now as a coach and somebody who just has a great passion for the game and understanding of its history.

Utley is now back in his second season coaching the Magic and is renowned for backing in his players and giving them the opportunities to thrive if he sees them putting in the work and earning the chance.

That's exactly what the case has been with Bertram and he couldn’t be happier with the coach he is now thriving under.

"He has been the difference for me. Again, I have nothing bad to say about Nixy, but the freedom and trust that's been put in me through Utley already is paying dividends," Bertram said.

"I don't have to worry too much about getting dragged if I make a mistake and that's paying off, and the team is seeing the benefits from that too. My job is to just go out there and give it 100 per cent, and when I do we seem to play great basketball.

"When everyone goes out on the court giving 100 per cent, they play great basketball too and Utley is definitely facilitating that for sure. He's a good coach and we're in a good spot at Mandurah right now.'

Fun team to be part of

It has been a tough couple of years for Mandurah but you could see the signs of what Utley was trying to build in his first season back in 2023, and now the signs over the first three weeks have been tremendously exciting to start 2024.

A 2-3 record doesn’t illustrate how impressive and exciting the Magic are looking now with two high-class imports Michael Durr and Joel Murray on deck along with bringing Jarrod Molnar over from the NBL1 North, and then the addition of Pesava as well.

The Magic have also brought in Jermaine Malie and Corey Easley who Utley coached at the Eastern Suns, and Bertram couldn’t be having more fun with the team he's now part of.

"Trainings are fun, the games are fun and I wasn’t really having fun with basketball before coming to Mandurah," he said.

"But now I'm enjoying it and I can trust Jarrod to hit threes and everyone else to do their thing. We've had games where we've taken big leads in the first and second quarter, and that's fun.

"It's fun when you're winning and when everyone's getting their stuff rolling with everyone getting their piece, it's fun.

"No one is arguing, no one is upset that they're not getting enough shots and we're meshing well so absolutely, it's fun and it's exactly how you want to play basketball."

Always had belief of what you could do

Bertram always had the belief that he was capable of playing a key role on an NBL1 team provided he kept improving physically and with his basketball skills and abilities, and was given an opportunity to shine.

That's why he is now so grateful to Utley and Magic for the chance he is being given to show what he can do.

"I think that all it took was getting a chance and I've proven that I've been able to do this in chances I've had before," he said.

"There was a game under CJ against a tough Warwick team and I had 19 points I think it was so given the opportunity, I've always believed that I could do this at a high level.

"Obviously NBL1 was in my mind and I thought I could perform consistently at that level if I put on a bit of size and kept working so I always thought this could be in my bag if I was given the opportunity."

Dealing with the travel to Mandurah

If the only downside of the move to join the Magic is having to travel to and from Mandurah then things aren’t too bad, but for Bertram even that has now become a positive and an enjoyable experience.

"A couple of us who live up in Perth make the commute down together and it's a lot of fun," Bertram said.

"Originally the hardest part about it was going down there and I was worried about falling asleep on the drive and there was only so many podcasts I could listen to during the week.

"But then I found Connor Richards who is coming down too and we always go down together, and we talk or listen to music or put the footy on depending on when it is.

"It's actually made it quite an enjoyable experience so we're enjoying the ride, we go and enjoy training, and then we enjoy coming back.

"It might have started as the downside, but it's grown into quite an enjoyable experience. Other than that, there's nothing that I've found that has irked me or made me upset about Mandurah, it's been a great choice and it's where I'm meant to be."