Roberts has full faith success on horizon for Eagles

Lee Roberts was never going anywhere but the East Perth Eagles for another NBL1 West season not only because of the loyalty the club has shown him and wife Taylor, but because he sees success on the horizon too.

Roberts has had quite the remarkable professional playing career somewhere in the vicinity of at least 700 games since finishing college throughout Europe, South America and first in the SBL, now NBL1 West competition in the city he now calls home, Perth.

This is where he met his now wife Taylor, they have two daughters together and have built a house, so it's where he will call home for the foreseeable future, but he is also more than capable of still being a difference maker on the court.

The 37-year-old joins East Perth for the rest of the 2024 season on the back of another strong campaign in Uruguay for Trouville, and now the 2017 Grand Final MVP who has played 130 of his career games in the league, can't wait to see what this Eagles team is capable of.

Loyalty to East Perth Eagles

Given what Roberts has been able to do all over the world for the past 15 years, fitting in at a new club and joining a new team mid-season is nothing new to him, but it's because of the way he and his family has been embraced that means he is unlikely to play anywhere but at the Eagles in the NBL1 West from now.

This will be the fourth season for Roberts at East Perth and while the results haven’t gone their way for the most part so far, he has felt supported and embraced by the entire club, and has the feeling that something special is building on the court.

That's why when he came home to Perth, it was always going to include playing back at the Eagles and now he can't wait to get back out on the court in the red, blue and white..

"Right now I love Tim and Carl and those guys with everything they are doing at the club, and even though I haven’t been there from the beginning, the last few years have been rather tough," Roberts said.

"It's not hard for me to go to another team and compete for a championship if I wanted to, but what I really look for in a club is the same loyalty that I gave you is reciprocated back, and if you actually care about me and my family.

"These guys have shown nothing but that and hence the reason I've stuck around this whole time and want to keep coming back. It would be far pressed for me to leave now when I think we're capable of doing something this year."

Impressive front court to be part of

Roberts has been looking on so far this season thinking that the Eagles team he would be joining is capable of doing something special this season with the talent they have, and what they have been building.

There have been some frustrating losses especially on the buzzer to the Perth Redbacks and Willetton Tigers so the current 4-4 record could, and perhaps, should be better.

However, the Eagles showed their capabilities last Saturday night by ending the 19-game home winning streak of the Geraldton Buccaneers as they now add in Roberts to a front court already including David Okwera, Sebit Reath and Sharif Watson.

Roberts can't wait to get back out there this Friday night to start his fourth season with the Eagles and he is certainly high on what they can achieve over the next couple of months.

"I've been watching the games online and I get up in the morning in Uruguay and watch Taylor's game which usually has been at about 5am," Roberts said.

"It's really cool to see how the guys have developed. Yes, we've got some new talent coming in, but also have some of the same core guys and just to have that veteran presence in there mixed in with that and the way that Carl has these guys going is impressive.

"I've been to one practice so far since I've been back and it's just clockwork now. I'm really looking forward to getting on the court with these guys, learning how they play and I'm not going out there to be an MVP candidate.

"I'm going out there to win a championship and help this team achieve some goals that they haven’t in a while."

Feeling to come home to the family

This past season of Roberts playing in Uruguay with Trouville was a new experience for him and not necessarily an enjoyable one just because his wife Taylor and their two daughters stayed home in Perth, and didn’t join him.

However, what that does do is make Roberts appreciate getting to come home to them even more and he's sure made the most of seeing them again and spending time with them over the past week since arriving back from South America.

"It is the greatest feeling in the world coming home to the family. Normally we travel together but this was the first year where they didn’t come with me, and it was very, very difficult. I'm just happy to be back here," Roberts said.

"Just seeing how much they've grown up is what makes it hard to be away especially the little one and missing out on all their activities, but really it's just being able to give them a hug anytime you want that's the hardest part.

"And of course Taylor too, you miss that companionship and it's tough living through a computer or iPad screen every day. Just to be able to hug and kiss my wife, and the same thing with the girls means everything."

Continuing to play year round

What Roberts has done virtually non-stop for the last 15 years now is continue to play professional basketball all over the world basically all-year round.

The timing of splitting seasons in Australia and then at times Europe but mostly South America has worked out perfectly to do just that, and he would much prefer to stay in shape by keeping on playing rather than taking a break and then needing to do a pre-season.

He also can't think of any better way to make a living than being getting paid to play basketball.

"To be honest with you, the best way to stay in shape is to not get out of shape and to not stop playing," Roberts said.

"It does start to take a toll on the body when you do get older and it's fair to say I am on the latter half of my career, but I'm very blessed to not have had any major injuries throughout my playing career.

"But this is what I'm good at, I'm good at playing basketball and have been doing it for pretty much my whole life and a good portion of it getting paid to do it. I would say you're going to get a little bit better out of me on a basketball court than an office building right now."

Still playing at a high level

While Roberts might not still be that same explosive athlete who first came down under at the Warwick (then Stirling) Senators back in 2011 or the Eastern Suns a year later or who would even be a dominant force as part of the 2017 Redbacks championship team.

However, that doesn’t mean the 37-year-old isn’t still just as effective and that was highlighted in his season just finished in Uruguay where he averaged 16.3 points and 8.0 rebounds while shooting the three ball at 42.4 per cent.

Roberts still feels good physically and continues to find ways to make an impact, and he's confident he can still compete strongly against the younger or more athletic bodies he'll face in the NBL1 West.

"I think that's the best part about this game is that it evolves as you get older, and you figure out different ways to be impactful," he said.

"The best players find themselves to a nice ripe age and fortunately enough I've been able to do some things to change up my game. I used to be much more athletic than I am now, but I do feel like I impact the game and that I can still play at a high level.

"I don't feel like I've lost a step on defence yet, but these kids are getting younger and younger every time I come back. Besides that, I feel like losing some weight has helped me keep up with these young fellas, but as far as how I feel, I definitely feel like I'm still able to make an impact wherever I go."

Finding a good situation in Uruguay

It has been quite the professional career for Roberts all over the world since attending the University of Findlay. He has played in Germany, Japan, Venezuela, Argentina, Israel and Italy, but in recent years he's found the perfect situation that works for him year-round.

Splitting his time between living and playing in Perth, and then playing in Uruguay in between has been the ideal scenario for Roberts and when his family has gone with him especially with the lack of travel required while there.

"There's a cool thing about playing in Uruguay and all the teams are based in Montevideo which is the capital city," Roberts said.

"So there's no travel you have to do and when we happened upon there, I've played for some of the top teams now and it's been a really good fit. I've been in South America a lot throughout my career and I speak Spanish, and it's also been good for my wife and daughters to be there too.

"Our youngest daughter was actually born there, they have a British hospital, an American school and it ended up being a really cool place to be.

"Money-wise, it made the cut for us and life is fine, and Perth will always be home but it's nice to have Uruguay there too. The first day I came to Perth I knew this was going to be where I would live."

Making Perth a long-term home

Having grown up in a military family and moving around a lot, Roberts doesn’t have that natural pull to return home anywhere. That's why he has embraced Perth so much to become the first permanent home of his career.

The first moment he arrived in Perth he knew it was somewhere he could call home, once he met his now wife Taylor then those thoughts were cemented. The fact they have now got two daughters together and have built a home, he can't imagine living anywhere else.

"We built a house a few years ago in Ocean Reef and Taylor's family is here, and my family are in the US but don't really have a permanent home," Roberts said.

"Both my parents were in the military so I moved around my entire life and home in the US is just wherever my parents happen to be, so that's where we go when we visit.

"I don’t have a strong friends base from when I was young to go back to even though there's a couple of guys from high school and college that I keep in touch with.

"But because we moved around so much, I just don’t have that home base to go back to and that's why this is our home. It's not easy being on the other side of the world from my family but we've been like that our whole lives, and they've come out to visit here and this is home."