Yanni Wetzell had an impressive NBL debut for the South East Melbourne Phoenix in Adelaide.
The South East Melbourne Phoenix were resolute in their pursuit of rising Kiwi hoops star Yanni Wetzell for the 2021 Australian NBL season. And we saw exactly why over the opening round. The Breakers may have been twiddling their thumbs inactive over the early skirmishes of the Covid-delayed season (they debut in round 2 on Friday in Adelaide), but that did not stop a Kiwi making one of the big-impact performances of the tipoff round. Aucklander Yanni Wetzell, a highly touted off-season pickup by the Phoenix, produced an outstanding all-round display in the Melbourne side’s double-overtime 116-108 defeat at the Adelaide 36ers that had coach Simon Mitchell joking he had now found his star Kiwi singing’s baseline performance level.