Brett Steven Maher (born 17 April 1973) is an Australian retired professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player. He played his entire seventeen-year career for his hometown

Adelaide 36ers The Adelaide 36ers, also known as the Sixers, are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL). The 36ers are the only team in the league representing the state of South Australia and are based in th ...

in the National Basketball League (NBL) from 1992 to 2009. Maher also represented

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

at the 1996,

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and 2004

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

, as well as at the 1998 FIBA World Championship. Maher gained his highest international basketball honour when he captained the Boomers at the

2001 Goodwill Games The 2001 Goodwill Games was the fifth and final edition of the international multi-sport event. The competition was held in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia from 29 August to 9 September 2001. A total around 1300 athletes took part in 14 sportin ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Professional career

Born in

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...

, Maher was spotted playing for the Sturt Sabres in the

Australian Basketball Association The Australian Basketball Association (ABA) was a semi-professional basketball entity based in Australia. The ABA was Australia's biggest basketball competition for many years. With over 120 teams participating across five leagues and six states ...

where his outstanding form saw him earn a contract with the Adelaide 36ers. He took up an

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

scholarship between 1989 and 1991. Maher played 526 games for the 36ers between 1992 and 2009, averaging 16.9 points, 4.2 assists and 4.3 rebounds per game. By

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

, Maher was regarded as one of the NBL's best guards and the 36ers would make its first Grand Final in eight years. Unfortunately for Maher and the 36ers they were defeated 2–0 in the Grand Final series by the North Melbourne Giants. He averaged 16.5 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists over the series while averaging 13.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 3.1 assists over the season. Brett Maher took over from

Mark Davis Mark Davis may refer to: Entertainers *Mark Davis (talk show host), American radio talk show host * Mark Jonathan Davis (born 1965), American actor/singer and creator of Richard Cheese *Mark Davis, American bassist and founding member for the band ...

as captain of the 36ers at the start of the

1997 NBL season The 1997 NBL season was the 19th season of competition since its establishment in 1979. A total of 11 teams contest the league. The Hobart Devils, Geelong Supercats and Gold Coast Rollers did not return this season. Regular season The 1997 re ...

. Maher played an integral role in three of the four

NBL championships (1998, 1998–99 and 2001–02) and has also been the 36ers club MVP on six occasions. He was selected in 4 NBL All-Star Games (1996, 1997,

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

) and he has been named in the All-NBL First Team in 2000 and 2003, All-NBL Second Team in 1997, 1998 and All-NBL Third Team in 1999, 2002. He also won the Larry Sengstock Medal for being the Grand Final MVP in 1999 and 2002. Maher is one of only two players to ever win the NBL Grand Final MVP twice, the other being

Ricky Grace Ricky Ray Grace (born August 20, 1966) is an American-Australian former professional basketball player who spent the majority of his career in the Australian National Basketball League with the Perth Wildcats. Playing career Ricky "Amazing ...

of the

Perth Wildcats The Perth Wildcats are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Wildcats compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at RAC Arena, known colloquially as "The Jungle". Afte ...

who won the award in 1990 and 1993. On 7 February 2009 in front of a sellout crowd in excess of 8,000, the main court of The Dome was renamed The Brett Maher Court in honor of Maher who was playing his last home game before retiring from the NBL at the end of the 2008-09 season. The court that now bears his name is the only home court that Maher ever played on during his NBL career as the 36ers had moved to the then named Clipsal Powerhouse from their former home at the

Apollo Stadium Apollo Stadium (officially called the Apollo Entertainment Centre) was a multi-purpose indoor arena located at 41 Kingston Avenue, Richmond, South Australia, just 5 minutes from the Adelaide city centre. The stadium had an original seating capac ...

the same year that Maher started with the club. Maher has also been honored as one of only four players to have their number retired by the Adelaide 36ers. Brett Maher retired as the Adelaide 36ers all-time leader in: games played (525), points (8,941), field goals (3,140), field goals attempted (7,072), three points made (1,162), three-point attempts (2,835), assists (2,267) and steals (703). He is one of only four players to have won 3 or more NBL championships with the 36ers alongside Mark Davis,

Paul Rees Paul Rees (born 20 April 1986) is a British racing driver. Rees is currently competing in the 2016 Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup. He has previously competed in the FIA Formula Two Championship The FIA Formula 2 Championship is a second-tier s ...

and Rupert Sapwell, and one of only two 36ers championship winning captains along with American import Bill Jones who captained the club to its first title in

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

International career

During his career Maher also won selection for the

Australian Boomers The Australian men's national basketball team, known as the Boomers after the slang term for a male kangaroo, represents Australia in international basketball competition. Since the late 1980s, Australia has been placed among the world elite t ...

at the 1998 FIBA World Championship where the team finished in 9th place. He also represented Australia at the 1996,

and 2004

helping the Boomers to 4th in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and 9th place in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. In all, Maher played over 100 games for the Boomers and had the honor of captaining his country at the

Media work

Since retiring, Maher also co-hosted an Internet Television show on

Australia Live TV Australia Live TV is an Australia-based online television network run from Chapel Lane Studios in Hindmarsh, South Australia, Adelaide The company started with one sports Internet television show ''KG and the General'' but now hosts several shows ...

about basketball with former 36ers championship winning teammate Kevin Brooks called Inside the Game. He also served as the expert local analyst for 36ers home games televised on One HD and

Network Ten Network 10 (commonly known as Ten Network, Channel 10 or simply 10) is an Australian commercial television network owned by Ten Network Holdings, a division of the Paramount Networks UK & Australia subsidiary of Paramount Global. One of five ...

. Maher was named as the Adelaide 36ers Community Services Manager before the start of the 2013–14 NBL season.

NBL career stats

, - , style="text-align:left",

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 23 , , 0 , , 25.6 , , .364 , , .130 , , .750 , , 3.7 , , 3.1 , , 1.1 , , 0.2 , , 6.3 , - , style="text-align:left", 1993 , style="text-align:left;",

, 26 , , 0 , , 22.6 , , .419 , , .400 , , .789 , , 3.0 , , 2.7 , , 0.8 , , 0.2 , , 8.3 , - , style="text-align:left",

, style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 32 , , 33.7 , , .462 , , .467 , , .833 , , 4.4 , , 3.1 , , 1.7 , , 0.1 , , 13.3 , - , style="text-align:left",

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 37.2 , , .419 , , .384 , , .891 , , 4.9 , , 3.7 , , 2.2 , , 0.2 , , 14.1 , - , style="text-align:left", 1996 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 36.2 , , .434 , , .411 , , .913 , , 4.1 , , 3.0 , , 1.9 , , 0.1 , , 15.5 , - , style="text-align:left",

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 30 , , 42.9 , , .467 , , .465 , , .798 , , 4.2 , , 5.0 , , 1.9 , , 0.1 , , 18.8 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;", 1998† , style="text-align:left;",

, 34 , , 34 , , 36.7 , , .450 , , .403 , , .845 , , 4.8 , , 3.7 , , 1.3 , , 0.1 , , 17.8 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;", 1998–99† , style="text-align:left;",

, 32 , , 32 , , 40.0 , , .445 , , .386 , , .798 , , 4.3 , , 2.8 , , 1.7 , , 0.1 , , 19.2 , - , style="text-align:left", 1999–2000 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 41.0 , , .445 , , .432 , , .857 , , 4.3 , , 2.9 , , 0.8 , , 0.2 , , 20.2 , - , style="text-align:left", 2000–01 , style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 33 , , 39.8 , , .473 , , .436 , , .899 , , 5.0 , , 4.5 , , 1.2 , , 0.2 , , 20.9 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;", 2001–02† , style="text-align:left;",

, 38 , , 38 , , 42.1 , , .463 , , .423 , , .873 , , 5.7 , , 4.8 , , 1.4 , , 0.1 , , 21.9 , - , style="text-align:left", 2002–03 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 43.4 , , .439 , , .399 , , .866 , , 3.9 , , 5.1 , , 1.2 , , 0.0 , , 21.7 , - , style="text-align:left", 2003–04 , style="text-align:left;",

, 24 , , 24 , , 35.4 , , .435 , , .414 , , .854 , , 3.2 , , 4.5 , , 1.4 , , 0.1 , , 17.5 , - , style="text-align:left", 2004–05 , style="text-align:left;",

, 27 , , 27 , , 41.2 , , .419 , , .373 , , .822 , , 4.3 , , 7.0 , , 1.2 , , 0.1 , , 19.2 , - , style="text-align:left", 2005–06 , style="text-align:left;",

, 29 , , 29 , , 40.0 , , .428 , , .379 , , .861 , , 5.0 , , 6.8 , , 1.5 , , 0.0 , , 18.6 , - , style="text-align:left", 2006–07 , style="text-align:left;",

, 27 , , 27 , , 39.3 , , .451 , , .396 , , .912 , , 4.8 , , 6.6 , , 1.0 , , 0.1 , , 18.9 , - , style="text-align:left", 2007–08 , style="text-align:left;",

, 18 , , 18 , , 34.7 , , .472 , , .411 , , .822 , , 4.3 , , 4.2 , , 0.8 , , 0.1 , , 16.6 , - , style="text-align:left", 2008–09 , style="text-align:left;",

, 27 , , 27 , , 28.2 , , .429 , , .403 , , .807 , , 3.0 , , 3.4 , , 0.6 , , 0.2 , , 12.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" , Career , 525 , , 475 , , 37.0 , , .444 , , .410 , , .850 , , 4.4 , , 4.3 , , 1.3 , , 0.1 , , 17.0

References

External links

EntertainOZ profileHudson Maher WebsiteBrett Maher ProfileInside the Game
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maher, Brett 1973 births Living people Adelaide 36ers players Australian men's basketball players Australian Institute of Sport basketball players Basketball announcers Basketball players at the 1996 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic basketball players of Australia Point guards Shooting guards Basketball players from Adelaide 1998 FIBA World Championship players Competitors at the 2001 Goodwill Games