Martin Peter Cattalini (born 4 October 1973) is a retired Australian 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 who won championships with both 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 ...

and the

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 NBL.

Career

Cattalini began his NBL career for the Wildcats in 1993, where he competed in his first NBL grand final that year but lost to the

Andrew Gaze Andrew Barry Casson Gaze (born 24 July 1965) is an Australian former professional basketball player and coach. He played 22 seasons in the National Basketball League (NBL) with the Melbourne Tigers from 1984 to 2005, winning the league's MVP a ...

and

Mark Bradtke Mark Robert Bradtke (born 27 September 1969) is an Australian retired professional basketball player who played mainly in Australia's National Basketball League, but also had a single stint in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the ...

led

Melbourne Tigers Melbourne United is an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. United compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at John Cain Arena. The team made their debut in the NBL in 1984 as ...

. He won his first NBL championship in 1995 when Perth defeated the defending champion

North Melbourne Giants The North Melbourne Giants, previously known as the Coburg Giants, were an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of ...

. Struggling to find court-time with the Wildcats behind starting forwards

Andrew Vlahov Andrew Mitchell Vlahov (born 1 April 1969) is an Australian retired professional basketball player. He played his entire eleven-year professional career for the Perth Wildcats of the National Basketball League (NBL), with whom he won three cha ...

(the team captain and an

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 ...

mainstay), Scott Fisher and centre James Crawford, Cattalini left the Wildcats to join the Adelaide 36ers in 1996. Cattalini was instrumental in this Adelaide side, achieving back to back NBL championships in 1998 and 1998–99. Under the coaching of Australian basketball legend

Phil Smyth Philip John Smyth AM (born 11 May 1958) is an Australian former professional basketball player and coach. He won three National Basketball League (NBL) championships with the Canberra Cannons before going on to be a three-time championship-wi ...

, Cattalini's game blossomed with Adelaide from 1998 and he averaged over 10 points per game (15.8) for the first time in his career. In the 1998 off season he would work on his mid range jumper with former Adelaide sharp shooter Jason 'Mid Strength' Scarff. He would dip slightly to 14.9 in 1998–99. During his championship years with the 36ers, 'Cat' played alongside others such as Brett Maher,

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 ...

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, Scott Ninnis, Rupert Sapwell,

David Stiff David Stiff (born 20 October 1984 in Dewsbury) is an English cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm fast bowler. He went to school at Silcoates School, Wakefield but later moved to Batley Grammar School. The former-Yorkshire ...

and former

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

players

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and Kevin Brooks. In the 1999–2000 season, although Adelaide lost in the Semi-finals to the

Victoria Titans The Victoria Titans (known in its final two seasons as the Victoria Giants), were an Australian professional basketball team that competed in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL). The club was based in Me ...

, Cattalini achieved a then career high 20.3 points per game. In 2001, Cattalini left the 36ers to compete in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

initially for Deportivo Baloncesto Sevilla and then Caja San Fernando Sevilla in 2002. Cattalini returned to the 36ers in 2003 for two more seasons, before once again heading to Spain to play for DKV Joventut in 2004/2005. Cattalini returned to Australia in 2006 and was rumoured to be in talks with multiple NBL clubs, including his two former teams, before signing with the

Cairns Taipans The Cairns Taipans are an Australian professional basketball team based in Cairns, Queensland. The Taipans compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Cairns Conventio ...

. The 2007 season saw Cattalini average a career high 24.4 points per game and he was instrumental in numerous victories for the Taipans. In June 2009, it was announced that Cattalini would return to Perth, and again play for the Perth Wildcats. After a stellar NBL career in which he won 4 championships, Cattalini retired after playing in the Wildcats 2009–10 NBL championship having played 453 NBL games.Cattalini bids farewell as Lisch delights at promised land
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International career

After averaging a then career high 20.3 points for the 36ers in the 1999–2000 NBL season, Cattalini made his

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

debut for the Australian Boomers at the

2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

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 ...

, helping the team to 4th place. He was also part of the Boomers squad for the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

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 ...

, though the team fell to 9th place.

Personal life

Martin Cattalini is married to Trina and has two children, Zoe and Noah.

Honour roll

NBL career stats

References

External links

Profile
at Eurobasket.com
Spanish League profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cattalini, Martin 1973 births Living people Adelaide 36ers players Australian men's basketball players Australian expatriate basketball people in Spain Australian people of Italian descent Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Cairns Taipans players Real Betis Baloncesto players Joventut Badalona players Liga ACB players Olympic basketball players of Australia Sportspeople from Fremantle Perth Wildcats players Forwards (basketball)