Harrell’s unfinished business
Fresh off announcing he would return to the Adelaide 36ers for NBL26, Montrezl Harrell has spoken of his fondness for the city and his unfinished business in the league.
Harrell, who is currently playing in Puerto Rico, fast became a 36ers fan-favourite after initially arriving as an injury replacement last season.
The 201cm power forward averaged 20.5 points per game along with 9.3 rebounds and two assists, going on to be named as part of the All-NBL Second Team.
It was announced on Wednesday that the 31-year-old was returning for NBL26 and he said he was excited to build something with the side's refreshed squad, and to play with new signing Bryce Cotton.
“I'm extremely excited. Man, Bryce is a competitive guy,” Harrell told Adelaide 36ers Media from his accommodation in Puerto Rico, where he is currently playing for Gigantes de Carolina.
“He's a guy that has known this NBL league for a numerous amount of years, he's won (three) championships down here, five MVPs so his resume speaks for (itself).
“Everybody knows who Bryce is and knows what he brings to this basketball game and just the NBL.
“For me to be able to pair up with him, it's going to be something special.”
While they’ll be teammates in Adelaide, in Puerto Rico Harrell and Cotton are rivals, with their teams facing off against each other this week.
Harrell’s first stint in Australia left him hoping for a return – in part because he loved the city and fans in Adelaide, and because he felt last season ended prematurely for the 36ers.
“I want to win the NBL championship,” he said.
“My mindset of going down to the NBL again, man, is to get back (to) a great city, a great club, an organisation man, and to win the NBL championship. That's the point.”
“Adelaide is a great place. It definitely was a great time for me to be there coming back off my injury.
“It made me fall back in love with the game of basketball - the fans there, you know the atmosphere there in general, and you know the things that the club is trying to build in general.
“You felt that throughout the whole organisation. It was just a great place to actually be and start my overseas career.
“And you know, it's actually a tremendous honour to be going back there.”
Sixers General Manager of Basketball Matt Weston had remained in touch with Harrell since the end of the season, as the club worked through what it wanted its roster to look like for NBL26.
Needless to say, it was not a hard sell to get him back to Adelaide.
“It really wasn't (a) hard sell because, I mean, everybody kind of felt the same way around the organisation, as far as how we ended the season last year,” Harrell explained.
“You know, guys felt that we kind of shortchanged ourself, and definitely left a golden opportunity for us to be able to do something special.
“Where I'm at in my life and in my career, it's a little bit different for me… at the end of the day, you know, it's about being somewhere where you want to play and enjoy the game and still make a great living.
“They came and presented with the offer, and I knew it was a place that I actually wanted to go back to.
“When I'm in a place, I'm kind of all in it, you know, and that's what we did in Adelaide and like I said, for us to end the season on how we did it last year, it didn't sit well with me.”
With Harrell and Cotton locked in alongside fellow recruits Isaac White, Flynn Cameron and Michael Harris, the 36ers have just one roster spot remaining.
It’s a vastly different environment to what Harrell walked into on a short-term replacement contract last season, just a week before the opening game.
And he expects it’ll mean 36ers fans will see more of his best basketball.
“When I first came down, there was one of those things where I was only supposed to be there for a short amount of time,” Harrell said.
“It's definitely going to be different this year, because we get to start and build a camaraderie as a team and as a group together from day one so it's going to be, you know, a great time, and it's going to be amazing to see the camaraderie, what we can build because, besides me, DJ (Vasiljevic), Ben (Griscti), Keanu (Rassmussen) and Isaac (Humphries), I think this is a whole complete different, new team.”
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