Sixers reward Gattorna with development player contract

The Adelaide 36ers are delighted to announce the signing of Zac Gattorna as a development player after the West Australian has banged down the door for an opportunity training with the Sixers and playing at the Perth Redbacks.

Gattorna has long been an emerging talent back home in WA where he has represented his state at under-16, 18 and 20 levels while graduating to play impressive SBL and NBL1 West senior basketball at the Perth Redbacks.

He won an SBL championship with the Redbacks back in 2017 and has turned himself into one of the best and most versatile players in the competition that became NBL1 West as of 2021.

The now 22-year-old has been working tirelessly on improving all aspects of his game all-year round whether playing at the Redbacks or then as of the last three years during the NBL season, training in Adelaide with the 36ers.

That started for two years when Joey Wright was coach and continued last year when possible because of the COVID restrictions under Conner Henry, and it got to a point where Gattorna simply was banging down an opportunity at NBL level.

The 6'7 forward returned to Perth to play with the Redbacks this past NBL1 West season and he went on to have the best season of his 96-game career averaging 18.3 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists a game.

It wasn’t just the numbers though. Gattorna turned himself into one of the best and most versatile players in the competition out west, and became a true match-winner for a Redbacks team that ended up reaching the preliminary final.

He was playing in a team alongside former Perth Wildcats and Sydney Kings point guard Joel Wagner, Illawarra Hawks shooting guard Marshall Nelson, Wildcats development player Louis Timms, and Cairns Taipans forward Tevin Jackson.

But what was most impressive about what Gattorna did with the Redbacks was how he made his team better with his presence on the floor. If they needed someone to be aggressive and attack the basket, he was adept at either finishing or drawing a foul going to the rack.

If they needed someone to knock down shots, he could do that. But even more impressively was his ability to bring teammates into the game and to create for them, and to also be a strong defender and rebounder.

With his size and athleticism, and all-round game he has turned himself into a player ready to the next step and it's the Adelaide 36ers who have snapped him up as a development player for the 2021/22 NBL season.

General Manager of Basketball Jeff Van Groningen is delighted the 36ers can offer the contract as a reward for Gattorna's hard work.

"Zac is a young man who has been a constant at our pre-seasons for the past few years," Van Groningen said.

"He is rarely beaten for passion and work ethic and his emerging skill-set is now catching up with his intensity for the game. We welcome Zac to the club."

New Sixers head coach CJ Bruton has been already impressed with what he's discovered about Gattorna and is glad to be adding him officially to the team's roster.

"Gattorna has a very high-level motor, with good size and strength. He has the ability to play multiple positions and can really stretch the floor," Bruton said. 

"His story is unique as is his drive to get better every day. He's always putting in the extra work and doing it at game pace which stands out when he's on the floor."

Prior to this past NBL1 West season where he was such a standout at the Perth Redbacks in their run to be within one game of reaching the Grand Final, Gattorna had nothing but positive things to say about how he was fitting in at the 36ers.

"It was great and definitely what I needed coming from training as much as we could at an SBL level and outside of that, it was just really good to be in a professional environment with no other focus but basketball," Gattorna said. 

"I had all the tools that I needed to succeed and I just tried to take advantage of it all between personal training at the gym, hitting the court and training with Joey Wright as much as I possibly could. 

"I had as many individual sessions with him as I could as well as Kevin Brooks and other experienced guys on the team. It was massive for me."

At the time, Gattorna felt if he kept working hard and developing all areas of his game and physically that the NBL would be within reach and now he's on deck at the Sixers officially.

"It's definitely something that I believe I can reach. It is a matter of how much time and effort you are willing to put in, and then in turn postpone your life in other aspects to commit to chasing that dream," Gattorna said. 

"It does take a massive commitment but I do believe that with this coming season, I've pretty much given myself the goal after I came back from Adelaide in September of putting everything into my season at the Redbacks in an effort to reach the NBL. 

"Because of COVID and everything, it was becoming too difficult financially to stay in Adelaide without the season happening and without any income. So I've said to myself that by committing to this coming season it will really be the deciding factor for me. 

"I've now got all this time until the season starts to build my body which I'm doing now to get stronger until about January. I did earn some money when I first got back from Adelaide to get some more stability and work out a Plan B because obviously COVID caught everyone by surprise so I wanted some security. 

"But just the ability to stay in WA with NBL1 and try to reach that goal by working out on my body until January, and then getting into pre-season training on the court every day pretty much should have me well placed. It's really exciting because I know I'm capable and it's definitely on me about how much effort I put in and manage my time."