{"id":902291,"date":"2026-09-23T08:14:27","date_gmt":"2026-09-23T08:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/902291\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T08:14:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T08:14:27","slug":"nbl-2026-27-dash-daniels-crossed-from-melbourne-united-to-south-east-melbourne-phoenix-now-its-time-to-make-his-mark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/902291\/","title":{"rendered":"NBL 2026-27: Dash Daniels crossed from Melbourne United to South East Melbourne Phoenix, now it\u2019s time to make his mark"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jon<\/p>\n

September 23, 2026 \u2014 4:00pm<\/p>\n

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For a basketballer still at the tender age of 18, Dash Daniels has had to deal with a harsher public and social-media gaze than many players with bigger resumes.<\/p>\n

In part, that\u2019s because his father Ricky is a Bendigo Braves basketball legend, he is the sibling of NBA and Boomers star Dyson Daniels and also because of his own stated ambition to join his brother in the world\u2019s best basketball league.<\/p>\n

\"SouthSouth East Melbourne star Dash Daniels is ready to face his former team Melbourne United on Thursday night.Eddie Jim<\/p>\n

His decision to leave Melbourne United this year after only one season<\/a> to join fierce cross-town rivals South East Melbourne Phoenix added to the headlines. Daniels \u2013 part of the NBL\u2019s Next Star program \u2013 decided to seize greater opportunities after a tough rookie season where his minutes were spotty.<\/p>\n

But as the star guard prepares for Thursday night\u2019s Throwdown against United at John Cain Arena, he told this masthead he had learnt to narrow his focus.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see it all. I\u2019m on social media all the time, but, you know, it kind of just goes over my head,\u201d Daniels said, referring to the public feedback.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve learned a lot from last season as well. So obviously, you can\u2019t get too high, you can\u2019t get too low, and you just pump yourself up … right now, it\u2019s positive, but you know, next game I could have a bad game, and it could be negative [feedback].<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, you just got to be able to stay grounded and look forward to the next game and keep improving.\u201d<\/p>\n

An off-season working with renowned NBA shooting coach Wes Matthews in Atlanta has improved his stroke, as became evident through the pre-season Blitz in his home town of Bendigo, and in the opening two games of the season proper.<\/p>\n

Daniels poured in a career-high of 24 points on 9\/13 shooting (2\/4 from three) and 12 rebounds in 28:35 minutes in the Phoenix\u2019s 100-79 opening-game win against the Perth Wildcats at RAC Arena, and backed up with 11 points on 5\/8 shooting (1\/2 from three) in a five-point loss to the Jack Jumpers in Hobart on Monday night.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Australian<\/a><\/p>\n

Now comes another significant test against United, still stinging after their opening-night loss to the Adelaide 36ers. And the juices are already flowing.<\/p>\n

In a warm-up game between the two clubs at the State Basketball Centre, sidelined United import Cole Anthony chirped at Daniels \u201chell no\u201d when Daniels was shooting from deep. Daniels missed four of his first five three-point attempts, but nailed a pair in the final quarter as the Phoenix rallied to win.<\/p>\n

Daniels revealed he didn\u2019t know who was trash-talking him until after the game, but expects more to come on Thursday, from Anthony and Boomers great Joe Ingles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard someone talking s— but \u2026 I didn\u2019t know who was to be honest,\u201d Daniels said.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, a couple of guys were getting stuck into me a little bit, but it\u2019s all just fun and games. So, it\u2019s gonna be good to get out there, talk some s— myself. [I\u2019m] looking forward to it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ReadyReady to chirp: Melbourne United star Joe Ingles enjoys a chat on court with opponents. Daniel Pockett<\/p>\n

Daniels said former sharpshooter Matthews had focused on three key areas of his shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cMainly just the rhythm, and you know, trying to keep it [the ball] more to one side, so not coming too far to my left,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cKind of keep my base more strong and not twisting my hips when I shoot. Just rhythm and my base.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daniels\u2019 body is also stronger, his renowned defensive mentality clear to see. And an emerging play-making ability at the point or shooting guard has also been evident, and that\u2019s not just involving becoming a consistent shooter from deep and off the dribble.<\/p>\n

In the Phoenix\u2019s first three scores on Monday night, Daniels splashed a three, worked a two-man game with Jordan Hunter, a floating pass allowing the centre to roll to the hoop and score, before Daniels wrong-footed an opponent with his dribble and was fouled finishing strong at the hoop.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is just a different person,\u201d NBL great Lanard Copeland noted in the ESPN commentary, comparing Daniels from last year to this.<\/p>\n

Daniels\u2019 manager Daniel Moldovan, president of Lighthouse Sports Management, said his client \u201cdid all the work in the off season\u201d.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Here\u2019s<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can now see the real Dash, and I expect him to continue to get better every month,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Coach Josh King wants Daniels to be a \u201cmenace\u201d at the defensive end, and he will be just that, particularly if he gets to match up on Anthony or Ingles.<\/p>\n

Daniels opted out of this year\u2019s NBA draft when it became clear he needed to do more work on his game. But a group of up to eight NBA club scouts at the Blitz saw the progress he\u2019d made, and why he is currently inside the top 40 prospects \u2013 and shortening \u2013 for next year\u2019s draft.<\/p>\n

However, Daniels said he had learnt from his season with United not to predict the future, and not to get distracted by the mock NBA draft boards.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve realised that every game\u2019s a new game. You\u2019ve got to go out there, perform to your best, and the rest will take care of itself,\u201d Daniels said.<\/p>\n

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"JonJon Pierik<\/a> is a sports journalist at The Age. He covers AFL and has won awards for his cricket and basketball writing.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"September 23, 2026 \u2014 4:00pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":902292,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-902291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902291","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=902291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/902291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/902292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=902291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=902291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=902291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}