How Hamilton has sparked revamped JackJumpers

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There’s only two Bryces who have played in NBL history.

And the newest Bryce could be just as impactful as Adelaide's star recruit in Bryce Cotton.

Bryce Hamilton, having last played for Rostock in Germany, has gotten his season off to a flier, leading the Tasmania JackJumpers to three consecutive wins on the road after a narrow loss to Melbourne United in their home opener.

With three 20-point games in four appearances, Hamilton is sitting fifth in the league in points per game at 20.3, only trailing five-time MVP Cotton, former NBA big man JaVale McGee, Kings point guard Kendric Davis and Bullets star Casey Prather. His only disappointment so far was a 10-point effort against the Bullets in Round 3.

His form would be welcomed by JackJumpers head coach Scott Roth, given the team's 13-16 record in NBL25 which had them miss the playoffs on percentage.

What has made his performances so far in NBL26 more impressive is that for the first 50 points he scored across his first two matches, Hamilton didn’t attempt a free throw.

How has Hamilton scored the ball with such ease and efficiency? Let’s break down his strong opening to the year.

Despite his short stay in JackJumper colours, Hamilton has shown some strong chemistry with his teammates. He has worked well with Will Magnay in the high pick and roll to open up opportunities for the short runner with the left hand.

Oppositions have struggled containing Hamilton thus far with the Magnay screen constantly having defenders on his back, and with the opposition big applying drop coverage to defend the lay-up, his ability with the floater throws a spanner in the works for opposition defences.

On this example, he has Tanner Krebs on his back shoulder initially but uses Magnay as a hub to work himself into the middle to favour that left hand and get closer to the basket.

Hamilton gestures as if he’s going to go right, with Magnay rolling and Jesse Edwards fractionally retreating. The Tasmania import wrong-foots Krebs, slicing across him with another hesitation move and weaving between two. With the euro step, Hamilton has garnered enough separation to score over 6'11" Edwards – a demonstration of his quick, shifty movements which will prove a nightmare for defences to deal with in NBL26.

Roth’s play-calling has allowed Hamilton to mix up the look of these baskets.

Instead of starting with the ball, he receives it from a DHO (dribble hand-off) off a screen from the corner, allowing him to gain necessary separation – where he can draw the defender on the back shoulder into a foul, get one of his go-to shots up from within 5-10ft of the basket or feed the big.

There were several similar attempts to get Hamilton the ball in this manner with the JackJumpers chasing the lead late against Melbourne, including this example as multiple screens were set off the ball to free Hamilton up.

However, a misfortune in timing as Bannan turns to favour the weak side, only for Johnson to make himself unavailable means Hamilton isn’t used until later.

As Magnay sits on the perimeter, Delany can press up on Hamilton as Krslovic rotates across to cover Bannan on the roll, forcing Hamilton wider and ultimately he settles for a three-point attempt. As much as Roth would be happy with him attempting a three over a smaller defender, it’s probably not the shot the JackJumpers would’ve wanted given the situation and the play call.

For the next couple of minutes, to Melbourne’s testament, Hamilton has minimal bearing on Tasmania’s offensive output and the Jackjumpers stall – a challenge which has evident at times and could present throughout the season, especially with David Johnson sidelined through injury. Although injury replacement TJ Starks seems to have filled that role perfectly.

To keep defences on their toes, Hamilton has at stages rejected the high pick which usually frees up the floater, working to his advantage. Here, Pepper gets caught in the screen and Hamilton easily bypasses him to access an open lane.

Given the spacing of Ben Ayre, Nick Marshall, and Majok Deng, Hamilton can easily take it downhill without a challenge – capping-off a dynamic third quarter against Perth where he’d score 11 of his 26 points.

Against Melbourne, Hamilton tried to feed the roller but many of these opportunities fell through and were deflected, perhaps a case of him forcing the issue over continuing with what worked.

To his credit, Hamilton led his team in assists against Perth without a turnover, a quality response.

In this match, Hamilton showed a new level of aggressiveness in the second half, putting the head down on numerous occasions and scoring the ball, even without using a screen and demonstrated his craftiness and how refined that left-hand floater game truly is.

It’s this pace and aggressiveness he possesses which allowed him to turn the corner and force Perth’s defence to collapse, where this ability to facilitate shone through.

It’s a regulation lob to Deng at a crucial stage of the game, which is created due to his offensive talent.

Even for the fairly high usage Hamilton has had so far in NBL26, he’s shown responsibility when running the offence – most notably shown against Illawarra where Illawarra head coach Justin Tatum threw multiple double teams at Hamilton. He’s had a few moments demonstrating a lack of awareness, shown by a shocking inbounds pass which led to a United and-one, but this has been outweighed by his ability to facilitate with varying amounts of pressure.

For example, this is a great bit of vision which allows for seamless execution created by Nick Marshall’s backcut and Bannan’s spacing keeping Dolittle away from the restricted area.

With fellow JackJumpers import Johnson showcasing his range with six threes over the first two contests, Tasmania will be potent in transition if he and Hamilton can feed off each others presence. Hamilton uses his breakneck speed with Johnson as a trailer. Johnson’s injury comes as a real shame, given there was promise with that combination through the first two games.

On this example, after Milton Doyle overcommits on a rebound, Tasmania have an extra man on the left side of the floor (Ayre and Hamilton vs Walker). Bannan pushing into the paint creates several mismatches on the floor, exposing Krslovic and Bowen against the more agile Johnson.

Hamilton drives baseline and gets by Doyle but is met by Bowen but he forces a rotation, exposing a mismatch as United prioritise their interior defence.

Hamilton finds Johnson wide open, who doesn’t convert, but there are several occasions of this partnership working wonders over their first two games.

An extension of Hamilton’s floater game is his pull-up game in the mid-range. Hamilton has not been shy trying his luck in this area with a mixed bag of results but, as mentioned earlier, with Magnay effectively applying screens and the new import knowing how to create separation with the help of a step-back, he has been executing the pull up pop and taking what defences give him, as seen on this example.

With Hamilton demonstrating his craft and strength in the half court, it remains no surprise he has been devastating in transition, using a variety of moves as he shifts defenders and exploits unset defences.

In this example against Melbourne, Hamilton pushes the pace and with the length of Edwards absent, as Magnay draws Delany away from the paint having set the high screen, Hamilton leads United into a false sense of security that they’ve got his left hand covered.

Hamilton crosses over quickly from left-to-right, which he favours, and with Tyson Walker gambling on a steal, Hamilton has an easy runway to the hoop.

A massive plus in the big picture is that with the perimeter threat of David Johnson complementing Hamilton nicely, fellow recruit Tyger Campbell will relish the spacing they provide. With Johnson in the corner, and Hamilton cutting backdoor, later sitting alongside Johnson on the far side, Campbell can attack Dolittle as Magnay rolls.

While Dolittle may need help defensively, they run the risk of Tasmania’s offensive weapons being left open in committing to that help. Perth ultimately pay the price, allowing Campbell to score given they can’t cover all bases.

In a game which didn’t scream offence, Perth’s 12-point lead early against Tasmania was sizeable. Enter Bryce Hamilton and a summation of his season so far.

First, starting from the baseline, he’d get screens set on multiple occasions under the basket to receive above the key. From here, he’d use high screens near the logo, on one occasion executing a pull-up pop over Jo Lual Acuil in the mid-range.

Then, Hamilton would turn defence to offence.

After forcing a knock-away, Hamilton would take the ball the length of the floor and attack an open keyway. Hamilton’s potent left-right crossover draws the help of Windler and Johnson, who was ahead of the pack from the start, has all the space he needs to knock down a three. A very near regurgitation of this occurs only a few minutes later, only with Johnson failing to score.

A couple minutes later, Hamilton’s defensive work leads to a similar opportunity in the paint with less congestion, using a stutter step, and the off-arm to get the defender off balance and create the separation for a wide open lay-up.  

Just like that, the JackJumpers have executed a 14-3 run, doubling their point tally quickly, and Hamilton’s offensive prowess and variety had a massive part to play in allowing the team’s rejuvenation offensively.

Then in the dying minutes against Perth, Hamilton scores seven of Tasmania’s final eight points. First, he rises over Lual-Acuil to hit a three, making it a two possession game. After, using sheer force to clear a lane for a finger roll in transition a possession later, he seals the win for Tasmania with some strong ball security after Ben Henshall presses, given Perth’s deficit.

In holding onto the ball, Hamilton can attack the middle and scores over Lual-Acuil.

With David Johnson the only other JackJumper averaging double-figures, now out, and NBL25 offensive duo Milton Doyle and Jordon Crawford departing, this is what will be required of Hamilton as he gets handed the keys to a new-look JackJumpers offence that was last in points for and offensive rating last season.