Ben Pepper (born 15 July 1975) is an Australian former 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 (appro ...

player who played twelve seasons in the National Basketball League (NBL).

Early life

Pepper was born and raised in

Geraldton Geraldton (Wajarri language, Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu language, Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West (Western Australia), Mid West region of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth. As of the , Geraldt ...

, Western Australia.

Professional career

Pepper began his pro career in the NBL with the

Newcastle Falcons Newcastle Falcons is a rugby union team that play in Premiership Rugby, England's highest division of rugby union. The club was established in 1877 as the Gosforth Football Club. Around 1882 the club merged with the Northumberland Football Cl ...

in the 1996 NBL season. After an impressive debut season he would go on to win the NBL's Most Improved Player and the NBL's Sixth Man of the Year awards in 1997. Pepper then decided to try his luck with the

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

and entered into the

1997 NBA draft The 1997 NBA draft took place on June 25, 1997, at Charlotte Coliseum in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Vancouver Grizzlies had the highest probability to win the NBA draft lottery, but since they were an expansion team along with the Toronto R ...

. He was selected by the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

with the 56th overall pick, one of four Australians drafted that year. Pepper was one of three 7-foot-tall Australian centres selected in the 1997 draft, the others being

Chris Anstey Christopher John Anstey (born 1 January 1975) is an Australian former professional basketball player. His career included stints in the National Basketball Association (NBA), Russia and Spain. Anstey was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers i ...

and Paul Rogers. A fourth Australian, C. J. Bruton, was also selected in the draft.From out of nowhere, Jawai is drafted to NBA
/ref> The Celtics never signed Pepper and he came back to the NBL and played for the

North Melbourne Giants The North Melbourne Giants, previously known as the Coburg Giants, were an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital ...

in the 1998 season. After the season the Giants merged with cross-Melbourne rivals the

South East Melbourne Magic The South East Melbourne Magic was an Australian basketball team based in Melbourne. The Magic competed in the National Basketball League (NBL) between 1992 and 1998, and played their home games at Rod Laver Arena. The Magic were established i ...

to become the Victorian Titans where he became one of the most dominant centres in the competition. He narrowly missed out on an NBL championship when the Titans were defeated 2–1 in the 1998–99 NBL grand final series by the

Adelaide 36ers The Adelaide 36ers 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 the state's capital of Adela ...

. Pepper signed with the

Wollongong Hawks The Illawarra Hawks (formerly the Wollongong Hawks and The Hawks) are an Australian professional basketball team based in Wollongong, New South Wales. The Illawarra Hawks compete in the National Basketball League (Australia), National Basketbal ...

for the 2001–02 NBL season and spent two seasons there before switching back to Victoria to play for the

Victoria Giants 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 (NBL). The club was based in Melbourne, Victoria. History The Titans ...

in 2003–04. When the Giants folded after the 2004 season, he was signed up by the

New Zealand Breakers The New Zealand Breakers (also known as the Bank of New Zealand, BNZ Breakers for sponsorship reasons) are a New Zealand professional basketball team based in Auckland. The Breakers are the only non-Australian side currently competing in Austral ...

for the 2004–05 and 2005–06 NBL seasons and was named Breakers MVP for the 2005–06 season. After two seasons in New Zealand, Pepper was signed by the

Townsville Crocodiles The Townsville Crocodiles were an Australian professional men's basketball team based in the North Queensland city of Townsville. They competed in the National Basketball League (NBL) and played their home games at the Townsville Entertain ...

. In his first year with the Crocs he had the fifth-best field goal percentage in the league, shooting at 58.2%. He retired from the NBL after the 2007–08 season. Despite being a dominant player in the NBL for numerous years Ben Pepper rarely played for the Australian Boomers. In 1997, he was a member of the gold medal-winning Australian team at the

FIBA Under-21 World Championship The FIBA Under-21 World Championship was a men's under-21-only basketball competition organized by the International Basketball Federation The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizat ...

held in Melbourne.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pepper, Ben 1975 births Living people Australian men's basketball players Australian expatriate sportspeople in New Zealand Boston Celtics draft picks Centers (basketball) Newcastle Falcons (basketball) players New Zealand Breakers players North Melbourne Giants players Sportsmen from Western Australia Sportspeople from Geraldton Townsville Crocodiles players Victoria Giants players Victoria Titans players Wollongong Hawks players