Sean Pero MacPherson Cameron (born 5 June 1974) is a New Zealand

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 ...

coach and former player. A

FIBA Hall of Fame The FIBA Hall of Fame, or FIBA Basketball Hall of Fame, honors players, coaches, teams, referees, and administrators who have greatly contributed to international competitive basketball. It was established by FIBA in 1991. Originally built in ...

member, he captained the New Zealand Tall Blacks from 2000 to 2010, helping lead New Zealand to the semifinal of the 2002 FIBA World Championship, earning an All-Tournament Team selection in the process.

Professional career

New Zealand NBL

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Cameron played for Mobil Marters Northland in the Conference Basketball League (CBL) where he won a championship in 1991. In 1992, Cameron began playing in the New Zealand National Basketball League for the Waikato Warriors. He went on to win 11 championships (the most in New Zealand NBL history – nine as a player, two as a coach), made the league's all-star five seven times, and won the Kiwi MVP award five times. During his career, he played for 11 seasons for the

Waikato The Waikato () is a region of the upper North Island of New Zealand. It covers the Waikato District, Waipā District, Matamata-Piako District, South Waikato District and Hamilton City, as well as Hauraki, Coromandel Peninsula, the nort ...

franchise (played under all three names – Warriors, Titans and Pistons) and seven seasons for the Auckland Rebels.

Australian NBL

Cameron played five seasons in the Australian National Basketball League, two for 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 ...

and three for the

Gold Coast Blaze The Gold Coast Blaze were an Australian men's professional basketball team which competed in the National Basketball League (NBL). The Blaze played five seasons in the NBL between 2007 and 2012, and played their home games at the Gold Coast C ...

. He played for both clubs in their respective inaugural seasons (Breakers in 2003–04 and Blaze in 2007–08). In a total of 130 ANBL games, he averaged 8.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.

Overseas

Cameron played six and a half seasons overseas; one for the Ipoh Red Eagles of Malaysia in 1995–96, four for the Chester Jets of England, one for Banvit of Turkey in 2005–06, and half a season playing for Mahram Tehran of Iran in 2007.

National team career

Cameron was first selected for the Tall Blacks in 1994. In 2000, for the Sydney Olympics, he became co-

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

of the side, and was elevated to sole captain the following year. His most memorable moment as captain of the Tall Blacks came in 2002 when the team stunned the basketball world by making the semi-finals of the 2002 FIBA World Championship, eventually losing to Germany for fourth place. In the tournament, Cameron averaged 14.7 points, 5.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game and became the only non-

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 ...

player to make the All-Tournament Team. He was joined on this team by established NBA superstars

Dirk Nowitzki Dirk Werner Nowitzki (; born June 19, 1978) is a German former professional basketball player who is a special advisor for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Listed at , he is widely regarded as one of the great ...

and

Peja Stojaković Predrag Stojaković ( sr-Cyrl, Предраг Стојаковић, ; born 9 June 1977), known by his nickname Peja (''Peđa'', Пеђа, ), is a Serbian professional basketball executive and former player who was most recently the assistant gener ...

and NBA rookies-to-be

Yao Ming Yao Ming ( zh, c=姚明; born September 12, 1980) is a Chinese basketball executive and former professional player. He played for the Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) and the Houston Rockets of the National Baske ...

and Manu Ginóbili. Cameron retired from international duties having played in two

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The 1896 Summer Olympics, inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, ...

( Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004) and three

FIBA World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. It takes place every four ye ...

s (

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

). In August 2017, Cameron became the first New Zealander to be inducted into the

as a player, with the official ceremony occurring on 30 September 2017 in Switzerland.

Coaching career

Cameron began his

coaching Coaching is a form of development in which an experienced person, called a ''coach'', supports a learner or client in achieving a specific personal or professional goal by providing training and guidance. The learner is sometimes called a ''coa ...

career with the Wellington Saints in

, going on to lead the club to a sixth NBL championship and winning the Coach of the Year award in his first year. He led the Saints to a second consecutive championship in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and subsequently joined the Gold Coast Blaze's coaching staff as an assistant in 2011–12. In June 2011, Cameron was named an assistant coach of the Tall Blacks. After two more seasons as the Saints' head coach, Cameron joined his beloved Waikato Pistons as the team's head coach/player development manager for the 2014 season. However, in November 2014, the Pistons pulled out of the 2015 season due to financial reasons and he subsequently returned to the Saints head coaching position on a one-year deal on 14 January 2015. On 9 December 2015, Cameron joined the Gold Coast Rollers as the men's team head coach for the 2016 Queensland Basketball League season. He continued on as coach of the Rollers in 2017. In December 2019, after eight years of being an assistant, Cameron was appointed head coach of the Tall Blacks. In September 2021, he was reappointed Tall Blacks coach for three years. In October 2021, Cameron signed a one-year deal to be director of basketball for the Taranaki Airs. He also served as the team's assistant coach in

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. In December 2022, Cameron was appointed assistant coach of the

Brisbane Bullets The Brisbane Bullets are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL) based in Brisbane, Queensland. They competed from 1979 to 2008, and returned to the league in 2016. Brisbane were one of ten NBL ...

for the rest of the 2022–23 NBL season. He parted ways with the Bullets following the season. In August 2024, Cameron parted ways with the Tall Blacks after five years as head coach.

Personal life

Cameron's mother, Mata, from the Māori

Ngāpuhi Ngāpuhi (also known as Ngāpuhi-Nui-Tonu or Ngā Puhi) is a Māori iwi associated with the Northland regions of New Zealand centred in the Hokianga, the Bay of Islands, and Whangārei. According to the 2023 New Zealand census, the estimate ...

iwi Iwi () are the largest social units in New Zealand Māori society. In Māori, roughly means or , and is often translated as "tribe". The word is both singular and plural in the Māori language, and is typically pluralised as such in English. ...

, is an ex-New Zealand representative and a long-time coach of New Zealand age groups. His father is Scottish. His sister, Jody, is a former Tall Fern, and represented New Zealand at the Olympic Games in Athens 2004. His brother, Ray, is a former Waikato Titans/Pistons player. His other sisters, Jeannie and Zeta, also played basketball at a high level. Cameron and his wife Jennelle have three children. His sons, Tobias and Flynn, were part of the NZ Junior Tall Blacks team that competed at the

2017 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup The 2017 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup (Arabic: 2017 كأس العالم لكرة السلة تحت 19 سنة فيبا) was the 13th edition of the FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup, the biennial international men's youth basketball champi ...

. Flynn is a member of the Tall Blacks senior team for the 2023 FIBA World Cup, which is coached by his father.

Honours

's All-Tournament Team –

* Maori Sportsman of the Year – 2002 * Sparc Leadership Award – 2003 *

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

–

Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Queen of New Zealand, "for those persons who in any field of endeavour, have ...

, for services to basketball – 2011 Queen's Birthday Honours. * Inducted into

– 2017

References

External links

Pero Cameron
at the

* * * *
Cameron's 300-game milestone
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cameron, Pero 1974 births Living people 2002 FIBA World Championship players 2006 FIBA World Championship players 2010 FIBA World Championship players Auckland Stars players Bandırma B.İ.K. players Basketball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Cheshire Jets players Commonwealth Games silver medallists in basketball Commonwealth Games silver medallists for New Zealand FIBA Hall of Fame inductees Mahram Tehran BC players Members of the New Zealand Order of Merit New Zealand expatriate basketball people in Australia New Zealand expatriate basketball people in England New Zealand expatriate basketball people in Iran New Zealand expatriate basketball people in Malaysia New Zealand expatriate basketball people in Turkey New Zealand Māori sportspeople New Zealand men's basketball players New Zealand people of Scottish descent Ngāpuhi people Olympic basketball players for New Zealand People educated at Whangarei Boys' High School Power forwards Sportspeople from Tokoroa Waikato Pistons players Waikato Titans players Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Iranian Basketball Super League players