Franklin Bulls
The Franklin Bulls are a New Zealand basketball team based in Pukekohe, Auckland.
The Bulls compete in the National Basketball League (NBL) and play their home games at the Franklin Pool and Leisure Centre. For sponsorship reasons, they are known as the EnviroNZ Franklin Bulls.
| Franklin Bulls | |
|---|---|
Wiki English | |
| League | NZNBL |
| Founded | November 2019 |
| History | Franklin Bulls 2020–present |
| Arena | Franklin Pool and Leisure Centre |
| Location | Pukekohe, Auckland, New Zealand |
| Team colours | Yellow & black |
| Main sponsor | EnviroNZ |
| Head coach | Sebastian Gleim |
| Ownership | Jamie Reddish & Scott Kelso (co-founders) |
| Championships | 0 |
| Website | bullsbasketball.nz |
Team history
In July 2019, the Franklin Bulls were granted provisional entry into the National Basketball League (NBL) for the 2021 season. However, following the withdrawal of the Southern Huskies and Super City Rangers, the Bulls expedited their process to complete a set of requirements set down by the league, and in November 2019, they were granted entry into the NBL for the 2020 season. The team was co-founded by Jamie Reddish and Scott Kelso.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 season was initially suspended indefinitely. The league returned in a reduced format based entirely in Auckland at The Trusts Arena. The inaugural Bulls roster was coached by Liam Simmons and featured Dom Kelman-Poto, Isaac Davidson, Everard Bartlett and Sam Timmins. The team finished fifth in the regular season with a 7–7 record and lost 99–90 in their elimination final against the Taranaki Mountainairs.
In 2021, the Bulls finished their first full season in the league in eighth place with a 5–13 record. The team was coached by Jamie Reddish and featured Isaac Davidson and Denhym Brooke.
For the 2022 season, the Bulls recruited Jayden Bezzant, Leon Henry and Corey Webster alongside new coach Morgan Maskell. They finished the regular season in eighth place with a 7–11 record. Webster was named Most Outstanding Kiwi Guard.
In 2023, the Bulls were considered a success story under new coach Daniel Sokolovsky. Their roster included imports Rickey McGill and Jamaal Brantley, as well as Jayden Bezzant, Dan Fotu, Tyrell Harrison, Isaac Davidson and Dom Kelman-Poto. Mid season additions included Matt Freeman and Jared Wilson-Frame. They finished the regular season in fourth place with a 12–6 record and defeated the Wellington Saints 124–104 in the play-in game. In the semi-final, the Bulls lost 92–67 to the Auckland Tuatara.
In 2024, German Sebastian Gleim became the fifth coach in five seasons for the Bulls. The roster also saw a mass turnover of players.
Season by season record
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, W–L% = Winning percentage
| Season | GP | W | L | W–L% | Finish | Finals |
| 2020 | 14 | 7 | 7 | .500 | 5th | Lost Elimination Final, 90–99 (Taranaki Mountainairs) |
| 2021 | 18 | 5 | 13 | .278 | 8th | Did not qualify |
| 2022 | 18 | 7 | 11 | .389 | 8th | Did not qualify |
| 2023 | 18 | 12 | 6 | .667 | 4th | Won Preliminary Final, 124–104 (Wellington Saints) Lost Semi Final, 67–92 (Auckland Tuatara) |
Current roster
Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationality not displayed.
| Franklin Bulls roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Updated: 18 April 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
References
External links
This article uses material from the Wikipedia English article Franklin Bulls, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 license ("CC BY-SA 3.0"); additional terms may apply (view authors). Content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
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