Former NBA player Roth rewarded with NBL coaching extension

HOBART, Australia (AP) — First-year Tasmania coach and former NBA player Scott Roth has signed a contract extension with the National Basketball League club until the end of the 2024-25 season.

The JackJumpers announced the contract extension Friday less than two weeks after Roth took the team to the NBL championship series before losing to the Sydney Kings in three games in the best-of-five series.

Roth, who played 160 games in the late 1980s for the Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz, was named NBL coach of the year for taking the new Australian side to the finals.

The Cleveland-born Roth was also an assistant coach for five NBA teams, including the Toronto Raptors from 2010-2013.

“It’s been quite the journey. The people of Tasmania have been so welcoming,” the 58-year-old Roth said on Friday. “Obviously it was a fairytale season but we have so much more work to do. We woke up a sleeping giant and now we’ve got to keep it awake.”

Tasmania’s imports Josh Adams and Josh Magette (United States) and MiKyle McIntosh (Canada) were a big part of the club’s success. Roth said talks with the trio would commence next week, with the NBL entering its free-agent period.

“We’ll try to be as accommodating as we can to make them come back here," Roth said. “But there are always other opportunities.”

JackJumpers chief executive Simon Brookhouse said Roth built a strong foundation for the club.

“I know the players love him and respect him. Nearly all the players said the one reason they were here was because of our coaching staff,” Brookhouse said. “Scott not being able to see his family for the best part of 18 months (was) really tough. Thankfully we were able to work it out and he’s still here.”

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