Magnificent player and career, his prime years as good as any player. Always a favourite of mine. Enjoy his retirement and hope he gets into coaching as quality people like him need to be around the game. Congratulations Tom.

Well said, Dunkman.
An excellent player, a class act, and he did it all with the one club. Was a key figure in the Cats-Breakers rivalry through the 2010's.

Congrats on a fantastic career!

Watched him in his early days & thought he was good enough for NBA. Wonderful athlete with a great 3 ball. I wonder if he was ever on a NBA radar?

Great career congrats Tom

Matt Walsh has confirmed that Abercrombie's Jersey will be hoisted to the rafters next season and retired.
Tom spent two years at Washington State University after Westlake Boys High. He Redshirted his freshman season and then appeared in 12 games the following season before being granted a release to join the Breakers as a development player. The rest is history.

In 2013 he took part in mini camps with the Spurs, Bucks, Mavs and Rockets before joining the Phoenix Suns for NBA Summer League.
That was the closest he came to the NBA until the NBL/NBA games.

It's an interesting question about the NBA

There are two distinct reasons why the NBL is on the NBA's radar much moreso than a decade ago, but they do go hand-in-hand. 1. The NBL's standard has continually increased and 2. Increased exposure. This is self-perpetuating, ie: the more NBL players make NBA and the more NBA prospects who come to the NBL (Next Stars), the more scouts are spending time here.

If Abercrombie had more NBA try-out opportunities in his peak window (2011-2014) it would've increased his chances of being in the right place at the right time.

Arguably Abercrombie wouldn't be an all-NBL teamer if he was peaking right now given the league is stronger. But Jack White wasn't an all-NBL teamer either and he made the NBA, and he's a similar player to Abercrombie. Torrey Craig is another similar prototype who made the NBA.

How do people rate Abercrombie as an all-time Breaker? Penney, Abercrombie and Vukona seem a clear top 3.

Increased roster sizes in the NBA is another reason more guys are being picked up outside of the "traditional" HS > College > NBA route in general. NBA teams now have effectively 18 rostered players and need to get them from somewhere.

I think Tom, like most of the top 10-20% of NBL players could have had a crack at NBA if given the right opportunity with the right timing/fit etc.

I think his skill set as 3 and D would be much more valuable now than it was 10-12 years ago.

Similarly, Penney gets drafted first round in this day and age.

Ultimately, to get a truly successful NBA player I've always thought you’d need need to combine Webster’s scoring instinct and skill with Abercrombies size, athleticism and personality.

Good point Cram

Yeah Abercrombie definitely has NBA athleticism and skill-set, hence why I mentioned White and Craig.

Other players from that era had better NBL careers but wouldn't have much chance of NBA even if they were peaking now (like say, Mark Worthington).

LV, Pero Cameron also played for the Breakers. Don't you feel he deserves to be in the top 4?

Other examples than Wortho would be Shawn Redhage, Damian Martin- better NBL players than Abercrombie but couldn't ever see them getting NBA opportunities.

Hoopie, Pero only played two seasons for the Breakers

Vukona won 5 titles and did more than anyone, in my view, to build the Breakers tough on-court identity (along with Boucher in the early days).

Abercrombie won 4 and played 16 seasons.

Penney didnt have as much Longevity, only playing about 7 seasons, but won an MVP, multiple All-NBL 1st team gongs. So I'd go Penney purely for ability and talent and great individual achievements. Then an interesting debate for 2nd.

Sorry take that back, Vukona's 5th title was with Dragons, of course.

NZ only has 4. With Vukona, Abercrombie and Pledger playing all 4. Corey Webster and Cedric Jackson played 3. Jackson missing the first, and Webster missing one due to drug suspension.

I think he probably would have made the NBA if it wasn't for that ankle injury in the playoffs with I think it was Crawford from memory. He was never really the same athlete after that.

And speaking of Cedric Jackson I'd have him 4th on the all-time Breakers list

Oh please, as good as D Martin and Redhage were neither were better than Abercrombie.

Yeah that chase down block by Peter Crawford in garbage time was ugly. After that injury, he still postered Jaren Jackson Jnr, but the "lob pass to Abercrombie" was never heard the same way again.

Pero achieved nothing with the Breakers on or off the court. I wouldn't even have him in their top 10.

Martin won about 6 DPOY's.

Abercrombie's best season may have been as good as Redhage's best season, but Abercrombie never reached the heights of greatness many expected. Redhage was consistently one of the best forwards in the NBL for the better part of a decade.

Both Martin and Redhage had better careers than Abercrombie and it's not even close.

Your opinion, Abercrombie was an absolute team player star, and yes Martin was a marvellous defender but a point guard, Abercrombie was a 3-4, I can still remember Redhage getting absolutely humiliated against the kings goorg teams, I'll stick with Abercrombie for me.

Redhage's 7 All NBL selections to Abercrombie's 2 tells you the story, even if your memory's failing you!

Popularity contests have never swayed me, I'm still taking Abercrombie.

Take whoever you want, it's all subjective

but you'll be on an island of one, as far as taking Abercrombie over those two. Even most NZ fans won't back you there.

FWIW I reckon Vukona and Boucher are the main Kiwi's who set the identity on the court and laid the groundwork for NZ's success, doing all the little things needed to win but not looking glamorous. Not as talented as Abercrombie but just as important to the Breakers success. Ili now doing same for United. c

Abercrombie, of course a great role player, you can't play a key role in 4 titles without being one. But he was one of many in NZ.

I am taking TA over the one trick pony Martin. Redhage was a different beast. But Tom's total package beats DM. So it's an island of 2.

Ok so I'm going

SR
DM
TA

Sebastian:

SR
TA
DM

Dunk man

TA
SR?
DM

Others?

But to continue the conversation, DM was no "one-trick pony"

Firstly defense isn't "one-trick", it's literally half of basketball and Martin's the greatest NBL defender ever

Secondly Martin was a great rebounder, consistently one of the top rebounding guards in the NBL

Third, he was a leader on the court. A culture setter. Body language, hustle, diving on loose balls. Brought the effort every night.

DM's peak years also coincided with Perths home cooking peak.
Great defender absolutely but no other team had the Wildcats home court advantage or even close, especially NZ

I gave my opinion on Abercrombie in the first or second post, I'll stick with it and hope to see him involved in the nbl. The rest is all subjective, each to there own.

Abercrombie is undoubtedly the most talented of the three however Martin and Redhage got more out of their NBL careers through grit and determination.

LV - Third, he was a leader on the court. A culture setter. Body language, hustle, diving on loose balls. Brought the effort every night.

Abercrombie is all of those things too. That does not hold DM above TA.

I reckon DM is one of the all-time hustle and culture Kings of the NBL. Abercrombie is a hard worker, and a consumate professional, but not even the Breakers all-time hustle King, that would be Vukona or Boucher

Saw a post recently from a perth fan showing Abercrombie quietly standing alone by the tunnel watching DMs singlet retirement after they'd just played and won. I thought that probably said as much about the guy as anything that he did on court. An absolutely classy competitor and sportsman. Now a role model for young kiwi players across the country and works. Well played Tom

It doesn't hold DM above Vukona or Boucher either

Abercrombie is undoubtedly the most talented of the three however Martin and Redhage got more out of their NBL careers through grit and determination.

Agreed with Luuc and PW

As a Melbourne fan I see Abercrombie as being roughly equivalent to Dave Barlow- good athlete, good shooter, good defender, long career, won a lot of titles playing in some quality programs

Martin is one tier higher. More akin to say, Chris Goulding in some respects (although CG obviously greater player as DM wasn't playing like this at 35!). But absolutely elite at something that's very important in basketball. Defense vs CG's shooting ability.

As I said earlier, if he doesn't get injured with Crawford he would have been in the NBA