Top points to Gliddon

Bunbury basketballer Cameron Gliddon has continued his ascent to the upper echelon of Australian basketball after being named the Cairns Taipans MVP in the club’s annual awards at the weekend.

The second-year Cairns standout adds the MVP trophy to a rapidly-expanding cabinet, already boasting the 2012-13 NBL Rookie of the Year and Taipans Defensive Player of the Year awards.

A recurring back injury sidelined Gliddon for three matches late last year and the guard took a few games to return to peak fitness but has been dominant in the second half of the NBL season.

After assuming a more integral part of the Cairns offense Gliddon has improved his scoring output from 7.1 point per game to 11.7 and his efficiency has also skyrocketed, now shooting at 50.5 per cent from the field as opposed to 35.9 per cent in 2012-13.

“Individually I’m pretty happy although I definitely think I could have done more, ” Gliddon said.

“I had a stretch in the first half of the season where I was coming back from injury and my play was a little bit average.”

“My back will never be perfect and surgery is not an option but I feel like I’ve learnt how to maintain and manage it now.”

While Gliddon has taken his basketball to another level this season the Taipans continue to struggle, currently second from last on the NBL ladder.

With his contract due to expire at the end of this season Gliddon admits to feeling the allure of overseas basketball but said he was also happy playing in Cairns.

“My contract has a team and player option at the end of the season and I’ll sit down with my agent and we’ll decide what we want to do, ” he said.

“A lot of different factors come into it, you always want to play for a team where you have a big role and I’ve got that here in Cairns.

“I’m pretty happy where I’m at but if offers come in from overseas I’d look at them.”

Gliddon also expressed a desire to broaden his on-court duties in 2014-15.

“All of my stats can get better but what I really want to improve next season is my leadership, ” he said.

“I feel like the more responsibility I have, the better I play and I would be open to becoming one of the leaders on the Taipans.”