JLA breaks down excitement over stacked United lineup

After a year away from the team, Jo Lual-Acuil Jr is back with Melbourne United and couldn’t be more excited to get on the court.

While his return has been delayed slightly due to a wrist injury, he is eagerly anticipating the start of the NBL24 season to see his teammates, both new and old, hit the hardwood.

After watching United collect a pair of victories in their first two NBL Blitz games, JLA joined The Extra Pass podcast to break down his thoughts on the group Dean Vickerman has assembled.

“I’m really excited about this team,” he said.

“I don’t want to say anything too profound because we’ve won a championship before, and I kind of get vibes a little bit, it gives me similar vibes to that team that won a championship in that COVID year (NBL21).

“A lot of work to do to get to that point but I’m very excited about this team, I think we’ll be pretty good this year.”

Looking at the makeup of the group, he highlighted a number of players who have impressed him across the preseason so far, starting with Matthew Dellavedova, who has registered 24 pointers per game across his first two outings back with MU.

“He’s jacked, like super jacked. He’s in crazy shape,” JLA explained.

“I think this version of Delly against the last version of Delly, this Delly would probably kill him.

“With Ariel (Hukporti), what you see is what you get from him every time he steps out there. The energy that he plays with, shot blocking ability, the physicality that he’s able to bring on the floor and LT (Luke Travers), he’s very athletic which caught me off guard. He’s probably the second fastest on the team behind Shil (Shea Ili), which is crazy.

“He’s super athletic and his instincts are crazy so I’m really excited to get on the court with those guys and see what kind of chemistry we can have together.”

Lual-Acuil Jr circled back to Ili, adding how he believes the Kiwi dynamo could be on track for a momentous NBL24 campaign.

“Shili is one of the best defenders in the league. Seeing how much his game has developed now, I think he’s going to be one of the best players in the NBL with the form that he’s playing with now and the confidence that he has,” he continued.

“It’s a luxury to have a guy like Shili where it’s like, if we’re having trouble with a guard or there’s a really good guard that we’re going to be playing, we’re just like ‘oh yeah, we’ll be sweet, we have Shili.’

“A lot of teams don’t have that and Shili is for sure the best defender in the league. I still don’t know how he hasn’t won a Defensive Player of the Year.”

The big man’s excitement is clearly shared by the basketball loving audience in Melbourne who have SOLD OUT United Round 1 Throwdown XXI matchup with the SEM Phoenix on September 28.

The only way to make sure you’ve got your ticket locked in for each and every United home game is by becoming a member today!

Premium, Gold, Silver and Bronze full season memberships are fully exhausted, but General Reserve full season packages, as well as three and five game memberships, supporter memberships and digital memberships remain available. Bring The Blue and get your membership now!