NBL champion blasts Rucker's top 15

The recent edition of Derek Rucker's top 15 NBL players has caused plenty of conversation around the basketball circles in recent days.

In particular, NBL champion Damon Lowery has challenged Rucker on some of his selections, including first-time top five members, Melbourne's Jesse Edwards.

"Our mate Derek Rucker went into his little nerd bunker [for this list]. I think he might have bumped his head in there," Lowery said on a recent episode of NBL Now.

"Jesse Edwards, who's having a phenomenal year with Melbourne United, I thought he was too high. I really rate him, [but] just don't feel like he's on the floor long enough. He barely plays half a game."

>> PICK YOUR TOP 15 FOR THE CHANCE TO WIN A TEAM-SIGNED JERSEY

Another top five member that Lowery commented on was Illawarra's JaVale McGee (number three).

"I feel like if they [Illawarra] were winning more games, he [McGee] would have been two," Lowery said.

"I'm not quite sure why Kendric Davis is that high at two, but I could still see him being in the top five. But I think the mistakes, all the flaws are much lower down.

"I want to say though, full credit to our man Derek, because none of us got the time to be bunkering down like that.

"I know the work he puts into it. We all know how meticulous he is. So full credit to him for doing it. But now we got to punch holes in it, because he went crazy when we got down around eight on down."

The selections and non-selections Lowery is alluding to relates to JackJumpers pair Bryce Hamilton and Josh Bannan, who both missed the cut completely.

"What has Josh Bannan ever done to Derek to make him disrespect his double-double like that?," Lowery said.

"I generally feel like Derek doesn't really respect winning all that much, and I could probably understand why, because he didn't do a whole lot of it when he was playing.

"Bannan's numbers are contributing to winning, and I feel like he was the stiffest one to be left out, as well as Bryce Hamilton."

While it's easy to add people to the list, you also need to remove players from it to do so, which Lowery has done.

"Jack [McVeigh] is playing some good basketball, so I get it [the selection]. But again, I'm more skewed towards winning. So if you would have left Jack McVeigh out for Bryce Hamilton, I wouldn't have had a problem with it," he said.

"[Further to that] Milton Doyle being 15th, he’s one of the guards on the best team in the league and he's lower than Jack McVeigh, who's on the worst team in the league.

"Xavier Cooks, my man. I've known him since his birth in Ballarat, but he is not having a good season. He's only had a couple of good games.

"I'm happy to not have Xavier in there. We all know his potential, but he's not playing up to it right now."

>> PICK YOUR TOP 15 FOR THE CHANCE TO WIN A TEAM-SIGNED JERSEY

Following the FIBA Break, the Hungry Jack's NBL26 Season resumes on Wednesday night when New Zealand hosts Illawarra in Hamilton on Wednesday night from 5.30pm AEDT, live on ESPN.

Rucker's Top 15

1. Bryce Cotton
2. Kendric Davis
3. JaVale McGee
4. Jesse Edwards
5. Jo Lual-Acuil Jr
6. Parker Jackson-Cartwright
7. Chris Goulding
8. Xavier Cooks
9. Nathan Sobey
10. Isaac Humphries
11. Zylan Cheatham
12. Jack McVeigh
13. Tyson Walker
14. Kristian Doolittle
15. Milton Doyle