Adelaide 36ers Joey Wright has lavished spring-heeled import Jacob Wiley with rare praise, comparing him to NBL legend James Crawford for his extraordinary slam dunking prowess.
Wiley scored 13 points in Thursday's 97-84 win over the Perth Wildcats, with five of his six field goals coming from thunderous jams, evoking memories of one of the competition's greats.
Crawford, nicknamed the "Alabama Slamma" because of his acrobatic above-the-rim feats across 504 games from 1982-2003, was last year named in the NBL's 40th anniversary all-time starting five and is the third leading scorer and rebounder in league history.
"He (Wiley) is up there with the best," Wright said.
"I think if you go back to Crawford, him and Crawford remind me of each other.
"Jacob will end up being like Crawford.
"I saw him (Crawford) dunk in jeans when he was 55.
"I bet you Jacob will be dunking till he's 60.
"Those two are the best I've seen in my time here (in Australia)."
While Wiley provided the highlight reel, the 36ers had an even spread of contributors, which they needed with classy import Ramone Moore sidelined (calf) for the remainder of the regular season.
In Moore's absence, reserves Jack McVeigh, Adam Doyle and Brendan Teys stepped up with impressive playmaking cameos as Adelaide notched 22 assists to just 12 turnovers.
"You don't look for one player to come in and try to pick up where Ramone left off," Wright said.
"The input of Jack, Doyle, Teysy ... I thought those three did a really good job of helping us control the tempo which is what Ramone does a really good job for us."
