Image credit: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)
Lee Roberts is embracing the captaincy at East Perth Eagles in what is his first NBL1 West season he's been at from the start and while still playing at a high level, all he cares about is trying to reach consecutive playoff appearances.
Roberts is now his 11th season in the SBL/NBL1 West but the difference in 2025 at the Eagles is that he was fresh and raring to go coming into this campaign having not played internationally over the Australian summer.
When he first arrived in Perth back in 2011 to play at the Warwick Senators, Roberts was fresh off a season in Denmark and it's a similar story for every season he's played in the league since.
Even in the season where he won a championship at the Perth Redbacks in 2017 and was grand final MVP, that was after a 35-game season in Israel. Now for each of his previous four seasons at East Perth, Roberts has come in off the back of playing in South America.
That all changed this time around with Roberts remaining in Perth over the NBL1 off-season to be able to continue to stay close with his two daughters, and to also be fully part of the pre-season preparation at the Eagles.
On the back of that, Roberts is performing strongly this season with the 38-year-old putting up 17.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists a game at 27.6 minutes and he has taken on the captaincy role to top it off.
Coming into this season fresh
When Roberts first joined the Eagles back in 2021 having previously played in the league at the Senators, Kalamunda Eastern Suns, Redbacks and Joondalup Wolves, he arrived midway through once his season in Uruguay finished and was limited to just nine games.
It was then just 10 games in 2022 after another season in Uruguay where he also played prior to the 2023 season where he appeared just 17 times for the Eagles, and then it was 15 in 2024 as part of the playoff run following a Uruguayan season at Trouville.
Roberts changed things up for 2025 and remained in Perth over the off-season knowing that as he gets further and further into his 30s, playing non-stop basketball throughout the year might not be conducive to him still performing at the level he demands of himself.
"This is my first season I've played here that I've been here from the start and it's exciting," Roberts said.
"It's really cool to be able to bond with the guys on a different level and not having to go through a gruelling overseas season where you're practicing every single day of the week, and playing three games a week.
"It's definitely something that makes things easier for sure. I'm really excited for what this team can still do this year and I think we have a good shot at making the finals, and for the run that we can go on."
Body and form is holding up
While the fact that Roberts did come into this season fresh has helped, the work that Roberts puts in to keep his body in shape and ready to perform both through the effort put into recovery and working out, is a big reason why at 38 years old he remains one of the more effective bigs in the competition.
"At this stage in my career and my life, all I can say is that age isn’t anything but a number. My athleticism has definitely dropped off a little bit, but I still feel like I can keep up with these young guys," Roberts said.
"Hopefully that's showing a little bit out there but I prepare the same way I've always prepared by taking care of my body, making sure I do recovery and the routine has been the same for the past 15, 16 years.
"It's fun for me still and especially being able to challenge myself going into some double headers like this and seeing how my body reacts. I love it and so far, so good."
Still performing at high level
While Roberts is still playing well this season putting up strong numbers of 17.2 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.0 assists in the 27.6 minutes a game, what he cares more about is helping the Eagles win.
His numbers stack up well with the rest of his career even if he is now more of the crafty veteran rather than the explosive athlete delivering rim-rattling dunks, all he is worried about is doing everything he can to try and get the Eagles to a second straight playoff appearance.
"I'm at the point in my career where stats aren’t super important but winning is, and I try to pass on knowledge to the young guys," Roberts said.
"But if I were to say that I wasn’t happy that I'm playing well then I'd be lying. Yes, I am proud of myself and the condition and shape that I've been able to keep, but I've been playing basketball for a long time.
"Hopefully I can show a little bit out there that I still know what I'm doing."
Reflection on double-header
The Eagles started a gruelling four games in eight-day stretch last weekend and it got off to the ideal start with the 28-point win at home to the Perth Redbacks.
That meant that the Eagles had the chance to finish the weekend back inside the top eight with a win on Saturday against a Cockburn Cougars team who had lost eight straight including becoming the first team to lose to the South West Slammers in 2025.
However, East Perth gave up 122 points for the loss at Wally Hagan Stadium, but Roberts and the Eagles looked at the positives to take from the weekend as they prepare for another double this weekend at home to Perry Lakes on Friday and away to Lakeside on Saturday.
"It was a bit of a bittersweet weekend but we sort of took it less of a negative and focused on the positives," Roberts said.
"We really dominated the game on Friday which was something good for us and then Cockburn were able to come out and just have a really good night shooting the ball.
"We still scored 107 which normally is enough to win in this league, but obviously we dropped a crucial game.
"We're running short on rope now and this weekend is going to be huge for us, but we took it in our stride and are just trying to get two wins this weekend now."
Prospects of this team
The Eagles now sit on a 6-8 record to be in ninth position but again have the chance to return to the top eight with two wins this weekend against the Hawks and Lightning.
Roberts is still buoyant on their prospects of backing up last year's return to the playoffs for the first time in a decade.
"In any season you get a feel for your team relatively early I'd say and in this instance for this team, and with me being with the program for the past five years and what we've been through, it would be a little bit disappointing if we didn’t make the playoffs," he said.
"I think we have the resolve with our guys to pull something together here in the end and get in so that's what our goal is obviously. It would be extremely disappointing if we missed out."
Playing alongside big Ioannis
Another new aspect for Roberts of playing in this East Perth team of 2025 is the fact that he isn't always the centre out on the court, and he's not the biggest framed player on the team.
Roberts has been the natural five man on most teams he's played on at least in the SBL/NBL1 West dating back to 2011, but on this Eagles team he's sharing the front court with 7'2 Greek-Australian Ioannis Dimakopoulos.
It's a combination that is improving all the time especially since Roberts and Dimakopoulos have been starting together rather than subbing in and out for one another.
"Early in my career when I played in Japan and a couple of other places, I played with some seven-footers so it's not foreign to me, but it is something that this league hasn’t really used too much," Roberts said.
"Seven-footers aren’t really a big thing and that happens across a lot of leagues around the world, but when you know how to use a seven-footer the right way which we're still learning with Ioannis and his style of play, which is a lot more European than people would think, you start to find these advantages.
"We've developed a little bit of a chemistry where we can read each other a little bit and I've got my own experience playing over in Europe too. Just his mindset and the way he thinks the game through is a little bit different so just being able to connect with him on that capacity has been really cool.
"And as you can see throughout the season, he's gone from playing 10 minutes a game when we're trying to figure him out to now he's starting and playing 20-25 minutes. He's making a difference which is really important to us and some of these things are easy for a seven-footer to do and he's 7'2. You can't teach height."