Jaylin Galloway made a smooth debut with the Cairns Taipans with a match-winning display and coach Adam Forde liked the quiet intensity he brings with him and the immediate impact he made for his new team.
Bringing in a 23-year-old already with three NBL championships behind him and who's played with the Australian Boomers and in the NBA was a significant coup for the Taipans, and Galloway showed exactly why first-up on Sunday.
Having recovered from a shoulder injury that saw him miss the first eight games of NBL27, Galloway made an instant impact for the Snakes with seven points in each of the first two quarters against the New Zealand Breakers.
He finished the game with 18 points and six assists on 7/11 shooting from the field and 3/5 from beyond the arc to be key in the 86-84 win to improve the Snakes to a 5-4 record.
Coach Forde couldn’t have been more impressed with how he instantly was able to come in and have such an impact, and to do so the entire game across almost 27 minutes.
"He probably was the only one really giving us something at the back end of that first quarter to keep us in touch," Forde said.
"When we subbed him out, the game got out to eight, nine points and then he helped bring it back in touch again making some big shots.
"There were a couple of things we called out the play and he didn’t know it was naturally so he'll get better for it, but for someone that just didn’t have anything run for him to score 18 points and have six assists to virtually just play a very well organised pick-up game, he did very well."
Forde kept on being asked about the minutes restriction Galloway would be on for his first appearance, but nobody told him that so he was happy to use him as much as necessary unless told otherwise.
So Galloway ended up playing 26:32 for the game with the Taipans +11 with him out there showing the impact he had. For someone still so young, what Forde is impressed with is the natural leadership my example he provides.
"Everyone was talking about a minutes plan, but nobody talked to me about one, maybe they were too scared to but it wasn’t a conversation I was looking to invite either," Forde said.
"So we just went in with an ignorance is bliss type mindset and what impresses me most about JG is that he has this quiet intensity about him. He's someone that just is super aware of his surroundings, and what's going on around him.
"He's really comfortable in that environment whether it be a light practice to a high intensity, pressure cooker type game like we had today. For a young man to pose that type of mindset and character trait, it's what you look for in leaders of government what he's able to do under duress and pressure.
"It's been very cool watching him the last couple of months and the fact that we've got him for another five, six months is only going to benefit the whole roup."
Last time the Taipans played the Breakers back on September 30 in Auckland, it was a 23-point loss and they were 1-3 with Forde admitting afterwards they were in a bad spot as a team.
But the response since has been outstanding with the Snakes winning four of their last five games and the one loss in that stretch was away to the South East Melbourne Phoenix when they were out on their feet following a hectic schedule.
Forde knows that his team is still probably not going to get respect from outside their four walls, nor does that bother him, and he has full faith that they are only going to continue to build on the momentum they've now created.
"I don’t think we've been favourite for a single game so nobody picks us to win and then people complain about the way we go about it," Forde said.
"What I love about this group is that I really enjoy being around them and even when I talk to my wife at home, I talk about how everything is just a real sense of confidence that I have in this group with where we're at.
"That includes our medical staff keeping guys on the floor, where I'm at with my coaching staff and the extra that that they do and the time they dedicate to make sure they are available for these guys.
"I don’t want to use the word easy, it just seems like we've got another level and we don't want to look to far ahead, but just keep stacking days and finding ways to win.
"That's whether we shoot 50 per cent from three and everybody's feeling good or we try to do everything in our power to lose it, and still come away with a gritty win."