Josh Oduro is now looming as a dominant inside force for Melbourne United in NBL27 while coach Jacob Chance was happy to see Sam Waardenburg get some offensive reward late in the Throwdown for the work he's been putting in.

Oduro still averages four fouls over his first six NBL matches, but outside of that he is finding his feet nicely with his impressive numbers of 17.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 1.2 blocks and 1.2 steals on 71 per cent shooting only telling part of the story.

In the last two games especially that has seen United get back to winning on the road to the Adelaide 36ers on Wednesday and then at John Cain Arena against the South East Melbourne on Saturday, he has been a dominant presence.

He had another 21 points, 10 rebounds, four blocks, four steals and two assists in the Throwdown win. On a team with such versatile weapons like Joe Ingles, Luke Travers, Waardenburg, Malith Machar and Cole Anthony, Oduro gives coach Chance that big with a point of difference.

"He's a really good basketball player, man, and we kept him on the floor for 30 minutes and he keeps himself on the floor for 30 minutes by getting rid of a couple of those tacky fouls," Chance said.

"He's so important to what we've do and I've been very public that he kicked my arse in the G League so I'm glad that he's here with me now.

"You see everything that he can do on floor - protect the rim, his levels tonight on pick-and-rolls were elite, multiple deflections, activity and then he's an absolutely horse down the other end. It's a luxury to have him."

Waardenburg was a prized signing in the off-season for Melbourne but the Kiwi big man has been playing catch up early on in the season after a late pre-season injury interrupted his preparation.

He hadn’t been shooting the ball well, but in the fourth quarter he came up huge on Saturday night with eight of his 10 points including a three-pointer, and and-one, and then finishing an alley-oop pass from Oduro.

Chance likes how he's still been contributing and is looking forward to his offence now continuing to grow.

"He can't buy one right now the poor fella, he's 1/4, but water will find its level there. We've got the No. 1 defence right now and a big reason is lots of guys, but Sammy is a monster defensively," Chance said.

"There's a lot of invisible plays that you don't see with Sam that he's doing with us right now with his shift, his activity and he's getting on the glass.

"And then to see him get rewarded on the offensive end, that will come and he'll find his way there and I've loved his mindset.

"He had an injury at a poor time in pre-season after a good build that I think just slowed his start a little bit, but I think he's back to his best version of himself now.

"He's such a big piece for the ultimate picture of what we're going to be and I'm excited that he's back healthy, and back rolling."

The one struggle that Oduro has found in the NBL so far to adjust to is the officiating and a lot of that wasn’t a complaint about what was being called against him, but just getting used to what he can and can't do.

A session with David Barlow ahead of Saturday night's Throwdown did help because he was able to stay out on the floor for 31 minutes on the way to his standout performance, and the team he's part of is certainly helping the impact he's having.

"We've got a lot of positional size and great defenders, and a lot of athletes, and a lot of smart basketball players," Oduro said.

"I just have to make sure I can anchor it and be in all the right spots, and plug in our defence in certain spots. I think that will be good for us and that we can continue to elevate.

"They call it here a little bit differently and a lot of that was just on me learning a new league, but I sat down with our coach David Barlow today and he showed me some of my fouls where I can be better.

"We looked at where the refs can see the hooks and the holds so I just have to be more solid and clean that up, and I wanna continue to get better at it and be a good defender without fouling."

A big reason why Oduro has slotted in at United so seamlessly is because of the experienced heads he has around him and that is even without captain Chris Goulding right now.

He is playing his first season internationally after two seasons in the G League at the Birmingham Squadron following his college career that wrapped up at Providence.

But having a team featuring Ingles, Shea Ili, Cole Anthony, Fabijan Krslovic, Kyle Bowen and even Waardenburg, and it's a group that's played a lot of basketball for him to work off.

"We got a lot of leaders out there and we might have 10 leaders out there on the court sometimes," Oduro said.

"They're shooting a free-throw and someone brings us in, and we talk about what we're doing the next play offensively, defensively and the things we want to look at.

"There was a time that I caught it in the post and I got the score, and then Joe came up to me and said he will set the back screen and we had that great play to Sammy. We're doing a great job just talking out there and being connected, and want to continue to see us grow."

Oduro also saw another familiar face out on John Cain Arena on Saturday night with former George Mason University college teammate D'Shawn Schwartz who was out there for South East Melbourne.

Schwartz had a hot start too with 11 points to half-time without missing a three-point attempt, but Oduro was happy to take the points by the end of the night.

"Oh for sure, he had me worried there in the first half when he was hitting some tough ones," Oduro said.

"It was a lot of fun seeing my teammate but I'm glad we got the W."

Chris Pike

Oduro, Waardenburg stand tall for United