Ben Pepper

Ben Pepper
Position	Centre
Nickname	pepr
Height	213 cm (7 ft 0 in)
Weight	112 kg (247 lb)
Nationality	Australia
Born	15 July 1975 (1975-07-15) Geraldton, Western Australia
Junior Association	Geraldton
Debut	1996
Previous Clubs	Newcastle Falcons 1996-97 North Melbourne Giants 1998 Victoria Titans 1999-2001 Wollongong Hawks 2002-2003 Victoria Giants 2004 New Zealand Breakers 2005-2007 Townsville Crocodiles 2007-2008
Career Highlights	NBL's Most Improved Player (1997) NBL's Sixth Man of the Year (1997) Won a Gold medal with the Australian 22 & Under team at the World Championships in 1997 New Zealand Breakers MVP in 2006.

Ben Pepper (born 15 July 1975 in Geraldton, Western Australia) is an Australian basketball player, who played for the twelve seasons in the National Basketball League.

Professional career

Ben Pepper, a 7'0" (213 cm) tall centre began his pro career in the NBL with the Newcastle Falcons in the 1996 NBL season. After an impressive debut season he would go on to win the NBL's Most Improved Player and the NBL's Sixth Man of the Year awards in 1997.

Pepper then decided to try his luck with the NBA and entered into the 1997 NBA Draft. He was selected by the Boston Celtics with the 56th overall pick in the draft, one of four Australians drafted that year. Interestingly, Pepper was one of three 7'0" tall Australian centres selected in the 1997 draft, the others being Chris Anstey and Paul Rogers. A fourth Australian, CJ Bruton, was also selected in the draft.

The Celtics unfortunately never signed Pepper and he came back to the NBL and played for the North Melbourne Giants in the 1998 season. After the season the Giants merged with cross-Melbourne rivals the South East Melbourne Magic to become the Victorian Titans where he became one of the most dominant centers in the competition. He narrowly missed out on an NBL Championship when the Titans were defeated 2-1 in the 1998-99 NBL Grand Final Series by the Adelaide 36ers.

Pepper signed with the Wollongong Hawks for the 2001-02 NBL season and spent two seasons there before switching back to Victoria to play for the Victoria Giants in 2003-04. When the Giants folded after the 2004 season, he was signed up by the New Zealand Breakers for the 2004-05 and 2005-06 NBL seasons and was named Breakers MVP for the 2005-06 season.

After two seasons in New Zealand, Pepper was signed by the Townsville Crocodiles. In his first year with the Crocs he had the 5th best field goal percentage in the league, shooting at 58.2%. He retired from the NBL after the 2007-08 NBL season.

Despite being a dominant player in the NBL for numerous years Ben Pepper rarely played for the Australian Boomers. In 1997 he was a member of the gold medal winning Australian team at the FIBA Under-21 World Championship held in Melbourne.

References

Awards
Preceded by Chris Anstey	NBL Most Improved Player 1997	Succeeded by Ben Melmeth
Preceded by Mike McKay	NBL Best Sixth Man 1997	Succeeded by Jason Smith