Creek Wins Phoenix MVP

Mitch Creek was today named South East Melbourne Phoenix MVP for the NBL22 season.

Creek was the runaway winner, polling in every game; import Xavier Munford was second, with Zhou Qi in third.

(Mitch Creek's dunk over Matthew Dellavedova has been called the best dunk in NBL history.)

Named to the All NBL second-team, Creek led the Phoenix in scoring; at 20.45 points per game while averaging 5.75 boards and 3.04 assists.

The 30-year-old set a new career-high of 36 points, including six threes, against the New Zealand Breakers in round 2.

He also delivered what at the time was labelled the biggest dunk in NBL history when he posterised Matthew Dellavedova in the first Throwdown of the season. It would go on to be viewed more than 10 million times all over the world. 

"To have received a couple of these now is humbling. You have to respect the awards because they're not something that falls lightly because people look back at clubs, and it brings with it pride," Creek said.

"When you get older, you start to realise it's about the friendships, the bonds, the fans, the trials and tribulations: 'I remember those days, I remember that group of guys, it was awesome' — That's what you look back at and appreciate."

Phoenix CEO Tommy Greer praised Creek's year.

"Mitch played at an incredibly high level all year," Greer said. "He's a Phoenix fan favourite and an elite player in our league. As a club, we congratulate him on his year."

Creek is grateful to be the team's MVP and doesn't take the accolade lightly.

"You want to create a path that you'd like to see others deem worthy to walk, and if, one day, I can retire a jersey and have a few cool little accolades next to my name, then fantastic," he said. "I'd love to see someone else come through, step up and take on these big roles and put themselves in a position to be successful, create a path of their own that others will look at and say, 'you know what, that's a journey I want to try to travel." Creek said.

"If I can start to do that now, then amazing."

Phoenix Media (04/05/2022)