Milwaukee Bucks: Getting to know veteran forward Torrey Craig
By Dalton Sell
Looking at Torrey Craig’s career in Australia
After finishing up his time at USC Upstate, Craig went through into the next phase of his career by entering the 2014 NBA Draft. Not getting as so much of a sniff from NBA teams at the time, Craig traveled halfway around the world kickstart his pro career after signing a contract with the Cairns Taipans of the NBL in Australia.
It was with the Taipans where Craig really started to embrace his role as a defensive enforcer, especially in a league that is known for its physicality like the NBL.
Craig found his role and enjoyed success with the Taipans not long into the 2014-15 season. When the NBL wrapped up their season that year and in 2015-16, Craig joined the Wellington Saints of the New Zealand NBL where he was named NZNBL MVP in 2015 and went on to win an NZNBL championship in 2016.
When Craig made the move from Cairns to the Brisbane Bullets in the spring of 2016 as the Bullets returned to the NBL going into the 2016-17 season, the South Carolina native blended his new hard-nosed game while being a more prominent focal point.
It was that year where Craig had his best statistical season in the NBL as he averaged 15.2 points on .463/.398/.745 shooting splits, 8 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 1.1 steals and 0.7 blocks. For those efforts, Craig was named the NBL Best Defensive Player and was named to the All-NBL second team for that season.
Given the success that he was enjoying in playing in Australia and New Zealand, Craig looked to establish his roots down under and even went as so far as getting his Australian citizenship as a way of playing for the national team. Craig recently shared those details with Matt Logue of Adelaide Now:
"“But staying in Australia was the goal,” said Craig, who won an NZNBL championship and MVP while he was crowned the NBL’s Best Defensive Player in 2017. “I think I had to be there four years to get your passport citizenship, so I was definitely trying to do that, but this opportunity presented itself. “And I had to take it.”"
That opportunity would come in Las Vegas in July of 2017 when the Denver Nuggets extended an invitation to Craig to join their Summer League squad.