NBLC Alumni: Marvin Phillips
6’7
Forward
From Jacksonville, North Carolina
Tenure: 2012-2015, 2016-2017, 2018-2020
2xNBLC Champion
2013 Finals MVP
2013 Newcomer of the Year
2x All-NBLC
1x All-Defensive Team
Marvin Phillips is one of the most memorable to have ever played in NBL Canada, where the highly decorated forward made a name for himself as one of the league's most feared on defence.
Phillips began playing with Dodge City Conquistadors before making the move to Orangeburg, South Carolina, playing three years with the Claflin Panthers in NCAA Division 2. He was selected by the Iowa Energy in the 2008 D-League Draft and spent two years with the team, reaching the playoffs in 2010. His playing time increased with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, starting 22 times in 50 games and averaging 12.3 points and 9.3 rebounds.
2012 saw him make his debut in Canada, winning fourteen of his first sixteen games with the London Lightning. He registered his first league double-double on January 5th 2013, with 10 points and 15 boards against the Halifax Rainmen. After seven twenty-point games, he finished the regular season with 32 points and 11 boards against the Island Storm.
From there, the top-seeded London dropped only two post-season games en route to winning their second championship. Reaching double digits in every game of the concluding series, Phillips was awarded Finals MVP to go with his newcomer of the year award and selections to the All-NBLC second team and defensive team.
Re-signing with the Lightning the following season, he improved on his scoring and rebounding - scoring in double digits seventeen times, including eight double-doubles and a career-high 20 rebounds against the Orangeville A's on January 26th 2014. Though London were eliminated in the post-season by eventual champions Windsor Express, Phillips was consoled with place on the All-NBLC first team.
He opened the 2014-15 season with a huge performance, 35 points and 13 boards against the Windsor Express, following that up shortly after with 33 against the Mississauga Power. Phillips recorded 14 double-doubles on the season and eighteen games where he passed the twenty-point mark on the season, which came to an end after London failed to progress past the first round of the playoffs.
Much of Phillips' experience outside of Canada has been in France, where he has played for Rouen and Charleville-Mezieres. He then started in every game in the 2015-16 season for Caen Baskets Cavaldos, posting 14.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game. He returned to the NBLC and London the following season, where he averaged 10.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game and won his second NBLC title.
From there he joined Atletico Argentino de Junin in Argentina, averaging 11.7 points and 6.0 rebounds in 26 games, but soon came back to Canada. Re-signing with London in 2018, he improved on his last season with the team with 11.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game. In the post-season London were eliminated by Phillips' next team, the KW Titans, for whom he put up 7.2 points and 5.4 rebounds on an average 17.2 minutes per game.
Marvin Phillips announced himself in the NBL Canada right from the outset and went on continue his dominance on both ends of the court throughout his tenure. One of the best defensive players in league's history, he would later be named to the league's ten-year anniversary team.
