Captain Lee excited to see Eagles grow together

Image credit: Mark Filpo (@codexdesignstudio)

Lee Roberts is embracing his East Perth Eagles captaincy role while relieved with the depth that big minutes aren't in his future as he waits to see just how good this supremely talented and deep group can become.

Even at 39 years of age, Roberts would still be capable of logging some big minutes and putting up impressive numbers for the Eagles, but for the club to continue towards the success they crave, he knows the more help he has, the better.

If you look back to the championship team he was part of at the Perth Redbacks when he was Grand Final MVP in 2017, there was no shortage of help with his teammates including Shawn Redhage, Marshall Nelson, Joel Wagner, Michael Vigor, Ben Smith, Zac Gattorna and even a teenage Kyle Bowen.

Now this East Perth team of 2026 still has to prove that they can come together as a unit, but Roberts can't help but be excited by the depth including the help he has in the front court with David Okwera, Lat Mayen, Ioannis Dimakopoulos and Sharif Watson.

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The depth continues through the rest of the team as well and it was on show in their home-opening win against the Mandurah Magic on Saturday night which included a 42-point third quarter.

Roberts' importance was on show when he was the one with the steadying three-point play late in the piece too just as the Magic were making a charge, and he liked the signs the team shown even with Jonah Antonio on Australian Gangurrus 3x3 duties.

"It was a really good game and I think that third quarter just shows what sort of team we can be, and it's just going to be a matter of time before we click together," Roberts said.

"Right now we've got a bunch of really good individual players and you can look at paper and see that, but once we get it all together as a team there's no stopping us."

Deep front court

There were still times last season when the Eagles went on to win their first final since the 2014 championship triumph where Roberts was called upon to play big minutes.

He's still more than capable, but over the course of the season not relying on him having to do that will be in the best interests of the team. That's why he's so glad to be sharing that front court with the likes of Okwera, Mayen, Watson and Dimakopoulos.

"And I love having that depth as my career ripens, I'm not going to be playing 30 minutes and that's not my role," Roberts said.

"My role as the captain is to steady the ship when needed and obviously I want to play, and I want to be out there with the guys.

"But when we have such a deep front court, the different ways that we can go about it and the different match ups and line-ups that we can throw out there against other teams, the important part is winning games.

"Minutes, to me, they don’t mater. Points, to me, they don't matter and it's the W that matters."

Continued growth of Okwera

One member of that front court is Okwera who last played at East Perth in 2024 and is now coming into this 2026 as an NBL free agency and coming off the best season of his career with the Perth Wildcats.

Even comparing the version of Okwera from 2024 to now and Roberts is left in awe just seeing some of the things he's capable of.

"You can just see his maturity and his poise, and being able to get some minutes in the NBL is always going to put your level higher," Roberts said.

"His IQ has grown as well and just the way that he approaches the game, he picks his spots better, he makes sure when he's shooting the ball that they're the right shots and let's not even talk about his defence.

"Those blocked shots are insane and he's just so over athletic and his presence on the court is unmatched."

Depth across the whole team

It's not just up front where the Eagles of 2026 have great depth, it extends to the whole squad.

You have Nick Filpo, Bing Huang and Jermaine Malie sharing a lot of the one spot and each of them can play off the ball too while you have gun shooters and playmakers Jonah Antonio and Max Rice as well.

That all means Roberts has plenty of reasons to be excited about what they will be capable of as 2026 unfolds.

"Practice is definitely fun and when we have blue squad versus red squad, it's not an advantage for the starters against our second team like you sometimes have," Roberts said.

"We're so deep and even Lat will run some of the three spot and Jonah is elite, Max with his shooting and Nick has taken an amazing step this year and for the responsibility and role that he's playing on the team, that's tremendous.

"Then you've got Bing and he plays a little bit of the point and he plays a little bit of the off guard as well, and it's just an embarrassment of riches almost."

Continuing to grow as a group

While Roberts couldn’t be happier with the squad he is surrounded with, he knows that individual talent can only take you so far.

What will determine how far this Eagles team goes in 2026 is going to be how well they click as a unit according to the skipper.

"We're all high level basketball players so we know how to play the game and when you get in that rhythm and good lather, it's just high-level IQ's that are able to click," Roberts said.

"Then you get on those fast breaks and you make the right pass, but the things that we still have to get is that we have to learn each other.

"We have to learn our movements, what Lat's going to do off of a screen, how Bing plays and these different things. It's all that little stuff, but as of right now we've got a bunch of high IQ players that get out there and when we get into a rhythm, basketball just comes naturally."

Embracing the captaincy

Roberts is always going to be a natural leader on any team he plays on just because of his presence and experience, but he wasn’t the captain of East Perth at the start of 2025.

He did soon assume that role and was a significant reason why they went on to beat the Joondalup Wolves in the playoffs and to get further than they have since 2014.

It was an obvious choice to keep him as captain for 2026 and it's a role he is fully embracing.

"I love it (captaincy) and I think it's part of my personality just being that motivation for the guys at times and just being able to say the right thing, and make sure that we're all holding each other accountable," Roberts said.

"I think it's sort of a natural leadership ability and I've travelled all around the world playing basketball, and the experiences that I've been able to gain from that can translate into being that captain. I definitely enjoy it."

Finding a home

It was a long time ago where Roberts had decided that Australia, and more specifically Perth, would be where he called home. Given he wants to spend as much time with his daughters as he can, that's not going to change.

But what he's now so happy to have found is a basketball home at East Perth and it extends well beyond just being allowed to play on Peter Campbell Basketball Arena.

"There's so much (that makes this home) but it starts with my girls and my family being here," Roberts said.

"They're Australian and I'm not leaving them or going anywhere because of them, and then just being able to actually find that basketball home.

"It's not just as a player, but East Perth has embraced me, they've hired me as part of the club and that's where I work now.

"Carl and Mia (Filpo), to start, are the most amazing people that I've met in some time and there's no better feeling than being here."