The Den Helder Suns are a professional basketball club based in Den Helder, Netherlands. The club was founded in 2016 and currently plays in the BNXT League. The team has played at the highest domestic level since 8 years. The Suns play their home games in the Sporthal Sportlaan, which has a capacity of 1,000 people.

Den Helder Suns
Den Helder Suns logo
LeaguesBNXT League
Founded2016; 8 years ago (2016)[A]
ArenaSporthal Sportlaan
Capacity1,000
LocationDen Helder, Netherlands
Team colorsBlue, Black, White, Gold
       
PresidentJames Meijer
Head coachPaul Vervaeck
2021–22 positionBNXT League, 20th of 21
Retired numbers1 (5)
Websitedenheldersuns.nl

History

edit

After the bankruptcy of the Netherlands' professional BV Den Helder team during the 2013–14 season, a professional basketball representative team from Den Helder was missing for three seasons. In 2016, the Suns organisation was founded with the goal of making a return to the Dutch Basketball League (DBL). On June 30, 2017, Den Helder Suns announced it would return to the highest level in the 2017–18 season.[1] On July 14, 2017, the Suns announced "Peter van Noord head coach Den Helder Suns."[2]

In its first DBL season, Suns finished in the eight place of the regular season, above last-placed BAL. Captain Tjoe de Paula, who played for different clubs from Den Helder before, got his number retired on 19 April 2018.[3]

Since the 2021–22 season, the Suns play in the BNXT League, in which the national leagues of Belgium and the Netherlands have been merged.[4]

Season by season

edit
Key
Playoff berth
ROY DBL Rookie of the Year
U23 DBL MVP Under 23
Season Tier League Regular season National Playoffs NBB Cup BNXT Playoffs Head coach Individual awards
Finish Played Wins Losses Win%
Den Helder Suns
2017–18 1 DBL 8th 34 6 28 .176 Did not qualify Quarterfinals Did not qualify Peter van Noord Boyd van der Vuurst de Vries (ROY)
2018–19 1 DBL 5th 34 12 22 .353 Lost quarter-finals (Donar), 0–2 Eightfinals Boy van Vliet (ROY)
2019–20[a] 1 DBL 7th 23[a] 7 16 .304 Did not qualify Semifinalist
2020–21 1 DBL 6th 21 9 12 .429 Lost quarterfinals (Donar), 158–188 First Round Boyd van der Vuurst de Vries (U23)
2021–22 1 BNXT League 20th 30 8 22 .267 Did not qualify Quarterfinals Lost first round (Limburg United), 163–203
2022–23 1 BNXT League 19th 28 6 22 .214 Did not qualify First Round N/A
2023–24 1 BNXT League 20th 28 5 23 .179 Did not qualify First Round Daniel Nelson
2024–25 1 BNXT League TBD Paul Vervaeck
  1. ^ a b The 2019–20 season was curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season finished in March, the Suns played only 23 games.

Players

edit

Retired numbers

edit

On 19 April 2018, Suns retired its first number as Tjoe de Paula was honored, who played for BV Den Helder during the periods 2001–2003, 2004–2006, 2008–2009 and 2017–18.[3]

Den Helder Suns retired numbers
No Nat. Player Position Tenure Ceremony date
5   Tjoe de Paula G 2017–2018 19 April 2018[3]

Current roster

edit
Den Helder Suns roster
Players Coaches
Pos. No. Nat. Name Ht. Age
PG 4   Gorissen, Nino 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) 26 – (1997-12-31)31 December 1997
SG 7     van Oostrum, Sam 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) 25 – (1998-12-14)14 December 1998
G 9   van der Knaap, Jacopo 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 21 – (2003-03-11)11 March 2003
C 10   Bleeker, Kevin 2.09 m (6 ft 10 in) 31 – (1993-05-10)10 May 1993
G 11   Biss, Jake 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) 26 – (1998-06-06)6 June 1998
PF 12   Huurman, Sam 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in) 22 – (2002-05-10)10 May 2002
G/F 13   Koehler, Troy 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) 23 – (2001-07-31)31 July 2001
PF 14   ter Haar, Jitze 2.05 m (6 ft 9 in) 23 – (2001-03-04)4 March 2001
G 33   Thran, Nick 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) 24 – (2000-05-03)3 May 2000
C 36   Halman, Dyon 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) 29 – (1994-11-17)17 November 1994
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)
  •   Anne van Dijk
Team manager
  •   Marco Starrenburg

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (DP) Development player
  • (I) Import player
  •   Injured

Updated: November 28, 2022

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Notable players

edit

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

Criteria

To appear in this section a player must have either:

  • Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club
  • Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time
  • Played at least one official NBA match at any time.

Individual awards

edit

Top scorers by season

edit

The following players were the leading scorers for Den Helder in each DBL season:[5]

Season Name PPG
2017–18   Tjoe de Paula 14.8
2018–19   Boy van Vliet 14.4
2019–20   Yarick Brussen 13.1
2020–21   Boyd van der Vuurst de Vries 14.7
2021–22   Ben Kovac 16.3

Head coaches

edit
Period Name Honours
2017–2023   Peter van Noord
2023–2024   Daniel Nelson
2024–present   Paul Vervaeck

Notes

edit
  1. ^ The Den Helder Suns is the successor of Den Helder Kings which went bankrupt in 2014 and while it is a new organisation, it can be seen as a phoenix club.

References

edit
  1. ^ "Den Helder volgend seizoen terug in eredivisie basketbal! - Den Helder Actueel". www.DenHelderActueel.nl. Archived from the original on 5 March 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  2. ^ "Peter van Noord Head Coach Den Helder Suns". Noordhollands Dagblad. 14 July 2017.
  3. ^ a b c "Tjoe de Paula voor altijd de Helderse nummer 5" (in Dutch). Denhelderactueel.nl. 19 April 2018. Retrieved 20 April 2018.
  4. ^ "Licenties BNXT League 2021-2022 toegekend". Basketball League (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 July 2021.
  5. ^ "Bright Kings Den Helder Stats - RealGM". basketball.realgm.com. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
edit