Perth recuit Justin Brown has won the State Basketball League’s MVP award after a season with the East Perth Eagles, and said he was honoured to win the award in his home state.

“I’m absolutely honoured, absolutely,” he said. “Being a WA boy and just playing in the league was fine as it is, but to take out the award was a big honour for me and for my teammates, and I feel really privileged because of it.

“The team was great, and that definitely made it possible to win – it was a big part of me winning the award, playing with them.

“You can’t win the MVP award by yourself – I’ve got a great bunch of team mates, we played together and did the best we could.”

Despite the lower standard of basketball in the SBL, Brown said he wouldn’t have missed it for anything.

“It’s not comparable to the NBL, but it is comparable to some of the teams we played in Taiwan.

“It’s a semi-professional league – only a very few of the guys get paid, and they’re just out there doing it for the love of the game. And I love that – the more I play, the better – I just love playing basketball.”

The 213cm, 115kg centre said the decision to play in the SBL rather than the more highly rated SEABL - which was where Jeff Dowdell played and gained a spot in the starting all-star team – was easy.

“I’d had a long time overseas, and an eight-month stint in China, and I really just wanted to be back in Perth. I get to see mum and dad and my brother and my family, and I just love it here, Perth is great.”

The Eagles, which won just one game last year, but this time around won eight, and just missed the playoffs. The Cats bigman described it as great for his development.

“They’re a great bunch of guys, and I just love playing with them, it’s always fun. This year I got some great minutes and produced figures that I was really happy with, so it’s worked beautifully.”