Basketball On The Internet.

THE 36ers have scored their first major off-season NBL recruiting coup with coach Joey Wright helping to land the one man he has been wanting in Adelaide for three years.

Joe Tertzakian, a.k.a. “Big Joe” will take up the role of the Sixers’ general manager of operations after concluding his duties with the Darwin Basketball Association in June.

Tertzakian has been the DBA’s executive officer for the past year and highly acclaimed for his work in the job.

Online registrations and CCTV for all courts have been two of his innovations but it was his work in presenting the Grand Final and MVP awards night for which he most has been lauded.

His flair and entrepreneurial skills - not to mention personality - mostly are what make Big Joe not only popular but highly successful.

His running of the NBL’s 2014 Blitz Tournament in Brisbane was hugely successful and Adelaide will put his abilities to excellent use in his new operations capacity.

Between 1999 and 2012, he worked in similar capacities for Wright at Brisbane Bullets and Gold Coast Blaze.

NBL CHAMPS: Big Joe (back, right), with the Bullets 2007 League champion.

“I’m very excited. I was working in the NBL when it was really bad, then part of it when it was rising, and part of it when it was declining again,” Tertzakian told the NT News.

“But obviously it’s very exciting now with the new management running the league.”

Adelaide made major strides forward last season to the point where the “Full House” sign had to be dusted off at Titanium Security Arena.

Big Joe has been a huge figure in Queensland basketball for decades, his recent commitment to losing weight inspirational.

BIG JOE: Joe Tertzakian in his “big” days, with a young Adam Gibson in his first Bullets' stint.

Tipping the scales at 275kg at his heaviest, through surgery and an eating plan that has him consuming smaller meals up to nine times a day, he is down to a far more manageable 119kg.

It has been an uplifting journey to follow with him, especially his return to the court as a player, his loss a blow for the DBA.

NOT QUITE AS BIG: Joe now.

“We have accomplished so much in this time both on and off the court with some of my personal favourites being hosting NBL pre-season games, sending a senior men’s DBA team to a tournament in Malaysia, putting on one of the ritziest Gala MVP Awards Dinner, bringing in the inaugural CHAMPIONSHIP RINGS and creating one of the most hyped and talked about Grand Final Day’s in DBA history!!!” Tertzakian posted on Facebook, sharing the credit with his DBA team.

“I am confident I am leaving the DBA is in a much better place than when I arrived and that is something I am extremely proud of.”

The 36ers are confident his presence will help take the club to the next level.