Around the traps
TweetIF you need evidence the Player Points System is flawed then look only as far as Tom Jervis.
Picked up by Perth Wildcats out of the WA State League as insurance for centre Matt Knight, they signed him for a season as a one-point “rookie”.
Jervis was a rookie by NBL standards, even though he is 27 and has been a State League stand-out for ages.
Time for a “mature-age recruit” category?
Jervis played some college ball at Troy University in Alabama - all the best people do … - but like former SA State League superstar, Jason Dix, looked likely to end his career without stepping on an NBL court.
Until the Wildcats took a punt on him. And what did they get in return?
The NBL’s 2014 Rookie of the Year award winner.
But because the club didn’t sign him to an option, he is now a free agent and reassessed as a 7-point player.
What a difference a year makes!
For Perth to retain him, it will have to do some fancy player shuffling and fully utilise the new “loyalty points” concession the NBL is having to introduce.
Otherwise, if I’m Gordie McLeod at Wollongong or Shawn Dennis Townsville, I am all over Jervis.
As NBL chief exec Fraser Neill pointed out to me, the PPS doesn't keep players out of the league. Just maybe out of the team they wish to play with or which punted on them.
THE drums in Sydney keep beating out D-a-m-i-a-n C-o-t-t-e-r as the likely heir apparent to the Kings’ coaching throne.
I am extremely reliably informed DC is a marvel and was a very sharp SEABL coach at Knox before moving to Sydney to work for Basketball NSW.
He coached Tommy Greer and Mick Hill among others before they moved to NBL level.
It seems only natural he should move on up himself.
First thing he should do when/if he gets the gig is sit down with Brad Hill and explain how it came to pass that Brad ended up with Ben Allen’s minutes.
JASON Cadee has probably landed in New Zealand by now, the 36ers’ free agent about to have an off-NBL-season run in the NZ NBL.
Will he be back for a third year as a 36er or will the lure of returning home to Sydney prove too strong?
It’s almost as good a question as will Mika Vukona adjust to the officiating next season, having struggled all year to stay on the court for the Breakers?
No coincidence his struggles mirrored New Zealand’s.
NICE to see Kristina Keneally back on television and across social media lately.
Could her return to Basketball Australia be far away?
DUAL-Olympian Joe Ingles and his Maccabi Tel Aviv outfit today joined Barcelona in the Euroleague Final Four after beating Emporio Armani Milan 86-66.
The Game 4 win in front of a sellout crowd at Nokia Arena wrapped the best-of-five series 3-1 for Maccabi.
Panathinaikos forced a deciding Game 5 by beating CSKA Moscow 73-72 in overtime to lock their series locked 2-2.
And reigning dual-champion Olympiacos also lived to fight another day, beating Real Madrid 71-62 to tie that series also at 2-2.
LEAVE you on a positive note. It's not as quiet up in Brisbane as it seemed earlier this week.