OMFG: Finally a new CEO is on the way
TweetOUR MANY FRIDAY GEMS: IF you are wondering when Basketball Australia plans to make some kind of announcement about its new Chief Executive Officer, apparently it has been narrowed down to “sometime this year … probably”.
BA enlisted Global Elite Sports to run the recruitment to find the person clever enough to fill the role vacated (effectively last year) by Kristina Keneally.
(Hasn’t she done well since she left, too? Always great to bring in new faces to our sport who can add another impressive line to their resume. Thanks for popping by KK.)
My (e)mail is some 130 applicants jumped at the chance to succeed KK on the BA throne – so much for head-hunting a candidate – prompting Global to say “that’s enough”, pulling the advert.
Further, a carrier pigeon has landed to inform me Global has it down to a short list of seven “outstanding” candidates – or maybe three outstanding, two excellent and two with exciting potential, I cannot be sure – and has submitted said list to a BA sub-committee.
(No doubt the sub-committee also is outstanding.)
Good news basketballing brethren – and sisthren – interviews are underway!
So yes, we may have a new leader before Christmas.
Just can't guarantee it will be THIS Christmas.
ONCE the NBL formally announces Brisbane will play host to this year’s Preseason Blitz for the Loggins-Bruton Trophy, it must pull out all stops to make it a winner.
If the NBL is as determined to see the league back in Brizzy as it claims and has earmarked 2015-16 for a return of the Bullets or arrival of the Bullants, Bullfrogs or Bulldogs, then enough bulldust.
Do it right.
Spend a quid.
I’ve already suggested some directions to go at http://www.botinagy.com/blog/loggins-bruton-bound-to-blitz-brisbane/
But let’s make sure the publicity campaign extends to the Courier Mail, television and radio with news services bombarded with stories and items they simply cannot ignore.
Show the matches on live streaming too.
If NBL.TV is too busy unravelling a Picasso – yes, that’s a reference to PERFORM’s often frozen, disjointed and downright pixilated coverage – then get private enterprise involved.
It would be brilliant to have footage of action available to supply the nightly TV news services.
They’d genuinely be impressed to save money by not having to send out crews of their own to grab a few seconds of action.
And from such footage of active players – James Ennis dunking or Chris Goulding bagging 50 points are great highlights from 2013-14 but ahead of the 2014-15 season we should be seeing the new faces – television advertisements could spring forth.
Spend a quid to make a quid.
Otherwise the NBL will just be quidding itself.
THERE have been more player movements than you can shake an Acromat upright at but you will find Basketball On The Internet’s latest roster details elsewhere on the site today.
JUST in case you missed these tidbits: Byron Scott is the new coach-in-waiting (to be sacked) of the LA Lakers; Donald Sterling is now muttering almost exclusively to himself, Aussie WNBA stars at Phoenix are having a mercurial time.
Scott may have been a star shooting guard in the Lakers’ Showtime era, but just like his power forward teammate from those halcyon days – Kurt Rambis – his NBA coaching record is spotty at best.
Worse still, the major free agents such as LeBron and Carmelo were not wooed to the storied franchise and last year Kobe Bryant was given a $48.5 million contract extension while coming off a torn Achilles tendon.
He managed six games, broke a bone in his left knee and missed the rest of the season.
No-one doubts his indomitable competitive spirit but no matter how well he returns, his best days are in the rearview mirror.
A four-year deal for Scott, already fired three times in his career and with a coaching record of more than 100 games under .500, seems an excessive gamble.
(Especially with potential coaching candidate Steve Nash a year from retirement as a player.)
When Carlos Boozer is the best pick-up of the off-season and Pau Gasol is lost to Chicago Bulls, not sure Lakers fans will be ready to turn in their Miami Heat fan gear just yet.
MERCURY's 16-game winning streak ended today at the hands of the reigning WNBA champion Minnesota Lynx 75-67.
Penny Taylor had 16 points for Phoenix, behind only Brittney Griner's 18, Maya Moore leading the Lynx with a game-high 20.
Erin Phillips missed the match with a left ankle sprain.
WATCHED footage of Derrick Rose this week at the USA's World Cup practice on ESPN and, well, the Chicago Bulls star guard looked pretty darn good.
In fact, he looked a lot like Derrick Rose, if you know what I mean.
TOMORROW: I caught up this week with Boomers playmaker, Cavs reserve and Olympian Matthew Dellavedova for a feature at News Corp. I had enough left over to give you a supplementary look into how the Australian team is shaping for the World Cup.