Sunday snags and smallgoods
TweetAYINDE has joined Jesse on an early flight back to the USA, Sandy lands in Phoenix and by the way, there were some great games this weekend.
But to begin at the beginning and the shenanigans began at the Sydney Kings when news broke late last week they had signed NBA forward Sam Young.
When that news prematurely broke – the Kings not yet having informed their existing import that a change was imminent – the performance of Sydney’s front office was pathetic.
Don’t mean to harp on it but as I write this on Sunday evening, I am still waiting for the call back from administration manager Lorraine Landon to Thursday’s inquiry about what the status of Jesse Sanders and Charles Carmouche now would be.
GM Rod Harys wasn’t available when I called and neither was media and communications manager Bill Fischer.
But I was reliably informed Ms Landon would get back to me with some official comment.
Still hasn’t happened.
Bill did call for a much-appreciated off-the-record update and coach Shane Heal responded on Thursday evening with an explanatory text.
But Friday – game day against Townsville – rolled around and still the club had nothing to offer.
Except for a series of text messages from a Kings director telling me I had been harsh on the club because Sydney had not waived an import and no new contracts had been given to the NBL and blah blah blah as the trail of butt-covering semantics wound on.
Seriously, Friday was as unprofessional a performance as I have seen from a club’s administration in 35 years of NBL, as if not talking about what by then was the Sanders-Young situation, would make it go away.
Pathetic.
What was brilliant, exceptional, heart-warming and also professional, was how Heal and his inner sanctum - the Kings as a team – handled it all internally.
His hand tipped by Young’s agent Joel Bell’s premature public admission the 198cm four-year NBA veteran was NBL-bound, Heal addressed it with Sanders.
Post-win Friday, Heal said: “This hasn’t happened over the last 24 hours.
“I sat down with Jesse 10 days ago and told him we were looking around.
“When the chance arose to sign a genuine NBA player it was an opportunity the club had to explore.”
The way the Kings handled it in the change-rooms – “Let’s get this one for Jesse” - on the court and again post-game was truly impressive.
It was clear Sanders – who went for 14 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals in the thrashing of the Crocs – went out as the consummate pro.
And it was equally clear how highly he was and is regarded by his Kings’ teammates who showed him genuine affection in an emotional ending to his NBL career on Friday.
His teammates played a great game, as did he, and the warmth of his farewell left no-one in any doubt he had been classy in all aspects of his journey here.
So too had Shane Heal and his charges.
Pity about the front office.
SAM Young is going to get a baptism of fire on Sunday when he goes up against Perth’s NBA-bound athlete James Ennis.
Not that he can’t handle it. Perish that thought.
Heal tweeted today Young was a very good fit already and let’s be honest now, anyone following the NBL has to be getting excited at the calibre of import coming back to our league.
It’s like the old days of Dwayne McClain, and Acie Earl, and Kevin Brooks, and Darnell Mee and….
But here’s the thing. Young comes pretty much straight from the NBA where he has played 249 games.
Brooks, for example, had a huge impact as a Larry Sengstock Medallist and dual-NBL championship winner. He played 128 NBA games.
Lanard Copeland was a championship MVP in two NBL championship runs. He logged 37 NBA games.
Yes. The NBL is very much back.
BACK but only briefly was Ayinde Ubaka, who left the Tigers today, returning to the US for personal reasons.
“Chewy came in late and worked hard to give us what we wanted, but his circumstances mean he needs to leave,” Tigers coach Chris Anstey said.
“We respect his situation.
“I know Chewy is disappointed to be leaving because he loves his teammates and they love him. He has been an excellent teammate and fitted in really well with this group.”
Ubaka averaged just 5.3 ppg at 31.8 per cent from the field in seven appearances with Melbourne this season, down from his NBL career numbers of 13.5 ppg at 39.9 per cent.
In last night’s 88-85 win over the Cairns, Ubaka had seven points in almost 25 minutes.
Melbourne expects to reveal its replacement for Ubaka within 48 hours.
Anstey ruled out much of the speculation already running rampant, saying the Tigers now had gone back to recruiting the type of player Stephen Dennis had been in their preseason - the longer, athletic guard in the Dennis, Darnell Mee mold.
“There’s guys in and around NBA rosters now being released but we weren’t interested in bringing in a player and then having an ‘NBA-out’ clause,” he said.
“I mean, James Ennis and Sam Young are great for this league but if they walk out two weeks before the finals, it makes it hard.
“So we aren’t bringing in someone with that option.”
Expect an announcement by Tuesday at the latest.
FORMER WNBL and Opals star Sandy Brondello yesterday formally was appointed head coach of the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury.
She follows Carrie Graf and Tom Maher as Australians to coach in the WNBA, though this will be her second stint after previously helming the San Antonio Stars to the playoffs in 2010 and most recently assisting at Los Angeles Sparks.
“In a thorough search of very qualified candidates, Sandy separated herself as the right coach for this team and the right person for this job,” Mercury Executive Vice President Jim Pitman said.
“She is a winner, a leader, an excellent communicator and a detail-oriented tactician. Her lifetime of basketball experience and her ability to evaluate talent year-round will greatly benefit our organization, and we are thrilled to add such a great ambassador of the women’s game.”
How the appointment will impact Brondello’s ability to serve as Opals assistant – she has been high on the radar of national coach Brendan Joyce – remains to be seen.
Aussie international star Penny Taylor is part of Mercury’s roster.
MARK "Hogey" Bradtke is heading into the Hall of Fame this week and took time for a chat at: http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/sport/basketball/mark-bradtke-ready-to-join-basketballs-hall-of-fame-greats/story-fnii09gt-1226759897634