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Week #11 Rankings: DC joins DC
TweetDAMIAN Cotter now has NBA-experienced Dan Connelly on the Kings NBL coaching staff as technical assistant overseeing player development including workouts, individual video analysis and strategic development planning.
Connelly spent the 2013-14 NBA season as an advanced scout for both the Utah Jazz and the Denver Nuggets and is a specialist in player development and advanced scouting.
He also previously has worked as an advanced scout for the New Orleans Hornets and as a member of the coaching staff at the University of Memphis and at Princeton University.
“I’m looking forward to having someone of Dan’s expertise coming in and enhancing the program as we look to continually develop as a team,” Cotter said.
Connelly’s brother Tim is General Manager and Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations for the Denver Nuggets, while Pat Connelly is Assistant General Manager at the Phoenix Suns.
Up to four of the five Connelly siblings have worked for NBA organisations at any one time, with the other brother in charge of an NCAA recruitment program.
“We are extremely lucky to have Dan joining us at the Kings,” Tim Hudson, Head of the Kings’ Basketball Operations said.
“He will be a tremendous complement to our club working under Damian Cotter and Robbie McKinlay.
“His tremendous experience combined with his humility and high character are a perfect fit within our team’s culture and desire to improve.”
Connelly arrives in Sydney today and will be with the Kings for the rest of the 2014-15 NBL season.
WILL she or won’t she?
Will the great Lauren Jackson be back gracing WNBL courts in Adelaide and Perth this round for Canberra before the season’s Christmas-New Year break?
Australia’s London Olympics flag-bearer is back training but her knee started swelling last week and fluid had to be drained as she increased her training load.
Understandably the Capitals are ready to err on the side of caution but do not yet definitively rule out her surprising the Lightning and West Coast.
My money would be on Canberra taking no chances but LJ’s return would have to be a further shot in the arm for the women’s league.
YOU recall when Chris Anstey surprised all and sundry by handing back his coaching shirt, whistle and whiteboard after Melbourne opened its NBL season losing to Cairns?
My (e)mail is while D-Mac became the obvious interim, phone calls were placed to a number of possible candidates, including Brian Goorjian, Andrej Lemanis and Ian Stacker.
There also are suggestions some of those calls may even have occurred while Mr Anstey actually still was in the (hot) seat.
As for United ownership reaching out to NBA coach Mike D’Antoni?
As ridiculous as that may be to in-season pursue a foreign coach who knows nothing of the league or its teams, I keep hearing that those speculations – voiced on air on Ten by Andrew Gaze at the time – were in fact (and for those of you who watch “Would I Lie To You?” I have my index finger poised over the button) … True.
AS much as the petition doing the rounds imploring ABC-TV to stay on as broadcaster of the WNBL beyond this season - and imminent budget butchery of the national network - is a great initiative, personally I would rather see Basketball Australia at the forefront of any television campaign.
Not that I don’t believe in people power or don’t support it.
But perhaps it is time for BA to be pumping up the WNBL, flaunting its strengths to FTA networks and also pay-TV and treating the product in a chest-thumping manner, not bowing and begging.
The SEABL has just come under BA’s umbrella.
Let’s see how the federation runs with the WNBL’s TV ball.
WNBL PotW
THE WNBL got it completely correct, no argument whatsoever, with Suzy “Birthday Girl” Batkovic as its Player of the Week.
The Townsville tower led the Fire to two important road wins in Sydney and Canberra and added her 34th birthday for good measure yesterday for a hat-trick of successes this week.
And while always happy to see NZ’s Cedric Jackson winning an NBL award, this week’s Player of the Week included, I don’t mean to be picky but his two-game return of 33 points and 12 rebounds still fell short of B.O.T.I. PotW’s Josh Childress whose single game return for Sydney was 34 points and 12 rebounds.
Just sayin’
NBL Rankings
This Wk-Prev (Record)
8 (8) HAWKS 3-12 – Catch Melbourne when United is vulnerable and easily can make it back-to-back wins.
7 (7) 36ERS 4-10 – Showed they can against Melbourne, slipped against Perth and must step up now.
6 (6) CROCODILES 5-9 – Disappointing last week and not much to excite about facing NZ in Auckland.
5 (3) KINGS 6-6 – Blew a chance against the No.8 team and face the champs, then United away. Tough.
4 (2) UNITED 7-7 – Woes looked all too familiar last round and need to rediscover the evolving magic.
3 (5) TAIPANS 10-4 – Probably ended Townsville’s season last week and can do the same to Adelaide.
2 (1) WILDCATS 10-4 – Should take care of business in Sydney, then watch Cairns-NZ with interest.
1 (4) BREAKERS 11-4 – Finding their way again and should drown Crocs. But Cairns will be a beauty.
WNBL Rankings
This Wk-Prev (Record)
8 (8) LIGHTNING 2-10 – Looked better in stretches last week but intensity lapses horrific.
7 (6) WAVES 4-7 – Lost their way and even upsetting Caps won’t open road to playoffs.
6 (5) CAPITALS 4-7 – Dropping off the pace but a 2-0 road swoop would keep them buoyant.
5 (4) FLAMES 6-5 – Still playing well but need wins and a Victorian trip is not what the doctor ordered.
4 (7) RANGERS 5-7 – Here they come and Sydney showdown may be game of the round.
3 (3) BOOMERS 8-6 – No shame in the loss to Bendigo but Townsville the litmus test.
2 (2) SPIRIT 9-3 – Did what they had to do and now have Sydney next in their sights.
1 (1) FIRE 9-2 – Will love getting their hands on the Boomers in Townsville.
This Week's Tips
PERTH is back in Sydney for Round 3 of the Childress-Wagstaff no-match, the Kings possibly hoping a Thursday night tip-off might catch the Wildcats in training mode. Unhappy to lose on the road last week, Perth spanked Adelaide and similar awaits the Kings.
LOST a bit of faith in the Crocs after they went down in Cairns for the second time and have trouble seeing Shawn Dennis conjuring sufficient magic for a boilover across the Tasman against New Zealand. With Perth and Melbourne’s recent scalps, Cedric (pictured below) and Mika firing, Townsville will be heading home with another L.
MELBOURNE will look to stall its recent run of outs and fall from grace by plucking the Hawks in Wollongong, more easily said than done just lately. United appears to have slipped back into its more disjointed ways of the season’s early going and if it thinks it has a W pencilled in at the Sandpit, it is in for a long night.
UNITED? Melbourne needs to get back on the same page.
TWICE already Cairns has made Adelaide its bunny and the 36ers’ loss in Perth wasn’t pretty. Their soul-searching this week means you can expect a more fired up team against the Taipans and a Torrey Craig who just loves seeing the 36ers defenders. This one is my tip for the round’s upset with the Sixers surprising.
TORREY WORRY: Craig has been a 36ers nemesis
IF United doesn’t have its act together, the Kings can bring off an upset in Melbourne. Josh Childress is always a matchup challenge but if D-Mac has all of his charges on the same page, they should be able to avert the season’s second crisis.
HERE it is again, another challenge for the Breakers if they want to be genuinely accepted as a league leader and an equally big one for Cairns if it wants to be recognised as a contender. Wilbekin-Jackson should be fun but so should Gliddon-Webster, Weigh-Abers, Loughton-Vukona, Burston-Pledger, while Craig and Ibekwe bring different strengths off the bench. Cairns, narrowly, at home.
PREDICTING a WNBL boilover as Adelaide Lightning halt their losing run at eight and upset incoming Canberra. Having already brushed Lightning aside and with West Coast in Perth to come, the Caps may be forgiven for looking beyond Adelaide but it will be at their peril.
SO much hinges on Ro Cox’s return for Sydney if the Flames are to singe Bendigo. Sydney has played with great heart and energy but could not get over Townsville and the likelihood it can scale the Spirit in Bendigo also is dubious while it is below full potency. Bendigo to have a bit too much.
MELBOURNE could not get it done a second time against Bendigo, though the odds were stacked against the Boomers. Those odds won’t look any kinder in Townsville where the Fire have been raging and incoming teams run the risk of being severely burnt.
BEATEN on a Lindsey Moore buzzer-shaver last time in Perth, West Coast will need to apply more pressure sooner to break the Waves. Abby Bishop will be a keyway beast unless Louella Tomlinson (week-to-week with an ankle injury) returns and can perform well enough to repeat this year’s Hungarian Grand Final result.
DANDENONG is the danger game for Sydney because the Rangers already have several big scalps at Stud Road and return home after a convincing performance against the Waves in Perth. This also is a big one in terms of the top four and one Dandenong should get if Sydney is below strength.
Online
WHY did the chicken cross the road?
To cancel its NBL.TV subscription.
