Aussie Basketball Discussion

[Andrew]

Irving won't play for Australia in Olympics

Cavaliers rookie Kyrie Irving won't play for Australia in the London Olympics this summer.

Irving was born in Australia in 1992, while his father was playing professional basketball in Melbourne. He holds dual U.S. and Australian citizenship, making him eligible to play for either country under FIBA rules.

Irving said Monday night, after Cleveland lost to Utah 109-100, that he will remain with Team USA. He hopes to make the Olympic team in 2016 and play again for Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Irving said he received confirmation that Krzyzewski will coach Team USA in four years in the Rio Olympics. Irving played for Krzyzewski at Duke last season before becoming the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft.

''It was the right decision,'' said Irving, who has represented the United States in junior competition. ''I found out Coach K would be coaching in 2016. It made my decision so much easier to play for my coach again. That was the deciding factor.''

That's a shame, but I guess it was a longshot. Hopefully Bogut's healed and ready to go in time.

[Kenny]

That's a shame, I guess our starting point guard will be Matt Dellavedova, who recently won the West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year. Wikipedia has him listed as a shooting guard, but I'm pretty sure he was getting the backup minutes when Patty was off in the Olympic Qualifier.

As for Patty, I think the lockout particularly hurt his development as a player.

[koberulz]

That's a shame, but I guess it was a longshot. Hopefully Bogut's healed and ready to go in time.

And of course, Colangelo's come out and said they haven't discussed the coach for 2016, so his reason for playing for them is a little odd.

Meanwhile, Marc Howard has said that earlier media reports were incorrect and there is no impending announcement of a second Melbourne team. Brisbane and Melbourne have been in and out so many times it's getting silly.

[The X]

That's a shame, I guess our starting point guard will be Matt Dellavedova, who recently won the West Coast Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Year. Wikipedia has him listed as a shooting guard, but I'm pretty sure he was getting the backup minutes when Patty was off in the Olympic Qualifier.

As for Patty, I think the lockout particularly hurt his development as a player.

Backup to Patty. He outplayed Patty

Delladova should be the Boomers' starting PG in London

[Kenny]

Speaking of Matty D, he's in the finalists for the Bob Cousy award.

He's having a hell of a season. The forum needs a Matty D bandwagon I think.

[koberulz]

The draft of next season's NBL schedule includes a second Melbourne team, but no Brisbane team. And apparently the Bullets won the title in '93

I hope the Melbourne team changes its name. 'Bushrangers' is woeful.

[Andrew]

The Bushrangers? I guess it makes sense given Ned Kelly's status as a folk hero but I agree, pick another name.

[Dan's Brain]

Our state cricket team is the Bushrangers. Bit of originality wouldn't go amiss. Still better than Bobcats though.

[Kenny]

Bushrangers... that's awful. That was the name of my junior cricket team as well

[koberulz]

Looks like Melbourne won't be in next season either. EDIT: A second team. The Tigers are fine. Planning to move some games to Hisense, apparently.

There will be a new TV deal, though: one live game on a Sunday afternoon, one delayed game at 9.30PM Fridays. The NBL also has rights to broadcast any other games via Pay TV or internet streaming, a right previously held by Ten even for games they weren't televising. http://www.livenbl.tv has floated around Twitter.

Two fewer games than should have been on One, and one fewer than this season, but with live games back in the schedule and reclaiming the rights to the other games, with the ability to stream them or give some to Fox, I'd say that's a massive win for the NBL.

[Andrew]

Agreed, one live and one delayed game is still a step up from three delayed games (especially in bad timeslots).

[koberulz]

Finally official: NBL remains at nine teams.

Just got back from game two of the grand final, which was fucking awesome.

[Andrew]

I would like to see the league expand but it's understandable they'd hold off for the sake of financial stability. It'd be great to get some former NBL cities back in the comp and another team in Melbourne again but I guess that'll take a little more time.

[koberulz]

I'd give Melbourne a 90% chance of being in the season after next. Brisbane really depends on those submitting bids: if they get together and submit one, they might have a shot, but they're all going their own separate ways at the moment and none of them are up to scratch.

Game three of the grand final will, after an entire year of being dicked around by One, be live in Perth. Everywhere else will get it at the usual time of 10:30, though, as far as I'm aware. Rumours floating around that there may be some sort of screening at Challenge Stadium, though nothing confirmed as yet. The Wildcats did arrange a live screening of game two in the 200-seat lecture hall, for those who missed out on tickets.

[koberulz]

The Boomers are playing China on the 9th and 13th of June at Challenge Stadium. Both games will be on Fox, with game one also being live on Nine in WA.

They're also playing a game in Albany on the 11th, which doesn't appear to be on TV at all.

[Andrew]

Will probably give those a look, thanks for the heads up.

[koberulz]

There's also a Farewell Series against Greece in Melbourne in late June, though there's been no mention of TV for that.

[koberulz]

2012/13 NBL schedule: http://dmlpj02vd15xf.cloudfront.net/fil ... public.pdf

[koberulz]

Games one and three of the Australia-China series will be streamed live on iiNet Freezone.

[koberulz]

Here we go again...

JAMES Harvey will never forget something his parents taught him: always stick up for your mates through good and bad.

That's why he is giving this interview. He doesn't need to.

The man who has been the face of the Gold Coast Blaze for five seasons will receive almost $26,000 of the $35,518 the club still owe him.

He doesn't do too badly out of it.

Some of his mates don't do so well.

It's why after a season during which the Blaze fell one game short of the grand final, Harvey believes it is his responsibility to lift the lid on that season -- a season of deception.

He knows he will cop some flak. That's why he has provided the Bulletin with every piece of financial documentation he has been sent by the Blaze.

In an explosive interview, Harvey revealed:

Several players have not been paid superannuation since April 2011;

The Blaze did not post a $1 million bank guarantee when they were granted a licence;

The Blaze knew they may have been going into administration before the season's end but did not tell the players;

Players received payments late because money was being transferred from overseas;

He was forced to have season-ending surgery.


"I want to talk about it. I will only talk about the facts because that's what I know to be true, I can't touch on the rumours. But someone needs to go hard, too many people have been hurt, " he said.
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Harvey revealed that last season the Blaze would play at night after some younger players had spent the day asking family and friends for money because the Blaze had again been late in processing payments.

Much of the money is sourced from businesses overseas.

It was a season during which Harvey's close friend and former coach Brendan Joyce was financially ruined.

Joyce was sacked by the Blaze in 2009 and wasn't paid a cent of what was remaining on his contract.

He took the Blaze to the Supreme Court and won. He was ordered to be paid more than $300,000 plus costs.

That means nothing now. As an unsecured creditor he will receive just 7 in the dollar.

He has a six-figure legal bill he cannot pay.

Joyce is a basketball figure you either love or hate. That shouldn't come into this.

"He is a good man with a wonderful family and they deserve better," Harvey said.

"Whether he was the right man for the job or not, or whether people thought he played his son too much, that's beside the point. It's not about basketball any more.

"Brendan even offered the Blaze two time extensions and a payment plan."

Remarkably, after the Blaze refused to pay Joyce out they hired Joey Wright.

The bulk of his two-year contract was paid up front. That was a condition of him signing.

The Blaze last night said all commercial contracts were in confidence and refused to comment on that issue.

"It is well-known that was a major factor in luring Joey back to Australia from America," Harvey said.

A furious Harvey, the club's longest-serving employee, wasn't even told the club had gone into administration.

"The day the club went into administration co-owner Owen Tomlinson sent me a text message wishing me all the best after I had signed with Sydney. He didn't even mention the club had gone into administration," Harvey said.

Players contracted for next year were at Blaze Headquarters.

As they went into a meeting the off-contract Harvey, Stephen Hoare, Tom Garlepp and Jason Cadee were told nothing, even though they are contracted until June 30.

"To this day the Blaze still haven't made any contact with us. The only reason we knew what happened was because we contacted them," said Harvey.

"That's actually not totally true. Owen's wife Katie sent me an email asking me to vote the deed through at the creditors' meeting. That's the only contact they've made with me.

"They stopped paying our contracts, effective immediately."

The Blaze claim the administrator was responsible for contacting off-contract players.

It didn't impact Harvey's life greatly. "I've earned good money in basketball and now I have a new contract with the Sydney Kings beginning in August, so I'm very appreciative of that," he said.

Harvey has disdain for Basketball Australia and the lack of support shown publicly for teammates and fellow creditors.

There is supposed to be a $1 million bank guarantee should an NBL club strike financial hardship.

Harvey confronted Basketball Australia chief executive Scott Derwin at last week's creditors' meeting. He admitted the seven-figure sum was never guaranteed by the Blaze.

"Every time I saw Scott Derwin on the news it was to support the Blaze owners and the organisation. He never once supported the players or an unfairly dismissed coach who gave 30 years service to the NBL."

The Blaze last night said they, like many clubs, opposed the guarantee and revealed it could not be used to fund civil matters.

"And what about a guy like Stephen Hoare? He is a champion of our game. He played 17 years in the NBL. He is the most genuine teammate I've ever played with and unanimously the most popular player in his team. He is one of its greatest ambassadors, yet after 17 years he might not be able to enjoy a few beers and a few months off work because the Blaze hadn't paid him. That's not right," said Harvey.

Harvey's five-year tenure at the Blaze ended this season. He has signed with the Kings. The Blaze continually denied in the media he was pushed out, but Harvey confirmed he was not offered a new deal.

He also revealed he could have played in the playoffs.

"I was fit enough to play. I wanted to play. I knew we'd probably end up playing Perth to make the grand final and, being a former player, I'd be the one to cop the heat from the crowd and that would ease the pressure on the rest of the boys.

"I didn't care what role I played. I just wanted to be there."

But the Blaze decided not to bring him back.

"I was told to go and have surgery on my ankle. They would pay everything and I wouldn't be out of pocket a cent. But guess what happened? Before any of those medical bills were paid, the club went into administration and now I receive 7 to the dollar for those.

"They knew there was a chance of going into administration because I witnessed a conversation between one of the owners and the coaching staff discussing the possibility. Yet officially, the players were told time and time again everything was fine."

Harvey conceded he was glad to no longer be with the club. He had thought he would play out his career with them.

"I just can't wait to get to Sydney. It's been an awful period even though I'm a lucky one. It's a shame so many good people have been hurt. "

Tomlinson admitted he was disappointed with Harvey's comments but would not be in a slanging match.

"He (James) was our inaugural captain, and we have supported him strongly over the past five years, so it is disappointing he feels like he has to attack the club and league at such a difficult time," Tomlinson said.

Harvey said he was always going to stick up for his mates.

"This is not a witchhunt. It's a show of solidarity for people like Brendan who deserve much better," he said.

[Andrew]

That's pretty damn lousy.

"He (James) was our inaugural captain, and we have supported him strongly over the past five years, so it is disappointing he feels like he has to attack the club and league at such a difficult time," Tomlinson said.

Sounds to me like he's got every right to speak out as he has done.

[koberulz]

Not to mention that the Dragons dropped out in 09 solely because of the need of the $1m guarantee.

Boomers-Greece is on Fox Sports 2 on Sunday afternoon/evening/night, depending on timezone and the accuracy of my memory.

[Andrew]

7 PM for those of us on AEST. Assuming I'm not otherwise occupied, I'll try to catch that.

[koberulz]

The [url=http://www.basketball.net.au/index.php?id=302&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=2525&tx_ttnews[backPid]=1&cHash=b86ce54e06]full TV schedule for the series[/url] also lists Opals games for Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday on ABC.

[Andrew]

Caught some of the game last night, not enough to say all that much but good result.