Sunday 27 May 2012

Sydney Kings sign Corin Henry


The Sydney Kings have made the first of their two import singings. Taking on Defensive player of the year in Denmark Corin Henry. Standing 5'11" Coring Henry is a fast point guard who can shoot the ball make some passes and a good defender. But coming from a weaker league like Denmark it will be interesting to see how he stands up to the NBL. It could be another Showron Glover scenario. I have added a clip below and you can decide for yourself.

Monday 21 May 2012

Uncle drew pepsi ad

I know its a commercial but I thought they did quite a good job on this one.

Thursday 17 May 2012

2011/12 Adris "2hard2guard" Deleon highlights


Probably the most exciting player on the floor in the 2011/12 IINet NBL championships was Adris Deleon for the Gold Coast Blaze. On his night he could tear any team apart with his excellent speed, shooting and ball handling ability. I just found this highlight clip from this season thought you guys might enjoy it.
http://vimeo.com/41836527

Ill add others if I can find them

Tigers stand down on Trevor Gleeson


Trevor Gleeson is on paid leave after the Tigers have released that they do not intend to keep him on as head coach of The Melbourne Tigers in the 2012/13 season. The tigers have stated that Trevor Gleeson will step down with pay, as he still has another year left on his contract. He was not given any reason for being stood down.Gleeson has been head coach of the Melbourne Tigers prior to the 2011/12 season and lead his team to 11-17 and finished sixth place and missed the playoffs for the third straight year. This is just more unprofessional behaviour coming from the team thatacted unprofessionally all season.Seamus McPeake stepped down as CEO after firing Ayinde Ubaka one of the best guards in the league mid season and it was hoped that the organisation would look after their employees after this resignation. Perhaps they will do the right thing and pay out Trevor Gleeson in full and it was an agreed parting of ways. It seems everyone in that organisation is jumping boat.
Meanwhile Adam Ballinger has been recruited by the Melbourne Tigers. He played very few games the last two seasons due to injury concerns but if he is fully fit he can be a very good player. I just hope the Tigers get the organisation under control and stop losing players, coaches and administration staff.

Wednesday 16 May 2012

LeBron James NBA league MVP for third time


Lebron James has taken out the NBA's league MVP for the third time. He has become the 8th player to ever win the MVP award at least 3 times. James joins Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (6), Michael Jordan and Bill Russell (5), Wilt Chamberlain (4) and Larry Bird, Magic Johnson and Moses Malone (3) on the list of players with at least three MVPs. With three MVP awards and not one championship ring it puts a lot of pressure on James to perform in the finals series. With Bosh out indefinitely for the season, the Miami Heat are still going into most games as the favourite, but James has been the favourite in games since coming into the NBA. The partnership of Dwayne Wade and Lebron James can bring a championship but will still probably be the most hated team in the league. It cant be denied that he is a great basketballer and i'm sure he will get one in the years to come but it takes a team to win a championship and a great leader. It will be interesting to see if the heat can come up with the goods this year but i'm doubting there chances as this finals series continues. 

Thursday 10 May 2012

Gold Coast Blaze go into voluntary administration



UPDATE: NBL has released the statement that the blaze are looking confident to continue the club into next season.
“Clearly, we still need to allow the Administrator to analyse these plans and the overall position of the club in detail before we can be certain that Gold Coast will continue to play on in the NBL.  However based on the information we have so far, those who have been forecasting the demise of the Blaze since Friday are certainly premature and quite possibly wrong.”

The Gold Coast Blaze have opted to go into voluntary administration to combat their financial difficulties.
“The ownership group of the Gold Coast Blaze advised me late yesterday that they had placed the club into voluntary administration, and had appointed Roland Robson from Aggs Robson as Administrator,” said Basketball Australia's interim chief executive officer Scott Derwin. “The League understands that the Blaze took this difficult decision in order to act in a responsible, legal and ethical manner to try and find an appropriate way past their present financial difficulties."

This would all have come about due to the club owing Brandon Joyce a large sum of money from his contract which he was fired from in 2009. Also the extensive legal fees from trying to get out of paying Joyce the money that is owed to him. NBL has not made a final statement on the mattter but says that they will once they have spoken to the Gold Coast Blaze administration. It is unclear if this opens the Blaze players to other deals in the NBL teams as the team may go under. This must be bring back harsh memories for Blaze MVP Mark worthington being a part of 2 other teams that went bankrupt the South Sydney Dragons and the now back Sydney Kings. Gold Coast has an excellent arena and a solid team and coaching staff but could not get sufficient turnouts to the games. Sport on the Gold Coast is in a massive decline this year has seen the Gold Coast United football club go under, the Gold Coast Titans are owing millions and the Suns have not yet shown they can stand on their own two feet. For the fastest growing area in Australia it is severely lacking in the sporting arena. Perhaps it was a bad choice for the 2018 Commenwealth games.

I hope the Blaze manage to navigate their financial woes and stay in the league, as the NBL is finally starting to make a come back into Australian sport. If the Blaze do go bankrupt it would be good to see the Brisbane Bullets step up and take on the players and coaching staff and sustain the league at its current 9 teams.

Wednesday 9 May 2012

3 on 3 comp in Geelong, "Whoosh at the waterfront"


Corey "Homicide" Williams the streetball legend will be hosting a 3 on 3 comp in Geelong in June. It is a FIBA world qualifying tournament with the top two teams winning a chance to compete at Valdivostok, Russia to compete in the grand final. Their is an Elite division with the top prize worth $5000 and flights to the finals and their is a participation level for fun. There will be scouts and recruiters from various leagues at the games. It costs $220 for an elite team to register and $120 for a participation team. Its going to be cold in Geelong in June.

Thursday 3 May 2012

Cairns Taipans sign college stars


Clinton Stiendl has also been recruited by the Cairns Taipans. Clinton is returning from australia at the end start of the 2012/2013 season after completing college at the NCAA mid major powerhouse St Mary's college. Clinton is renowned for being a world class shooter as assistant coach mick downer believes, “Clint has a reputation as being a world class shooter, but I think he will really surprise people with his versatility as a player,’’ Downer said.
Head coach Aaron Fearne is also excited about the prospect “Perimeter shooting is an area of the game that we felt we needed to improve on and Clint’s proven he is amongst the best in college basketball from behind the arc,” Fearne said “He has obviously had a taste of the Boomers program and will be highly motivated to continue his development towards future selections.”
Clinton is also excited about getting back and starting into the Taipans program.
“I’m really excited about everything that’s going on in Cairns, from the team that is being put together, to the club and the amazing support by the community."

The Cairns Taipans have nearly finished with their recruiting for next season having secured
Clinton Steindl, Cam Tragardh, Cam Gliddon, Dusty Rychart, Aaron Grabau and Jamar Wilson as contracted players for the 2012/13 season, with more player announcements expected in the near future it looking to be a decent team with a few new players in the professional basketball arena and the NBL. Cairns still has another import spot but the team as it stands is looking strong.

The Skytrans Cairns Taipans have signed NAIA college player Cameron Gliddon on a 2 yr deal as he finished College. The NAIA league is comparable to a div 2 NCAA league. But Glidden comes into the league with an impressive resume, he was named to the First Team All-American and won the prestigious Chuck Taylor award-the National tournament Most Valuable player. Gliddon came out in the preseason last year and trained with the Taipans so Fearne got a close look at the young Athlete. “He (Gliddon) really impressed me with his ability to shoot the ball consistently from depth and his overall smarts on the court.”
“The fact he had such a fantastic senior year with the (Concordia) Eagles proves to us that he can handle the big stage and is ready to be a contracted as a full time NBL player.”
Fearne commented on what fans should expect from the college star.
“Cam is a straight shooter. If he gets going, he will be pretty hard to stop,” said Fearne.
“He will surprise a few people with his athleticism as well, something that I felt we lacked a little bit with this season.”

Gliddon returns to Australia after a great college career. His team got the chance to play against some NCAA div 1 teams and the managed a few wins and some close losses, losing to UCLA by 1. Standing at 6'5" and able to hit the three point shot it is a great signing by the snakes and i think he will definitly give some surprises next season with his height, athleticism and shooting ability. Iv attached a highlights reel of his MVP performance at the 2012 NAIA national tournament.