Seeing he got thrown out part way through the 3rd quater can we argue he has already served part of his suspension?

Maybe he can sit out until after half time against Melbourne then we bring him on....

Hasn't Heal done worse and copped less?

Seeing he got thrown out part way through the 3rd quater can we argue he has already served part of his suspension?

Maybe he can sit out until after half time against Melbourne then we bring him on....

"While he does push the envelope from time to time"

now i don't know if he has been reported before but surely you can either take into account his clean record or his prior reports, not the way he plays the game. In AFL do you think the tribunal takes into consideration how many free kicks go against a player or how chatty he is with the umpires. He is either reported or not reported, surely.

i think its a bit rough......when you look at his long career in the NBL, how many times has he had to face the tribunal?....couldn't he have just got a fine like the Wildcats did?...whether he's handy off the bench or not!

Way to kick a team while it is down.

Nutwork that is an excellent point. It is absurd to make a comment like that. Either he has been reported before and has a history of incidents or he doesn't.

On the penalty that was handed down, if Copes does have a clean record and given that this may be his last season, i feel a suspended sentance would have been a better outcome.

Forgetting about the merits of the suspension for a minute, is this our line-up for tomorrow night, assuming Hodge doesn't play!

Davidson
Ng
Ballinger
Cooper
Mottram

Dench
Sutton
Burdon
Dodman
Gerlach?

We'd have to go big wouldn't we, surely they couldn't look to start Sutton alongside Ng & Davidson in a 3 gaurd rotation.

Tigers last game started, Crosswell (190cm), Barlow (205cm), Thomas (204cm), Lampley (198cm) & Anstey (213cm). We will be giving away a lot of height tomorrow night, whoever starts.

Who would end up as the 11th & 12th guys tomorrow night? I haven't been keeping up with the Academy too much - Lalic, Mapunda, Spud are 3 names I keep seeing mentioned here as performing well, will two of them get to anchor the Bench?

Whilst i havent seen the incident, I think a 1 match suspension for (virtually) "threatening an umpire" is quite a good outcome for the 36ers and LC.

In truth, i believe that sort of offence should bring a greater punishment, its time that players were reminded that they must not intimidate or confront officials.

Dont get me wrong, im no fan of officials..but..wheres the support for the umpires in this?

Lucky.

lose by 25 with copeland or 30 without him, it doesnt really matter. just please for the love of god dont start sutton.

There isn't any if the umpires are not doing their job properly.

lose by 45 with copeland or 30 without him , it doesn't really matter .

Correct me if i am wrong but did not Cat get the same penalty for actually wacking Wright junior?

Talk to a ref aggresively = same as punching someone?

I think it's a little rough, the ejection was warranted and it probably could of been left at that. The ejection hurt the team along with giving the Hawks all the momentum in that last minute of the 3rd where they blew the game apart.

Suspended sentence could of been another fairer option...

The ref was running with the flow of play, and Lanard ran up to him , unexpected, a bit scary, a bit dangerous.

Brockman - probably worse. Can't have players charging refs. From the account by people at the game, it sounded like Copes was well out of line. Harsh timing for Adelaide though.

You guys all know that the Refs are out of bounds. They can not feel thretened on the court. There is nothing to argue here. And the outcome when someone wacks Wright junior should be a trip to the All Star game.

I would have said the ejection and a suspended sentence would have been enough. Anything more is just the league sending a message about behaviour. Did Hinder and or the other fella from Wests get reported after being ejected?

Yes, both are facing the tribunal:

The National Basketball League has announced that Sydney Kings player Russell Hinder and West Sydney Razorbacks player Clint Reed have both elected to have the NBL Tribunal hear their charges by telephone.

Both players were on Monday cited on the charge of Fighting arising from an alleged incident in the fourth quarter of the Kings-Razorbacks game at the Sydney Entertainment Centre on Saturday 19 January. The pair were reported following the game by the match officials.

NBL Tribunal Chairman Ken Madsen will start to hear the charges immediately, with the finding expected to be handed down on Wednesday once all witness interviews have been completed.

If Lanard wanted to be threatening to the ref, he would have let all hell loose after the Tech foul and suspension from the game. He has already paid the penalty (actually, let me re phrase that), the whole team paid the penalty of his outburst. As far as I'm concerned he has already served his punishment. Having said that, if a further punishment was in order, then he did well with a one game suspension. Considering the 36ers record at the moment and that they really have nothing else to play for, it won't make a lot of difference.

This season has been a particularly bad one for player behaviour and the level of anger experienced. The calibre of the officials, together with the ridiculous scheduling this season has taken its toll on many of them. The NBL could take some responsibility in trying to alleviate this by better scheduling of the games. Its not just the 36ers in this last week that had to put up with an exhausting schedule but other teams this season have also put up with it. Before anyone throws at me the same old argument of how difficult it is due to venue availability, this has always been a problem but not to the extent that it has this season. The schedules this season has gone beyond ridiculous, its criminal. What's the punishment for this crime?

Yes, the schedule has been hard for many teams (took the Breakers 13 hours to get back from Townsville, for example), but surely you don't mean that it's really criminal?

Issues that may have impacted the schedule:

- harder venue negotiations given reduced crowds
- Fox's preferences
- team preferences for certain nights
- more teams
- now (as of last couple of years), two international sides

Playing out of entertainment and convention centres are never going to work. The venues have to be more purpose built and 1st preferance availability given to the NBL games, as in Adelaide. As most of the eastern states teams only attract between 2,000 and 3,000, surely some of the bigger basketball stadiums could be used with temporary additional stands put in for these games. It would surely have to be cheaper than hiring entertainment centres and enable better scheduling of the games. A gold ticket to the Brisbane game cost me $36 plus $12 carpark compared to $25 and $7.50 carpark here in Adelaide. Isnt it any wonder that the crowds aren't great at these venues.

EC - The bulllets have been consisantly sold out or close to it this season so it doesnt seem that the price of tickets is a problem at all for their fans

Statman, I have attended several games this season and they have been anything but sold out. Even so, sold out to them is still only around 3,500 people. A greater number attended the grand final series last year and hence a change of venue. Also the fact that several thousands more attended the grand finals, it suggests that price is an object when it comes to going on a regular basis to games. My argument is not only the expense of hiring this type of venue but the availability of it.

I don't think too many people are going to pay $25-$35 to go to a local venue with some extra temp seating to watch a basketball game. A definte step backwards IMO.

It's a pro league and the schedule isnt THAT bad.

DJ I don't think the price would be as high as that in a local venue. Do you honestly believe the schedule isn't that bad? How good is a schedule that sees a team play in one city and then 24 hours and 1,000 kilometres later in another city? Particulary in a sport where the body gets battered and no chance for recovery before next game. I am not just defending the 36ers, the schedule has been bad throughout this season. It is a pro league and with any sport at that level, players can only perform at their peak if the conditions are right. What do you think Lleyton Hewitt would say if you tried to take away his tennis racquets and replace them with a cheap inferior substitute? You might say he is a professional tennis player and should be able to adjust. Same goes with new balls. During a match when a player is handed new balls, the first thing they do is give it a few test bounces. If the ball is not right, they reject it. This just goes towards the arguments that the conditions need to be right regardless of professionalism. In fact professionalism dictates it. You cannot play basketball at this lop pofessional level if you can't get the venues at a suitable time. The NBL should not even be expecting the players to suit up under these conditions. Hence the additional injuries that go with it as well.

Clubs approved the schedule. They get chances to tweak it (and the process goes on for a while) and then sign off on it.

The NBA, a more "professional" league than the NBL, has teams playing 4 games in 5 days, or 5 in 7. The season lasts 82 games. Many players suit for all 82 games.

The schedule is rough for all teams in the NBL (worse for the internationals you'd think) so the challenge is fairly equal.

EC, you really do come up with some of the most curiously absurd metaphors. How exactly did we start talking about tennis balls?

More appropriate given we are talking about scheduling would be to mention Hewitt finishing his five set game against Bagdatis (spelling?) at 5am Sunday morning and then having to back up on the Monday? Is the comparison to tennis supposed to support your argument that the basketball scheduling is really bad?

XY, If you read my comments you would have seen that I explained quite explicitly that the situation with tennis racquets and tennis balls supports the argument about needing the right conditions in professional sport to perform at your best. As for Lleyton's schedules, he played Baghdatis on Saturday and won that game, but what happened to him against Djkovic on Monday? Gee, I wonder how much fatigue influenced that game? When it comes to scheduling arguments, I rest my case.