Heck why go Iverson when you could get Kobe?
He'd play in Freo for $50k a year for sure.

Brendan Joyce keeps finding ways to embarress his son. Best 6th man yet he would't make the Dragons roster.

I'm not sure that he'd want to make the Dragons roster after this season!

That reminds me ... quick story - I was in the Gold Coast 2 weeks ago (my first time in sunny GC ... except for the fact that it was not sunny at all and rained for 5 straight days). I had been there for 30 minutes ... left the airport and went straight to a shopping mall to grab supplies for the week.

I found my way into a Food Court and thought I would grab a quick bite. As I am standing there waiting for my food I see this somewhat chubby blur walk behind me. I turn around and see someone who looks to be wearing a very ill fitting shirt with "Blaze" emblazoned on it (mind the pun).

I turn to my Mrs and say "Was that Brendan Joyce?" She looked and said "Nah & don't think so". But I was convinced it was & we are in the Gold Coast and he is the Gold Coast coach. She then says "Hang on & the convention centre where they play is around here. It could be him".

As soon as those words pass her lips I see the same somewhat chubby blur pass me again & it was Brendan Joyce. Suddenly, I was met with the opportunity I had dreamed off & to tell Coach Joyce that he is the only person in the league that thinks his son is any good. That point also combined with the fact the Blaze had beaten my beloved Sixers only days before - I had 2 seconds to think of something witty and clever to say  I wanted it to be harsh but funny  I wanted to cut to the bone but be saturated in a dry social commentary that would leave Mr Joyce thinking about the way he coaches his team and his son in the future.

So here was my moment & I turn to Joyce and said, well yelled actually, something that probably in hindsight didn't encapsulate the understated message that I wished I had conveyed &

"BOOOO & YOU SUCK JOYCE. SIXERS RULE &. WHOOOOOO!"

Oh well & there is always next time.

Just to clarify, my post reads a bit funny cos of all the "&" spread throughout. They were supposed to be 3 fullstops - they must be replaced as "&" in HTML.

I was in a similar situation once - ran into Paul Rodgers, was sitting eating in that little cafe in Adelaide airport. Wanted to say "Really appreciated your time in Adelaide, we really miss you and would welcome you back with open arms" but accidentally said "Useless turd, you ain't done shit without Ricky Grace to spoonfeed you, choke on that friggin biscuit !" .. and then I threw an apple at him.

Ah well, Freudian slip .. can happen to anyone ..

you tool SVD

i found it rather funny when the blaze was sitting in the airport in GC awhile back and was about to fly to adelaide on same flight as me... absolutely no one was talking to SOJ, and the kid went to sit next to his dad on the plane but the assistant stole his spot... what a chump

He also complains about the finals draw. He mentions that if his team wins the 1st playoff game they then have to travel to Perth to play another instant elimination game 2 days later. Perhaps 2 days is not enough for someone who hasn't had the misfortune in the regular season to play on 2 consecutive nights in different cities like many other teams (Adelaide twice). He should consider himself lucky to just scrape in the playoffs on a 15-15 record, one solitary game more than the 36ers.

Perhaps 2 days is not enough for someone who hasn't had the misfortune in the regular season to play on 2 consecutive nights in different cities like many other teams (Adelaide twice).

I knew that was coming Isaac because I checked my comments after posting and did notice they had 1 occasion of 2 consecutive games. Even so, I thought whoopy do, they had to get from Sydney to the Gold Coast (the equivalent of Adelaide to Melbourne) on one occasion and thought Joyce was still much better off than most of the other teams. Remember, apart from a regular season schedule that favoured him, he only made playoffs by 1 game.

"I'm not sure that he'd want to make the Dragons roster after this season!"

We have a spot for a statistical black hole, now that Shanahan has retired.

Come on down, Daniel!!!!

Which means he can't expect an easy road, sure, but he's otherwise making the exact same argument you've made all along - the schedule is tough, etc.

I acknowledge that he is saying the same things I am, but he also has to realise that he is in an enviable position right now after having avoided the worst of the regular season scheduling. By the way, I wrote to the NBL about the schedules this season and they acknowledged that it wasn't ideal. I thought that was a step in the right direction to atleast acknowledge that improvement was needed. This was their response..........

We are very award of the shortcomings of the current schedule and are working with teams to try to overcome them for next season. We would disagree that it is unfair however as all teams suffer through similarly difficult patches of travel and all teams actually approved their schedule prior to it being released. That being said, we are close to finalising next season's schedule already and it appears that we have been able to limit the impact of travel schedules on teams."

Regards,
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MARC HOWARD | Manager Media, Communications & Internet | National Basketball League
L3, 256 Coward Street, Mascot NSW 2020
(+ 61 2 9469 7213 | 7+ 61 2 9469 7201 | ' +61 419 512 139
* marc.howard@basketball.net.au | ý www.nbl.com.au

dan joyce can play. im mateswith him and when he bulks up he will be a boomer, 2nd chocie pg for boomers 2012 olympics behind mills.

EC,

How was GC schedule any better than the Sixers or any other team for that matter? All teams had rough schedules with short turnarounds etc.

On the 10th of January they played NZ in NZ and then had to travel and play Perth in Perth on the 12th.

In the NBA teams may have 3 games in 3 days what would you say to the NBA about their scheduling EC? That it sucks?

glenn archer think you may have copped a few too many knocks in the head down there in North Melb mate

Daniel Joyce will never be a Boomer ... unless Papa Joyce becomes the coach

Bulleen Boomers? in the WNBL

EC - time to move on I think. Your continual ranting about the schedule has gone far enough. We all know that the schedule had major issues (even Marc Howard admitted it in the email to you) and all teams have some legitamate gripes about back to back games and scheduling. How about you just move on and stop looking for excuses for a 36er team that wasnt good enough to play finals - end of story!

Bizzy, stop comparing us to the NBA. The situation is different in terms of distances and class of travel. I also acknowledged that the schedule was tough for most but Gold Coast were much better off than Adelaide as they only had to do it once and the travel was relatively short compared to Adelaide doing it twice and having a much longer distance. The only reason I am making a comparison with Gold Coast is because its Joyce who has made a complaint about the finals schedule when he should consider himself lucky to be where he is. Also the situation on the 10 and 12th January still gave them a travel free day on game nights.

Statman, I had forgotten about the schedules until Joyce threw more fuel into the fire (blaze).

The Adelaide schedule was "much" worse because we had a back to back while they had a 2 in 3 that included travel from NZ to Perth?!

Our back to backs were Adelaide to Gold Coast, and Wollongong to Brisbane. It's not that "much" different.

The regular season is irrelevant to Joyce in the post-season. He's concerned that players won't have a legitimate shot at progressing and I think that's fair enough - a day or two extra would make for a better game.

Had Adelaide made the finals and be having to back up so soon, I would not be at all impressed. Do fans around the league really want to watch exhausted players?

"He's concerned that players won't have a legitimate shot at progressing"

Isaac, how does that differ in the post season as in the regular season? That's the exact point I've always made. You've got to progress beyond the regular season to even have a crack at the post season. Also your comments about watching exhausted players, I could not agree with you more. You might not remember but I was actually in Brisbane the night the 36ers got a thrashing. How entertaining do you think that game was for a 36ers fan? How entertaining has the whole season been for the fans? The fans deserve to see better and the team deserve a better opportunity to keep the fans happy, and yes that does extend to club management as well.

Even the Blaze fans have had enough of this kid he makes me sick...
I Love the Blaze but #2 has too go ...
but i spose im dreaming

I don't disagree with that point, just your assessment that the 36ers are that much harder done by than other sides. I gave examples, you will remember, of how a number of other teams have had three back-to-backs - some of them have won regardless I'm sure.

I remember the 36ers game I saw in Brisbane (you were up there also) where Phil subbed on/off five for five. That was bad enough. Glad I didn't catch the 48-point one.

I haven't checked closely on the statistics of teams playing back to back but when I last looked I remember noting that most of those ended in losses. The sub on 5/sub off 5 was not an option in the last game in Brisbane. There was hardly anyone to sub on. Everyone was exhausted and/or injured. Injuries brought on by 3 games in 3 days. I turned to one of the guys I was with (a friend of a friend) and suggested he go out there to help them out. I thought to myself, damn the NBL for putting teams under this sort of stress that they can't even do the job properly. That is no way for anyone to perform regardless of which team. The whole schedule was all wrong. That is also the reason why the win one week later at home against Brisbane was even more special than the Brisbane win to their fans because they arrived in Adelaide fresh and still lost miserably. Goes to show what you can do under the right conditions.