$5k seems like it's just a little slap on the wrist to make an example of them.
i don't think money is an issue or that there's any amount that can improve the relationships that are now strained.
but having said that, they had to do something, because it was just outrageous to think that cj and boucher (the bullets players, at least) were made well aware of the circumstances under which they could talk to other clubs- the clubs might have been confused, but management made it very clear to the boys and they went against that.
anyway, i'm glad it's now put to bed and we can all move on in some way- time to concentrate on the future signings rather than past ones.

If I was a team owner, especially NZ's....












5k is worth it.

I think they forgot to charge the 10k fine in expense costs to move Bruton's ego across the Tasman.

no, but $5k will help cj get the internet on at home and be able to look up whereis.com to get directions to europe...... via new zealand....... hehe.
he's a bastard but we still love him!

Are they fined in NZD or AUD?

So now CJ just sits out his contract? or plays one div4 greek game and then quits that for NZ?

AUD

So the only people to be fined are the ones that have announced the signing.

Gibson talked to other clubs
McKinnon has admitted he is talking to other clubs
Williamson talked to other clubs
Bradshaw clearly talking to other clubs but may be out of contract any way
Boucher was shopping himself.
Bruton was talkig to those with a big enough cheque book and publicaly admitted he was going to do what was best for him and his family.
Rychart talking to other clubs.

Hill i dont know about nor Brown.

so out of all of that NZ are the only ones to be fined.

Lets just hope that McFat gets the same fine for doing the same thing then.

I reckon if we brought Rychart back here, combine him with Adam Ballinger's fuck off field goal percentage, we could restrict opposing teams to about 3 defensive rebounds per game.

Hopefully Ballinger is naturalized then. Rychart ain't far off either.

We could have both and Hodge (fingers crossed)

kent of course the breakers were the only ones to get fined- they were the only ones to sign currently signed players!
AGAIN.... all the Bullets ere told to go out and talk to other clubs.
When they got a buyer they were to stop sourcing other clubs.
Most of them did that.
Hill hardly spoke to anyone because he had his heart set on staying- he has now signed for 2 seasons, so he got his wish.
brown was a free agent- he can go pick his nose in public and eat it if he wants to- he's a free agent so he can do what he likes. (i hope we can keep him tho)
bradshaw is a free agent, but before any of the ownership problems, had his heart set on europe, so he will not come back.
all these issues have been discussed before and several times of late- a lot of which is already in this very same thread..... ^^

James W - why not combine Rychart with Holmes and watch endless passages of themselves missing shots and getting their own rebounds? Could get the first possession and then engineer things to win each quarter 2-0 for a dominant 8-0 performance!

Duh - "AGAIN.... all the Bullets ere told to go out and talk to other clubs. When they got a buyer they were to stop sourcing other clubs." Perhaps that wasn't made as clear as you've made it out to be?

gibbo talked to other clubs- he was told to.
williamson talked to other clubs- he was told to.
same with boucher, mackinnon and bruton.
rychart also a free agent so he can talk to his heart's content.
(hope you're seeing the pattern here?)
everyone was encouraged to do so, but only until a buyer was found- no-one wanted to actually leave- they put their feelers out but still wanted to see what the bullets could offer- otherwise, all these guys would've signed in the turbulent period where buyers kept falling through- they would have had no retribution because they were encouraged to look for another club.


the only one who could look to maybe earning his next club a fine (and i seriously doubt it will happen) is mackinnon.
he hasn't signed yet, but the bullets have a buyer, so due to his clever verbalising in the media almost on a daily basis that he does not want to be here, the bullets will probably not want to stop him from leaving- they don't want any continued drama or unrest as it's really getting everyone down.
they want to move forward.
they can no longer do that with mackinnon- as much as we'd like to keep him, he's made it VERY clear it's not going to happen, so we should not antagonise him and just let him go do as he pleases.
i don't think anybody would want to keep an unhappy player and have to pay him $400k or something to be unhappy and not play much when as it is, money is an issue for us right now.

so the moral of the story is:
if your clubs tells you to go seek another club, sign with another club then.
if they tell you that if they find a buyer and you're still under contract, then you're still under contract.
don't wait until they have a buyer and tell you there's no grounds to sign elsewhere now, and then cry foul.
boucher, mackinnon and cj twisted the rules that were clearly publicised by their club.

no, it was made very, very clear to them.
it was made very, very clear to the public as well.
that's why we were so angry when we heard they had signed and played dumb or just didn't care because they knew the bullets would contest it as a matter or course, but not force them to play in blue singlets again.
it is entirely possible that the breakers didn't know what they were getting into- i think they'd all be blaming eachother, but at the end of the day, they have their players and the players want to be there and the bullets want to move on, but they just couldn't do nothing and pretend they didn't notice what went on.
believe me isaac..... we here in brisbane could write a book about what's been made public knowledge here.
kerlie, joey, sam, cj, gibbo, mick and occasionally others have been interviewed on the turning tides almost on a daily basis.
the management were very transparent with it's expectations of the players and how to go about it, and when it was time to stop.

duh! that is still against the NBL rules, contracted players are not allowed to talk to other clubs whilst under contract.

they can with their current club's permission, and they were well and truly given permission, but only unil the club found a buyer, which they did,

Duh - the deals could well have been done well before Kemp came on the seen. I heard that Bruton was a done deal (e.g., just waiting on paperwork with the NBL) almost a week before it was announced. And it was first posted on this forum almost a week before then, even (and seemed left field enough that most of us ignored it).

I suggest its too soft!

Shoud be around 20K

you could make it 5c or $50,000.... what does it achieve?
how do you put a price on teaching someone a lesson in ethics and morals?
you can't.
so i have no idea how much it should be- it's wasted energy.
we were angry but are really over all the negativity now- we've been in a suspended state of negative energy for about 10 weeks now, with one step forward and two steps back and it's enough already.
time for us to move forward, so i hope mackinnon just signs somewhere and gets it over and done with rather than prolonging it- same with ebi.
they will not get ebi back but are still holding on to some tiny hope- that pining for him gives him total control over the situation.
we'd love to keep him too, but his asking price is too high and every second day for 2 weeks, kerlie revises his price and sends it back to his agent, then he rejects it, then kerlie offers a bit more, then the same thing happens, then he's close to signing, but then doesn't.

the whole debacle is like ripping off a band-aid hair by hair and we're just over it.

isaac, cj was tipped to go to the wildcats with joey.
joey was knee deep in negotiations, but he pulled back from the perth offer as he could see the light at the end of the tunnel in brisbane and stayed.
cj not only continued to source other clubs, but then ended up putting pen to paer with a totally different club!
unless he's just dyslexic and can't tell perth from new zealand on paper, he clearly continued to source other clubs.
the breakers were not part of (up until the sale went through) the clubs that cj was considering.
it was pretty much perth with joey until joey pulled out.

cj repeatedly said he wanted to stay here if we could get a buyer.
he said: 'my brother lives here, i met my wife here, my in laws are in ballina not too far away, etc, i really want to stay and are in the final stages of working things out now that a buyer is found we can rest easy."

if that isn't clearly bullshit, then i seriously don't know what is.
it's obvious that it was crossing a line that was drawn in the sand by management.

duh do you serioulsy think that one day CJ woke up and thought hey the Breakers , they could be a team that could afford me lets ring them and do a deal by 5pm today?


As has been told to you a few times now CJ was pushing his own case for $ from anywhere he could.

Same as Mac, same as the rest of them

If you think that teams are going to stop talking to players just because ownership is in limbo ( has the NBL accepted Kemp as an owner yet?) so technically the Bullets still do not have a new owner.

Eddy would have a Heads of Agreement with Kemp that would have to be subject to NBL consent.

What would happen if the NBL did not allow Kemp in or found that he did not have a strong enough business to support the riggers of NBL ownership? The players would be back on the street looking for clubs.

Face it this is Kharma of previous deeds done coming back to bite the bullets. You talk about ethics and morals? there is a saying those that live in glasshouses should not throw stones.

whatever kent-
i'm not going to type it all out for you again just because you choose not to read what's been written before.

It's called keeping up with what's widely reported in the media and interviews, dumbass- try it some time!

It's basically a case of the "stuck between a rock and a hard place" scenario.

The clubs doin' down, but there's a chance of salvaging it; but you want the players to not hang around if it doesn't go through but you want them to consider that the club will still be around.

Frankly the 5K etc. fined to club is nothing in the grand scheme of things. All in all, it was the brisbane franchise who are to blame because they were in panic mode and were trying to cover all their bases at the same time.

duh if you are relying on the media to form your opinions then that is a problem in itself.

Of course players are going to be towing the line in the media.

If you belived some media reoprts here Phil was going to be re appointed as coach but if you knew the situation you also knew that that, was never going to happen.

CJ has played for Perth, Wollongong, Sydney and Brisbane so loyalty to one club is not that big.

The situation as a Brisbane fan would suck, to be supporting a succesful team then have your owner fall over and have a question mark over the quality of the squad for 08/09 must be frustrating.

Here's an article from the other side of the ditch.

And what might be an error from an ABC article:

The Breakers have also recruited Bullets guard CJ Bruton, but he had already been granted a release from his contract.

we will get through it.
these guys aren't the first to play here and they won't be the last.
we will have more scandals in coming seasons.
it's not the end of the world, but it's a questionable way for them to close the door on their way out because it's really tiring.
if i see cj, sam, joey, kerlie, etc do one more interview on the telly or radio for anything other than to announce a player putting pen to paper, i'm gonna turn it off.
contract lawyers would make a killing this time of year though!