fair call EC

I wouldn't say I hate him, but I do agree with Anonymous in that he shouldn't be the Aussie coach. Although he is one of the most successful coaches in NBL history, his teaching methods are not in line with those of the coaches and players throughout Aust. due to his US background.

So who should be the Coach of the Australian team?

couldnt agree with u any more. u should have underlined or put in italics the word AUSTRALIAN. it stands out by far, as they keyword!

Great post EC

I dont hate Goorjian.....I enjoy a passionate rivalry with the Kings.

Haven spoken with BG away from the court, the man is actually extremely knowledgeable, insightful, and actually a very funny, if somewhat dry, wit.

Well said EC

I don't hate Goorjian, I hate all the hype about him being one of the best of all time because of his record for reaching grand finals, surely the number of losses in grand finals has to be a negative against him as a coach. Whether the players are physically or metally exhausted by the time the finals get around is the coaches problem.

Well said SK.

Who should be the coach of our National team?

Don Johnson just wants his wardrobe back from him

Terrible Aussie coach...terrible All Star game coach...He is almost as annoying as Carfino

Did he really have to run plays during the all-star game?

And resting Dusty? Wow what a heart Goorjian has. Dusty could have always told him to "get lost" in much harsher words if Goorjian subbed him on

Prelude...dont forget that Smyth also put up zone defences in the All Star game....so fair enough to run some plays I think :)

Great call . . . c'mon, who the hell runs a zone in an All-Star Game?

Oh wait, Tracy York and Scott Loveday did in the ABA All-Star game (sigh).

A mate of mine played for Goorjian at the Magic and will not let me bag him at all. Any time i do he gets the fists of fury ready.

Goorj seems to have a great passion and does a lot for basketball and basketball people.

But still you got to have rivals in sports and he is the one that we love to hate.

I just will never get over his obvious neglect of Sixers players, current & Ex at the Olympics.
I think we all agree he favored Kings players in Athens rather than having the best team on the court.
A True "AUSTRALIAN" coach would have done everything he could to achieve the best possible result for our country. He didn't do that.... why?...... Because he is not Australian.

This post is uncalled for! Isaac, please delete it and we can all go back to hating BG.

(All those not posting hateful BG remarks in this thread have been banned forevvvvveeeer! Not really.)

Yeah, I don't doubt his passion, but I still think he is no the right coach for the australian team. I don't think it's because he is american, the coach at the sydney games was just as inept and made the same mistakes.

Phil should be the coach, and he should be given a FULL ROSTER not the depleted line up he had for the short period of time he was coach.

Lt. Bookman there were 4 current or ex Kings players in Athens;

Heal - who every single coach in the country would have picked.

Nielsen - who every single coach in the country would have picked.

Smith - who the majority if not all of the coaches in the country would have picked.

Bruton - where there was really only a choice between him and Black. Black is stronger offensively, Bruton is far smarter, and there have been plenty of stories of Black being a little sh*t who is well disliked by all the other players on the squad, little thing called team chemistry.

And aside from Maher and Cattalini, which current or ex 36er players do you think should have been there?

BG has a 'history' with Cattalini, yet he picked him, so no bias evidence there.

Maher was injured and did not attend a large % of the pre Olympic camps and trials, with no guarantee that he would be ok in time for the Games. BG left his spot open for him while he worked his way back, a sign of respect as he didn't do it for Mackinnon, who didn't put the work in. No bias evidence there.

+Rogers too. He could have gone with Schenscher and given him the experience, but rather he decided to go with a wise head and experienced int'l player.

You can't really fault the selection of the team for Athens. Well, maybe Ronaldson you can but overall he went for the safe and obvious options.

But the results speak for themselves. We were not atrocious, but we were not good either.

I think Goorjian can get some good results with the Boomers and he should be perservered with. But he needs to learn and improve from the blunders in Athens. On his record so far he certainly isn't as good as advertised.

Selection for Atherns was OK, bar Ronaldson. Its they way he used the selections.

I agree with "thedoctor". It was the subsitution pattern, espically in the fourth quarter which was the problem, not so the actual selection process.

The next major tournament is the Commenwalth games. It is here that I am personally hoping BG goes young. Newly, Kendall, Markovic, etc. Starts to design a system with players for the next ten years or so, (Luke S, Bogut, Andersen etc won't be available due to timing of the event so it will be an all-NBL line-up). Hopefully then get some overseas options back in Bogut, Anstey, Luke S etc to make a fist of the world champs later in the year. By then players such as Glen Saville and CJ Bruton I don't feel warrent selection unless a specific need is apparent. They will be in the early thirties without much previous international expirence and won't add too much to the team that the youngsters don't already have.

I still hate Goorjian....it's more fun that way

i reckon BG and joyce were good for the job.

the sydney kings won it twice in a row so they should be entitled to have a majority of players

OK, which of the Kings players didn't deserve to be on the team? Heal? Nielsen? Smith?

I bet you say Bruton, which means you'd have Black in there, and I agree that you'd have a case there, but personally I think CJ is better overall.

I think the level of Kings in that squad was perfectly fine and any coach in the country would have picked at least 3 out of those 4, including Smyth.

It's not who he picked, its how he used them

i dislike goorjian because I can never figure out how he keeps his team under the 700k salary cap.

I hated it when the Magic folded, I hated it when the Titans folded, I hate it when the Kings win BUT i would hate it even more if guys like Goorg and Joyce werent in the L

Heal shouldn't of played, he is NOT as great as everyone seems to think, and the year out of the game didn't do him any favours.

The probloem with the boomers started years ago under Barnes when the only players that got any international experience actually oncourt were the usual four (Heal, Bradtke, Roanldson, Gaze) and whomever happended to be playing well at the time got to sit on the bench and watch. We lost our chance for a medal back in sydney when we had height, experience and youth, and an easier run to the finals. We were always going to be crap once those four players retired from international. I don't think any coach after that could do a good job, Smyth and Goorjian included.

Hmph, I still believe most coaches still could have done a better job than Goorjian

Shane Heal has been stinking up Aussie bball for long enough now...if he makes a remarkable return for beijing I will take it upon myself to stop it

Some of the points about Goorj's goodness are fair enough and it is hard to judge a person when the only times we see them is in a competetive situation against a team we love. I sure as hell would not want to be judged as a person from my apperance on the court.

However... faults with his game plan aside (and this is a whole discussion altogether and enough reason to discredit him as the most overrated coach in Oz) I have a much more personal reason for dislike.

I sat behind him having a very smug chat with Bruce Palmer at a pre-season Blitz tournament in Dandenong a few years ago. What came out of his mouth while watching the Sixers play mortified me. Not just the crassness (I'm not easily offended) but the attacks on individuals was staggering.

He also cut me off in traffic.

WG

Spill you guts Winston....who was he bagging??

Yeah Winston - you can't tease us like that, unless your surname is Crite (damn, that guy could jump!).

Spill the beans!!