http://linky.com.au/o4hus

From Adelaide Now saying club is allowing and releasing Hodge.

Extremely disappointed with this ending personally.

A majority of the large crowd were looking forward to seeing Hodge @ home for the first time in 2009 and now all this drama.

Let's sign Grizzard if possible.

i am certain that the crowd numbers will be huge on saturday night, i beleive people will get behind the club!!!
Its only one player!! not the team!!he is replacable

YOU DOG HODGE!

My 2c sent to Adelaide Now:

"Ability and on court charisma aside, the continual distractions obviously caused by Hodge's behind the scenes habits will not be missed. If Julius wanted out so very badly, surely he could have worked with a Sixers administration renowned league wide as being exceptionally tolerant of alternative playing opportunities for its players. Adelaide has a well documented long track record of honouring it's player's ambitions in that regard - often to its fan's chagrin.

Being paid in advance in a show of good faith and going to ground without contact is completely unprofessional...although in direct agreement with George Karl's comments re: Julius' off court attitude immediately following his D-League debut.

The club's focus has to be a united unit mounting a serious post season challenge for the flag. Here's hoping Chuck Harmisson grows a set&and that royal blue suits Rod Grizzard's existing wardrobe."

Dogs are loyal mate, Hodge certainly isnt

I didn't realise he had been rocking up late to training and the like (cf. Boti's article there). Perhaps the club is truly better off without him then... they might fall on their feet if they can manage to sign a second, team-oriented import.

One really good thing has come out of this and that is the publicity the 36ers and NBL are getting out of it. I opened the Advertiser on line a few minutes ago to find it is front page news. May not be the news the club and fans wanted, but it is certainly right in the face of the general public. No doubt some outside interest will be generated from this.

Reminds me of a quote from Snatch.

"However...you do have all the characteristics of a dog Julius. All except loyalty."

All I can say now is, good luck getting back in the NBA Julius, you're certainly going to need it.

Apparently Hodge will be at the bay at 4:00 recording his side of the story!

Should be interesting

My source is not good on this, just something that was mentioned

And I wonder if all of those clowns who were berating the Sixers management last night (some borderline ones there too I may say) without any facts will have the decency to apologise! I doubt if they will, as they seem to specialise in speaking out before knowing the facts or even wanting to know them.
The only thing different the Sixers Management could have done was to make smoe sort of announcement prior to game time, which could have something to the effect "sadly Julius Hodge will not be suiting tonight. We apologise for this, but the matter is not within our control right now". At least that would have been better than thousands of people sitting there dumbfounded.

harsh anon, very harsh

I really hate to say it, but I told you so.

I've been on this forum from the beginning saying

Hodge's HoopsHype NBA Blog is getting some attention from Adelaide fans for his 'creative writing' ability:

http://linky.com.au/ezqdg

disgusting human being is a little harsh i think. You might not like the guy but that's pretty low. Personally its just a shame this all happened and i did find it weird that he would never warm up with them but just though on game day he had a different routine. I think they have to go after grizzard, its too logical to do anything else. He knows the league, might be without a gig and can produce at a good clip.

"One man can be a crucial ingredient on a team, but one man cannot make a team."
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

It's Teen-Wolf all over again!

He needs to learn to cotnrol the wolf and the size of his head and play and act like a human again.

Sad to see such an entertaining import go, but hope we can keep it together and obtain an import with a more team-oriented outlook.

It's all very disappointing; I must say.

ShaneD

is that why he got let go from the NBA his crap and slack training,turn up when he feels like it, not good imo i dont care how good you are DONT TRAIN DONT PLAY there is someone else that will step up to the plate,

"He is not the Messiah, he is a very naughty boy"

Personally I dont see all the hype around Julius Hodge, I dont rate him as high as a lot of others and I feel he was just another show pony the NBL didnt need. He needed to spend more time focused on the game than waving his arms in the air playing with the crowd.

I think the 36ers are going to have to sign up Grizzard as it will be too hard to go after someone else outside of the NBL. Grizz knows the system and could work quite well with the likes of Ballinger.

Do you think Hodge will go NBA? I dont see why a team in the NBA would want a SG who cant shoot?

More might come out on both side of this issue but the signs were there that Hodge was self centred and not concerned about team committment before the payment fiasco that some of us raised and were dumped on badly by many posters.
From Scottys and Bretts statements he was a very unsettling effect on team much more than any of us thought. As someone else indicated I think we have been played by Hodge and his manager.
The team will be stronger over this and if we can get Grizzard or similar we can go all the way.
At the least it kept Isaac busy keeping the site open under the avalanche of interest.
Has club indicated anything about a replacement and timing

Gold Jack hahaha.

Aw man - they deleted my post from his NBA blog. All I said was "On behalf of all Adelaide 36er fans - thanks for turning your back on us. Thankfully we have players with heart that step up to the plate for their team" etc.

It was easily in my top 10 best guilt trip posts ever.

Denied!

Oh - wait - there it is. Disregard.

Any truth to the "Julius is telling his side of the story today at 4pm down at the bay" rumour?

I always thought of him as someone who doesn't have pure passion for the game.
If you look at the best players in the world(past and present), they all have passion, they all love basketball.
Guys like MJ, Wade, Bryant, Lebron etc. All those guys would play basketball for no money. They love the game THAT much. For them it's not about the stardom, nor the money and the riches that come with it.
For them it's about the game.

Julius however, strikes me as someone who plays for the riches and the stardom that comes with it.
I understand that he is a professional but it seems to me that money is the ONLY thing he plays for.

He didn't even warm up with the guys most nights. We will all remember this bloke and watch his progress or otherwise with interest. The guy should also never be allowed back into this league.

Couldnt Have said it better my self SKU you hit it right on the nose!!

Now i guess we stay tuned for replacment!
And also does ne1 know the answer to what was asked earlier in regards with grizzard and whether or not he needs to play 8 games for us or in the NBL as a whole???

Not exactly like Teen Wolf ShaneD - no 36ers have been eating apples on court whilst Julius has been going to the basket

Agent 15, I agree with you. Not saying this now in view of what has happened but made my opinions known before he came back to Adelaide. He is not the great player that many make him out to be. He is very lacking in some areas and although an up grade on Tyndale, not much else. His selfishness and money hungry priorities were envisaged long ago. He improved the position of the 36ers slightly (don't forget even with last night's win we still sit at 6th position) but not a great deal. He did play with the team on the Gold Coast and they lost a game that a win should have been just a formality. I don't believe he would have brought a championship to Adelaide. His selfish attitude could actually have been the one play that would have lost it all in a finals game if we had reached that far. He would have been the player to want the full credit for a championship and taken risks to the detriment of the whole team. I am actually happy that he is gone and really looking forward to an immediate replacement. Hope it happens as the finals campaign is still well and truly alive for us.

Woo my first ball thanks

EC this publicity is hardly good. The media has made the NBL its whipping boy this season (minus Boti, thank god one journalist enjoys the sport he writes about) concentrating more on the collapse of the Kings, Bullets and to some extent the Slingers and the financial struggles of the Spirit and the Taipans. Another negative story is hardly what the NBL needs at the moment. All this bull$hit is taking away from some of the best basketball that is being played in recent years. Think of Balls last night arguably the most important player we have and his sixers milestone (50 games) match goes unnoticed because of the Hodge incident. And like Boti said today in the paper last round nearly every underdog team won, that says alot about the quality of game taht is being played this year. I know this is a bit of a rant but im getting sick of Basketball not getting recognised as one of the premier sports in the world in this country. And another negative story is hardly helping.

Tell that to Brett Maher.

Or the guys that played on half wages for teams going into administration.

Imagine telling your wife you might not be able to make mortgage payments, but your team means enough to you that you're going to suit up anyway.

That's not about the cash.

OK im only 24 ive seen my fair share of imports go through the club, but to me the ones who stand out the most Are farley: he loved the game also revved the crowd up and backed it up didnt show pony too much and knew how to throw down. MEE+Brooks i put these 2 together cause they played so well along side one another and when they got split up they wer'nt the same..
I know i know these imports all won championships with us, but for a reason...

What im trying to say we dont a blow out import we need a concistant one ala balinger farley mee brooks.
These are the kinds of imports we need

Sorry to say this coady but i think you're mistaking farley for someone else.

"didnt showboat"
"was consistant"

an the man only had one dunk

dont take me as a hater believe me i love farley as much as every other sixers fan for what he did for the club but i think you are a bit off the mark. Also remember when he left for west sydney >:-@

I'd quote names like Rob Rose and Al Green before Farley, but it's a good point. Darnell was the epitome of unselfishness and hard work. As was Dusty.

Thankfully Ballinger is an absolute rock in that department.

Hard to believe that one person could let so many people down so easily.

Can somebody please take that self centred piece of crap off the Sixers site team list!!

fair call but he did alot of the arm waving getting the crowd pumped, Which we arnt fooling ne1 we get a little quiet at times, i try and break silence but only so much one man can do!!

You gotta admit though he was exciting to watch at times!!

"fair call but he did alot of the arm waving getting the crowd pumped, Which we arnt fooling ne1 we get a little quiet at times, i try and break silence but only so much one man can do!!

You gotta admit though he was exciting to watch at times!!"

...and i think thats why we loved hodge so much at a time

I'd like to see Luke pick up that role of firing up the crowd now and then.

If he was all about the money and stardom, why did he come here? Surely he could have got a spot making more money in Europe? Something doesn't add up for me, he looked like he loved being out there, he worked the crowd better than anyone I've seen. We were looking terrible before he turned up and reports were the players loved having him out at training, he lifted everyone around him, last night's performance without him showed to me the increased confidence and self belief he has bought to guys like Bruce and Hill. Perhaps he has done something stupid on this occassion and let us all down, but you can't deny the fact his arrival turned our season around, and I guarantee you were all on your feet cheering when he pulled off a big play and waved his arms around. If he has just quit and done it poorly, he deserves to be disrespected for that, but lets not drop to that level ourselves, facts are he was a great player, he lifted the team, turned our season around and we loved seeing him out there.

Fiveaa will play some of the Hemmerling and talk to Maher at about 5.
Maher said that Hodge came here as a great player, but thinks he's bigger than the team.

Oh my... I'd never read his blog before. What sychophant!! Good riddance.

Some quotes:

"Then I came here to the NBL and now I feel very confident and very comfortable shooting the pull-ups from anywhere. Now I'm the young Julius knocking down jumpers all day long!" (LOL! Jumpshots R Us)

"Although I played a good game against the Gold Coast Blaze (29 points, 4 assists) we lost on New Years' Eve."

"The game before we won against a tough team, the Melbourne Tigers, and coach Scott Ninnis lauded my efforts. What a start I had!"

"I was feeling it. I had some player on me, Rod Grizzard, who went to school in Alabama, and Ebi Ere. Whenever I had Ebi on me I knew he was a smaller guard so I was just shooting right over the top." (Way to respect Grizzard, "some player").

Anyway, sorry if that blog has already been discussed.

"Stop talking yourself up Julius. Your outside jumper still resembles that of a retarted giraffe "

Whoever said that on the blog gets a ball from me. I almost blew coffee out my nose!

At the end of the day if hodge was paid on time non of this would of happended.

He puts the numbers on the boards and the people in the seats.

If Hodge was such a bad person why did they re sign him again this year????

Hodge was the 36ers saviour a week ago and now look at everyone bagging him, how quickly things change!!!

Im sure he had a bit to do with the problem, but pay the man and he will win your games.

Sad to see you go hodge!!!

A quote from NBA Live 09 about Jason Kidd is what I use towards Julius Hodge...

I shall call him Ulius Hodge as he has no J

Ooops Hemmerling on now (4.20) Maher about 5

Agent 15 - one of the quotes of the day lol

Angry - It was Hodge's agent that gave the Sixers incomplete transfer details by most accounts (4 digits short). The Sixers even made an account for him, back paid him, gave him and advance on the Gong game and walked him to the bank to show him the money! What else would you have them do?

His pay went in 4 days late as a result, with an advance in good faith to make up for a mistake that wasn't Mal's in the first place.

So...when you're not paid in the Gold Coast, you refuse to warm up but play. When your club rectifies what sounds like your agents screw up and gives you an advance, you know show and refuse all contact after shaking the GM's hand hours earlier?

C'mon. A whole bunch of this doesn't add up.

Just read it, man that guy was taking any opportunity to make himself sound good.

I enjoyed watching him play, but he is clearly a self-centered individual who would use whoever he could to get back to the NBA. Sadly for all of Adelaide, it was the 36ers he stood on.

Do you think Kiki would log in and read his blog everyday as an indicator of how Julius is going? Surely there are other, less biased, ways of determining if he has improved or not? Like an Aussie based scount? Regardless of the guard situation in New Jersey at the moment.

Hate to see you as coach or administrator of any sporting club Angry, as you would have rules for some but not for others. This is a recipe for disaster.

I think George Karl's appraisal would mean more to Kiki than angry NBL fans. Still - none of it is exactly good advertising for the man.

If the basketball thing falls through, he could always fall back on used car sales, given his pitching ability. It'd be like Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man meets the Dodgy Brothers.

The more and more i think about the situation the more it just does not add up.

Locos on the money, something isnt right.

I could care less if he was disruptive at training as long as

* The sixers continue to win and improve
* The Sixers are genuine championship contender
* He does everything in his power to win the games while being a team player
* He makes the game exciting and enjoyable to watch
* He brings in more fans and draws more publicity

He was doing all those things so I could careless if he was making Cooper cry at training or if he spent the whole trainings doing hand stands or if he ate green eggs and ham!

Squid - Apologise to management? You are kidding me aren't you?! The FACT is his payment was meant to be in on the 15th, Mal decided to deposit his money into his account on the 19th! Then the reason that it didn't go straight through is because he didnt have all the account numbers which is probably true but how did he pay him previously. If Hodge got a new bank account then Mal should have told us that. Regardless if he got a new bank account it wasn't until yesterday (23 days later) that he was paid. Mal then has the nerve to say what Hodge has done is very unprofessional. How about Mal Own up and say what he did was very unprofessional also! Mal then tried to do the right thing by paying him in advance for the rest of the season. So Hodge and his agent see the breach of contract and decide they want to terminate the contract which I think he has the right to do.

If Hodge had done this and gone to the Tigers then I would have been mad at him but he did this so he could pursue his NBA dream or better opportunities in Europe. Obviously Hodge could have handled it more diplomatically and left more gracefully but at the end of the day it is the same result which is that he wanted to leave! If Schenscher gets a call up to go to the NBA and leaves straight away without telling anyone will you all hate him also? of course not!

If Hodge is pursuing better opportunities that is fine and him leaving straight away is the best result as it gives us time to get another import if management is up to the task!

Now you guys are dragging his name in the mud like he is Hitler and jumping on the Mal Band Wagon. "Banned him from the league!!!... flame his website!!". What he did really doesn't deserve this backlash!

Also we still are yet to hear his side of the story!

I agree im sure Hodge and or his agent had something to do with it....

all im saying is that there were no problems last year with him and they brought him in for a second run.


He saved our season. we stank before we got him.

If Hodge got a new bank account then Mal should have told us that.

The Sixers are claiming they paid as soon as they had correct details and that it was a US banking hold up that prevented Hodge from accessing his cash.

On their end, that's why they made the Australian based account for him and paid the advance.

Not sure if we'll ever know if Julius' agent is to blame or if Mal's department screwed up. Personally, I'm leaning towards the former.

Still - other NBL clubs were going into administration with players not getting paid at all or taking a 45% pay cut whilst still suiting up. Ditching game night without a word doesn't exactly endear one to the masses.

angry,

Hodge never saved us and doesn't win you games. We were 6-6 with him last season and 5-4 with him this season. 11-10 is not what I call saving us but at least he got his numbers right?

On a positive note, the 36ers have the top 3 articles on the NBL website...



Sorry guys, trying to find a positive.

Ceasar Romero- just curious if you know about our record before we got him???

we can argue about this all day long and no one really knows the truth.

All im saying is the guy is a good bball player and a week ago no one was saying anything bad about him. Now no1 can say a good word about him.

He made the 36ers much better when he was on the court!

One of the most exciting individual players ive seen on the court in the NBL.


Sadly, it would appear he thinks more of himself than the team (or the league for that matter).

Mistakes on 36ers side
Mistakes on Hodges side

I am sad we didnt get the player this year, that we saw last year.

Now i know why he was shot.

No wonder he doesn't drink the poison , no need for a toxic overload .

Everything turns to hell. First Farley was my golden boy and that burned to the ground. After enduring Chappell and Tyndale, I had another golden boy in Hodge. That was burnt to the ground within the last 20 hours.

This time yesterday I still had my golden boy.

Following the Sixers for 20 years has been 10% joy and 80% has been a heartaching, kicking in the groin, slapping in the face, poo eating experience. I portion 10% to an inbetween time, which is call 'hope.'

Why do I do this to myself? Time and again, I never learn.

Vertigo, you need to ba a little more positive, or get a better grip on reality, if over 20 years you have only had '10% joy'.

In that 20 years:

The Sixers have won 3 championships (15% return)
Made the grand finals 4 times (20% return)
Contested the semi finals 8 times (40% return)
Contested the finals 15 times (75% return)
Had a winning record in 13 of 20 seasons (65% return)
Won more games than they have lost (319/247, a 56% winning record)

Your time period also just misses out the Sixers invincibles period between '85 and '88 in which the teams was almost unstoppable (but only managed one championship).

I think you haven't been paying attention too well. Get a grip.

what happened with that bay thing? did he give his side of the story? im not saying anything until ive heard both sides of the story on this one. has he said his side of the story anywhere?

Yeah, I'm sure something will come of that. From what I heard, it sounded a little bizarre and not entirely credible, but I guess we'll see.

Oh XY! Making the grand final in 1994 was no return. I can still see D-Mac's shot falling through the basket and I can still remember how it made me feel in my stomach. Oh and that thumping by Perth the next year, I felt sick then. The loss to the Magic in Game 1 of the 96 semis, I almost lost control of my bowels that night. It was awful.

Then those bouncing free throws from Lowry. Groin kicking is what it was.

Seeing Farley turn into a shade of former self was a kick in the tooth.

Hodge just served up a big poo pie. A massive poo pie! And I ate it up! Again!

I forgot more poo pies.

Watching Drimic celebrate at The Dome at the end of game 3 in 2000. I didn't know what to do with myself.

Matthews massive dunk over Cooper to seal the knock out in 2005. It was awful!

And seeing Stewart's shot fall on the buzzer to kock us off in 2006. I always hated Stewart. I hated him so much. Why did it have to be him to make that shot. I felt sick for days after that.

Anyway. I know. Get a grip.

I once transferred CASH into a Pay-Pal account to buy goods on-line. It was about three weeks before it arrived in my account. I was told the government hold the funds until they have been "cleared".

US Government that is...

Vertigo loved your memories . I guess I am lucky in that way except bl--y Lowry flop and shotI forgot all those
I was lucky to go to Melb. to see some great finals wins and at home. They are the memories I keep.
I do tend to remember the many bad imports we have had. When we become champions the imports were team plyrs, yes even Willie was that year.
Hodge was never a team plyr and I had many arguments with fellow supporters and friends about him as I believed it was all self promotion. Now we will see how good my philosophy about team play goes for rest of season without Hodges points.

""Stop talking yourself up Julius. Your outside jumper still resembles that of a retarted giraffe "

Whoever said that on the blog gets a ball from me. I almost blew coffee out my nose!"

lol, cheers hereschenes, that was me.

Before Hodge joined the team we were 5-7 and before last night we were 10-11 so for all the great stuff he did on the court (and yes I was impressed as any who went to the Dome to see his game play) he isn't the player who will get us over the line for the title. One thing we know his biggest weakness is his shooting shot - bloody shocking.

KingJames, you are right that we haven't heard Hodge's side of the story but in view of the poison he has been painted with by the club, the fans and the media, why hasn't he or his agent come forward to give their side of the story. If there is a perfectly innocent side to this it is in Hodge's best interest to let it be known as this sort of controversy is not going to help his career. You have to admit that it looks very bad on his part to be not only paid but paid in advance and then not only not show, but not bothering to let anyone know. 4 days late is the only breach on the club's part. He got his money 3 weeks late because of the wrong banking information given. If he was paid on time with the same banking information he would still have been paid 2 and half weeks late and entirely Hodge's fault. This looks like a cover up on Hodge's part to get out of his contract as that is what he wanted and trying to blame the 36ers for breach of contract. I would not be shocked to hear that the wrong banking information was deliberate to create this situation to his advantage.

Vertigo, keep your comments coming, they crack me up. Someone please give XY 220076 a little ball, that was gold.

The Sixers just painted Hodge as the devil at the press conference. Mal, Ninnis and Maher talked today like he was released by the club because he was unproffessional. He wasn't released, he quit. If his agent hadn't requested Hodge be let out of his contract, would he still be a Sixer? Or would Mal have cut him loose? I'm betting he'd still be here.

If Hodge was so distruptive to the team because he missed practises, didn't warm up with the team, thought he was bigger than the league, let the hype get to he head (or whatever other BS they could come up with) then why wasn't he released by the club before? Why wasn't he suspended by the club for a game?

Mal, Ninnis and Maher seemed to be trying to take the moral high gound. It smelt like sticking the boot in because they can. But Hodge left. He wasn't cut, released, suspended or anything. He left.

I just rememebred who it was in 1996. It was McCaffery. MCCAFFREY!! I can now see his smug, clean-cut-all-American, annoying face. I remembered the shot but forgot it was McCaffery until this memory trip down torture lane. I had forgotten all about him.

I do remember I stopped watching the 2nd game after the third quarter, I just couldn't stand it anymore.

That's the last Negative Town post from me. Apologies to all.

Vertigo there where rumours for at least 2 games that he was going to start on the bench due to missing training sessions.

If any of you think Mel's management stuffed up,I would remind you of some of the projects he has been involved in.
Chief Executive Australian F1 Grand Prix
" " SOCOG 2000(Sydney Olympics)
CEO Adelaide City Council
Chairman NBL Board
Fellow Member Aust.Institute of Directors
$3.95m Joint owner Distinctive Home Dome.
I think he knows how to handle bank accounts and manage people?
How is that compare to a sportsperson from Harlem?

"Hodge's pattern of training tardiness and missing sessions altogether had been wearing thin on the playing group which had requested he inform them if he was going to be missing practices."

Maybe he liked Phil's coaching so much as he didn't have to rock up to trainings?

Lol, exactly Minx. I wondered at the time why the hell Hodge liked Smyth so much, now I think it's pretty clear.

"If Hodge was so distruptive to the team because he missed practises, didn't warm up with the team, thought he was bigger than the league, let the hype get to he head (or whatever other BS they could come up with) then why wasn't he released by the club before? Why wasn't he suspended by the club for a game?"

Because he didn't do a runner before. Not showing last night for a game was the last straw.

I'm lovin some of the other comments on his blog, I have no idea what Andrew O'Grady was going on about but it was hilarious nontheless. It's just a pity that "wanker" (in the great words of Isaac) Clint Dogggggg/J-Foxxxxxx had to get on there and make Australians look like douchebags.

Vertigo, I will give full credit to your pain if you concede at least 15% joy :)

Just to clarify, Jules rocked up to EVERY practice on time, & did an admirable job in trainings last season.
In Europe, he was signed to play the passing role & wasn't allowed outside of those bounds. He enjoyed the freedom & respect of Phil's coaching phylosophy.
I'm only bringing this up to clear up any misconceptions from last season, & make no implied reference to his behaviour, or any dissing of the coaching system this season.
I hope this helps.

Hodge's blog is nothing if not entertaining. I have never seen such farcical self-promotion before. My guess is that a number of the 'fans' coming out in support of Hodge's posts are the great man himself.

Hey shotclock might want to check your facts, according to the Lands Titles Office Eddie Groves is the sole owner of the Dome.

We lost the Grand Prix to Melbourne when Mal was running it (Oh god am I sick of Mal bringing up the Grand Prix, the first one was in the 80's, get over it already) and it never made any money.

Chairman of the NBL is nothing to be proud of - gosh it's in such good shape isn't it ?

SOCOG was not without it scandles, bribe accusations amongst other things from memory.

I'm sorry but Mal has promised lots and delivered little during his tenure. I never thought someone would be able to run the club worse than BASA when the were forced to sell up but I've been proven wrong.

I think everyone needs to dial things down a bit and see what the core issue is and base there opinions on that. All this talk of him being a scapegoat who doesn't train etc. and pay talks etc. are all offshoots of the fact he didn't play.

Start from that and don't look anywhere else. Hodge didn't play; most leagues would supsend or heavily fine a player for doing that. Considering he decided to skip a game while playing for the sixers was probably the worst club he could have chosen to do this too. No doubt he escalated himself to "Shane Heal" status after this little number.

With all the dirty laundry that has come out about Hodge from the conference yesterday, it seems to me like Management should have aired this weeks ago rather than bottling the issue until breaking point like now. If anyone recalls, when Farley was in his last season, the news had stories for weeks regarding his off-court manner, his complaints etc. before the season was nearing an end.

It's actually nice to see most people on this forum are pissed off that he missed a game; I know from talking to a few people that most were assuming there was a family emergency or something, so to find out he skipped a game over a paycheck was a kick in the codgers.

DJ, Sure there were rumours. But they were just that, rumours. The fact is he didn't start on the bench. Obviously the Sixers didn't feel it had got to the point of him starting on the bench or they would have put him on the bench. Usually that's the normal sequence of discipline for a player consistently missing training sessions, isn't it? He starts on the bench. If he's still late or a no-show, he gets suspended for a game. None of this happened, but now Hodge quit and the experience of dealing with him was so horrible that Ninnis now thinks it's a relief he's gone? That's odd, because it doesn't seem like any disciplinary action was taken against him.

EC, What do you mean final straw? Hodge wasn't axed. He quit. And even if he was axed and Wednesday night was the final straw, why did it get to that point without anything being done about it before?

XY, Okay 15%. I can agree to that. Things look a little different now after a quality sleep but I do still have the taste of poo pie in my mouth.

I taste that too Vertigo, but I think you've got your chefs mixed up

Danger Mouse, I'm not excusing the no show without any communication to the team. Its completely unprofessional.

My problem with what was said at the press conference is :

A) I find their story hard to believe for some reason

B) But if their story is 100% true, then it reflects poorly on Hodge, but it also illustrates the team's absolute inability to manage the situation. That means Mal. It means Ninnis.

Like I said in a previous post, how on earth did this behaviour continue and how on earth did it get to this point without any disciplinary action being taken? Rumours of disciplinary action isn't reality. What concrete measures were taken to address the situation before it blew up on Wednesday? Did they just sit on their hands and hope Hodge's behaviour would improve?

Like I said in a previous post, how on earth did this behaviour continue and how on earth did it get to this point without any disciplinary action being taken?

Isaac, true, they have the reason to warrant action now (which implies they apparently didn't before so I don't know where Ninnis, Mal and Maher get off complaining about a track record of behaviour that no one took serious actions to improve until it was too late) and they have the support of most fans. Well, that's great. They have a reason and support. But they don't have arguably the best player in the league anymore and they don't have a player that got a lot more people to games.

Persisting rather than ripping off the bandaid? You start the guy on the bench. If that doesn't get the message across, you suspend him one game. If that doesn't get the message across you suspend him again. If that still doesn't work then you release him. Having to release him is ripping the bandaid off, and by their lack of action before in containing the problem the bandaid has been ripped off in most spectacular fashion. And, well, Ninnis sure has to wear any resulting losses now, doesn't he.

Hodge can be everything that Mal, Ninnis and Maher said he is. But I think the way the team handled (or didn't handle) the problem is an epic failure. Surely this is the worst possible outcome of whatever problem the team and management had with the way Hodge went about things.

There was talk after he skipped trainings of benching him (you would've seen some posts on here about it as word spread) and I was surprised they didn't follow through. Maybe they felt each time that they would work through it without going that far, or didn't want to get their star player offside if they could still get past some tough teams despite it all.

Worst possible outcome is losing a lockerroom problem and very quickly recruiting a proven replacement to help the team? I'm not unhappy with that. Whatever helps the team get results. If we'd started the season with Grizzard instead of Tyndale, would many have been unhappy at all?

I'm hearing you At A Place Called Vertigo, & I'm registered as a 99.9% happy 36er lap dog.
Just as a side-note, it took this site 2 days to confirm the current team's practice fan access (won't elaborate). I sincerely don't lose any sleep disagreeing with posters here.

If we'd started with Grizz? FFS, the Tigs signed him. Were we supposed to outbid them?
I'll go along with that stretch, but explain how we'd have Aaron on our roster under those circumstanmces.
Don't believe me? Fair enough, but review the euphoria when we signed a new promising import & snared Aaron's services because of it. FFS, it was heralded as sheer genius. Without prior knowledge of the impending injuries, it would've proven to be.
I hope I'm not shortchanging anyone, bouncing your reality cheques.

I said "if" - Grizzard was highly rated by many after his season with the Slingers and was often spoken of as a potential import recruit. All I'm saying is that we're walking out of this with Bruce AND Grizzard which is very good considering the dramas. Many would have been happy to start with Grizzard at all, let alone get him and Bruce.

Yeah, Tyndale and Bruce was a good deal (prior to hindsight entering the picture) and had the Tigers not taken Grizzard and the 36ers did, we wouldn't have picked up Bruce as a result.

See where I'm coming from now?

Isaac, I know there was talk of him being benched after he skipped training. But talk is talk. What was actually done about it? It appears nothing. I'm sure your list of reasons for the team not doing anything about it are all valid. But when it looks like it, smells like it and tastes like it, I call it what it is. Mismanagement.

I think the worst possible outcome is losing arguably the best player in the league, yes. If you have an employee who is causing problems but you know they could do great things for your business, do you want them to fail so you can fire them? Or do you want to address the problem and take all measures available to you before you cut them loose?

I personally think that is a horrible result, regardless of who anyone wants blame. And yes the Sixers rid themselves of a lockeroom problem (and Ninnis is relieved) but I'm saying if the situation had been managed properly (or managed at all it seems) maybe the lockeroom problem could have been addressed without losing the player.

OK Isaac, you did say "if". Good call. BUT, when I responded, I elaborated on why there was no way we could've signed Grizz at the start of the season. I also mentioned that if we had, we wouldn't have Aaron.
With what I'd explained, it seems a moot point to be asking whether posters here would be happy if we had Grizz at the start of the season. Sheesh, I'll even let Potsie off the hook for not getting done. ; )

The suggestion was that this was the "worst possible outcome". Many people would've been happy with Grizzard as one of our imports at the start of the season, so getting Grizzard plus Bruce in the end is not really that bad an outcome at all.