Thoughts? It says personal matter which implies health or some other personal matter. What's the point in speculating?

Graeme Allen is stepping into the role in her absence.

Will this mean BA will function even worse over the next 6 months? If that's possible. Seriously unless there is some sort of overhaul our sport will never reach the levels it should, KK's leave (as unfortunate as it may be, i hope things aren't too bad) makes things worse.

Basketball has the NBA as a global brand, our national league which used to prosper, massive grass roots participation, Olympic games exposure which other sports do not, and also the NCAA pathway for talented Aussies, how it's barely even a second tier sport in this country says a lot about the management for the last 15 years.

I know i'm sounding like so many others before me, but seriously, what next for this 6 month's and then beyond?

She is taking leave because she is being implicated in dodgy government dealings while NSW Premier. Doubt she is involved but she has to defend herself in court. Graeme Allen will be a good replacement.

‏@andrewbogut
WOW, never have I seen a company/federation/org grant a newly hired CEO (less than 2 years on the job) 6 MONTHS PAID LEAVE. #sameoldsameold


You know it must be important news when the great minds of basketball start weighing in on twitter about it.

When your greatest active player is calling shenanigans and disharmony isnt that a pretty good indicator of a problem?

Is it paid leave though? The article doesn't seem to mention that.

Mick - i don't think so. You are attributing insight and knowledge to that player that we have no right to expect they have. Its like listening to Gaze, he has an opinion, but the basis for that opinion is not necessarily fantastic.

All that tweet shows is that someone doesn't understand leave of absence.

Strikes me as a rash and unsupportive tweet too unless he has more information than the article provided. Same sort of dissent from a cricket team member would make the papers and potentially lead to disciplinary action?

Don't think we'll ever see that with Bogut though - Boomers at his mercy more or less.

HO, that is a very polite way of saying that Bogut is dumber than a box of hammers.

Bogut cares. He could have just ignore it knowing he's already achieved the highest in basketball and getting paid million $$$.

He's known as conservative and haven't heard of being a pain.

He's right. 6 months paid leave for just under 2 year tenure. Who do we think will voice it out with respectable status as his? Glad he did.

Not at all situation. I mean what I said, i don't expect that Bogut is at all close to the issue, and I probably think he gone off half cocked - but i don't think he is dumb.

We have no idea what is going on here - there could be 50 reasons for asking for LOA. But, LOA means you are not paid, and Bogut is saying she is, he probably needs to apologise if he does have it wrong.

I agree with you, HO, I just happen to think he isn't very smart. The danger is, he has influence so his ill-informed comments translate to Anonas repeating it as gospel just above.

It is my view and all of us just couldn't be on the same page at all times. We're talking here about the basketball governing boy of Australia the BA.

Based on this news :

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/basketball/basketball-australia-boss-kristina-keneally-has-taken-leave-20140113-30qvc.html

..one could think that its not really her fault at all. She was rumoured to resign but was granted six month leave by BA anyway.

You want to stay good with anyone leaving for 6 months absence when actually she/he wants to leave for good originally. So be it. Now wonder how our basketball going on in the country.

Where does that article say that it was paid leave?

Good call Situation, his original tweet, which does appear to be inaccurate, has been retweeted 17 times. Gaze has informed him that BA have acted "compassionately" in this circumstance. I, like Isaac, don't care for the reasons, but I do care that the messaging is the right messaging.

The fact that BA don't appear to have announced this is pretty poor as well.

So, we dont have to question or give comments for Ms Keanelly's 6 months leave? We are no difference with North Korean Basketball League

Agree again, HO.

Anonas, you have missed the point.

Bogut's tweet is about what company would grant extended leave to a CEO of short tenure "SIX MONTHS PAID LEAVE". (his capitalisation and I can only presume for emphasis!).

You have perpetuated that yourself here.

Leave of Absence generally is unpaid.

If he has this wrong he needs to say sorry, and people who have retweeted and repeated it need to say sorry.

LOA might generally be unpaid by us plebs in the real world paid by the hour, but for but for those living on a salary, their negotiation for payment while on leave are quite different.

I find Andrew Bogut far too opinionated.. I don't see how the situation at all effects him, or even deeply effects Basketball Australia. He thinks he has this right to tell everyone else what they should and shouldn't be doing yet is basically nowehere to be seen for the Boomers for almost a decade and the trend is looking to continue. I am sure he could be on the receiving end of some Tweets himself. Good player, Tough competitor, But I think he thinks he is Australias basketball god.

Perhaps she is having a paid holiday with James hird...

Bogut is a stand up bloke and I think it pains him to come home and do interviews where he has to defend the state of basketball in Australia and from the outside it looks like another mess.

I wonder if the fact that Bogut hasn't played much for the Boomers as of late is affecting his relationship with BA and with KK?

What was the main focus of BA this time of year? WNBL or still Opals camp and Boomers or our basketballers abroad?

If she is getting paid it smacks of poor form from BA...that said history tells us poor form is what they normally do.

I understand if it was "unpaid" as she might have issues and a leave period is fine but you cannot pay her to be at home!

BA isn't a major corporation that can afford to pay the CEO to take 6 months opff...once the leave entilitments are finished then it would go into the non-paid leave.

As expected, it's a case of Bogut shooting off at the mouth without bothering about the facts:

Derwin and chief operating officer Graeme Allen are sharing Keneally's responsibilities during her absence.

"Let me say Kristina is on leave without pay and she is actually still assisting Scott and myself," Allen said on Tuesday.

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/basketball/bogut-and-gaze-in-twitter-clash-over-basketball-australia-ceo-kristina-keneally-being-granted-six-months-leave/story-fni2u9cl-1226801740514

Hopefully we'll see a retraction from Bogut. Fair to watch proceedings and comment (we all do it), but unfair to make that unqualified claim about paid leave without full knowledge or at least a later retraction.

He's painted BA poorly with that tweet, in front of 50,000 followers, many of who would be reasonably young and impressionable or buy whatever he's said. If it's happened for health or professional reasons and genuinely in the interest of BA too, why kick them when they're down? Boti has indicated that she's taken unpaid leave and will still be helping out while on leave - not really worth criticism I would've thought.

Time to open his mouth to change feet.

"Without Pay" hey, do we believe that, politicians never lie do they, i suppose it's called telling only part of the truth.

Arrangements can be made like "James Hird wont be paid during his suspension", then he'll receive a lump sum instead.

There's a back and forth on twitter between Bogut & Andrew Gaze regarding the situation. The chain starts here

https://twitter.com/andrewbogut/status/422921576095285248

Bogut doesn't appear to be keen to tweet a retraction, digging his heels in.

Me:

@andrewbogut Boti Nagy has written that Keneally is on leave *without* pay for six months and will still be helping BA while away.

@HoopsForum @andrewbogut She is on unpaid leave due to family situation. Confirmed it herself today with earlier tweet.

@boti_nagy @HoopsForum helps that proper facts come out...albeit a few days later. Thanks for follow up Boti.

@andrewbogut @boti_nagy @HoopsForum to be fair, original article by @rpjward never said it was paid leave,so proper facts were already out

@andrewbogut Hopefully those only seeing your original tweet don't maintain the wrong idea. BA has issues, but tough to criticise this one.

@HoopsForum each to their own accord. My gripe isn't with KK. Its the whole 3 CEO's in 6 years, and how this has now been made public.

@boti_nagy @HoopsForum oh, and is it 6 months, or a "few months". #justsoimclear

I would have bet money that he would shift the goalposts from his original criticism IN CAPS FOR EXTRA EMPHASIS!!!

If you hadn't already assumed he'd never step back, seeing him want to clarify "six months" vs "few months" tells you everything.

Boti has never been afraid to "slouch corrected" and Bogut could've borrowed something like that to ease the feel of retracting.

---

Giving up. He doesn't have the balls to retract or ability to see how his comment is unnecessarily damaging.

Poor form. Lots of comments on the Age from readers smacking BA for the "with pay" thing too.

Isaac made a good point yesterday about what would happen if this was a cricket player - difference is that in this case unlikely that Bogut is contracted to BA and therefore no capacity for enforcement.

His three CEO's in six years thing is crap spin as well. As I understand Larry replaced Derwin in 2009. Derwin was there close to a decade. Larry lasted 3 years and replaced by Keneally. That is not an unstable set of circumstances by any means. I can spin that as 3 CEO's in 14 years - and be far more accurate.

Finally, no matter how much he wants to spin it, his originally post, with EMPHASIS, was about the individual being PAID while on leave and whether any corporation would allow this - not about tenure of multiple CEO's - he derived to this later on.

"...or ability to see how his comment is unnecessarily damaging."

Agree. He uses his "I'm entitled to an opinion" excuse without realising that criticism, warranted or not, is far more damaging and far-reaching when it comes from him.

I had the same issue with Patty Mills during his brief stay with the Tigers. He was bagging the league for not advertising the pre-season tournament. When its star player is calling the league "a joke", what is the casual observer going to think, and what does it prove?

There's a small paragraph on this story in The West Australian today. Quotes Bogut's tweet in its entirety and offers no other information.

Journalism!

they just could have let Ms. Keneally leave her post for good. Now Bogut the accuser becomes accused. The best thing we can is shed more light on the former NSW Premier's leave of absence and then Bogut's accusation.., technically this should be the order of argument or discussion. But we're pressing more on Bogut instead, an obvious defensive effort.

Exactly. We're pressing more on Bogut.

It's better when you hear it than when you read it.

Wouldn't encouraging Keneally to leave for good be exactly what Bogut is complaining about with his "three CEOs in x years" comment?

He's said it's not about KK but BA. So, were they meant to pre-empt her request for personal leave and deny her the position for something unforeseen?

CEO is salary for function. Not hourly pay with weekly tasks. For the next 6 months BA losers and then needs to use other staff to cover. NBL has taken over mens basketball. No new things in past 6 months, so in the next 6 months the CEO has done what for basketball?

there you go. now let's back to the ball game.

Anonas is changing the goalposts to suit too.

Anonas.

Your response is that Bogut doing what he did this is Keneally's fault? And your basis for doing this is the journalists rumour that she was going to resign anyway?

Seriously. Is that how your mind works?

It's not a defensive effort, a defensive effort might be to play up the reasons for her leave. Deflecting is a classic defensive strategy by the way - nice try.

Bogut has created the most news about this issue. And the news he created it appears is wrong.

FM and #452911

In the past I have defended and attacked BA on this forum. I attempt to be reasonably objective. Lets balance out a couple of things.

In Keneally's time BA has:

- divested itself of the NBL, which might be seen as being as good for BA as it is supposedly going to be for the NBL.
- appointed full time Boomers and Opals coaches right through to RIO - something I cannot recall ever happening before and I think strategically gives us the very best chance of success there - an excellent and MAJOR change in my view (part of a significant changes to our high performance structure btw - all in the period of her engagement)
- secured a naming rights sponsor for the WNBL for a multi year deal

You cannot just say nothing has happened in her time. Its blind to do so.

I was enthusiastic about her appointment and have been disappointed with her performance overall. But I cannot say she has done nothing. A large part of her job is just running the business as well.

FM, I am not sure what you want BA to do. The CEO comes and asks (on compassionate grounds according to Gaze) for leave without pay. They grant it - senior staff and the chair step in to take up the slack - it happens. The acting CEO acknowledges that despite being on leave the CEO is still providing assistance. Just not sure what you think should have happened or what would have been a better scenario.

What BA handled REALLY poorly was how this got out.

Nice try HO. Hall Of?

Hall Oates?