yeah Ennis, was my main thought, surely he's the only guy that can fill that void

Sounds like Melbourne have waited until they got a suitable replacement before releasing him.

ok, so his partner is having a baby.....nothing new there, he's not coming back?
He is a professional athlete and surely new this was coming??

No way Melbourne get McRae with Goulding and Blanchfield there.

Was a huge shot the #&*% knocked down 6 months ago against the Taipans....baby = 9 months....new all along...anon 314 please expand on your comments

Gotta be Ennis, no way he was mutually released based on a child birth. He is a professional athlete, shit happens, you wouldn't just mutually agree to quit any other job when your partner becomes pregnant. C'mon now, people aren't that stupid, call it what it really is. United obviously have some big things coming or they'd be absolutely furious at the late notice of a key import wanting out... guess it looks better on paper for his next gig.

Would like to see some proof of that. But I agree 100% he has been sacked. Wonder if he is still even in Aus. Based on what you're saying that LSU game was ages ago, why would he still be in Melbourne.

he was present at the 2nd LSU game at hisense but was on the bench in casual clothes and a snap back, he was also at the most recent trip to Ballarat and was in the clinics and team events at the Local schools...

although I did see in some images he had a moon boot on his right foot , but then an hour later he was training with the team

somthing just dosent seem right

^^Oh...

Why is it so hard to believe he has been released to be with his partner for the birth of their child?

Chalmers, might be true on some level but I've been reading Hoops for a decade and I reckon anon re LSU might have inside info.

He will end up back in NZ.

They'll say goodbye to Charles Jackson and welcome Ibekwe back with open arms.

Because it hasn't happened before Chalmers, not since I've been following basketball. Plus someone is clearly got some inside info, that perhaps he hasn't been all that popular. Plus no import gives up a decent pay check for the birth of a child, a game or 2 or even a month but a full contract, thats not happening this day and age.

Sounds like he will end up in NZ with partner & baby.....and live happily ever after !!

MacDub i think your on the money!!! Why do clubs write press releases like that and play the family card.Club has released from his contract and we move on.

does anon who went to meeting have any info on the player being signed by united ?

Dont see Ibekwe back at NZ, then again stranger things have happened. How far away were they $ wise from him resigning initially I wonder.

Chris Goulding put a video up on Twitter the other day while at a camp for kids and was filming and talking to Kickett and then turned to the door as an African American walked in and you heard Goulding say I can't show him. So maybe there is truth to what Anon is saying

Haha thats random and makes alot of sense.... main curiosity is why the hell has he hung around the club then.... how United can you be!

link to video ? can't find it on Twitter

They may have let him train and stay in shape for his next team

Id say its because the reason he was released had nothing to actually do with the birth of a baby. I wonder if Adelaide could consider sacking one of their imports and trying to bring him in.... would make things very interesting in Adelaide.

saw images of him wearing a moon boot, intersting, may have been wearing it so there was a 'reason' for him not too play and not just sitting out for no reason ?

Yes, link us the video.

Have a look at what Childress just tweeted.

saw his tweet, must be an ex NBA playwr

was a teammate of Childress in Phoenix

said he had bounce so would have to be him of Shannon brown and he said it's a friend of his and after lookin up stuff it seems they both have stuff to do with eachother off court

If it's Warrick, and he's in decent shape, wow.

Childress has said so on Twitter.

hm it is the live periscope video from sep 10 but doesn't seem to be working anymore, might add more fuel to the fire now it has been removed

Beks decides to leave on family grounds and Utd find an NBA replacement straight away....sounds legit.

Could say the same about Greenwood for Jawai but get your drift.

Warrick would be a very nice visual for a league dying for highlights!!

He's more than just a highlight reel too - put up legit stats in quality Euro leagues. I had Melb out of the top 4 discussion, but this could be enough to push them back in.

I was at there training today and he was there, this seems super weird he was in the full scrimmage, but they were playing bench vs starters and he was in the bench group and theres no way.. no offence to majok majok but theres no way majok starts over beks!

The Goulding vid- is that legit? If so, link?

Ibekwe has never hung around anywhere for long. Many very short stints- more so than your average import. I wonder if there's a reason?

Hakim Warrick- it's been a few years since NBA, he's 33 and the NBL is stronger now than ever, so I'm not seduced by his record. How did he go the past 2 years in China and Turkey? That's the important question

Solid stats per here

http://www.fiba.com/pages/eng/fc/gamecent/p/pid/6034134/playerview.html

What's the standard like in China and Turkey?

The average import hangs around 1 season if that these days. I dont think this is anymore than a team trying desperately to get fans in the door taking a safe option, then sniffing out an even better option letting the business side of the sport take hold.

Beks was fully healthy no moon boots or any of that jazz, was dunking and dunking well. hitting mid range j's and looking good! This is super weird!

LV go to Chris' Twitter feed Sep 10 their is a post of a live periscope video, it no longer works on my PC. At the time I thought nothing of the last bit as I couldn't make out who just walked through the door but thought it was interesting. I don't know if it is linked to this news but it is a bit of a coincidence

I don't really care if Melbourne United have replaced a rim protecting, inside target and quality rebounder with another Sam Young type (spend a career hardly touching the ball and then get here and try taking on all 5 opponents on a single possession) then they don't need him.

If this was legit then they should have tried for a Mickell Gladness or Mike Dunigan type but if he is legit and serious and Holt, Bubbles and Vinnie can handle less touches then United are going to be seriously difficult opponents.

It's potential news like this that makes me wanna scream... "Can we please have 48 minute games"

Exactly. Warrick won't make United any better.

Ibekewe was the perfect fit for that team.

United's situation (just as it was last year) could be best described as cleaning a car, except United only wash the outside and don't vac the inside.

The result is a very nice and flashy looking car from the outside but an absolute nightmare when you drill down to the interior.

United will once again have a bunch of guys who are scorers and want the ball - Goulding, Holt, Barlow, Blanchfield, Barlow, Kickert, Warrick.

But who's going to do the other little things..whose going to man up and get a vac and clean the inside of the car and do the dirty work.

The coach that's who Macdub. He's got the top of the line vac, carpet cleaner etc. This car will look, smell & drive beautifully....

Gladness would be a good fit

Childress is 32, his still bouncing well?

He is, but not all players his age do, and Josh had a couple of recent seasons where he didn't play or played limited minutes to keep him fresh.

Dunigan?

Here's a video from this year of him dunking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFeFaGBKFsE

Of course, whether Warrik still has full hops or not, he went for 18 & 8 in 27mins in the Turkish league last year, partnering Troy Devries, and those are big numbers in that style of game - 3rd in the TBL in scoring and 5th in boards.

im excited!

Melbourne's opponents might be too though, Ibekwe was going to be the defensive anchor on that team, now they could be back to being a bit of a donut.

Majok got it, dw bout that!

lol Pick and Roll are idiots. Childress said that it was a Phoenix team mate, and they had brooklyn nets and atlanta hawks team mates on that list. Aussie Hoopla did it better, there article actually made sense

tropical booz,

Unfortunately the coach can't vac though.

He can tell implore the players to vac but whether they can do it is another thing.

You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

Cats need a wing player...Beks != Wing

I need to see Majok Majok play before I decide how good of a fit Ibekwe would've been for this team- and how much United would've benefited from him rim protection.

I suspect that if it is Warrick, that he will be a good fit at the 4 spot in this team. You'd expect Kickert to then start at the 5 but play the 4 when Warrick's off the court.

It is fine to talk about rumour in an opinion piece, and who said these people claim to be Journalists? You can be a writer without being a Journalist, you know?

At least these people create content for fans - something the NBL has long had a deficit with. They also inform people of things who might not otherwise know.

At least he is decisive.

I reckon he will be ejected more than Woolpert was in Townsville, that seemed to happen a bit.

Love the analogy MACDUB

Will United be able to deal with the physicality of NZ and Perth in the front court?
I haven't seen Majok, Kickett is as soft as a marshmallow and Patton gets far too little court time so will Warrick be monsters or will he be just the missing piece that United need ?

The coach didn't like how he played in one pre-season hit against some kids and fired a guy who was instrumental in the previous seasons championship winning team anon?
Sounds reasonable. They should sign Ben Allen as their marquee player if so much weight is put on how you play in meaningless games.

I think Charles Jackson is going to turn out alright for New Zealand. It will take a few games but he'll find his feet. I don't think Ebekwe will be back.

Young was a defensive specialist

All these expert websites simply post other peoples tweets, opinions and posts from here and elsewhere, and supposedly they are experts journos.

Exactly, Isaac. Plus it is not a paid job and resources are limited. People are expecting Leigh sales on for free or something

I have a poster of Warrick at home....
actually it is a poster of Dirk schooling Warrick with a one legged fade away!!! :)

Still he would be a very good signing, he would provide a lot of highlight dunks and blocks.

another reason to be excited about the upcoming season.

This kind of thing is all too common. I was watching an interview between Patty Mills and some sports journo on some news channel which escapes me. The guy spent about 60 seconds on the most banal basketball conversation imaginable, and then was like "so what do you think of Jarrad Hayne? and which footy game do you like this weekend?"

This was just after the TV deal was announced, and Patty, as ambassador, would have had some things of interest to say. Any journo worth his salt would have probed the issue - but no. "So what did you think of Richmonds game against ........" ... "Oh, I dont tend to get a chance to watch the footy over in the US so much."

And then there was the interview between Peter Switzer and Larry Kestleman on Switzer Daily. "So what went wrong with the NBL?" - A great way to start a positive conversation. Larry was on the backfoot for the rest of the interview. They either want to present basketball as a "basket-case" (their favourite go-to term) or they want to quickly gloss over it and move back on to football.

But I guess the NBL needs to earn the sporting world's respect.

Gaze should have put him in his place and asked just how many olympics this maher character has been in. Our representatives need to show a bit more fight when faced with ignorance.

When his Missus has had the baby, do you think we could get him to Perth?
We need a bit MORE height.
Surely we can extend Oceania to include Nigeria?