Given many fans were keen for vickerman over gaze as head coach, getting him as assistant gives kings best of both worlds

Talk about a Tigers reunion in Sydney. Vickerman was Westover's assistant after L. Gaze retired.

So Vickerman is coach and Gaze is the assistant but the other way around makes for a better story line and hype machine. Good for the Kings, they have the right people in charge now and people will be made to be accountable.

JEFF VAN GRONIGEN YOU HAD NOW MADE 2 MISTAKES IN THE COURSE OF A WEEK!! THE SYDNEY KINGS FANS ARE NOT BUYING INTO RELIVING THE TIGERS DAYS BY WAY OF HIRING GAZE, VICKERMAN AND COPELAND.

YOU HAVE JUST LOST MY FAMILY'S SEASONS TICKETS TO THE SYDNEY SWANS.


THE KINGS ORGANISATION IS STILL A BASKET CASE JUST WITH NEW OWNERS!

BECAUSE TYPING IN CAPITAL LETTERS ABOUT YOU'RE OPINION THAT ALMOST NO ONE ELSE HAS ON A FORUM THAT NOT MANY OWNERS READ IS ALWAYS THE BEST WAY TO GET YOUR MESSAGE ACROSS.

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

LC wasn't a great example as a Coach at the Australian Baskeball Academy if I recall correctly.

"No idea about Copeland, but hey, I'm counting it as a win overall."

Please don't.

Gaze isn't a legend. He is a Genius

My theory Gaze taking the Kings head coaching position has nothing to do with bringing a championship to Sydney quite the opposite. Its a plan to return the Tigers to the NBL and win a championships for the Tiger faithfuls and the Gaze family.

1. Gaze will coach the Kings for 2 years then return to Mel to bring back the Mel Tigers in the nbl but as an owner.

2. He hired is mates, Vickerman who is championship winning coach. Copeland is a second son in the Gaze family and was given the assistant role to help him get professional coaching experience on his resume.

3. Gaze will keep a keen eye on his SEABL team and use it as a feeder team to Tigers anticipating they will regain the Tigers nbl license in 2 years.

4. Vickerman will be the Tigers head coach and Copeland there assistant if he can keep away from the Sydney nightlife.

5. Gaze will use his position as the Kings head coach to improve his credentials in the US colleges coaching network and players for recruiting.

6. Vickerman will be doing the coaching behind the scene at training, Andrew will remain be the face of the coaches particularly for marketing/promotions.

7. Once the license is issued back to the Gaze family to return to the nbl, Andrew will step down as head coach to take the helm of the Tigers as a owner, followed by Vickerman who will be the Tigers head coach then Copeland possibly as the first assistant. And lastly Jeff Gronigen will resign strategically and pop up as the Tigers GM.

Then they will be one Happy Gaze/Tigers Family again.

Like i said.. Andrew Gaze is a Genius!

Anon typing in capital letters maybe its better if you don't follow sports since you seem to be so fickle. You haven't even given them a chance yet, who knows how they will go.

Anon Capital Letters

He might have a point, there not anything to do with the Kings here, I doubt very much if copeland is a better coach than Ben knight, Luke Kendall, bj carter . It would've been good to still see some Kings in there.
Any way good luck to them but I don't reckon the Kings got many more chances if they get this one wrong.

Being a rookie head coach, having an experienced assistant is key and an ex player and loyal mate who can relate to players would be the other side of the coin. Surprised he went for Copeland over Dmac.
The Kings have really gone for the home run in this appointment, safer bet would've been Gordie, but are they thinking Gaze might put more bums on seats game night opposed to Gordie who's a safe bet but probably unknown to Sydney siders who aren't basketball fans. The next year or two will be vital in attracting new fans as well as players who may be attracted to play for Gaze who really is one of the nice guys. Will be strange to see him in anything but tigers gear.
And will the shuffle be the main weapon, and is Gaze comfortable in anything else, or will he rely on Vickerman to run all the X's and Os and just be the figurehead. Shuffle worked for the tigers because they were smart and consistent in terms of personell, which the kings are lacking.
And as mentioned, is Gaze there for the long haul? First mention of a tigers revival, he'll be out the door faster than you can say violet crumble. At least it may ignite a stagnant kings fan base but getting the roster together will be interesting, firstly if Gaze can coach them and can Vickerman succeed without an experienced roster if he's the man pulling the strings.
But good luck to him, and the guy that's switching to the swans, good riddance if he's that fickle, way to be a loyal supporter.

Good hire by Gaze to grab Vickerman, a guy with recent head coaching experience in this league.

Although it does make his departure from New Zealand seem a bit strange now.

Gaze, Vickerman and Copeland. Next Tiger airlines will become a sponsor of the Kings then give discount flights to Sydney for all Mel Tigers faithfuls so they can fly up each week to watch the Sydney Tigers games. LOL

Also has connections with Brett Brown and the Spurs, may see a pick or 2 head to Sydney to get their experience. While Thornton didn't live up to billing, I suspect Gaze will be a players coach and get the best out of a young import. I think recent experiments have concluded that a hungry scorer will be more successful than a distributor or a role player like Daniels was. Will just be a matter of reigning them in and both those nba clubs will tell them to listen to Gaze otherwise it would be a black mark against them, even though both franchises are at different ends of spectrum. Imagine if Embiid was sent here on a short term basis to get into game shape, I would say it would be better for him with lesser chance of injury and being the man than being in nba or d league. Will never happen but would be beneficial for everyone involved

Thornton was a big scorer at college as well but was next to useless at the Kings and I don't think it can all be down to the coaches.

Mcrae put up good stats.

The team had no centre or inside presence and had a few injuries and didn't really hsve a great sf, it was basically guards and power fwds on the roster so very un balanced. So the team struggled and it hurt chemistry, a lot of that had nothing to do with mcrae who was probably frustrated as well.

If he had played the scoring sf ennis/prather spot at perth i think he would have been great and looked upon more positively

My intention about having a scorer along the lines of McCrae would be that hopefully Gaze would be able to reign in any in house bickering that could result. Of course being a nice guy he might not, but I think he has runs on the board to bring a team together. McCrae got a lot of bad press in my opinion because of the lack of success and all the instability, if he had played the same role at Perth it would be way different. Much rather someone who can play with a competitive streak than someone like Daniels that constantly disappointed wherever he went by disappearing for stretches.