Anonymous
Years ago
According to RSN Breakfast Club twitter feed, Tai Wesley will stay in the NBL as a local player next season. This will make him a high sought after free agent!
His 17 kids will be able to upgrade from cheeseburgers to whopper value meals with the money this grown man will be earning next season
LoveBroker
Years ago
If United are really paying Andersen $600k, then Tai should be getting the same money or more.
"His 17 kids will be able to upgrade from cheeseburgers to whopper value meals with the money this grown man will be earning next season"
Maybe YOU should get a job like Tai so you can upgrade from the free missed free throw cheeseburgers and get a whopper yourself?
Lucky that United caught a lucky break here and will finally be able to assemble a decent roster...
SM
Years ago
I wonder if it's due to an impending citizenship or an apparent 'duty of care'
Impending citizenship, which is why it's a 12 month grace period.
Oh so that was a 'joke'. Sounded like a primary school comment. Not needed at all. Like the Jawai 'jokes' Totally not needed.
Train
Years ago
I think most here understood that joke lol I take it you haven't watched much NBL recently.
Tornado
Years ago
What a surprise...considering the NBL owner and United owner are one in the same.
Tai is a free agent, so if anything this helps him more than Larry. He will get offers from most teams i'd think.
But feel free to keep hating on Larry.
"What a surprise...considering the NBL owner and United owner are one in the same."
I wish I was uneducated too
LK not being the United owner is like saying Donald Trump set up a blind trust for his children to run all his business interests.
Tornado, you literally have no idea of the process that went on in the background to get this done, so yes, you are uneducated on the application.
LoveBroker
Years ago
Well can you offer some clarity around 'the process' then?
If its Wesley becoming an Australian citizen by the 2018/19 season, then fair enough, thats hardly on LK.
If Guam is magically back on the exception list when it was removed in favour of Asian countries, then that is another matter entirely.
Kingpodge
Years ago
I think you're right Lovebroker, a little clarity and the conspiracy theory speculation disappears.
Doesn't FIBA do the classifications anyways?
Citizenship application in process . Guam has not been reclassified.
Tornado
Years ago
Citizenship?! How long has he been in Australia?
He has only been playing in the NBL since 2014 and Melbourne (Australia) since 2016.
It doesn't matter how you look at it...it wreaks of favouritism & hidden agendas.
Anon #671365...enlighten me on how you know I have no idea on the situation/application?
Effectively Melbourne running 4 Imports (lets face it Guam exclusion is a joke-it's America) and Adelaide running 2. Yes, LV buying wins and Adelaide punching above their weight against the teams with some solid backing. Respect deserved for what teams are doing that have little backing and put together the wins. And Tai should be an import next year, has not met requirements for citizenship and only spent half a year here last year. And lets face it he deserves an import spot. Melbourne would bot be winning if he was injured and he was a beast for them last season.
Adding to the above, if he does make citizen as dodgy as it may be then get him on the Boomers squad asap.
"and Adelaide running 2"
Shorter, Childress, Moore. Which of those isn't an import?
Zodiac
Years ago
What makes the Wesley situation particularly galling is he's actually American. Born in the US (spent a few years as a kid in Guam when his dad worked there) basically raised in the US, college in the US the lot.
LV
Years ago
Wesley has 2 young kids and has become a long term fixture in the NBL, making it his home. How many "imports" stay for four years?
As I said a couple of months ago, it'd be perfectly fair if the rule was grandfathered for existing players.
The NBL would be doing itself a favour too, giving a long term player a chance to remain in the league.
Watch all of the whiners stop if Tai ends up at their team. He's a free agent coming off career best form. He could go to a small market team too, such as Cairns and help with depth. Not out of the question.
Zodiac
Years ago
It's got nothing to do with whining I'd love to have Wesley on my team as a local or an import I'm probably his biggest fan on here over the years.
However it does change the fact it was a bit dodgy by the Breakers and then United to get him classified as Guamanian and thus a local.
ME
(he/kangaroo)
Years ago
A lot of sticklers in this board. Fact is Tai is a great player, and the league should want to keep guys around like him rather than set their rules such that they're excluded. Yes, you can't do it for everyone, but he's already here, already established. Just shut up and let the guy play here. The league is better for it.
"keep guys around like him rather than set their rules such that they're excluded."
He won't be excluded under any rules.
Hey @Me, so could it happen for someone like Prather as well?
He has played & lived in Australia longer than Wesley.
Wesley has been in Australia less than 2 years and now classifying him as an Aussie?
Come on now!
And please don't say but he was in New Zealand for a while so that counts, because unless I'm mistaken they are different countries.
I dont like this decision.
koberulz
Years ago
Prather has never played as a local.
Wesley's time in Australia specifically is irrelevant. New Zealanders are also locals.
Thank you KobeRulz, that's what these people are missing. He was allowed to play as a local and then the rule changed whilst he was playing as a local. It’s technically a restraint of trade. So the NBL doing it this way is fair as he still has to be a local on paper with the Aust Gov too
I don't get the complaining either, he wants to become naturalised, good on him, it will surely get him a good pay rise.
Who knows he might end up somewhere else, I’m sure Wildcats had plans for a naturalised lisch but that didn’t work out
Tornado
Years ago
The problem is you can't be a joint Australia or NZ citizen...the time he spent in either country is irrelevant if he is going for citizenship in either country. The NBL (local) rule doesn't override the laws in either country.
AngusH
Years ago
TBH, I think he'd still be here whether it's as a local or as an import. I'm fine with the rules being bent to accommodate him given both his personal situation and his status at the time of signing with Melbourne, though. I like to think common sense can rule the day, and I also like to think it's not just happening because he plays for the league owner's team (maybe I'm overly optimistic...).
D2.0
Years ago
Meh,
Like a lot of people who have moved around and had different citizenship, He effectively got to choose which country he wanted to play for. He chose Guam.
I know he was born in the USA, but I thought his dad actually came from somewhere in Oceania?
Anyway, under the previous rules, he qualified as a "local" and that's how he played for the Breakers.
It's not unreasonable that the NBL provides some Grace whilst he waits for Aussie citizenship.
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