Lol intimidation? Are you serious? Probably actually wants to get to the bottom of the issue.

If thats what he wanted to do he could probably call or email Joey and work it out. Instead he sat silently in a corner glaring at him in a situation, as noted by the journalist, that he has never been in before.

The Kestleman experiment is fast unraveling

1) Hawthorn pull out due to governance issues
2) TV numbers aren't on the radar
3) LK sitting in press conferences trying to intimidate people
4) Teams losing more money than ever

Could you imagine David Silver behaving like LK, nope.

Worth looking at it from both sides IMO. Joey likely feels like he was hard done by. LK meanwhile has put in millions, would be aware of the NBL-Melbourne concerns, presumably does his best to keep things remotely fair while pumping money into United, and doesn't love the idea of a coach suggesting he's acting improperly.

I doubt very much that the referees are under instruction from the league to favour any one team. Ref favouritism has appeared to favour the home team each game and even despite that, each game has been a decent contest.

Ideally LK would sit in on the conference and then have a polite/friendly word after, say that the refs have a tough job but are an on-going focus for the league, blah blah blah.

Simple solution is for LK to hand his MU interest over to Slepoy and focus solely on the league.

I Have also heard that LK doesn't own MU and that the entity still sits with McPeake /Minear and co. Perhaps LK is embarrassed to come forward and declare he doesn't actually own MU after claiming he does, that would make sense.

@anon

Go talk to owners and see what the answer are

Blackwell moved on from NZ
36ers looking for bail out
Hawks changing owners
Kings dropping huge cash
Cairns being run tighter each year


None of those things point to a sustainable situation

you asked for evidence,i gave it to you

back to school buddy , teacher is waiting for you

I understand that journalism has evolved and that the job description of local papers is to 'fight' for their teams, but the way this was written is disappointing.

"... for pointing out that the league and Melbourne United are owned by the same man -- Larry Kestelman -- last week.

That is fact".

What a joke. How about if Joey originally said something like, "The refereeing is something I will talk to the NBL about. The NBL and Melbourne United obviously have Larry Kestelman as top brass in both organisations, but hopefully there will be no conflict of interest."

Instead he chose the passive aggressive approach like a child and media/fans appear to be on his side. Crazy

'David Stern' and 'Adam Silver' by the way, Yo Yo

Good read though, comprehensive and not as biased as it could have been

If Joey is going to keep acting like an infant then it's understandable to me that daddy needs to stay close at hand.
Seriously, this is a quality league and it's trying to get some traction in a competitive environment for sport. Having the head of the potential champions actively killing media coverage is bullshit.

Very unfortunate & extremely unprofessional behaviour for someone in a leadership position. He felt someone is making his life hard & wants to strongly express his displeasure by making other professionals have a hard time too. The emotional intelligence of a moron.

Don't panic guys, how many years has Joey got left on his contract? Only 4 more years of "I'm not sure" "We'll do our best".

I am not sure what Joey is doing actively kills media coverage - in fact, quite the opposite. It is getting people talking, like right now. We are talking more now about 2 sentences Joey repeats than every single thing he has ever said before.

"
Blackwell moved on from NZ
36ers looking for bail out
Hawks changing owners
Kings dropping huge cash
Cairns being run tighter each year
"

These things aren't evidence. Without LK, none of those teams would probably exist right now. The league would have closed for a year at very least. You have to spend money to make money.

Also where is the evidence that 36ers need a buy out? And Kings owners have always said it was going to take a while to turn a profit. None of these things are LK's fault. If anything it has just brought to light problems that were already there and were always going to be there until the league turns the corner with more revenue.

"The Kestleman experiment is fast unraveling

1) Hawthorn pull out due to governance issues
2) TV numbers aren't on the radar
3) LK sitting in press conferences trying to intimidate people
4) Teams losing more money than ever

Could you imagine David Silver behaving like LK, nope.

"

Hawthorn actually explicitly said they remain very interested. I expect if United ownership changes, they'll be in.

TV numbers actually are on the radar. The first 2 games of the NBL Finals got 100,000 more viewers than the finals last year. The latter games have dropped viewership but only due to the competition with AFL.

I think it's a bit far fetched to say that Kestleman was trying to "intimidate" anyone.

And I am very sure there are more teams in better positions now than there were before LK got involved. LK knows how to run a business.

Let's just get a few things straight.

1. LK has been great for the NBL.

(I was a Tigers member for 13 years pre United, I volunteered for the club, travelled interstate to watch them, etc. Unlike most other Tigers people, I've maintained some good graces and kept following the sport).

2. United hasn't been favoured by the refs in this series any more than Adelaide has. Most neutral fans are saying this.

3. Joey Wright is fast headed towards all league wanker territory.

4. Vickerman is all class.

5. There's no reason to think (3) or (4) will necessarily change pending on the result on Saturday, but given Wright's antics it would sure be great watching him if they lose.

"2. United hasn't been favoured by the refs in this series any more than Adelaide has. Most neutral fans are saying this.
"

Well, after watching the full series thus far I'd tend to agree. it seems the home team gets a lot of home cooking, but it just seems to be just a tad worse in Melbourne. I think where people get the idea that it is a bit biased is the fine on joey for speaking his mind, and ejecting Sobey. In a lot of ways I think Sobey deserved to be ejected but in a finals game you should endeavor to allow all of the best players to play.

Joey is a legend. He is not interested in talking to the media he means business.

Adelaide will be NBA champions mark my words. I am also going to throw it out the Majok for surprise MVP.

Maybe funny for 1.5 games (mostly to get that Neroli exchange which was amusing), but then he should get back to things.

I don't think it's traumatising for a journalist to go without a quote from one coach when there are countless other things to include. Neroli showed exactly how you deal with it - come prepared, make light of it, and make it something worth sharing for entertainment. He's probably gone one conference too far with it, but whatever.

Beyond that, it's hardly going to make him feel less targeted - might just move the perceived instigation from refs to league ownership, rival fans, etc.

I has certainly taken the fire out of any player vs player exchange, which certainly gave 36er opponents plenty to get motivated up by iat the end of the last two seasons.

If anything he's "taking the heat" that often gets his player trip up into saying something stupid. "one in All in" certainly would mean "if Joey's saying noting, then so am I."

I suspect this stunt has entered the territory of "I've carried it on too far and i can't stop now", so it will just continue forever.

You can;t have the owner of the league owning a club in the league, it's a conflict of interest, to pretend otherwise is a joke. Oh and we go on about aussies ball tampering this is worse if you ask me. If LK has any integrity he will sell Melbourne United and have no share or vested interest in the club.

I'm sure that's his plan, wants to drive up the price first, timing and patience is key from a business perspective.

Can't an owner of a league attend a press conference discussing his league without accusations of intimidation?

This is one of the most important events of the NBL calender after all, is it so strange he is there?

Agree, LoveBroker.

People like reading into things, it must get them off.

Joey's being a bitch either way. If he respects himself he should be introspective. I'd be embarrassed behaving like that as a grown man

While we're talking about ownership, do we think the NBL could follow the NBA's model of the team owners essentially being equal part owners of the league?

Would Larry allow that?

I can guarantee it would make the idea of owning an NBL team a lot more attractive

There is 1 job Joey is paid for and hopefully he achieves that Saturday night. The risk of suspension for speaking your mind given it would be the final game in a 35 game battle with winner takes all. I'm on Joeys side here.

The Q 'are you going to complain about the officiating’. What other answer could he give that 1. Is the truth and 2. Didn’t result in a fine?

The strength of this league going forward should boil down too, is Mayberry or Townsend on the floor on Saturday. The elbow into Sobey, call the foul on Sobey, elbow to Drmic, missed call we’re all Mayberry misses. In his area, in-line with where he was looking. Compare that with his multiple screw ups in game 3, he isn’t performing well enough to still be there on Saturday.

I'll accept a few years of a compromised league to end up with a stronger 12 team league in which LK only owns that, the league, and there are 12 separate ownership groups.

While we're talking about ownership, do we think the NBL could follow the NBA's model of the team owners essentially being equal part owners of the league?

Koberulz, agreeing with you but adding to your point that a strong figurehead was also needed during that time and we didn't have that, I think Larry and Jeremy are doing a stirling job of showing leadership too.

As for Joey, if you're a sponsor and your brand is associated with him then his responses to questions and how swiftly they are dealt with isn't going to impress anyone. You think about a V8 Supercar driver and how he has his hat/helmet and overalls displaying all sponsors and the driver gets his message out there and the sponsors are happy with the response and time they got on tv... Joey is the opposite.

I always thought Adelaide were the Manly Sea Eagles of the NBL, unless you're a fan of that team then you hate them... Brisbane and Illawarra have had issues in past two seasons. Melbourne and Perth seem to want to fight them. Sydney with Jerome/chill history, NZ not so much and Cairns seem to have some really awful matches against them. Maybe every team has this but I notice it more with 36ers and love to see fans and players upset

Proud , thats now how it works in V8's

Channel Ten will only interview teams that take out ad space on their network.

Nic Percat preformed well over the weekend with two podiums and hardly got his face or car on TV.

The teams that got on TV are those that spend money.

Hungry Jacks is the only Tier 1 spender in the NBL and even that is an offset of broadcast costs to LK

Thanks to Melbourne for propping up our sponsors instead of their own. That lets dribble on as long as we can after every question got air time for the 6ers brand.

Joey has got more publicity for saying nothing plus it makes people dig further to find out what it is all about.

Just hope NBL TV last this week

A huge thank you to LK for putting his dollars and balls on the line
FYI yo yo Illawarra is not going anywhere and your other guesses are based on something u read. In the 1930s the Chinese believed that every thing in writing was true. Seems yo yo needs to believe the same on this day

Guess again

"Seriously, this is a quality league and it's trying to get some traction in a competitive environment for sport. Having the head of the potential champions actively killing media coverage is bullshit. "

Quite the opposite, he's actually creating an extra significant talking point.