DJ
Years ago
How far the league has come - in the last few year
Ok this dosnt have alot to do with anything but thought some of you may enjoy a read.
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Giants hope to put bitter history behind them
Date : 08/09/2002
Reporter: Greg Hoy
GREG HOY: Here's a little story about giants, the Victoria Giants, soon to take on the big men of the National Basketball League. Formerly the Titans, the Giants are the newest team in the comp but they have a grand history - too grand in fact. There have been some very bitter business experiences that have ruined the taste of victory, turned the once mighty Titans into the Titanics and produced a whole new set of goals in the serious business of professional basketball.
PETER FIDDES, OWNER: Basketball as a business has to be treated like a business, a budget has to be respected and we have to stay within the guidelines of that budget. The principle of winning is not necessarily the main principle in running a basketball club.
GREG HOY: Raw recruits for the Liberty Giants have a month to prepare to take on the big boys of the National Basketball League.
PLAYER: It's going to be tough, it's going to be real tough.
PETER FIDDES: Our strategy now is to keep within our budget. Our budget is $500,000 for players, our overall budget to run the club is about $1.2 million, which is about $2 million under what was spent last year.
GREG HOY: For the last four years they were the Titans - the team to beat - complete with stable of stars, the highest win rate in the NBL, the coach of the national team, the Boomers. But amidst all the excitement, no-one was watching the bottom line. The Titans sank like a stone into receivership.
PETER FIDDES: In the last season they overspent in every area of the budget and there was no comprehension of what it was to overspend. We'd go to a board meeting and the deficit was $200,000 yet three weeks later we'd go to another board meeting and it was $400,000. So this year we've got real accountability in the office structure, we keep an eye on who's spending what and I'm the only one that signs cheques.
GREG HOY: The team was re-floated as the Liberty Giants, though the new sponsor was tightfisted and keen to keep the Giants' feet on terra firma. So when travelling interstate today, it's a different ball game.
MARK WRIGHT, COACH: We bussed it up. And to save money we took a bus up and played on the same day that the bus got there - nine hours travelling to get up there and then we played. And then trained the next day and played on Saturday night and then left at 6:00am the next morning and bussed home. And it's all finances. You know, we just can't do what the previous team did.
PLAYER: We got what we got.
MARK WRIGHT: Breakfast was down the supermarket and get the Weet-Bix and the Rice Bubbles and the milk and into our room so they all brought their bowls and their spoon. And lunch was rolls and salad that we bought at the supermarket.
GREG HOY: Rivals may snigger but to the Giants, they have more reasons than one to watch out.
MARK WRIGHT: There's a few teams all feeling the pinch and I think that we're not going to be the only team that does this to stay in the league, that tightens the belt right up and says no, this is the way it has to be done. They know every game is a dog fight, it's blood. We're in there and we'll be fighting hard. And every team that plays us, they're not going to enjoy it, it won't be easy for them, because we're going to be very physical.
PLAYER: We're underdogs.
PETER FIDDES: The moral of the story is to stay within your means. If you go out and you win a championship and you go broke a year later, winners aren't grinners.
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