Jonno
Years ago
Talking Hoops Recap
Talking Hoops Recap 22nd August 2006
Hosted by Paul Bell, Brett Maher, David Spear and Corlette Brown.
They spoke about the Halls and Woolacott Medal night, said it was a good night, spoke about some of the fashion at the night. Said both medal winners were very deserving.
Woolacott Medal was won by Darren Ng, with 50 votes, which is the most they reckon anyone has poled in ages, since someone like Ronny Nunnelly or Mark Davis. Frank Angrove Medal (U21): Brad Hill, Bank SA Leauge MVP: Darren Ng, All Star 5: Michael Zorich, Darren Ng, Brad Hill, Jason Dix, David Cooper, Coach of the year Paul Bauer, in his first year as coach of Sturt.
Halls Medal was won by: Sam Woosman, in a close count, came down to the last 2 rounds, Erin Lorenzeny won the Merv Harris Medal, Bank SA Player of the year was Jerneane Browne, All star 5: Natalie Hurst, Narelle Lindsay, Sam Woosman, Jernean Browne, Tracey Beaty, Defenseive player of the year: Vikkie Kelson, Coach of the year: Sharon Simons.
Boomers Score update: Down by 3 with a couple of minutes to go. They said they expected Greece to beat the boomers. They spoke about the boomers team, Spear said it was one of the worst teams we have sent to the World Champs, especially without guys like Nielsen, Andersen and Saville mentioning Barlow, and saying Kickert, looked scared and not ready.
Spoke about 36ers Training, they trained at St Peters College, as a promotional exercise and some of the kids came and watched, they said the school has great facilities and guys trained well.
Mentioned Kavossy Franklin signing with the Dragons as the 2nd import, Said they thought it was a interesting one, with them going with the known quantity, having played with Heal before in Sydney, winning the Championship, but wondering if they were still looking for the 6'6 guard Anderson was supposed to be, and be interesting to see how Franklin fits in, and will be interesting to see if he will be able to fill the defensive role they were looking to be filled by Anderson.
Spear spoke about the new BSA Commision, having had a few meetings now, and said it's going to be a long process to get it all right again.
Boomers update, Australia up 68-65 with 23 seconds to go.
Nick Horvath Interview: He arrived Wednesday and trained with the team Thursday, and Maher said is training very well. He said he is loving Adelaide so far, in the off season he played in New Zealand, and then went and played with the Lakers Summer League team for 3 weeks, then went home to Minnesota to visit family and friends. He knows Dusty Rychart pretty well them both being from Minnesota, Dusty was the one guy he knew when he first came to the NBL, Dusty had said to Horvath, he loved it in Adelaide playing for Smyth and he had heard good reports all round about playing with the 36ers, and loves the Adelaide laid back life style. Kevin Brooks has nick named him Sampson. He said he thinks he was relitavly close to getting in at the Lakers, said them signing Radmanovic hurt his chances, but his coach Rambis liked him, he played at Duke for 5 years, had a red shirt year, won the national championship in his sophomore year, and was captain his last 2 years, said it was big time flying in private jets and Coach K, being like a basketball God, it was a experience playing under him. (Boomers Update They lost 75-69). Asked about his time with the Razorbacks, said it was good, except getting injured, said unfortunately last season with him and Harvey getting injured the team didn't do so well, and he is excited to be coming to a strong team, Asked about West Sydney's venue, Horvath said he is glad in Adelaide they play and train on the same court, and the rims are so much better in Adelaide, said the West Sydney gym was a monstrosity, asked who surprised him of the other 36ers, he said Majstrovich has been training really well and will be a huge addition to the team. Spear asked him about the changing of structure bringing in a '6'10 Horvath, he joked they have a play called Horvath, they through it inside and he tries to score, he said it will be good having shooters on the outside so he can kick it out to them and take the pressure off, Maher said they have adapted there offenses a bit due to now having a good scoring centre, and they can kick it out and they are all capable of hitting the outside shot.
Maher spoke about Horvath, saying he will be a good target inside, and give them there first low post scoring presence in a few years.
They spoke about the boomers result, recapped the last few seconds, 69-66 Australia was in front with 19 seconds to go, Fotsus from Greece hit a 3 pointer to tie the game, Barlow turned it over, and Toksis from Greece hit a 3 to win the game. They spoke about whether in that situation, you try and play hard defense or foul and put them to the line. Spear was asked what he would do, he said depending on foul bonus, it could be a opportunity to put them to the line, and the other alternative is you play up close switch on everything defense to try and only give them a contested shot, and then rebound hard. They said the Boomers still have to win 1 game, they have to play Lithuania will be a tough game and Qatar should be a walk over. They said the Boomers have done well this tournament, taking Greece and Turkey to the wire and being extremely competitive.
Jelani Gardner, Townsville Import Point Guard Interview: Said he is enjoying Australia, he didn't know heaps about Townsville apart from Larry Abney and Coach Gleeson, but did some research online once he had signed, he has played with Abney in College Summer League 5 or 6 years ago and played against him in College and in France, He has been in France the last 3 years, he has a French wife, getting his French citizenship, in 2002 he had a Kidney Transplant, his mum donated him a kidney, said it was tough, it held up his NBA dreams, but feels blessed and it has made him stronger. He said he has been intrigued by the Australian League and it's the closest thing you can get to the NBA in terms of organization, arenas and English speaker, and if all goes well he would be interested in finishing his career in Australia, and going to Europe for a couple of months at the end of the seasons, Said Gleeson is on top of his stuff offensively and defensively, given him 3 plays with like 50 sub plays on each of them, asked about Rillie, he saw the practice game, and said he is always good with shooters like Rillie, Said his strengths are his versatility, court vision, explosiveness, quickness, creating for others, scoring and defense, he tries to bring it all to the table, and with Newley, Abney, Rillie he feels they have a talented team.
Bell, Maher and Spear spoke about how Townsville have needed a good point guard the last few years, with Rillie having slightly down seasons, and needing a good point guard to get him the ball when he is open. Said last season defensively they were poor and that can put you in a hole you cant get out of. Maher said if Gardiner is good with guys like Rillie, Newley and Abney, they could be competitive, he said after the blitz you can get a better look at how good teams will be especially with things like team chemistry, they picked there potential bottom 4, West Sydney, Singapore, Townsville and South Dragons or New Zealand.
Darren Ng Interview: Woolacott Medal winner and 36er: He said he didn't know what to expect as his team had a fair few guys who could of got votes, and didn't expect to pole aswell, but his being consistant and scoring well must of helped. He said on the night he hadn't been doing much work on his shooting. Said it was a great honour to win the award, and it sunk in more after the night, and being young at 22, its hard to appreciate the honour. Said he is looking forward to the game on Saturday, thinks they will have there work cut out trying to stop all the Forestville players, said if they can come out with the same game plan and defend well they should have a good chance for the win. Said they have Oscar Forman coming back in, which gives them a look they havnt seen for a while, Austin Smyle isn't playing, as it is a long flight from America and they have guys like Dorman and Gower who have stepped up for Sturt. Asked about his goals with the 36ers, said he is excited to be apart of it, saying its one of the biggest teams he has been apart of it, and wants to play his role and be a part of it. Asked about his 36ers role, he thinks he will play a fair bit as a point guard but also can play shooting guard and doesn't mind either, with Brad Hill slotting into the 3 spot a bit more this year. Maher said it would be interesting with the 36ers coaches giving the minutes to everyone, as Ng is playing well, Majstrovich is training the house down and Copeland also training well, giving them a deep team with everyone pushing for minutes, asked what he expects the starting 5, he said probably C Wheeler, PF Horvath, SG Farley, PG Maher, with the SF being open with guys like Nash, Majstrovich, Copeland and Hill in the running, may depend what type of look they are looking for on each given game.
Sam Woosman, Halls Medalist Interview: She said she had a good night and winning the medal has now sunk in. Asked how she would class her season personally, she said she didn't think she was that great, but was consistent, and wasn't thinking of herself trying to help the team, coming back from her knee injury and enjoying basketball again.
Asked about the lightning, said its looking pretty good, picking up some good recruits, and they are still looking for a true centre, at the moment she may have to share centre a bit, which she doesn't feel suited to. Said last year, being injured, she learnt a lot more about the game and her team mates from watching them play. Asked if about West losing in the finals, said it was disappointing, the injuries made it hard, and they just didn't click in the finals, but there were good signs for the future of the team. Sam also led the assists of the ABL, said it was good playing at West Adelaide being able to play a bit of point guard and in 2/3 positions where she likes to play and played in Europe.
Spear said he thinks she is a good player at playing a bit of point guard or as a big shooting guard small forward.
They asked Maher if he had aims in the future to come back and win a woolacott, he said once he finishes at NBL level that will probably be it. He also said he puts more emphasis on the Bank SA League MVP, as it is hard for the referees to pick it properly, they said it's a ok system used in all sports but a lot of people put a higher regard on there peers and coaches. Also spoke about with referees voting, if a player has a go at the referee, the referee probably wont give them votes no matter what they do, and the same sort of thing can happen with coaches giving votes, and all these systems have there pros and cons, no real perfect system, with the 2 current systems in place probably being the best.
Brad Sullivan, Forestville Player, Interview: had 32 points on the weekend, said he was happy with his form on the weekend, said he has been struggling on his form for the last half of the season, has been working hard on his shooting, which paid off and is happy to be apart of the grand final again. They had a positive training last night, most of the guys have been in this position before and it is a more relaxed feeling this year than last year, have less pressure on them this year, as they are going in as under dogs, He said they are obviously going to be reasonably confident, and the last game with Ng's 49 was amazing and with them getting Oscar back may help focus them properly, and they are going in as under dogs, said Dix puts up big numbers, and the rest play good support roles, sees at as a similar situation to when they won in 2003, when they came in underdogs and beat North. Asked about injuries, said Brenton Campbell suited up last weekend, but was still in dis comfort, and his ankle is coming along, asked about playing with Dix, said he is the best player he has played with, said he demands the ball in the post, and demands double teams which helps everyone out. Asked about Coach Simons, joked about his shooting techiniques, said he has been great, and works them hard and gets them all playing hard. Said they are keeping the training schedule the same this week.
Another great show, look forward to next week!!!
