Talking Hoops Recap!!

Talking Hoops Recap 29/8/06

Hosted by Paul Bell, Brett Maher and Corlette Brown

Maher and Bell Spoke about the weekends games in Tasmania Vs the Dragons. Maher said they didn't do that well, lost both games, they didn't play great defence and got some open shots and fast breaks and the Dragons got a lead early and held on for he rest of the game. Maher said it was good to have a hit out, Dragons having most of there players except Kavossy Franklin, and the 36ers were missing Ng and Cooper from there main rotation. Said it can be tough to judge early as they have a new group together, if they had last years team coming back they would of expected to do a lot better. As the players are getting used to each other, offensively they did ok, but they were not very good defensively. Said some of the stand out performers were Nick Horvath, Lenard Copeland, Adrian Majstrovich, for the 36ers. Said Jacob Holmes was a stand out for the Dragons, and said there big guy (Fuller) will do ok, and adding Franklin in will make them tough.

Spoke about the ABL Grand finals, Forestville beating Sturt in the Men's,. Darren Ng had 33pts and won MVP, Brad Sullivan led the scoring for Forestville with 22 points. Mentioned that Jason Dix may be retiring from the ABL, they said it was a good way for him to go out with a win and having a good game. Said Forestville having a balanced team with everyone filling there roles well, helped them win. Said a lot of the Sturt star players didn't shoot as well. Sturt beating Forestville in the Women's, said that it was a great game, with Sturts role players stepping up and helping them get the win.

Phil Smyth Interview: Said over the weekend against the Dragons was good to have a hit out and see the things that you need to work on, even though it was disappointing to lose, it wasn't overly the objective of going, and it was good to be able to have the players and coaches all in action to begin to put things into place., thinks the guys realise they are not a team that is going to just turn up and out talent people. Said the defence was a little disappointing, but said they hadn't spent any time on it yet, so isn't too worried but was more disappointed with the effort level defensively in the first quarter of both games, said once they picked up they took it up to the dragons. Asked about Coopers injury, said he is back training and will play in the game this Sunday, and doesn't expect anymore problems. Said Horvath had some outstanding games, but is still getting used to the 36ers system, and thinks he will be a big help to the team over the season. Asked if they are going to have to change things a bit having Horvath on the inside, he said they have changed things a bit, but not throwing everything out that has been successful in the past. The 36ers are playing a game this weekend at Mt. Barker at 2pm, 2 teams of 7 players, its being used to see what roles and positions each player can fit into, and expects it to be a very competitive and entertaining game. Said Kevin Brooks is very keen to win again, after winning at Port Lincoln and there is plenty of competition between him and Breheny. Spoke about how all players 1 from 10 are deserving of playing time this season, he said usually you have a 8 man rotation, but they have 10, so there will be a bit of a squeeze for court time, and said it means that players wont have to take there foot off the pedal as they can all play and share the minutes around. He also said Dodman and Sutton are training well, which gives them 12 deep. Maher asked Smyth about playing full court defence with a big rotation; he said they will use it at times, as if you use it all the time teams get used to it. Said that they looked at it in Hobart with Farley picking up the player full court, and said when they originally recruited him. Said Ng and Horvath are also good at it, and it will give the team a bit of a different look on how they defend. Spoke about the practise game against Perth and the Big event afterwards, the Paul Rees Testimonial, Smyth said it's a good chance to catch up with the Big Fella and hear some great stories. Spoke about the Boomers Head coaching role, Belly joked that Basketball Australia had rung him and asked him to re-apply for the position, he said it is a interesting time for the boomers, and that they are selling it as preparation for Bejing, they are being allowed more preparation time than what he got, but if they perform badly it probably would be time for change. Smyth said he watched all the games and said it was interesting to see how things are going. He said they probably need more veterans, as you cant take a young team and expect to get a result at the World Champs and you need a core of senior players at events like that and the Olympics to deal with all the distractions.

Maher and Bell spoke about the Boomers, Maher said he watched the Greece game and they played so well except for the last 3 or 4 minutes, and found ways to lose the game. Played so well for Brazil, and then it was going to be hard to beat teams like Lithuania and the US team, and said the US team was doing very well, defensively they shadowed CJ Bruton's every move.

Dana Called in: Said she has been watching the world champs, and will now be barackaing for Lithuania as its her back ground. Spoke about the commetry of Casey and Carfino, she had started a thread on Hoops, has suggested getting Clinton Grybis, who used to do a good job, as Casey and Carfino are very pro Goorjian and Sydney, she is sick of hearing excuses like it is the toughest pool. Maher said it would be interesting to see who the Boomers would of played in the cross over had they won the game against Greece. Dana said that the Boomers relied too much on C. J Bruton, Mackinnon looked good, and they didn't get it into Bogut enough. Maher said he thought Mackinnon played well, and C.J aswell, but a couple of the teams worked him out during the tournament, and the boomers relied greatly on him, said they needed another guy who could help him. They said if they didn't have C.J the Boomers would have done a lot worse. Spoke about some of the other cross over games, and some of the results of teams like Nigeria and Angola. Maher said he thought Lithuania would do well, and the game Vs Spain would be a very good game. Dana spoke about how Greece used the full court press and shut down the opposition. Bell said it is one thing that can work wonders, but you cant use it all game. Maher said the defence is a big difference between NBL and international basketball.

Bell said they are trying to get Scott Derwin, and suggested that they may try and get Boty on the panel for that interview.

Godfery called in: Asked why there is a salary cap with all the teams being privately owned. Bell said it's a good point as if the owners really want to player they find a way to do it regardless of the cap. Godfery used the Bullets as a example of a team that looks stacked, Maher said from what they hear 3 of there players would put them over the cap, and said he guessed they would be 2 times over the cap. Godfery said he doesn't see the point of the Slary cap if all the owners are going over it.

Brad Newley Interview: who is back in Adelaide after the World Champs. Said he thought getting into the 2nd round was a big achievement, said the Greece game costed them as they could of got a easier opponent in the cross over, said they can hold there heads high and they are going to stick with there youth movement. He said he is telling everyone they finished 9th is to sure what there official ranking was. He said he found the officiating interesting, got away with some travelling, said it was interesting, as 1 game the boomers got a tech for everyone being on there feet, and with the different languages anything can happen, Goorjian got one for yelling out clock. Said the US over powered them in the end, after a good first quarter, the US shot the ball really well, said he was happy to get 15 against them. Said they were lucky enough to go out with the US players after the game. He said it was a good experience to play against the best players in the NBA. Said he was happy with his aggressiveness and his role of coming in as an impact player, said he also learnt he needs to be tighter with the ball in international competition. Said if they had beaten Greece they would of played one of the Africans and not the US, said that all the teams were great, with teams like Brazil having a great team and not getting passed the first round. Said he hasn't met Crocs new import Jelani, said he has kept up with the Crocs on the internet, said it's looking good with a new team and new coach.

Kavossy Franklin, South Dragons Import, Interview: Said it was good to be back in Australia again. Said they are happy with the team, they have a great group of guys, with many successful players. Said it was exciting to partner with Heal again, as they did the un expected winning the title in Sydney. Said he has been impressed with Ingles, said he has tremendous upside, needs to keep working on his body, said he will try and teach him a few things, and the sky is the limit. Said he didn't expect to be back in Australia so soon, as he wanted to stay but tested the waters in Germany, he went over there straight after playing for the Pirates, played with Chris Williams in Germany and they did well, then last season they had some injuries and the season didn't go as well, he is happy to be back in Australia as the NBL suits his game. He said the German League is good, but is more defensive minded than here. He went to Augustas State University, with Gary Boodnikoff, then played in the International Basketball League with Willie Farley, is good friends with Willie, he played with him in the USBL, and then went to France, with Willie again, then played USBL, then played for the kings, then The Pirates, then played in Germany for 2 seasons, and then wanted to come back to Australia, so signed with the Dragons. Said he doesn't know what happened with the Kings, as they didnt want to bring him back, he enjoyed his time there, and wanted to go back, but there is no bad blood, said it was all a learning experience. Said it was good to play under a guy like Price, as he is one of the best players to play in the NBA and is very knowledgeable, he played against his brother who is also knowledgeable. Said he has found Ninnis a great help so far, and he can probably teach him a lot during the season, and Kavossy wants to learn. Said that he is a fan of Maher, someone he can sit down and watch, and learn a lot from and that he is a professional on and off the court, and likes his name, and has tremendous heart.

Scott Arnold, Forestville player, Interview: Bell said Arnold has provided the toughness to Forestville this season. Said he was absolutely rapt to win the title, said losing wasn't a option, but knew Sturt would be tough, and with Sturt not having played together for a few weeks helped them. Said throughout the year they had times when they blitzed teams and others they struggled, but thankfully they all got going in the final. Said Jason Dix had retired. Said it had come as a shock, and one of the main reasons he came to Forestville was to play with Dix, said it was a shock, and hoped he would go longer, said he is trying to get his old mate Dan Thompson out to Forestville. Said Forestville are off the the nationals, he doesn't know anything about the other leagues, so they are just going to play hard and see how they go. Maher said the main difference is a lot of the teams interstate have imports, which they don't have in SA. Said he is switched on and looking forward to the nationals, and interested to see how they go. Said the Nationals are being held in Newcastle.

Maher and Bell said he added the missing ingredient to Forestville, as he is the type of player who gets up in peoples faces.

Spoke about the Sanford Grand Academy squad which has been selected: Daniel Lalic, Tristan Braithwaite, Shane Bol (Southern), Tom Rowe, Jordan Kies, Erik Burdon (North), Jeremy Read, Agel Machar (South), Tom Cioffi, Andrew Webber (Norwood), Chris Molitor, Rory Craddock (West), Jordan Dodman, Marcus Ng (Sturt), Brad Bungey (Eastern), Luke Mapunda, Gary Birmingham, Zane Reeves (Woodville), Matt Sutton, Matt Gange, Peter Hoban (Forestville). To be Coached by Kevin Brooks and Richard Hill as his assistant. Academy training starts next week, and they are looking to go away and play in the Wornabol tournament, and maybe play against a Dragons youth squad.
Said its starting to take shape with the top 4 or 5 players going on the trip to Port Lincoln with the 36ers and guys like Sutton and Dodman now being in the 36ers squad.

Monique Bowley, Sturt Player, Interview: Said they have been celebrating there win. Said she was happy and copped some flack with what she said after the game, but said it was a special championship as the last one people claimed they bought the championship, this years team is made up from Sturt juniors, who she has grown up playing with, and its nice to see it all work out. She said she was very proud, with them being home grown heros and that was the product of years of junior development of the Sturt basketball club. She said its important to recognize when good things happen. She said losing the game a couple of weeks ago was the best thing, as they went away and went back to basics to learn how to beat the zone and win. Said she is looking forward to the nationals, said they are relaxed and wanting to have a good time and that's when she believes you play your best. Said the club was stoked to have both women's and men's team in the Grand final. Said they have poured everything into it and leave everything out on the court. Said its good to play with her sisters, as they all know each others games well, and said they can get stuck into each other on the court.

Maher and Bell spoke about the great season that Sturt and Forestville have had in seniors making both mens and womens Grand Finals, winning one each. Said its important to get the right people in the club controlling the juniors and coaches. Bell said he agrees with Bowley, but sometimes you do need to recruit players to win, as you cant always have the best juniors coming through.

Great Show again Looking forward to next week.

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