The frantic 24 hours to get former MVP Jerome Randle back to Adelaide and flying into Utah for 36ers’ NBA game against the Jazz
Reece Homfray reports from Utah on the frantic 24 hours to get Jerome Randle back to the Adelaide 36ers and the hotel fireside chat between coach Joey Wright and the man Randle is replacing, Deshon Taylor.
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THE extraordinary deal to get Jerome Randle back to Adelaide unfolded in the 24 hours the Sixers were in transit to Salt Lake City and culminated with a fireside chat between coach Joey Wright and the man he is replacing Deshon Taylor.
The 36ers are expected to formally announce Randle’s return to the club today as he flies in to Utah to join his new teammates for training ahead of their NBA clash with the Jazz this weekend.
Randle, 32, spent two seasons with the 36ers in 2015-16 and 2016-17, and became a fan favourite.
He was twice club MVP, one-time league MVP, as well as leading the NBL in scoring and was voted fan’s MVP. He spent the past two NBL seasons in Sydney after the 36ers opted not to match lucrative offers he was receiving elsewhere.
But the dramatic chain of events for him to parachute back into the 36ers’ family was set in motion late Friday night after a huge crowd turned out for the club’s pre-season game at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
A crowd of 6366 showed up for the club’s first ever game at its new home against Melbourne United, and conversations between owner Grant Kelley - who was keen to capitalise on the momentum - and Wright over the weekend saw them reach out to Randle’s management.
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As Adelaide players and staff flew out for the US at 6am on Monday, Randle’s agent was working behind the scenes to gauge the star point guard’s interest in returning to his former club.
The 36ers arrived at their Salt Lake City hotel just before 5pm (US time) on Monday and it’s understood management spent the night drawing up a contract and arranging flights for Randle to join the team in Utah by Tuesday afternoon.
Players and even some senior figures at the club were completely blindsided by the move and only learned of the news which broke on Fox Sports when they woke up early Tuesday morning.
But Taylor was told he was going to be cut by Wright and assistant coach Kevin Brooks by the fire in the hotel lobby where the Sixers are staying about 10pm Monday night.
Adelaide is not allowed to make any official comment about Randle until the contract is approved by the NBL but Wright said the conversation with Taylor was difficult.
“He’s taken it pretty tough, we brought him in as a young player to develop and he did everything according to what we thought he would,” Wright told The Advertiser in Utah.
“He didn’t come in and do anything wrong, he came in and was the player we thought he was.
“We were starting to figure out how to use him and we had the right plan, but to be a rookie point guard trying to lead a veteran team is a tough one.”
Wright said the move to replace Taylor was triggered by Friday night’s crowd at the AEC, a want to improve the team and give the fans what they want.
“If we’re going to get that many people show up to a pre-season game, we want to reward those fans by saying ‘if you guys will come out like this then we’re going to give you a show’,” he said.
“If you want it to be big time ... fans think it’s up to the owner to just throw money at a situation, but if they show up like that and buy T-shirts and caps, the money goes right back on the floor, it doesn’t go into anyone’s pocket, nobody is making money from this.
“So they’ve (fans) sent a message to us, they told us they wanted more, and as a result DT (Taylor) was a casualty of that.
“But the fact that he’s staying with us this week, that he will stay and play in the game on the weekend says a lot about his character.
“Because he could have just grabbed his bags and flown back to LA.”
Taylor, 23, is a first-year professional out of Fresno State University, and had impressed in his first pre-season with Adelaide.
As per rookie tradition at Adelaide he has been carrying around a bright pink children’s backpack and has been embraced by his teammates for his high energy on and off the floor.
Wright described him as “one of the best shooters I’ve ever coached” at the club’s season launch on Friday night, but the chance to bolster its point guard position - which last season was shared between Nathan Sobey, Ramone Moore and Adris DeLeon - saw them move on Randle.
Adelaide moved its scheduled training session from mid-morning to later on Tuesday to accommodate Randle’s pending arrival and to allow time for some missing bags to arrive on a later flight.
Both Randle and Taylor will play in Adelaide’s pre-season game against the Jazz on Sunday (Australian time) before the veteran officially replaces the emerging star as the 36ers’ third import for the NBL season. The Advertiser understands Randle will join the Sixers on a multi-year deal.
Taylor is expected to stay in the US and return to his home in LA rather than fly back to Adelaide with his teammates to pack up his belongings after the Jazz game.
reece.homfray@news.com.au