Basketball Australia on Liz Cambage, independent panels, Boomers World Cup bids
For all its exciting progress in the last 12 months, Aussie basketball was tarnished by one incident in particular and now that ‘huge disappointment’ has been laid bare.
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Basketball Australia has endured its challenges in recent times.
Despite the Boomers’ historic bronze medal in Tokyo and our men and women starring on NBA and WNBA stages, BA has faced serious governance and social issues, most noticeably this year’s drama surrounding Liz Cambage’s controversial exit from the Opals camp prior to the Tokyo Olympics.
Behind the scenes, Basketball Australia has spent the past six months working tirelessly to “fix broken policies and procedures”.
CEO Matt Scriven and chairman John Carey sat down with basketball reporter Matt Logue to honestly discuss the biggest issues facing the game.
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CAMBAGE INCIDENT TO SPARK CHANGE
Basketball Australia isn’t happy with the light punishment given to Liz Cambage for her physical and verbal altercation in a pre-Olympic scrimmage against Nigeria.
Cambage only copped a formal reprimand and escaped a fine or suspension despite an independent review finding the Opals and WNBA star engaged in conduct that brought Basketball Australia into censure.
Cambage took to social media to claim she had “zero” interest in playing for Opals, but she wouldn’t have been selected regardless, according to chairman John Carey.
“To be clear, even if Liz hadn’t said she didn’t want to play, we wouldn’t have picked her,” Carey said.
“I’m disappointed in the outcome, no doubt about that, and I know that the players are to.
“One of the most disappointing things was the impact it (the incident) had on the playing group while in Las Vegas and at the tournament in Tokyo.
“I don’t think there was time for the players and staff to process it all, get their minds clear and ready to play and it showed in their quarter-final exit.”
The independent panel found Cambage guilty of one offence, but dismissed charges in relation to three other alleged incidents.
There was video evidence, but the audio wasn’t quality, which is why three charges were dismissed.
Basketball Australia concede Cambage’s behaviour has been an issue.
In a bid to avoid a repeat or having a player use Cambage’s light sentence as precedent to avoid punishment for poor behaviour, the organisation has implemented key changes.
Basketball Australia have updated the selection policies and procedures so they can consider a player’s conduct when selecting national teams.
In addition, the organisation has been in constant dialogue with the Players’ Association about the athlete wellbeing and a code of conduct, which is in its final approval stages.
“That is all extremely important,” Carey said.
“We got legal advice on the drafting of the policy, and it has been adopted and implemented.
“We’ve got an action-packed international schedule coming up, so we didn’t want to be in a position where players could question why they aren’t being picked.
“Now our selection policy will give us the discretion to take into account conduct, behaviour and team harmony.”
PANELS TO BE MADE PUBLIC
Independent panels have become a dirty word for Basketball Australia in recent times.
From the Cambage situation to the recent Canberra Capitals training video cheating scandal, key decisions have been made by panels separate to BA.
Carey believes the independent panel is an “appropriate” under the sport’s current integrity framework.
“It would be like the police judging a criminal that they suspect has committed an offence,” he said.
“BA’s job is to run the integrity framework, so we can’t then say this is now our Integrity process and then we are going to judge you on it.
“The person involved will say, you are judging me, and you are the policeman.
“So, we need to have an independent panel under the current framework.”
Carey, though, wants to see all findings from the panel and the panel members made public.
“There are some constraints around the process, and I don’t think that is acceptable to be honest,” he said.
“In other sports, all these disciplinary proceedings are published, and people know exactly what the allegations are.
“I think there should be transparency and publicity for those things.
“We have a process in place, and it was a bit complicated because it (the Cambage) incident was at an Olympic event as well and not in the WNBL so there is a different procedure.
“We are reviewing the process and part of it will be why can’t the details be published and how the process works, similar to the NRL and AFL.
“We’ve got a panel of 10 people, so there is absolutely no reason for people not to know who they are.
“I can’t see the justification for keeping that private.”
BEING MORE TRANSPARENT
Since May this year, Basketball Australia has implemented a new strategic plan, restructured the internal organisation, undertaken a governance review to update policies and procedures.
There has also been a high-performance review post the Tokyo Olympics, including a restructure while they are about to start negotiating a new collective bargaining agreement.
Scriven says there has been plenty of heavy lifting over the last four months because “our integrity frameworks haven’t been good enough.”
“We need to be in a position where we are controlling our own decisions and outcomes, where we haven’t been in the past,” he said.
“I think the integrity framework is a classic example of that. We had to put it through the framework, so we didn’t have full control like the NRL and AFL, so things like the selection policy is another step in the right direction.”
Carey said Basketball Australia has been proactive on several issues behind the scenes, but they need to tell the public.
“Perhaps that is my fault,” he said.
“Since coming into the role I’ve done everything we wanted to do – we just haven’t told anyone about it.
“So, when a crisis like the Cambage situation pops up, everyone thinks: what are you blokes up to?
“And that is embarrassing, but maybe we needed to be more proactive about our publicity as opposed to just our actions.”
RELATIONSHIP WITH THE NBL
Basketball Australia’s executive group regularly meets with the NBL, but Carey concedes the connection for the sport’s growth needs to be better.
“I think the relationship has been missing,” he said.
“There is obvious synergy between the two Australian basketball organisations and while we have a fractured structurally driven sport, there is an opportunity to align.
“It has been hard with Covid, but the best way to get to know someone is face-to-face.
“There have been some commercial arrangements in the past that we want to set the refresh button on and have some serious conversations about how we can asset each other.”
BOOMERS GAMES ON HOME SOIL
Basketball Australia is in the process of locking in Boomers World Cup qualifying games on home soil in June and July.
The matches will be played post the current NBA season, giving stars like Patty Mills, Joe Ingles and Matisse Thybulle a chance to return home to be part of planned celebrations to acknowledge the Boomers’ historic bronze medal at this year’s Tokyo Olympics.
“It would be a great opportunity to celebrate the Boomers and give them that celebration they didn’t have due to Covid restrictions,” Scriven said.
“We are in the process of trying to organise a Boomers World Cup qualifying window here against China and Japan.
“That will be around the June/July period, which would be amazing because it will be the NBA off-season, and almost a year on from the bronze medal.”
MEN’S WORLD CUP BIDS
There is an opportunity for Australia to host a men’s World Cup in 2027 or 2031 and Basketball Australia intend to make bids for the event.
“We’ll definitely look at it, but it also needs to make business sense with us being a non-for-profit,” Carey said.
“We are not in the business of losing money, but we do so the merit of hosting major events like the Cup.
“The opportunity is significant if we can make that happen.”
NBA AND WNBA RELATIONSHIP
Basketball Australia is in regular contact with NBA and WNBA officials about strengthening its partnership and pathways.
Scriven has had preliminary discussions with NBA commissioner Adam Silver about the relationship.
“And we’ve come to some arrangement around pre-tournament games involving the Boomers and Team USA,” Scriven said.
“But in addition, also pathways for players and officials. We’re also keen to host WNBA events in Australia, most likely through three-on-three.
“There is also an opportunity for games prior to the men and women’s World Cups in 2022 and 2023.”
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