Crosscourt: Latest NBL news and happenings out of Round 8 of the 2024-25 NBL season
Emotional Tasmania coach Scott Roth has demanded action after trolls target player’s wife, while Perth star Keanu Pinder posted disgusting screenshots of social media abuse.
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Fed up NBL players want the online abuse to stop, pleading with officials to provide greater protections for the barrage of personal vitriol they’re subjected to on social media.
Online trolling in the NBL has long been widespread, but, days after Perth star Keanu Pinder posted disgusting screenshots of abusive messages he’d received, emotional Tasmania coach Scott Roth called on the NBL to take action to protect his “distraught” players.
Roth revealed one “brutal” attack where an online troll wished a player’s pregnant wife had a miscarriage, a matter that has been referred to Basketball Australia’s Integrity Unit, which advised the JackJumpers it is giving the incident its “highest level of priority”.
Under current measures, BA handles issues of abuse outside of game play and players are instructed to send screenshots of any abuse to the integrity unit to investigate. From there, a decision is made on whether immediate action is required.
Roth called for a more proactive approach.
“Don’t wait for someone to be knocked out or something happened bad to him and then say, ‘OK, now we’ll start to look into it’,” Roth said.
“When I have family members from the team saying, ‘I’m scared to go outside today because I’ve been threatened’, what is that?
“Do something.”
In a statement, the NBL said it was “actively addressing” online abuse and it, along with BA, was “acutely aware of the seriousness of the issues” raised by Roth.
Frustrated NBL players and officials echoed Roth’s calls for more protection.
On average, the players Crosscourt spoke with said, over the course of a season, they received up to a dozen abusive messages, from both fans and aggrieved punters. For those with higher profiles, the abuse is incessant.
Crosscourt has obtained multiple screenshots of some of the worst abuse received by NBL stars. We refuse to publish them or share the content as it would only give the keyboard cowards more notoriety.
One frustrated NBL player told Crosscourt: “The social media companies need to do something. People should have to verify their accounts.
“This abuse is going too far and we need to work harder to look after players and their families, but people online also need to take on personal responsibility because sports gambling isn’t going anywhere.”
Amid a rise in abuse via social media across the community, apps like Social Protect, have been created to combat the problem.
The app blocks derogatory comments and abuse from accounts, which prevents a user from seeing it.
A number of players who spoke to Crosscourt said they haven’t used the app, while others didn’t know it existed.
Pinder’s coach John Rillie acknowledged social media was a “slippery slope” and the answer wasn’t as simple as just getting off Instagram or Facebook.
“A lot of people are invested in social media and I know, from my own experiences, you can avoid social media but you’re still going to find out because someone thinks that they’re helping you out by sending you a screenshot.
“Man, if people knew some of the stuff athletes get sent behind closed (doors), it’s ... I feel for them.”
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OLIVER’S LINE IN THE SAND
Cam Oliver’s Chinese representative was spotted in the crowd at Qudos Bank Arena on Friday as the big man’s long-term future at the Sydney Kings comes under question. Just two weeks after Oliver was benched for failing to run back on defence, the big man was scoreless for the first time in his NBL career in Friday’s win over the Phoenix. Kings coach Brian Goorjian said the import centre failed to adhere to the team’s non-negotiables, but admitted he wasn’t alone as he unloaded on his team. “I only go by what I see and if someone doesn’t cross the halfway line on defensive transition. These things that I’m on about that I’m not allowing to happen are important and it doesn’t matter who it is, and it wasn’t just him (Cam) tonight, but he was one of the parties that wasn’t doing what he needed to stay on the floor. Like everyone, I’ve put some guidelines in place that need to get done to play. It’s not personal.” Pressure is mounting on the import big man to justify his pay packet. The 28-year-old had two playing stints in China with the Zhejiang Lions and the Hong Kong Bulls in 2023 and 2024 before signing with Sydney.
NOT-QUITE-RECORD-BREAKERS BROKEN BY TASSIE
The three points New Zealand scored in the third quarter of their capitulation against bottom side Tasmania on Saturday night was the equal-second lowest total in the 40-minute era – a remarkable statistic considering the Breakers had just come off a 113-79 road demolition of league powerhouse Melbourne United and were sitting on top. The 2014-15 Cairns Taipans (two points) and the NZ squad of the same season (three) are the only other teams to match or eclipse the Breakers’ futility in a quarter in the past 16 seasons. The Breakers have been hyper focused on being underrated and underappreciated in Australia, with many pundits picking them to finish near the bottom, pre-season. They’ve made a mockery of those predictions, but nights like a 19-point collapse to the bottom team — in the second game of a back-to-back — are a reminder that it’s a long season and no team is invulnerable.
KING’S HOPEFUL CHESS MOVE AGAINST KINGS
A few eyebrows were raised when South East Melbourne, down five with 23 seconds left, chose not to foul Sydney, new coach Josh King adopting a margin-preservation philosophy. Most trailing teams would play the free throw game in the faint hope the opposition fluffed its lines at the charity stripe and opened the door to an unlikely victory. But the Phoenix missed the opportunity to foul career 59 per cent free throw shooter Xavier Cooks and then let the game peter out, ensuring the Kings couldn’t add to their lead. Some felt, given the Kings were 13-23 from the free throw line, that the Phoenix should have had a crack. “We chose to play the points there, we were a little bit out of gas. Hopefully, we put ourselves in a position where maybe not losing by nine saves us and we get to go to the play-in.” Perhaps King had heard about Melbourne United’s 2022-23 season, when they missed the finals by 0.06 of a per cent – a solitary point.
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GUS GOING NUCLEAR
In all likelihood, Angus Glover is your favourite player’s favourite player. The South East Melbourne guard’s inspirational story to fight back from a trio of knee reconstructions is well documented, but his baffling struggles at the Kings last season that led to his decision to seek a new beginning have become a distant memory under new Phoenix coach Josh King. In the past three games under King, Big Red is in the NBL form of his life. The 26-year-old has produced big outputs of 17, 17 and now a career-high 22 points against Cairns, pushing his average in that span to 18.7 points. His 10 three-point makes coming at an elite 43.5 per cent clip. Glover couldn’t wipe the smile off his face when he spoke with Crosscourt, post-game. “(I’m) very, very happy, but more happy for the team’s success right now. (King) makes it easy to play for him. He’s so high-energy. He’s a players coach. Yeah if you can’t get up to play for him. Then you probably shouldn’t be playing basketball.” Glover jogged off with a cheeky “hope you’ve got me in your SuperCoach team” after his big round yielded a princely 59 points.
‘EUPHORIA OF CONFIDENCE’: THE GOAT ON GOULDING’S ALL-TIMER
The NBL’s greatest player had a front-row seat to the Chris Goulding show on Saturday night, and he knows better than anyone it was one of the league’s best-ever shooting performances. Andrew Gaze called Melbourne United’s win over Perth as Goulding’s all-time third-quarter explosion – 22 points in three minutes and 57 seconds – had the seven-time NBL MVP, who once averaged 40 points across an entire season, reminiscing. “You get a flashback, an appreciation for what might be going through his head and that feeling you have when you have a night like that. It’s one of the best feelings you can have when you’re playing, you feel like you can do no wrong, it’s a euphoria of confidence that comes over you, you almost know before you shoot it that it’s going to go in, the game slows down. All those things become the reality and then you’re just enjoying the moment and trying to make the most of it. Those extraordinary moments in time where you witness something like that, fans, teammates, even opposing players are going to remember that.” Goulding finished with 46 points – four off the 50-point 40-minute era record, which he owns – and it was the second time he’s hit nine three-pointers in a game, one off the record held jointly by Bryce Cotton, Dejan Vasiljevic and Jermaine Beal.
GUTSY AS HELL JAYLEN ADAMS
Jaylen Adams has won an NBL MVP and is universally considered one of the best players in the league. But, for all his accolades, Friday night’s gutsy fourth-quarter effort to help Sydney snatch victory from the jaw of defeat against South East Melbourne. Adams has been playing through the pain of a persistent back injury that has kept him off the floor for two games and required steady treatment, including pilates, to manage. The 28-year-old was up for the fight as many of his teammates faltered, diving on the floor chasing loose balls throughout the game, and then taking over when it mattered most, scoring 12 of his 20 points in the fourth as the Kings turned a 10-point deficit into a five-point win.
Originally published as Crosscourt: Latest NBL news and happenings out of Round 8 of the 2024-25 NBL season
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