Crosscourt: Winless Phoenix, 36ers battle history, Goorj’s travel lessons, WNBL champs name change nixed as search for new CEO begins, NBL to tap Lauren Jackson, Perth owner’s big call on re-signed coach John Rillie
History says you can put a line through the NBL title hopes of the loser of the Adelaide v SE Melbourne battle at the bottom. For the Phoenix, a loss would require them to pull off a 21-year first. CROSSCOURT
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If winless South East Melbourne can’t find a way to defeat a desperate Adelaide on Thursday night, it’s facing a challenge no NBL team has conquered in more than two decades.
The Phoenix entered the season with high expectations, reloading with a number of elite recruits among nine new faces, but now find themselves staring down the barrel of finals fantasy.
On the brink of an 0-4 start, the Phoenix would have to defy 21 years of history if they fall to the 36ers. The last team to make the finals from 0-4 was the now defunct Townsville Crocodiles, who, in 2002-03, lost their first five games but roared into third place by producing a remarkable 16-straight wins to end the season, before falling in the semi-finals to eventual champions Sydney — who won their first title under Brian Goorjian.
Goorjian’s back coaching the Kings, but that’s about the only thing that’s the same as the Phoenix prepare to enter enemy territory for a pressure cooker game that will almost certainly to be an eighth straight sellout at Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
Kelly said he felt like he’d broken a mirror or walked under a ladder last season as the Phoenix finished on the bottom with one of the worst injury lists in NBL history but this year is a “totally different situation” — even with the prospect of slumping to last with a loss.
He admits the new-look roster is yet to gel.
“I’d like to be 3-0 but I also can’t wait until I can stop saying ‘we’re a new group and trying to fit nine new guys together with three guys who have been here’ — well, it hasn’t come together in the shape of wins as quickly as we wanted it to,” Kelly said.
In their most recent loss, an 81-79 heartbreaker in New Zealand, the Phoenix were better defensively, but allowed 14 offensive rebounds that translated to 18 second-chance points and handed it back to New Zealand a season-high 14 times, allowing 13 points from those turnovers. Disastrous in a game decided by one basket.
Kelly wants his side to get back to basics against the 36ers — but knows it’s easier said than done.
“I think the basics are the things that are going to put us in a position to win,” he said.
“You look back at our most recent game, that was probably our best defensive game but we still gave up too many o-boards that NZ was able to convert and we turned the ball over more than we had.
“They’re pretty simple things but not always easy to just say ‘stop doing that’.
“So that’s where we are, we’re trying to do the simple things better, every day, and put these guys in positions to be great on offence as well and we’ve shown flashes without being consistent on offence.”
Sydney, Melbourne and Perth have begun the season bringing stars Cam Oliver, Chris Goulding and Dylan Windler off the bench, and, after Nathan Sobey struggled through the first two games, some felt a similar move could benefit the bronzed Olympian, despite his 24-point outburst against New Zealand.
But Kelly said there was “no plan to change things”.
“Line-ups are a constant discussion, but that hasn’t really been in the forefront of my mind, bringing Sobes off the bench,” he said.
Kelly said he wants to blow teams off the court but knows solid defence leads to good offence — the Phoenix have produced neither consistently in their three outings to date, fourth last in defensive rating (points conceded per 100 possessions) at 116.2 and third last in offensive rating (points scored per 100 possessions) at 107.9.
“We are going to try to do that (score heavily) on the offensive end, but I don’t think that holds you back from being better defensively,” he said.
He’s mindful of the 36ers’ offensive capabilities — they’ve produced the second most points per 100 in NBL25 so far at 119.8.
“Talk about explosive offensively, moments in their games, so far they’ve been really good, so trying to slow down perimeter guys (Dejan Vasiljevic, Kendric Davis), coupled with two really good bigs in Montrezl (Harrell) and Isaac (Humphries), that’s tough, and then their size and just keeping them off the boards, those are the basics (to beating them),” Kelly said.
Adelaide, which has lost both contests to begin NBL25, is facing some negative history of its own — only four teams in the 40-minute era — now into a 17th season — who started winless from their first three games were able to recover and make the finals.
None of those teams advanced past the semi-finals.
That’s not playing on Davis’ mind though.
“We’d rather struggle at the beginning than the end, you don’t get a first place trophy for starting out 2-0,” Davis said.
“Still got (27) more games to go and it’s all about how you end, not how you start.
“I’m patient. I love it and I think we’re going to be fine.”
TEAMS TO MAKE NBL FINALS FROM 0-3 IN 40-MINUTE ERA
2016-17 Cairns Taipans 0-3, finished fourth, lost in semi-finals
2019-20 Cairns Taipans 0-3, finished third, lost in semi-finals
2019-20 Melbourne United 0-3, finished fourth, lost in semi-finals
2022-23 Tasmania JackJumpers 0-3, finished fourth, lost in semi-finals
***The last team to make finals from a start worse than 0-3 was Townsville in 2002-03. The Crocodiles started 0-5 and lost in the semi-finals.
GOORJ’S LEARNINGS AS GRUELLING SCHEDULE AWAITS
He won’t use it as an excuse — and doesn’t want his players to lean into it — but Sydney coach Brian Goorjian says there was an emotional and physical tax the Kings paid taking on arch rival Illawarra less than 40 hours after a one-point thriller in Perth.
The 96-89 loss in a home opener against the club Goorjian twice led to the semi-finals came off the back of a week on the Gold Coast for the NBL Blitz, a short stay back in Sydney, then a trip to Perth for Hoops Fest where they beat Adelaide, before hanging around WA for the week to prepare to knock off the Wildcats.
“Emotionally it was difficult,” Goorjian said of Sunday’s clash.
“You want to come in there in your first game in front of your home crowd and throw punches.
“I don’t want to go on and on about it but we play in the Blitz, play Adelaide our first game in Perth and then stay there a week and play Perth and then fly back for your first home game of the season against your arch rival.
“I was fired up for it. You don’t want to lose. There’s a lot in that one and it stings. I would have preferred that was against any other team — do it and have us play Melbourne, anyone else.”
The prime-time darling Kings have 10 Sunday games at either 2.30pm or 4.30pm to cater for free-to-air broadcast, three of those in a short span (R4, 6, 10) off the back of Friday night away games — including another to Perth.
It’s a reality Goorjian’s cognisant of and says the club would take learnings out of the weekend to apply, moving forward.
“I’ve been ‘one game at a time’, but we have a few more of them so we have to be prepared and we’re discussing it internally, it’s not in the rearview mirror, there’s more ahead,” he said.
“I don’t want the group to think, ‘excuses, too difficult’, there’s a mentality to it.
“So I’m trying to take the high side but it is something that we have to address, from the coaching staff standpoint of us mentally how you approach those games because it wasn’t good enough.
“We’ve got to figure out a way to deal with it. I need to be better.”
Goorjian hasn’t so much been shocked by the closeness of the competition — nine of the 12 games played so far have been decided by 9 or less points — but he likened the NBL to the AFL where there are now few easybeats.
“It’s like Australian rules football now, there’s an evenness to the competition and everyone is looking for that edge, that one per cent,” he said.
“There used to be a while ago a separation for a few teams and now there’s nobody who is an easy beat.
“We were down at three-quarter-time against Adelaide and came back and won, they gave us all we could handle, we’ve won by a point against Perth and this game (Illawarra) was 82-82 with a-minute-and-a-half to play, so it’s a really fine line.”
Teams who have played in Perth and backed up two days later went 3-3 last season.
Melbourne United is next up Friday with a trip to Perth, followed by the 2.30pm Sunday slot against Cairns back in Melbourne.
United sees it as no real challenge as it’s a trip they’ve done a number of times, most recently last season when they flew to Perth and beat the Wildcats by 7 on October 13, flew home, then beat the Bullets by 10 on October 15.
NAVIGATING THE PERTH TRIP LAST SEASON
R2 – Adelaide lost to Perth Oct 6, lost to Syd in Sydney Oct 8
R3 – United beat Perth Oct 13, beat Brisbane in Melbourne Oct 15
R5 – Brisbane beat Perth Oct 27, beat Tasmania in Brisbane Oct 29
R8 – Cairns lost to Perth Nov 16, lost to Tasmania in OT in Cairns Nov 18
R11 – Tas lost to Perth Dec 15, lost to Syd in Tassie Dec 17
R16 – Bris lost to Perth Jan 19, beat Cairns in Cairns Jan 21
*R17 – Illawarra beat Perth Jan 25, beat NZ in Wollongong Jan 28 *extra days break
CHAMPS’ NAME CHANGE NIXED AS WNBL CEO SEARCH BEGINS, GOAT JACKSON TO BE TAPPED FOR ROLE IN NEW ADMINISTRATION
As the NBL begins its search for a chief executive of the new-look WNBL for next season, Crosscourt can reveal the current regime had backed a plan for Southside to rebrand as Melbourne, after the Boomers ceased to exist in the women’s league.
In the same month Basketball Australia approved the transfer of the Boomers’ licence to Geelong, the reigning champion registered the ‘Jayco Melbourne Flyers’ trademark, a move that was initially backed by the league.
Clubs were informed of the proposed change via email by incumbent league boss Christy Collier-Hill.
Initially set to be unveiled in early August, sources told Code Sports the plan was knocked on the head by the Robyn Denholm-Larry Kestelman-led group that will take majority ownership of the league at the end of the season.
Under BA’s agreement with the new ownership group, no major changes can be made to the league this year as the NBL and Denholm take stock and plot how best to move it forward when they assume control.
Collier-Hill confirmed to Crosscourt the Flyers had sought to change their name to Melbourne but said the move was scuppered while she was on leave.
Elevate Talent has been engaged to headhunt a new chief executive, a role that will report to the WNBL board and NBL Group chief executive David Stevenson as the ‘primary “face” of the WNBL to media, clubs and stakeholders’.
It’s understood Collier-Hill doesn’t plan to apply for the job, with one of its requirements to be based in Melbourne. Collier-Hill, last year, moved from Melbourne to Canberra to be with family.
Crosscourt has been told the new ownership group will sound out Australia’s greatest player Lauren Jackson to gauge her interest in a role with the WNBL — although it’s understood that won’t be as chief executive.
The legendary five-time Olympian is currently Basketball Australia’s head of women in basketball and the face of the She Hoops program, which encourages women and girls to pursue careers in the sport.
RILLIE WILDCATS’ NEXT CHAMPIONSHIP COACH: ARENA
New Perth owner Mark Arena believes John Rillie will coach the Wildcats’ next championship.
Arena, who, earlier this year, purchased a majority share of the NBL powerhouse from Craig Hutchison’s SEN Group, said he went into negotiations with Rillie with an open mind, but it quickly became clear to him the third-year coach was the man to lead the Wildcats into the future.
Arena, who doubles as the club’s chief executive, brokered a three-year deal with Rillie, agreed to last month, that will keep him at the club until at least 2028.
Arena is adamant it was the best decision for the club.
“He’s well-liked and well-respected by the players and people in the organisation,” Arena told Crosscourt.
“You look what he’s done over the past two years, we finished second last season and we weren’t far off in the semi-finals against the team that won the championship.
“John Rillie will lead us to our next championship, I’m certain of that.”
The Wildcats have opened the season 1-1 ahead of Friday night’s grudge match with Melbourne United in Perth.
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Originally published as Crosscourt: Winless Phoenix, 36ers battle history, Goorj’s travel lessons, WNBL champs name change nixed as search for new CEO begins, NBL to tap Lauren Jackson, Perth owner’s big call on re-signed coach John Rillie
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