The Logue Down: Simmons’ Lemanis dig, Ball’s big dollars yet to flow and Bogut’s trade vision
Ben Simmons had a subtle dig for outgoing Boomers boss Andrej Lemanis as he welcomed news Philadelphia 76ers coach Brett Brown would return to lead Australia.
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Australian NBA star Ben Simmons has, unsurprisingly, thrown his support behind his Philadelphia 76ers mentor Brett Brown taking over as Boomers coach on the same day he hit his first NBA three-pointer.
Basketball Australia dropped the ball with their handling of Brown’s pending announcement as a replacement for Andrej Lemanis as national team boss for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, despite the story breaking days ago.
Simmons was speaking to reporters in the 76ers’ locker room following their 109-104 win over the New York Knicks in Philly, declaring he was “excited” for Brown to join the national program.
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“I’m looking forward to it, he’s coaching me now, I’ve known him my whole life but I’m excited to put together a great team and a great coaching staff,” Simmons said, without mentioning Lemanis or assistant coaches like Australian great Luc Longley.
Brown has coached the Boomers previously and his return is set to pave the way for Simmons and his Sixers teammate Jonah Bolden to rejoin the national program after both players made themselves unavailable for the World Cup.
Simmons, predictably, set social media alight when, at the 8.20 mark of the first quarter in the Knicks game, he drained a corner three.
“You saw my reaction,” Simmons said. “It feels good, you keep working at something and it pays off. I think I’m just growing as a player.”
BA officials had planned to unveil Brown via a video link up next week but their plans were foiled when respected ESPN NBA journalist Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news that the Philadelphia mentor was finalising an agreement to return as Australian coach.
Bizarrely, Basketball Australia had also organised outgoing coach Andrej Lemanis to attend the press conference with Brown.
Lemanis instigated his own departure largely due to his relationship breakdown with superstar Ben Simmons, which prompted him to reach out to Brown who coaches Simmons at the 76ers.
As soon as Woj broke the Brown news on Wednesday morning, BA should have come out and confirmed the news.
Instead the public has to wait days for an awkward press conference with the former Boomers coach and the man who has replaced him.
SIMMONS’ SISTER GIBE
After 17 failed attempts from beyond the arc, Ben Simmons finally hit a three-pointer in an NBA game. Simmons nailed a corner three in the opening minutes of Thursday’s home win over New York, prompting his sister to tweet: “Now you can all shut the hell up”.
Now you can all shut the hell up....
— Liv Alice Simmons (@livvalice) November 21, 2019
BIG BALL DOLLARS A SLOW BURN
LaMelo Ball has helped draw crowd records and attract unprecedented eye balls on the NBL but the Illawarra Hawks are yet to see a significant financial benefit.
Hawks owner Simon Stratford tells this column that the franchise is banking on the dollars to come in well after Ball’s departure to the NBA, which will hopefully secure the franchise’s long-term stability.
“It would be great to sit here and say we’ve just turned over $5 million on the back of LaMelo coming to town,” Stratford said.
“We haven’t got as much as we budgeted but we didn’t know what to budget for, plus that wasn’t why we signed him.
“We have picked up Slam Media as a partner and sponsor and that led to some revenue within the club. Ball’s jersey sales have also gone up – so we’ve seen plenty of benefit in what business calls the sugar rush.
LaMelo Ball has been in his bag 🎒
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 17, 2019
16 PTS | 8 REB | 6 AST | (via @NBL)pic.twitter.com/FOeaodtqCv
“Hopefully in the next two to three years we can start to get some financial returns on the investment.”
The Hawks are yet to sell out a home game this season but Stratford is confident that will change when they host the Kings on New Year’s Eve.
“We’ve had a couple of Monday night games, which doesn’t sit well with us for families,” he said. “But ticket sales for our Sydney New Year’s Eve game are going well and we are aiming for a sellout.”
NO CODE WAR – JUST ADVICE
Fox Sports News and Triple M commentator Dan Ginnane hit the nail on the head when he declared on The Serve this week that football fans and officials have the “biggest glass jaw” in Australian sport when it comes to criticism of football.
A-League supporters and scribes alike were happy to celebrate FFA boss David Gallop’s bold claim of overtaking the NRL and AFL but lost their mind this week when it was suggested that “Hoops is thriving while the A-League is floundering from poor crowd and television figures, no real superstars and a standard of play far below the rest of the world’s domestic leagues”.
Sadly, the supposed code war between the NBL and the A-League has become petty.
Both sports can happily coexist in the summer market without the childish bickering.
The message that should be conveyed is that the A-League can learn from the NBL’s emphasis on marketing, marquees and a genuine link with the world’s best league.
The NBA is universally adored, especially in Australia with record numbers tuning in via the League Pass.
The NBL, led by Larry Kestelman and his team, have done a tremendous job restoring the league’s fractured relationship with the NBA.
The league is filled with former NBA players led by Australia’s own Andrew Bogut at the Kings.
The NBL is also a legitimate breeding ground for the NBA through the Next Stars program, which has brought draft bound teens like LaMelo Ball to the league.
The A-League has previously nailed the marquee signing through the likes of Alessandro Del Piero, Dwight Yorke and Robbie Fowler but the legitimate big international names have since dried up.
Del Piero and Yorke, for example, proved that fans connect with marquees much like we’re seeing in the NBL this season.
No code war, just friendly advice because that is how you become better.
KINGS FOR SALE
The Sydney Kings are revelling after attracting the biggest NBL crowd ever against LaMelo Ball and his Illawarra Hawks but the league-leaders don’t have a naming rights sponsor.
The Kings have recently filled the space with the Isabella and Marcus Foundation, which raises awareness and money for brain cancer research in children.
Chairman and owner Paul Smith has put the ‘For Sale’ sign up and is keen to land a long-term major sponsor.
“We’ve had a number of conversations with companies but for us it is not simply about money,” Smith said.
“It is also about finding the right partner who buys into what we are doing and understands the potential.
“We put the foundation that Bogut supports on the singlet because we want to do good things in the community like the bush fire support.
“We are very open to anyone that is interested.
“Until last Sunday with the record crowd against Illawarra, basketball was a wait and see product but I think it has dawned on a few people that the sport is real.”
TATE ON NBA RADAR
In-form Sydney Kings power forward Jae’Sean Tate has received significant interest from NBA scouts this season.
I can reveal a host of franchises have reached out to the Kings about Tate’s game and what he is like as a person.
If he can maintain his form with the Kings for the rest of the season, an opportunity in the world’s best competition is on the horizon after he went undrafted in the ’18 draft.
Tate, who was unable to play for Milwaukee at the 2018 NBA Summer League due to a fractured finger, has been a revelation for Sydney this season with his strength and ability to dominate at both ends of the floor.
The 24-year-old from Toledo, Ohio, isn’t the biggest bloke to be playing at the power forward position – standing at six foot four – but he makes up for his lack of height through his dogged determination.
BOGUT’S TRADE WINDOW VISION
Sydney Kings star Andrew Bogut would love to see the NBL introduce a trade window in the coming seasons.
Bogut has seen the benefit of a transfer window during his decorated NBA career and believes the NBL could also benefit from a similar system.
“I don’t think the NBL is in a position to have any trades at the moment, just because it is pretty hard for a bloke making $70,000 a year to move but I’d like to see something down the track,” Bogut said.
“For example, you could make two trades a season before round 10.
“I believe anything that can give the league more media, PR and fan interaction, especially when games aren’t on, is a good thing.
“That is where the NBA hits the nail on the head.
“The narrative continues for 12 months and the NBL needs to look at something like that during the off-season when we lose a lot of market share and PR.
“A trade window is probably more of a pipe dream that can’t happen for another five years but it would bring so much hype to the game.”
NBL commissioner Jeremy Loeliger is open to introducing a trade window.
“It’s something that’s been discussed but not in any more detail as yet,” Loeliger said.
“If we were to do it, we would have to do it in conjunction with the clubs and players association.”
Originally published as The Logue Down: Simmons’ Lemanis dig, Ball’s big dollars yet to flow and Bogut’s trade vision