NBA, NBL: How jetsetting Taipans pulled off four-country tour without major injury
Five games, four countries, more than 40,000km of travel in less than three weeks. This is how the Taipans and its close-knit community made it happen - and avoided major injuries.
Taipans
Don't miss out on the headlines from Taipans. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Five games, four countries, more than 40,000km of travel in less than three weeks.
That was the equation faced by Taipans staff as they prepared for jetsetting start to the NBL24 season and their historic trip to North America to face NBA teams for the first time in the club’s history.
It was a massive undertaking, one in which the Taipans could participate thanks to Tourism and Events Queensland - it would not have happened without the State Government’s immense support - but one which would prove invaluable to every part of the business.
All they had to do was find the answer to how they would keep players fit, as injury-free as possible, and still be able to perform at the level required for professional athletes.
The is how the “they”, a team led by the Taipans’ head of high performance Dr Joshua Guy and powered by the club’s growing partnership with CQUniversity’s Sports and Sciences division, managed to pull off a major win for the only community-owned club left in the NBL.
WORKING BACKWARDS
Dr Guy and his team began their planning from the moment the NBL schedule landed in the inbox.
“We plan everything from the back,” Dr Guy said.
“As soon as we got the NBL schedule and we knew the trip was happening, we’re already starting to think about how it is we think about the training exposure the guys are getting.
“Every single day of every single week was planned before we step on court for the first time.
“That gives us more of an understanding when we’re going to go a little bit harder with the guys on the court or when we’re going to back off.
“That will be affected by the type of travel we’re doing, whether it’s a shorter trip to Brisbane or New Zealand or something like that.”
FIRST CHALLENGE
The task of tackling the enormous travel load was compounded by the timezone changes the players and staff would undergo, with a tight turnaround to gametime thrown in for good measure.
In an ideal world, Dr Guy would recommend players shift their bed times earlier to adjust their bodies to match up with whichever time zone they need to perform on court.
With a trans-Tasman trip, then international travel the morning after home-away double header, it was far from an ideal situation.
Even the season-opener wasn’t immune, with tip-off shifted to a later time to avoid a clash with the AFL Grand Final, which meant players were afforded as much as two hours’ sleep before their return trip to Cairns for the club’s member’s day.
“We’d planned ahead,” Dr Guy said. “Our recovery partner was there set up ready for the guys with compression boots and things like that in an air conditioned room.
“They had an hour to themselves – with flying, you get that cooling of fluid and lymphatic system and things like that, so compression was more important recovery modality for that.
“That was planned two to three weeks before we took off to New Zealand.”
PHASE SHIFT
Ideally, the week before the NBA games would have been dictated by that, but with two games in the 72 hours prior to takeoff, it wasn’t an option.
“If we didn’t play at Brisbane and we just flew from Cairns to play in Washington 48 hours after landing, we would have phase-shifted; shift the bedtime an hour earlier every day for about five or so days beforehand to match them to the time zone they land in,” Dr Guy said.
“But that’s not possible; we’re flying then competing on local time in Brisbane.
“We had a normal training week, and so playing Brisbane, standard recovery with ice baths, then getting to the plane and wearing compression garments to keep the blood flow.”
STATESIDE
Players hit the court for the first time the day after they arrived in Washington, providing the team’s staff their first real opportunity to get the bodies moving after the game against the Bullets.
“That’s the opportunity to get the legs moving, we had a lift after that – normally we go harder given its 24 hours before a game, this was about mobility and injury prevention, getting the body moving,” Dr Guy said. “Compared to a normal lift, it looked a bit different so we had to adjust.”
They were equipped with plans by strength and conditioning coach Rogan Bartlett and live feedback from sports scientist Steph Shirley, but with no room on the flight for either they were logged in from afar to offer advice.
They communicated with Dr Guy, coach Adam Forde and the team physio where necessary, while Shirley was able to track athlete outputs in real time via technology.
FLYING BLIND
The Wizards smashed the short-staffed Taipans by 60 points, and the effect of the loaded schedule was evident on the players who were available to suit up.
A limited bench plus the longer gametime made life harder for the Snakes, but still they battled until the end.
With a game against the Raptors in Toronto days later, Dr Guy said recovery was paramount - and it made a world of difference.
“We had a site set up like a bathhouse – sauna, ice baths, relation rooms,” Dr Guy said.
“A few guys were flat coming in but the mood was much higher of the group coming out of that.
“Knowing we’re in a different environment, food, vitamin packs working with our sports nutritionist (Mitch Smith) ensuring we’re getting the right stuff into them. And ensuring they’re getting the right stuff in the environment.
“These are considerations you have to have. If you can control that as much as possible, the risk is minimised.
“While we had the plan, it’s trying to make it work on the ground. You planned it, but it’s not always reflective of what you can find on the ground.
“There might be a pool, or there’s a training facility at Washington and Raptors but we don’t know what it looks like until we get in there.”
CLOSING THE GAP
If anything, the trip reinforced how the Taipans are on the right path, with the vast gap in resources the key difference between clubs on either side of the world.
Raw strength and conditioning programs - gym workouts and the like - are on par, but the Taipans (and any other NBL club) don’t have the resources for a legion of doctors, with state of the art medical equipment in-house and at the ready for immediate use.
“It was good to see there are a lot of things we’re on par with,” Dr Guy said. “Walking into the Raptors program, the gym program on the wall could have been ours.
“There’s no secret sauce that way. It’s on par with what we do, but it’s resources.
“For every strength coach, they have four assistants. They have an ortho, two doctors and EMS and x-ray machine out the back at Scotiabank. We have what we have - a physio and a doc.”
The program has taken big steps forwards since Forde took the reins as head coach, creating a department which has helped give the Taipans an extra edge while freeing up their limited resources to improve in other areas.
“Where we were four years ago before Fordey coming on board and us creating this department with Steph and Ro to where we are now is like chalk and cheese in the way we can deliver the strength and conditioning to a high level,” Dr Guy said.
“We have sports science logged and recorded. It’s been big time to have those guys in those roles.
“Because of the role with the University, I have access to half a dozen other experts in the field with PHDs in this stuff.
“We have an interconnected web of experts I can call on at any point in time and collate the information, apply it and hope it works in the live environment.
“I can pull the information from trusted sources, get Ro and Steph who are the real pointy end of the spear to apply it, and roll it up into something digestible the coaches can understand.”
THE PARTNERSHIP
The groundbreaking trip is another close link in the partnership between the Taipans and CQUniversity, who have worked closely together for the past few years.
It is a partnership the club is particularly proud of, and it’s opened the door for university students to gain access to and experience with a national sporting program on their own doorstep.
“It’s massive,” Dr Guy said.
“We use that a lot in our recruitment with students, practicum students come through with us.
“The past three or four years we’ve had students come through with us then move on to roles in sport.
“If we didn’t have that interconnectedness for it, you don’t know how much opportunity they would have. You don’t have any other professional sporting club in Cairns at a national level.
“And with my teaching, I can take what I do on a daily basis with the club, and talk about that. That gives students real information.
“Yeah, okay I’m a researcher, I write papers, do stuff in a lab, but at the same time I do stuff with real people, real athletes, real coaches, a real environment, and I think students really appreciate that candid, real life experience. It’s a massively important relationship.”
‘I FELT LIKE I LEFT MY BODY IN CAIRNS’
Cairns import Patrick Miller’s reaction to the first practice session after landing in Washington summed up the players’ experience perfectly.
“The first thing I said getting to the States and we had our first practice, I said I felt like I left my body in Cairns,” he said. “My body felt so stiff, and I just think the body was tired.
“I was so jet-lagged, sleepy, and I just didn’t have the energy I usually have.”
The Chicago-born guard is no stranger to a decent shift, but the injuries to fellow guards Tahjere McCall and Taran Armstrong left Miller carrying more of the load.
He played 37 minutes against the Bullets, then boarded a plane bound for the United States less than 12 hours later, where the Taipans hit the court for the game against the Wizards just 48 hours after landing.
“I felt like our body never recovered from the Brisbane game,” said Miller, who played 40-plus minutes in the NBA games.
“We flew out the next day, and on that flight, I couldn’t sleep.
“We put on recovery tights and socks, we tried our best to fight against the fatigue and jet lag. That first game, I don’t think we had our legs, we weren’t ourselves.”
Miller conceded he wasn’t at 100 per cent yet, but was on the right track ahead of the Hawks-Kings double header.
“We train for this,” he said.
“You put your body through something like this, so you’re prepared. Once the ball goes up, you forget how your body feels, you just want to compete. It’s a mind thing, too.”
It should be made clear that Miller has no regrets about the trip whatsoever, but he said players might not have fully grasped the impact it would have on their bodies.
“That trip was exciting, and I don’t think we would have thought how our bodies would feel going through that,” he said.
“But we were so excited just to play basketball. Once you start playing your mind forgets how it feels and you just want to compete.
“We’ve started to get our bodies back. I feel like it’s not all the way back where it was.
“It’s going to take time.”
matthew.mcinerney1@news.com.au
More Coverage
Originally published as NBA, NBL: How jetsetting Taipans pulled off four-country tour without major injury
Crosscourt: Gazey’s left-field pick for return of Boomers’ coach
The hunt for the Boomers’ next head coach is heating up, and hoops legend Andrew Gaze has floated a left-field option. We take a closer look at all the contenders, and more in this week’s Crosscourt.
Why bogey Snakes have been so hard for United to tame
In an NBL peculiarity, league heavyweight Melbourne United have been beaten by the Cairns Taipans in five of their last six meetings. United coach Dean Vickerman is determined to end the Snakes’ hex.
WATCH: NBL star makes plea call after ‘choke’ sanction
One of the NBL’s biggest stars has made his plea decision after learning of his punishment for an ugly incident in the JackJumeprs’ clash with Cairns. WATCH THE INCIDENT HERE
Crosscourt: Who soared and who stunk at Hoopsfest
There was a ‘pathetic’ performance from Brisbane, an equally bad showing from Cairns, and Perth’s John Rillie starting the mind games early with fierce rivals the Sydney Kings. Hoops Fest was a hit, and Mick Randall has all the highs and lows inside.
Championship favourites put to the test by bullish 36ers lineup
Montrezl Harrell lit up the NBL court for the first time as his new team the 36ers pushed a stacked Kings roster and title favourites in their opening game. Full Round 1 wrap inside.
Taipans breakdown: A superstar, point guard chaos and the tough loss of a gun player
It was another off-season exodus for the Cairns talent factory but coach Adam Forde has assembled a team of gritty “dogs” with talent to burn. Will it be enough to stay in the finals picture?