Back when he was with Adelaide - i ran into David Stiff at the Adelaide Uni Gym a few times and had a few chats with him... Seemed (this is around 10 years ago mind you) like a pretty down to earth guy... Same goes for Ben Melmeth...

I think the captain deserves a mention, but im probably telling everyone something they all ready know. My work was giving a substantial amount of money towards the hudson maher foundation, and maher his wife and daughter were there to collect the check.Afterwards he chatted with me for awhile about basketball and was nice enough to pose for a photo with me and sign my old school yellow #5 jersey.

Cam Tovey-
He's a good guy. Especially when he's at sutho. Not much of a story, but when everyone surrounds him, he doesn't spaz out.
As for BJ...he's ok too.

Had a chat with Steve Carfino in a bar one night for a few hours or so ... after a couple of minutes I said "Steve, I'll leave you to it mate" and he said "You don't have to go mate I love talking about basketball" spent the night just chatting away. Top Bloke.

I don't think I've ever had a bad experience with an NBL basketballer..

- I second your thoughts on KB.

- Ran into Willie Farley down the bay, and he was very laid back but more than willing to take a few minutes to chat.

- I remember when I was about 5 running into Mike McKay in a supermarket. I was in awe, and he was one of the nicest blokes to meet.

- Darnell Mee is the quietest basketball player I have ever met.. seriously quiet

- Mark Davis would have to be one of the biggest legends going around, basketball or otherwise. One of the nicest, most generous blokes there is.

- I played against Darren Ng a few times. Although we never really chatted, he would always be the first to stop in the street to say hi and how's things? Rate that highly..

It's good to see how accessible and down to earth these people remain

Oh and I had the exact same experience with Carfino SVD.. great guy Carfino

Mark Davis.The first time I ever met him,I was just in awe.He is the nicest guy.
I've known him now for over 10 years {thanks to Mil for introducing me!]. Whenever I see him,he always makes time to talk,and I'm glad to call him a friend.

Back when Paul Rees and Martin Cattalini were playing I had a few photos taken with them. I was kind of on the shorter side so Paul kneeled down to get in the photo with me and Cat picked me up. Both patted me on the back and said thanks for the photo. Was only with them for a couple of minutes but will never forget it.

Carfino is without a doubt one of the nicest blokes your likely to meet! Spent a night on the cans with him in melbourne. Great guy!

I regularly wash the teams dirty jockstraps & towels and they don't treat me as badly as everyone on the internet.

Oh wait....that's someone else's story :-)

Seriously though....Gaze will always go down as one of the nicest blokes I've ever met. The guy is just a great big kid who loves life. He rubs off on you, you HAVE to walk away smiling after talking to Drewy.

You were talking about Mee being quiet? You should try to get 2 words out of D-Mac. Great guy but he's just SO quiet.

On the commentators....Ran into John Casey at a family farm one weekend. While our wives and kids were peeting everything that moved and waiting for hay rides and crap, we had a good old talk for a few minutes.

I can't think of anyone I've met in basteball circles that I haven't liked......Drmic used to be a bit petulant when he was younger but seemed to grow out of it all right....My daughter adored him last season. Parky too, when he was younger. And Sam Mac was just SO shy it was ridiculous trying to talk to him in the Magic years. Wasn't a big fan of Mark Dickel.....just came across a big arrogant.

Darren Lucas is a top bloke, Mike Kelly was always memorable as someone who had time for everyone.

Maybe a surprise one for everyone.....Goorjian, if you can get 5 minutes with him, is amazing to talk to. He just never stops and lives and breathes hoops. He can be quite abrasive, but if you look past that, it's an experience you'll not forget.

Big Winners...... Mike Kelly, Darren Lucas, Billy McCaffrey, Goorj, Gaze, Wheeler, John Casey, Tony Ronaldson.

Oh, and Rosell Ellis....He came down with the Crocs when they played at Vodafone. When they announced him, he got a bigger cheer than any current Dragons player has all season.

Lloyd,

"Spent a night on the cans with him in melbourne."

A night on the cans, a night looking at cans, or both?

I ran a Teacher vs Students Basketball game at Hamilton Secondary College. The teachers had a few basketballers but were otherwise really bad. I spoke to Jason Williams and Paul Rees after one of their games and asked if they would be interested in playing in the teachers team and they said yes. The students loved the opportunity to play against some nbl players. Paul Rees even played dead ants on court by himself that saw the crowd and half of the players on court wetting them self.

we also have video of this game but do not have the equipment to get it to data file to upload.

Definitely second DICKO's nomination of Mike Kelly, still keep in email contact now that he's back in US.

Can't really say i've had anything to do with an player that i could say anything negative about - Kings aside :P

Even the likes of the sacked Puerto Rican was a decent guy.

Same Stanley. Have been introduced to a number of players and they've all been friendly enough (though maybe not Powell - walked off and tried to pick up some chick instead!). Have dealt with a few of the past 36ers like Sapwell, Rees and Ninnis and all are great guys. Worked with Sap recently and he was an ideal client. Reesy is hilarious if you catch him telling farm stories to a group. Maher and KB are quality too. Same with those who had smaller roles in the past (Truslove, Williams, Bauer) or the younger guys coming through now (Newley, Ng, Kersten, Sutton).

Was once sitting in the Tigers office foyer waiting to meet with Seamus and David Stiff came out. I don't even recall having met him properly before and certainly not for a couple of years, but he recognised me and came over to talk.

The majority of NBL players have grown up accommodating "How tall are you? Do you play basketball?" requests, talking with fans young, old, rabid, mundane, signing autographs, etc - I think that gives them a lot of patience.

As well as that, though..... Even those who aren't naturally gifted speakers or do get a bit annoyed can't show it.

Fact is that the NBL isn't popular enough for the players to be all prima-donna with fans. They NEED fans and have always been encouraged to get out there, be seen and be friendly.

Anyone SMART enough won't bite the hands that feed them.....maybe that's why Pero V was useless with the public?!?!?!?

Definietly Mike Kelly- great all round guy!!! I was water boy for the Crocs at one game, and he was extremely well mannered- every single time i gave him the water and all "thanks man"!- top guy1

I have meet and talked to a few nbl players mostly those on the NZ Breakers. They are all friendly and nice guys who give up there time to talk to you and sign things. The one i know best on the breakers is oscar, as i have known him for two years now, this year i have also talked to ryan, who is a very quiet and shy guy but once you get talking is a great person.
Had a talk to Russell Hinder when the kings came over, he stop in front of me on the way back to the court at half time and tried to get a lollie off me.

They are all down to earth guys and i think out of all the sports people they are the best to talk to.

Now if kids look up to drug-taking, booze-drinking, drunk-driving, womanising, wife-beating, Pepsi-drinking, caravan-living (I think I made those last two up) football players, why can't they look up to all the top blokes in the NBL?

The players are the best marketing possible. For most, basketball is their full-time job, and I believe part of that is promoting your sport and ensuring it's future and in the process, maybe raising your salary by increasing demand for your sport.

How many clubs actively engage the community successfully to recruit converts to basketball?

Successfully? Few I would think.

The Dragons certainly try, running training events and clinics for kids in suburban Melbourne. I took my boy down to one and the turnout, although OK, was not great and I don't know if any of it would have converted to bums on seats.

The guys were great, autographs, coaching tips, drills with the kids.....Nick Horvath spent half the afternoon picking up kids and helping them dunk.

Nick did complain about a sore shoulder, which was funny because I said "the way your playing, you'll have plenty of time to rest it".....2 days later he was dropped from the squad..... :-/

I'd say they're all getting out there - community events, school visits, etc. Probably just a matter of trying to increase that without dominating the time of the players.

ahhhh, the DICKO kiss of death.

You should talk to the peroxide one about his coaching then....

: )

Thanks Dicko and Isaac, as I thought was the case, however I would have thought "successful" would equal increased attendances at games and improved junior participation rates? Which would perhaps result in free-to-air coverage and more profile of the league in general? Is this occuring anywhere?

I know the Slingers wanted to hire Dean Utoff to walk up and down shopping malls and Orchard Road in Singapore with a sandwich board promoting the team, never eventuated.....

My 14 year old son can say he shot a few while being guarded by Davo having practice at the dome for woodville and three sixers players came out.

You should talk to the peroxide one about his coaching then....

The breakers have a week in the school holidays in which children go and are coached by the players. I have heard that is a very successful thing and does get children involved in following basketball.

From this camp the breakers have a "future breakers club' which is for children at the breakers home games. The children love it.

Many years ago my 4 y.o son had a broken arm the same time that Rob Rose did when playing for the 6ers (Rob may have had a fractured wrist or something like that)

I think it was a pre season game; we had seats right next to the players race.

Rob was standing in the race, saw my son & called him over. He talked to him for ages about both of their casts and signed it for him.

For the rest of that season my son would wait at the race for Rob to come out; he would always say hello with high fives all round etc.

He didn't have to take the time for a four year old but did.

Top bloke!

Oh of course any one ever got stuck talking to big Paul Reese.

Another top bloke but hell, that guy can talk!

back in the 1980's here in Perth, my brother and I were in Tiny Pinder's sports store and my brother was in the middle of enquiring with Tiny about a pair of sports shoes, he suddenly turned from us and greeted a group of 13-14 year old girls with a big "hey ladies" and completely forgot about us!!!!