Mookie
Years ago
He may only be the interim CEO of the NBL-BA but from what I have seen he is doing well. His handling of the Sydney Spirit situation should be commended. I sense if it was just Chuck steering the ship than Spirit would now be defunct.
LA Boy
Years ago
Honestly, I think he should've letted Sydney go...They can't save every club like that. I understand it would've been lot worse if the team did fold mid-way through the season but still
Isaac
Years ago
How much 'saving' of the Spirit did he actually do? The funds, as I understand it, came primarily from the other owners and I think the resulting solution was pretty straightforward.
HO
Years ago
except Isaac, that in the past, NBL CEO's (or interim ceo's) have not tried to broker these types of deals. Instead they've tried to find saviours...delayed the axe etc ect.
I get the impression from previous comments that you are not a fan, but in this case he appears to have acted quickly, has been very visible (another previous criticism) and the club will continue to play...giving time to garner interest from other bidders who might want to bid for a new "sydney license".
Not sure whether BA also put up some funds but I think maybe they underwrote last Saturday night - if so then thats a positive thing as well.
Isaac
Years ago
If the money has, in the end, come from the club owners, I'd like to see more credit go to them.
Might've been easier to dip into the emergency fund this time around given that it could otherwise go unused and given that the alternative might've been scheduling headaches for the other clubs.
Curtley
Years ago
I am an old sydney kings fan, given one of the options is that the spirit are saved through to next year - could they buy the kings name and become the sydney kings? This would all but kill off my interest in basketball, i know it's probably no big deal but there's no way i'd go to games if basically the razorbacks became the kings.
Isaac
Years ago
They could.
What wouldn't you like about that? A new Kings operation either way would have different ownership from past seasons and might even have quite a different roster given most players have been snapped up elsewhere. (If you are one of those Kings fans who loves BJ Carter, you can still watch Sutherland.)
Surely any owner without an overly-strong love of the Spirit/Pigs would see that the best option in Sydney is probably reviving the Kings - purple and gold, branding similar to their time in the sun, and maybe a token but heartfelt nod to Spirit fans in the form of discounted season tickets for past members. If you read OzHoops, Earnie Shavers has a good post on this topic somewhere over there in one of the Spirit/Kings threads.
Peter
Years ago
Wasn't there a post the other day about a similar deal being done to get Canberra (?) to the end of the season when they threatened to fold mid season?
That would have been pre-Harmison but shows the precendent is there for this type of action.
What I find most interesting is the implied shift in power from Harmison to Derwin. Is this part of the transition to the new structure, with BA and NBL coming together under a single CEO? Has Chuck stepped back from his NBL CEO role?
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