"There were problems with Diamon and some in the 36ers hierarchy away from the games, which may explain some of his unusual court time allocations."

did you try to get that comment expanded a little more?
are we talking the coaches or board members? what did he do? refuse a drink with one of the board members after one of the games?

i know the coaches tried to say his fitness was an issue, but to me he always went pretty hard when he was out there. Always draining when you are guarding 2 or 3 guys.. but he went at it pretty hard all the same.

Worth the read! Boti was very honest and right on the money with his answers.

No I didn't ask him to expand, just did one back and forth via email. Is intriguing though, there did seem to be issues with Radford especially and this suggests some upper management (???). His fitness was noticeable, even into Feb (see this blog below), but they brought him in knowing his fitness base. Perhaps they didn't think he was working hard enough.

http://www.36reasons.net/2012/02/oops-we-did-it-again-adelaide-v.html

OH HELL yes

"Helliwell is a limited player but - "

so were a LOT of players over the years in the NBL who were used by their coaches in ways that played to their strengths, and hid their weaknesses, and because of that when they went out of the game they were respected by their peers ( and betters) , and missed by the fans and their team mates.

They often left with championship rings on their fingers that we all knew they both earned and deserved.

Sixers had people like Nash ( stayed too long but) and Rees, Canberra had people like Jamie Kennedy ( a guard who could not dribble)and Dave Nelson ( a centre who could not jump). Tigers had W Giddey, Go to any NBL team roster and there will be one or two skill-limited but big-hearted competitors that stand-out like that over the years.

Our coaches had an opportunity to do this with Wade. Have a bloke who will train and play as hard for 5 minutes a game as for 30, and who his teammates wanted to have on the training track, in the change rooms, on the bench and (occasionally)in the game.

I actually thought very little of Wade until this season, when I saw him actually give a $h!t about playing harder than your talent allowed, just to get the team over the line, not to showboat or to be seen to be "good" but to just be ready to play as hard as he could for whatever time he was given. Toi see his reaction on the bench when one of his team mates got it right was something worth congratulating him for.

As Boti is quoted as having said - .


" Watching him steadily lose all confidence and deteriorate into a trying-to-please dufus was sad to behold."

This was a real tragedy. the jury may well still be out on Clarke's failure/success in attracting and developing young talent , but the obvious demise of Wade's (slim)talents over this season should and will cause veteran players to think again about coming to the 36ers.

Remember both Rob Rose, Darnel Mee and Paul Rees were veteran NBL players when they came to the 36ers, I doubt we will find many players wanting to come here now.

(please forgive the "double post" in separate threads.)

Internet Explorer cannot open 36reasons here. Outta time.
Strange how Simpson gets less court time 'cause some hierachy didn't like him away from the court.
Seemed pretty easy to get along with out there , yet slightly ill at ease with those fascinated by Weigh.

Loved playing in Adelaide, coaches, a different story.

Diamon Simpson is a likeable approachable bloke with the fans. Can't speak highly enough of him there.

Coaching staff is another issue.

Have heard he may not have been the hardest worker and could also have been late to training on a number of occasions.

Bizzy,

I heard the same thing over the weekend from someone who was at a number of trainings.

This person was also very surprised that practicing Free Throws didn't seem to be much of a priority for Simpson either!

Not Me - have heard all of the same things. Hence wasn't rewarded with court time.

Also heard he wasn't in great conditioning and didn't do much to help his cause.

Which makes his getting an NBA gig even more surprising, although I notice he is still not on the Rockets active list!

Here , Helliwell trained the hardest . Simpson was pretty good out there (other than the first time he trained here.)
Weigh trains the least of all out there.

Some follow up thoughts on the interview


http://www.36reasons.net/2012/04/some-thoughts-on-botis-interview.html