Very classy announcement. Very amicable.

Sad to see you go Joey but hopefully its upwards for both parties.

Ciao Joey Wright.

An acrimonious end for Joey, no surprise.

I'm sad that Joey has parted ways with Sixers,he’s a fantastic coach ,look we didn’t win a Championship under him because there were too many egos in team,plus the tight ass owner as well.Great players coached under Joey made them better players,look at Creek,Sobey,Ferguson and many more .I met Joey at a social basketball match at Wayville and he’s a fantastic guy off court.I hope he still coaches NBL under a better management organisation,it sucks from my view to see such an experienced coach ..part ways .there were a lot of issues .
I wish him all the success for the future wherever it may be here or Overseas.All the best Joey if you read this ,you were one Bloody good coach from where I was sitting.

Bruton would certainly be a very JVG-like signing. I mean, he might be great in the role, but there's other names in this thread that I think would be safer selections, especially given JVG's history.

You guys can have Lemanis if you want.

If Jantke gets it, I will walk away after 35 years on supporting. Pretty sure you're taking the pi55 though anon.

You bloody bewdy! Best news in ages. Please take your mate JVG with you snd give us our club back.

You bloody bewdy! Best news in ages. Please take your mate JVG with you snd give us our club back.

Are we expecting a press release from Adelaide shortly to confirm that the sky is blue?

Must be KB.

LOL. Talking to Jantks he knows his place and his role.

Just a good guy that wants to help them out, and has strong views on how the program should be supporting local kids as much as possible.

"ABC news interview today
Andrew Gaze is keen to couch Adelaide."

Gaze's couch credentials are impeccable

I'd rather Brett Maher than Gaze.
Seriously, Gaze won’t be coach. Love the man as a player, commentator but not as a coach.

Not even Kelley would consider Gaze. Worst coach of all time.

The narrative that "Gaze can't coach" is an interesting one. Apart from the underwhelming results I think some of this stems from Bogut’s body language towards Gaze and (most likely comments off court). Maybe things would be different at Adelaide without a petulant “star” undermining your messages.

If Gaze is a basketball mastermind, where is his club the Melbourne Tigers? Dead buried and long forgotten. He could flat out play however has no clue. He went where dad told him to go, the offence was about him. No basketball smarts or high level iq required. He had fundamental ball skills that others didn't. If he had the ball, he attempted to score. No future plan for the rest of the shot clock, just a I must score mentality. That wo t win you many games as a coach unfortunately.

I am alway worried about forcing someone like Brett Maher into a coaching role. Remember the way the Sixers tarnished and destroyed the name of Scott Ninnis, doesn’t he really want to go down that road?

Interesting read from the Adelaide Now paper (posted yesterday at 8am, not sure if that's before the announcement):

he Adelaide 36ers and coach Joey Wright are engaged in a legal talks as their protracted path towards a seemingly inevitable divorce continues.

The club is being represented by high-profile lawyer Greg Griffin as the two parties continue to negotiate the terms of Wright's exit.

Wright has been coach of the 36ers for the past seven seasons and remains contracted for the next two after he signed a five-year deal in 2017.

It’s understood they reached a verbal agreement on a contractual payout around two weeks ago, but have not yet reached a formal settlement.

It’s unclear whether Wright is walking away from the job or the club is sacking him after it commissioned an external review into its basketball operations.

Wright was invited to the club’s MVP dinner on Saturday night and a place was set for him at the coaches’ table, and while he did not show, the club did not take issue with his absence.

It came as team owner Grant Kelley declared the disappointing end to the season a "line in the sand" moment in his dream to restore Adelaide’s basketball reputation as “title town” following three championships from 1998 to 2002.

But in an interview with SEN last week he seemed resigned to the fact that his time at Adelaide was now over and he was unlikely to coach in the NBL again.

“As a group we finished 12-16, three games away from the fourth-placed team, better attitudes and harder work would have maybe curbed that,” he said.

Adelaide officials declined to comment on the matter on Tuesday as the external review into the team missing finals for the past two seasons continued.

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Preliminary findings of the review were presented to Kelley last week, but a full report is yet to be completed.

Wright could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

Despite Adelaide’s underwhelming season on the court, the club still drew record crowds to its new home venue at the Entertainment Centre and reported a surge in membership and corporate support.

The NBL finals begin with Perth hosting Cairns on Friday night and Sydney hosting Melbourne on Saturday.

"The argument that [Gaze] only had success at Sydney because of talent"

He DIDN'T have success at Sydney, despite having talent. That's the argument.

Great bloke that I have the utmost respect for, but that doesn't mean he's an NBL-quality head coach.

Joey was a dam good coach but like any sport you can only go for so long at one club before players and supporters find it all repetitive. That's when bad results stand out way more, a new coach is like a bit of fresh air for the club and I’m sure a new club will be fresh air for Joey, he will take some learning’s with him as will the club

Wow pretty harsh on Joey he is a good coach his results show that across many seasons.

Yes he has his flaws playing defence was definitely one but that is also a player behaviour issue as well our group just did not want to do this.

Really if you said we would win this season you really need a reality check, yes they underachieved but most people only rated this list mid table at best if they finished 4th that was top range of a good season.

To bring back we were blown out in series x and y well a lot of teams did not even get that far, no one points the finger at the players who fundamentally can't make a layup or an Open 3 point shot, that is not the coaches fault that is seriously a pay for what you get team.

From the Advertiser today:

Joey Wright says he's not bitter and has left as 36ers coach for mental health reasons
Outgoing Adelaide coach Joey Wright gives the reasons why he has left the club after seven seasons in charge.

Reece Homfray, The Advertiser
Subscriber only
|
February 27, 2020 2:19pm

Outgoing coach Joey Wright says he had to leave the Adelaide 36ers for the sake of his own mental health after realising his values were no longer aligned with the club and some of the players.

Wright and the 36ers have mutually agreed to part ways after seven seasons and two grand final appearances.

He had two seasons remaining on his contract and reached a financial settlement with the club on Wednesday after weeks of discussions with club owner Grant Kelley.

Wright was not interviewed as part of the club’s external review and said his departure had nothing to do with its findings which have recommended changes to leadership and culture.

"It was mutual, they wanted to go in a different direction and so did I, and that’s what it came down to," he told The Advertiser.

“I don’t feel wronged or upset, that is definitely the true emotion, that’s no bullsh**, I’m not mad at the 36ers at all, not even a little bit.

“To get away from that situation is for me, health-wise, the best thing to happen. As far as mental health, dealing with the pressures and stresses of that situation.

“I’m just concerned our values were inconsistent with one another and not that mine were right and theirs were wrong, but they were inconsistent and we just weren’t heading in the right direction.

“I think we had enough respect for each other to say 'well, you go, and the other said ‘yep, I’m OK with that’.

“When you sign that contract one of two things will happen, even if you see out the end of it, they were going to ask me to leave or I was going to want to leave, and this is both of them at the same time.

“Realising the time was right and nothing was going to change, that’s how I made my decision.”

The 36ers have missed the finals the past two seasons and towards the end, Wright’s relationship was excellent with some players and non-existent with others - namely imports Jerome Randle, Eric Griffin, Ramone Moore and Aussie big man Harry Froling.

“The ones who it wasn’t good with, it wasn’t good. I’m not a halfway person, I can’t be lukewarm, you’re either with me or against me and there were four who weren’t really committed and by then the three imports and Harry didn’t give us what we needed. That was the reality of it,” Wright said.

“I would have loved for those guys to be a little bit more driven but we weren’t on the same page, and that’s not the club’s fault, that’s my fault and I tried everything I could to get them on the same page as everybody else.”

Wright did not attend Saturday’s night’s club MVP awards dinner because he didn’t feel right about it.

“We were still in a (legal) situation,” Wright said.

“I didn’t feel overly welcomed and I didn’t feel welcoming either.

“But I do plan on doing something for the people I want to see at some point in time, for fans to come along and have a drink and the sponsors who I have a good relationship with, I want to thank them.”

Wright’s final game against Perth was his 500th as an NBL coach and he said he was proud of his time at Adelaide, including being named coach of the year.

“In order for us to be as competitive as we were, I was giving more than what I felt I should, because I still have friends and family (to spend time with),” he said.

“The stuff I set up in the community, our academy program, even the move to get Terrance (Ferguson) here (before the NBA draft).

“We were relevant for seven years I was there. Before that when I saw Adelaide on our schedule it wasn’t something I thought ‘oh shit, we’re going to play Adelaide’.

“I think that changed, we developed some guys to be better than before they got here, I think the program excelled and that’s what I’m most proud of.

“We still won more games than any other club except Perth over the last seven years ... and that in itself is a championship in my mind, I can live with that.”

Wright becomes an Australian citizen in September and has no immediate plans to leave the city he now calls home.

“I’m committed to my daughter to let her get through the year and she’s at a pivotal age, and I want to make sure wherever I go next I’m going to be locked in to get her through high school,” he said.

Basically Randle, Griffin, Moore, Froling didn't show up to play, hence getting benched so frequently.

These players were frustrating as hell to watch and deserved every bit of benching. Randle stifled offence, Griffin lazy as it gets on defence, Froling no effort.

Very interesting article.

Naming Randle, Griffin, Moore and Froling that's harsh.

So does that mean Moore was actually not injured?

If not then we lost a season of import wages for no reason.

Good to see Joey call out the three imports they were big problems all season. Randle for his selfishness and Griffin & Moore were just duds who weren't up to it. Also good to see him mention Froling his attitude and professionalism were issues all season will be hopeful we don't give him another contract.

You could really tell this season Joey was just burnt out coaching this motley bunch.

Joey Wright is on the shortlist for the Texas Longhorns job.

http://www.botinagy.com/blog/joey-wright-on-longhorns-shortlist/

That would be nice to see him return to his alma mater.

"The narrative that "Gaze can't coach" is an interesting one."

Not really.
In sport, there is seldom any correlation between being a great player and becoming a great coach. If anything, it would see to go mostly the other way.

Gaze has never done anything to suggest he can coach.
He failed in the SEABL and he failed in the NBL, despite having stacked squads.
Moreover it was the way he failed that is telling.

The Kings would get off to a good start, in both games and seasons, but as soon as things got tough they fell apart. Gaze was unable to coach on the fly, and unable to motivate his players.
Watch some of his timeouts, where he rants & raves, and the players just roll their eyes.
With Bogut's help they finally made the finals, and yet Gaze was still compelled to leave, because he was so disconnected from the players.

After hearing all the keyboard warriors bag Joey and tell us all what should happen and who is a crap coach and who's is the best, I wonder why you ain’t the prime target? I know because it’s easy to sit behind a computer or phone and rubbish everyone!! Pathetic, and man up and use a name my Anonymous hero!! Clubs need real support, not a know it all idiot hiding behind a computer making big statements, give due respect to Joey, u may not like him but he has done a lot for the club but fell away the last couple of years, good luck Joey and u will get success in what ever job you choose to do!!!!

Very interesting interview.

Bottle collecting is true and yes they helped cleaned Titanium Arena after games in the early days.

"There were months that I didn't get paid."

SOS era, wasn't it?

That's depressing.

A lot of people love to make a throw away line of "they should just spend more money" - the 36ers in the past didn't have money to spend the owners may have been "wealthy" to the average person but they weren't "own a sports team wealthy". The NBL had sweet FA money, run on the smell of an oily rag.

This is why many of us buy NBL TV still even though we don't use it and are watching on SBS streaming where us watching is counted to the benefit of the NBL.

I've got 36ers merch I never really needed, and I'd go to games between two NBL sides that I didn't care for. Nobody ever went "oh Hunter Pirates that's a team I want to watch", but a lot of us here are passionate about the NBL succeeding generally not just our own club.

Hopefully the 36ers are at the point where there's stability in capital, not just draining one person - and enough money to make sure people are paid their wages.

It's not mind boggling when the consortium was running the Sixers crowds were down to 3.5k to 4k a game we had a young team struggling to survive....you work it out. If you stayed around after games long enough you would have known what was going on.

There's a thing called "the humble brag", and what Joey is doing here is what I would call "the humble drag", dragging a few people down with him under the guise of "taking the heat".

"Oh the imports didn't give me enough, but that's my fault" sounds like someone taking ownership, but let's be real, he's blaming the imports and Harry.

I think his grievance with NBL is justified, I mean they did basically want to make him the villain. And as cordial as he wants to be about the club and league, if you read between the lines he's super pissed off.

Anyway I hope he gets a plush new gig in the US or somewhere. I feel like there was too much meddaling by club management in the teams he ran. The Jerome Randle decision was probably one that added to him feeling like he'd lost control of his own ship. Then you have JVG with his brainwaves, which has to turn anyone off anything.

Great interview though. Big fan of Joey's in a lot of ways. But it was his time to move on. In fact, a lot of things at the Sixers need to change on every single level.

--

As for Harry Frolling, he's what is wrong with the NBL. A guy like him can make no improvement year in, year out; rest on his laurels; but because he's better than some shit players out there, he can continue with his awful attitude and have a ten year plus career in this league of being nothing but tall. If he were an import he'd be held to a standard. But because he's an Aussie he'll always find a team in this league no matter how little he does.

This is why I am big on continuing to expand import quotas. If you're not balling out you should go flip burgers. There are so many Aussies who've had potential but that potential has led nowhere because they've never had a fire lit under their asses. If being average gets you paid, why do more? Especially if you're an out-of-shape 7footer who can average 8 rebounds just by "being there".

Harry has the raw tools to make an NBA player but I can guarantee he'll never, ever make it there.

"Oh the imports didn't give me enough, but that's my fault" sounds like someone taking ownership, but let's be real, he's blaming the imports and Harry.

Partly agree - well, definitely agree that he's pointing fingers at the imports and Harry - but I think he does actually blame himself as well for not being able to get through to them and get them to buy in.

Check Kevin Whites twitter for the truth about Joey Wright. This is a fraction of the stories and screenshots I've seen and was alluding to.

Maybe check White's twitter for what it says about White.

And another reading of his 'revelations' [& unsubstantiated claim] is that Joey pulled every string/pushed every button to try to get the group together and performing, which was always going to be a challenge, particularly after solo Randle was inserted instead of a quality team-first, distributing guard, irrespective of the personality issues.

ME, there's an argument that says if you hire someone, you should want to invest time/effort into them reaching their potential. It's in your best interest. (Same goes with a club owner and a coach?) Particularly for young players.

Froling is about 21. Maybe the game until now has come easy, maybe he's had a good handle on diet through college nutritionists or living at home or whatever. Or just got lucky. Now maybe he's living solo and getting Uber Eats daily because he doesn't know how/what to cook. Club nutritionist gives him some vague tips but perhaps they're not all that practical or direct.

From that point, do you demean him or work out what will get him on track? If you're an employer of choice with huge market to choose from, maybe you just cut him loose and find someone more self-sufficient. But this is Adelaide in a growing NBL. They got an import big that might've covered that position but look how that turned out.