Jonno
Years ago
Funny Talking Hoops Recap
Here is my talking hoops recap for anyone interested.
Talking hoops 4 July 2006
Hosted by Paul Bell, Brett Maher, Brett Wheeler and Corlette Brown
Spoke about 36ers pre-season training, started this week, with new fitness guy, max martin, did fitness tests to begin with.
Welcomed Brett Wheeler back to Adelaide after many years away in Mlebourne, Perth and Sydney, he seemed happy and excited to be back in Adelaide and with the 36ers. Spoke about Wheelers injury, just a mild hamstring pull, should b right in 3 days. Wheeler is looking forward to Phil's coaching after, years under guys like Dunlap and Goorjian, and playing basketball. During his year off, he was living in Sydney, due to ankle surgery wouldn't of been ready til mid season, so took the season off. He started on his animation studies, which he hopes he can continue after basketball, and will be continuing that in Adelaide. Playing VBL with Sandringham, and the team is going very well, only lost 1 game, he is playing with Marcus Timmons and Nathan Crosswell.
Announced the Boomers squad: David Andersen, Chris Anstey, David Barlow, Andrew Bogut, Aaron Bruce, Wade Helliwell, Nathan Jawai, Luke Kendall, Daniel Kickert, Sam Mackinnon, Alex Maric, Steven Markovic, Patrick Mills, Brad Newley, Matthew Nielsen, Russell Hinder, Glen Saville, Jason Smith, Mark Worthington
Discussed it, Maher said it looked quite good, the main omission he picked out was C.J. Bruton
Brian Goorjian Interview: Said they are heading into the first serious camp, and he is still finalizing who is actually going to be at the camp. The first camp ended up being a try out/development camp, due to many guys being unavailable, he really enjoyed it with the guest coaches and the young guys, mentioned Daniel Kickert and David Barlow as the 2 stand outs, and said Barlow was unlucky to not make the commonwealth team, and Barlow and Kickert will be at the next camp.
Asked about Newley and Bogut in the first camp, neither really participated as they needed to rest up after NBA trials and commitments. He sent Newley home to rest, and Bogut stayed and supported the group.
Asked about C.J Bruton, he will be available for the Games, but not until late, and not for this camp or the New Zealand series, Goorj thinks the team looks really good on paper, but don't fully know who is available, Bruton, Anderson and Nielsen are not available for the next camp. Asked about C.J from a Sydney perspective, he sensed from last year when he wasn't allowed to go to Russia that Bruton would not return to the Kings, as it was a strained environment, so they gave him a un-conditional release to pursue Europe and NBA options.
Asked about Wheeler (by Wheeler), said that he knew Brett was trying to decide if he wanted to play again, Goorj instructed him to play ABA to see if he was up for it, then Adelaide came with a nice offer, and Goorj couldn't match it so he told him to take it. (joked about Wheelers injuries), and said it was enjoyable to win 2 championships together. Goorj is pretty positive with the Sydney Kings situation, and is excited to have 8 guys under 25 years old and sees the major issue getting the right 2 imports, and feels they will have a strong and one of the most exciting teams he has had. Mentioned the tour of china they just had and did well at.
Asked about Jacob Holmes not being in the Boomers, Goorj said with Mackinnon, Barlow, Worthington, Saville, he was a tough call, needs to improve his explosiveness and more solid in the 3-spot, where he has improved, and become quicker at both ends, and feels the 3-spot Is the deepest.
Asked about Saville, feels he is a outside chance of getting there due to a knee issue, and not being involved in any boomers camps for a while, and most guys who are not involved in this upcoming camp will struggle to be at the World Champs.
Asked about Mike Dunlap and Terry Rutt, he bought them in to help out and critique the bomers program and to do clinics in Victoria and Sydney, and he feels he made a great contribution.
They asked Wheeler about Goorj, he said he was good and intense, 100% focused n attention to detail, which wheels likes, away from the court he is a joker and Wheeler and Goorj are great mates off the court. Said he was different to Dunlap. Maher feels that Goorjian has adapted better to dealing with the older players than Dunlap, but is a great guy to talk to off the court.
Paul Rogers Interview: Asked him about Perth, they have started training, with the strength coach and individuals start officially on July 23, and many of the players are playing State League. Asked about Bailey, said he wont be back, due to failing a drug test, doesn't know who they are getting, Fisher has gone to Vegas to scout players to replace him. During the off season he played in the commonwealth games, and really enjoyed it, playing State League to keep the match fitness up. Asked about Boomers, said he is pretty much retired, said he was pretty much done before the Commonwealth games, but was happy to get the call up, but they have many quality big guys in Australia so feels his time is up. Asked about injuries, he feels the main thing is to be in really good shape, feels having 3 months off last off season hurt him last season, so feels the main thing is to keep in shape, wants to be lighter, stronger and in shape when the season start. Asked about the wildcats and Ingham issues, said it has all settled down, felt losing Ingham was hard, as he is a good coach, but him and Fisher couldn't work well together, Rogers feels Fisher is improving as coach. Asked about going over to Europe, said its no longer a option, he is just happy to be back in Australia, wants to play basketball for another 3 or 4 years but things such as Europe and Boomers are out of the picture. Asked about Caporn, felt when he first saw him, he is a great prospect for Australian basketball and the wildcats and feels he will be able to come in and steady the ship. Asked about the new part owner, first thing that has come in is having a professional strength and conditioning coach, they did not have one last year. Joked Maher could buy the 36ers. Spoke about it, down to 3 buyers, should come to a head around Friday.
Spoke to Wheeler about his 1 season in Perth, he liked it, coached by Black, who is a laid back coach, and they had a veteran squad which he let play and they did well. Maher thinks one strong thing about Black is his recruiting, eg, his squad in Cairns.
Phil Smyth Interview: Asked about Wheelers training form, said he was playing well in Victoria, and hurt himself in the sprint, and wanted to continue, but Smyth said for him to rest and save himself for the season. Phil said he thought all the players where in good shape and injury shape, mentioned Maher, Farley, Copeland, saying he thought they were in the best shape they have been in for pre-season. Some of the squad players, Sutton, Zorich, Marcus Ng, Dodman, are the new young players coming in to the squad and going to press for a spot at Port Lincoln. He feels with the young kids coming in it will be a really good environment. Asked about 2nd import, said they are down the track with Kevin Freeman, who wanted to leave it open until August 4th, so they decided to leave it open, and Smyth and Breheny are going to Long Beach for the Summer League, to scout players and hope to find someone as good if not better than Freeman, if they can't get Freeman. Said they haven't been to the US since recruiting Farley 4 years ago, sees the advantage of going over there more regularly every 2or 3 years, to build a list of players, and also to watch the plays, and build basketball knowledge whilst recruiting players.
Said pre season will be different with the new fitness coach, doing, weights, sand running, scrimmaging, then going to Port Lincoln for 5 days, where he feels it's a good opportunity to accelerate learning of all the plays and also bonding, with things like fishing, and things such as poker nights and a Rookie night.
Maher spoke about the pre season emphasis of non weight baring exercise to balance out the on court exercises.
Trevor (caller): Spoke to Wheeler and joked about his animation stuff vs his basketball. Wheeler assured everyone he is fully committed to basketball.
Scott Ninnis Interview: Spoke about Brett Wheeler being recruited by the Dragons, and mentioned his injury, Wheeler said he will be fine, Ninnis joked that Adelaide offered twice as much as the Dragons, he said they were very keen to get him to the Dragons, and they ended up signing Burston. Spoke about the Dragons, Price hasn't arrived yet, and it has been difficult because the team hasn't been together at this stage, Ingles spent a couple of days with the team at the moment they have Drimic, Holmes, Burston, Shanahan together, gave the exclusive that Holmes has been given a call up to the Boomers, and mentioned they have signed Import Centre Todd Fuller, are down the track with a 2nd import, and are close to finalisng the last Australian spot on the roster. Spoke about Fuller, played with Price during his rookie year in the NBA, 6'11, 255lbs, played 5 years in the NBA a couple in Spain, which is considered a very good league, and has come to Australia because his wife wants to live in a English speaking country. Thinks he will be a very well rounded player and a big target for the dragons. Asked about Heal, said he isn't coming to Melbourne Officially to around August, is working out in Brisbane with Bruce Palmers ABA team, and he said he is in great shape, and they are confident he will be in great form. Mentioned David Rehn, former 36ers Championship Team Manager, will be the Dragons Team Manager for the upcoming season.
Ninnis mentioned he will be in town next week for the under 18 nationals and can probably come into the studio for the show, said the Dragons are making a presence at all the Underage nationals to watch the talent coming through and start a dossier on them.
Spoke to Wheeler about the Dragons, he said he did come close to joining, knew Cowan previously and looked into working with him with his graphic design company as well as basketball, but he wanted more animation side of things in Adelaide, and he is looking at creating some characters for cinemas, etc. in the future. Which is a big thing in Australia.
Said he feels very lucky to be able to work in both Basketball and Annimation.
Another Great show!! Look forward to next week!!
