Bizarre Dragons Sixers Connection - Amazing

I don't normally post whole articles but this is worth it. A truly amazing articles by Boti about the Bizzare connections between the Dragons and 36ers.


Great Scott, what a plot
Article from: The Advertiser

BOTI NAGY

September 02, 2008 11:30am

SATURDAY'S pre-season showdown in Melbourne between the 36ers and Dragons is a scriptwriter's dream.

"The subplots for this game are terrific," said Adelaide coach Scott Ninnis - and he is spot-on. For starters, Ninnis was the man who put together the Dragons' first NBL team. He recruited, among others, Jacob Holmes from the 36ers and Joe Ingles out from under them.

South also grabbed Millicent prodigy Shannon Seebohm out from around them.

While that inadvertently did Phil Smyth - his predecessor in the Sixers' chair - more damage than either recognised, it also greatly strengthened Ninnis's position with South.

Not enough, though.

As assistant to the Dragons' inaugural coach, NBA superstar Mark Price, Ninnis - signed on a multi-year deal - survived when Shane Heal led a revolt which cost the American his job six games into the season.

Heal was elevated to player-coach - and sacked late in the following season - while Ninnis was retained for the rest of the 2006-07 campaign as second assistant to newly installed Guy Molloy.

Released at the end of the season, it took protracted legal proceedings for Ninnis to extract an appropriate dismissal package.

While Heal promoted Holmes to captain, that role was more a title than an actual role for a club with a playing-coach.

Holmes returned to Adelaide to play under Ninnis and will be seeing his former club for the first time on Saturday.

Nick Horvath will line up with the Dragons for the first time as a naturalised player, albeit a Kiwi, having played in the Tall Blacks alongside new 36er Paora Winitana.

Horvath, cut as an import by the 36ers after one season, was signed by South but axed as their import during the 2007-08 season. It kept him on the payroll, though, and now hits paydirt with him being naturalised.

Adelaide and South battled it out for the off-season signature of Brisbane championship point guard Adam Gibson before he settled on staying with the Bullets.

That club then folded and he signed with the Dragons. In his place, Adelaide swooped on Victorian country playmaker Aaron Bruce, precisely the type of player Dragons owner Mark Cowan initially declared would be the top priority for his franchise.

South again beat the Sixers to the punch by signing another of Winitana's mates from NZ, Mika Vukona.

Adelaide then secured Brad Hill back from South.

If that isn't enough to keep you salivating, South's new coach is Boomers boss Brian Goorjian, long an Adelaide fan favourite.

Goorjian coached Ninnis to his second championship as a starter for South East Melbourne in 1992.

Ninnis came off the 36ers bench to deny Goorjian's Magic the title in the 1998 championship series.

That was in Smyth's first year as coach.

Ninnis formally will begin his first year as coach on September 19 against Townsville.

The first game of Smyth's 10-year career was at home against the Crocs.

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