Anonymous
Years ago

I think Bevo believes his own hype

Paulo Kennedy, Pagemasters

When Rob Beveridge thinks about this year's playoffs, he sees the same thing he discovered when he first walked into Perth Wildcats headquarters.

"Opportunity, absolute opportunity," he said.

“Coming from West Sydney it was like going from the outhouse to the penthouse. Your eyes light up. Everything was difficult in West Sydney and then you get offered the job in Perth and it gave me the opportunity to build my dream.”

The resources available in Perth gave the former Australian U19 team boss the chance to see how well the lessons learned with the Razorbacks worked in a more stable setting.

“(Perth) was very well resourced but not in the way I could go out and buy a lot of players,” he said.

“I think that’s a short-term approach, it’s more about building a club that gives you the opportunity to keep a group for a very long time.”

Of course, his professional debut with the Razorbacks in 2007/08 was his golden chance to show his junior philosophies could work in professional basketball.

“That allowed me to come in and say 'this is how we’re going to do it',” he said.

“This is my philosophy, we’re going to play up-tempo, we’re going to play pressure D, we’re going to get after it.”

It was the start of an era for the NBL after the Brisbane Bullets had stunned the league with their fast and relentless play.

“I was one of very few who played up-tempo, probably only Joey Wright played up-tempo as well,” Beveridge said.

“When I started in the league it wasn’t the up-and-down game, whereas now ... there are more up-tempo teams than there are halfcourt teams.”

Beveridge said that had greatly increased the training demands on players, who have to be “more multi-skilled”, and the impact they can have on game night.

“Because of the style of game you need more players and they play less minutes. I'm going with nine or 10 players a game,” he said.

“We run plays for multiple players rather than just one or two people. If we wanted to run plays to get Kevin Lisch 30 points a game we could do that, but that may not be an effective way for us to win games.”

It also effects how players have to train.

“We make sure everyone does the same skill work. Our big men do all the ball-handling sessions our guards do and our guards have to learn how to play in the post.”

Beveridge also knows first-hand how it has changed the demands on coaches.

“Coaches junk up their defences a lot more now,” he said.

“You’ve got to have different ways of teaching defence and different ways of teaching offence, it’s made coaches become better in a lot of areas … you’ve got to have the ability to break down different defences and zones.”

This season we have seen the start of a new era, with coaches determined to stop the flow of teams such as New Zealand and Perth.

The Wildcats have moved away from Beveridge’s trademark high-energy man-to-man defence to more containment-based switching zones.

“It’s something we have evolved with. We had been tremendous with our pressure defence but teams had adapted very well, so you’ve got to create something else,” he said.

“We’ve been working on it for a number of years and probably now, because of our mobility, the work we had done in our man-to-man defence is working well in our match-up zones as well.”

So what’s the next evolution?

“I don’t know,” Beveridge laughed. But he does have a vision - shooting.

“That’s an area I really want to get my teeth into, breaking it down with the junior players. (Australian basketball) is great with pressure D, switching zones, the running game, but I don’t think we shoot the ball really well.”

Beveridge said with the increased speed and intensity of the game Down Under, that improvement will come from teaching smarts as much as technique.

“We need to teach the players from a younger age the key feature of repetition, but then it comes down to the decision-making,” he said.

“You get less chances because of how good teams are defensively now. You’ve got less time to get shots off so you’ve got to become a great decision-maker about when to shoot.”


Topic #31170 | Report this topic


Isaac  
Years ago

What in that is miles from the truth? Seems pretty reasonable and quite insightful to me. Aside from their FG% sometimes and a bit of thuggery, Perth do pretty well. Bevo has made something of Trueman and Hire, wins games with Tovey avoiding shots, put Nevill back on the radar, made people aware of Dunigan, etc.

Reply #409856 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Yet he's rumoured to be happy to leave it all behind.

Reply #409869 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

It's the unofficial, but public, pitch for the Boomers job.

Having said that, if the Boomers try and play like Perth at a tournament they would get eviscerated

Reply #409873 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Interstingly I see the Sixers doing all of that as well. Yet their results are poor. So is it the coach or the horses you have that determines the win?

Reply #409874 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Horses are a good start.
Self promotion!!

Reply #409888 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

"Yet he's rumoured to be happy to leave it all behind."
Management is constantly giving him & his staff and players the shits. If your working environment is painful it is easy to walk away from what seem like a good situation on paper. He is super keen to get that boomers gig and if it doesnt come off then dont be surprised to see him at another club in the not too distant future.

Reply #409916 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Marvin.

Reply #409918 | Report this post


The Situation  
Years ago

I guess Bevo needs to weigh up whether the supposedly interfering management is that much of a concern to make him head to a club that will be financially unstable, with facilities and public support all in much worse shape than what Perth can offer.

Reply #409923 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Is He saying he has changed the NBL?
If you are coaching a club that has been to the Finals 25 years straight im sure you might win a few games.

Reply #409930 | Report this post


The Situation  
Years ago

Isaac, are all these anon posters coming from the same IP address?

Reply #409942 | Report this post


Dunkin' Dan  
Years ago

That's an odd question.
I don't see any claim from him there that he has changed the NBL.

Reply #409943 | Report this post


The Situation  
Years ago

And what has the Wildcats previous finals record got to do with this years team, or any future teams? I thought every win brought you closer to a loss...

Reply #409946 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

This is my philosophy, we're going to play up-tempo, we’re going to play pressure D, we’re going to get after it."

It was the start of an era for the NBL after the Brisbane Bullets had stunned the league with their fast and relentless play.

"I was one of very few who played up-tempo, probably only Joey Wright played up-tempo as well,” Beveridge said.

“When I started in the league it wasn’t the up-and-down game, whereas now ... there are more up-tempo teams than there are halfcourt teams.”

Maybe im reading to much into it??

Reply #409947 | Report this post


Isaac  
Years ago

Four or five posts including OP and most recent post from the same IP.

Reply #409950 | Report this post


The Situation  
Years ago

Thought so. A one man Bevo wrecking crew!

Reply #409953 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

His comments are on the mark IMO. Would be great if the league as a whole can improve their offense in the next few years. And why would it be so bad if he implements his style on the boomers?? He would have the best players at his disposal and five players on the floor who can score as opposed to two or three at the wildcats which would make it an even more effective offense with very strong defense

Reply #409997 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Surley the Breakers Coach has more to offer..

Reply #410021 | Report this post


anon  
Years ago

Outstanding coach,retained all players he wanted.
Players buy into system and roles. They have an identity and play accordingly. NZ similar perhaps
marginally better resourced. Coaching is clearly very important. Bevo, Lemanis and McLeod way in front of others. Gordie shows it can be done with limited resources.

Reply #410030 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Gordie shows it can be done with limited resources.
Bevo shows it can be done with solid players and quality personnel and facility resources
Andrej shows it can be done with complete disregard for the salary cap.

Reply #410085 | Report this post


The Situation  
Years ago

Shots fired!

Reply #410088 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Is the OP actually Lemanis himself?

Reply #410125 | Report this post


Isaac  
Years ago

No.

Reply #410141 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Was still worth checking.

Reply #410146 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

More likely to be Bevo pumping his own Tyres up!!
Haha Wankers!!

Reply #410160 | Report this post


The Situation  
Years ago

I think this one anonymous person who is making pointless and unsubstantiated claims about Bevo & Perth is pretty pathetic. Dislike whoever you want but don't make stuff up.

Reply #410176 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

This hole forum is based on idividual views and the odd twisting of the truth, dont blame the player blame the game.
For the Record i love Perth, go wildcats!
But hate self promotion, there is no need to pat yourself on the back, The other coaches dont.

Reply #410181 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Look Isaac, he called your forum a hole, shouldn't take that lying down!

Reply #410182 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

From botinagy.com
http://botinagy.com/blog/nblwnbl---all-the-winners/

"And maybe one of the two most important men in the Wildcats organisation will have to move along at the end of this season."

Presumably those two men are Bevo & Marvin, which adds further weight to my earlier comments about their relationship at the Wildcats being strained.

Reply #410898 | Report this post


Rhea79  
Years ago

There is player-talk about Bevo going to China if he doesn't get the Boomers' job with his conditions. Anyone else heard it?

Reply #410916 | Report this post




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