From Fox Sports
NBL newcomer Souths Dragons has confirmed former NBA all-star Mark Price as their inaugural head coach.

Price, 42, played for more than a decade in the American NBA, mostly for Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Dragons nominated Price as their preferred candidate a month ago, bringing him to Australia in February.

Price agreed to take the job at the weekend.

"I'm extremely excited about it, it's a great opportunity for me to come and be part of the brand new franchisem" Price said from the US today.

"I'll do my best to try to get this organisation off on the right foot and get some excitement going about Souths Dragons basketball."

Price is arguably the highest profile basketball identity to be associated with Australia's NBL.

The four-time NBA all-star and has agreed to a one-year deal with the Dragons.

Dragons co-owner Mark Cowan said Price would be in Australian within a month to help kickstart the teams recruitment ahead of its entry into the NBL when the new season starts in October.


Cowan said the club hopes to have an assistant coach appointed within the next week.
It is believed former Opal Michele Timms and ex-Townsville, Wollongong and South East Melbourne Magic player Mike Kelly are the front runners.

And here is an interview with him on SEN radio today with andrew gaze. http://video.vividas.com/media/4297_dragons/web/video.html

this is gonna be good, i can see that alot of NBL clubs are gonna have to lift their game where marketing is concerned.

Yeah whoopee - he's only signed for 1 year .

Im glad that the sport is getting some extra press, but i have serious doubts as to how relevant the Dragons are going to be once the "Price"-factor has worn off the media.

Lets hope that Mark Cowen can convince Mark Price to extend once his first season is over, and this isnt some kind of Dennis Rodman stunt. Here today - gone tomorrow.

I Wonder what sort of $$ he will be earning - more than Phil ?

im sure the deal will be extended from one year... i mean whos gonna uproot their family to another country for only one year?

Wouldn't surprise me if their coaching budget for the first year was higher just so they could do something like this and get a bit more press.

And while it is getting them press, they were still getting the same amount of attention when they were talking about Chizik, Timms, Kelly and so on. I think the difference is less about Price and more about them using a PR company or having someone on staff.

Hurley - a multi-millionaire, who can afford to move around as much as he and his family desire. Thats who.

Price is doing it for the experience of both coaching and living down here.
Its almost like a working holiday for him & his family.
He sure is not doing it for the crappy money...like he needs it anyway..the guy owns half the real estate in Atlanta!

Can't wait to see his imports. He should have some serious contacts in the US.

hopefully, maybe latrell spreewell... lol, we'll have alot of coaches with sore throats. They should get schenscher but for fuck sake bulk up man! i dont think schensher will make the NBA i mean he hasnt exactly blown D league away, i wanna see some untapped aussie talent too... fuck moving get already made NBL players... lets see some new guys from college or AIS or somewhere.......

im pretty sure that most coaches intro deals are for one year... if he likes the team and the area im sure he'll stick for a while, i dont think he wouldve planned any further then the year ahead of him.

I'll be the first to say it....

THE PRICE IS RIGHT!!!

If i ever meet you Matt Ryan ... ;)

Skyhook, Boti says today in the paper that Price would be getting $250,000+.

Price named as Dragons coach
The NBL's new club has employed a former NBA all-star, reports Peter Kogoy
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

March 02, 2006
ABOUT the time Flight DJ838 touched down at Tullamarine Airport at lunchtime and disgorged its cargo of bleary-eyed Tigers and the premiership silverware, an equally important announcement was taking place in another part of Melbourne.

NBL newcomers Mark Cowan and Raphael Gaminder of the Souths Dragons were installing former NBA all-star Mark Price as their inaugural head coach.

The news of Price's appointment was welcomed by Seamus McPeake, the self-made millionaire builder from Belfast and majority owner of the Melbourne Tigers.

Twelve hours earlier McPeake had picked up the tab at a hotel just off Sydney's Chinatown as jubilant Melbourne fans who made the journey north celebrated the Tigers' first premiership in nine years long into the night.

"The final amount wasn't much. It was well worth it to repay the fans' loyalty who stuck with the club, a new coach in Al Westover and a new core of players, following the departure of the Gazes," McPeake said.









McPeake was not just rejoicing at a championship, but, from an owner's view, the club's balance sheet will show a solid operating profit for the first time in four years.

In addition, internet provider dodo announced it would provide $1million to the club over four years.

Price, 42, played for more than a decade in the NBA, mostly for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

"I'm extremely excited about it, it's a great opportunity for me to come and be part of the brand new franchise," Price said in a teleconference from Atlanta, Georgia. "I'll do my best to try to get this organisation off on the right foot and get some excitement going about Souths Dragons basketball."

The four-time NBA all-star has agreed to a one-year deal. Cowan said the club hoped to have an assistant coach appointed in the next week.

It is believed former Opal Michele Timms and ex-Townsville, Wollongong and South East Melbourne Magic player Mike Kelly are frontrunners.

Elsewhere, West Sydney chief executive Robbie Cadee announced American sports franchise consultant Howard Cornfield would work on lifting the Razorbacks' profile and widening of its sponsorship and fan base.

"As to our player roster our two Americans, Nick Horvath and James Taylor, have returned home and we've released Glen Barlow," Cadee said.

Townsville yesterday began interviewing candidates for a new coach after Ian Stacker's contract was not renewed. The Crocs ended the season in the black, despite finishing 10th.

"To have traded profitably when we fell short on the court was an achievement in itself," chief executive Barry Gibson said. "We also drew the highest home crowds in the league which we are also proud of."

On the player front the Crocs have Brad Newley, John Rillie and Larry Abney under contract for next season, and hope to re-sign Greg Vanderjagt.

The Perth Wildcats have a new investor in Jack Bendat, Adelaide is working its way out of trouble, while a fresh injection of money has secured Wollongong's future.

Macquarie Bank's financial clout behind the Sydney Kings will ensure coach Brian Goorjian will retool his squad for next season to ensure they'll be in the mix again.

Off the court, Kings chief executive Simon Allatson is working on a marketing strategy to woo back lost fans. An announcement will be made in Sydney tomorrow week about a 12th club that is to be based in Singapore.

Price takes it year at a time
Grantley Bernard
02mar06

SOUTH Dragons will take a suck-it-and-see approach with new coach Mark Price, but are confident the relationship will be extended beyond the initial one-year contract.

A four-time NBA All-Star guard, Price has an impeccable playing record, but the fact he has agreed to coach the Dragons for only one season would indicate some reservations about doing the job long term.
That said, the signing of the 12-year NBA veteran is a coup for the NBL and the Dragons, who can now start putting some meat on their bones by recruiting some players.

"We got our man," Dragons chairman Mark Cowan said yesterday.

"It's exciting because he'll be great. It's a one-year deal, but that's by mutual consent.









"While we haven't written an option into the contract, we think we'll have to look at doing that.

"We've got no doubt he's going to be a fantastic coach and his contract can be extended by mutual agreement."

While the Dragons have been active in marketing and publicising their NBL arrival, Price is the first member of the crucial team personnel to be put in place.

"It's nice to deliver," Cowan said. "A lot of people think it was all just hype by us, but we've been able to land a pretty big fish."

While Oklahoma-based Price was not in Melbourne for yesterday's announcement of his appointment, he is looking forward to guiding the Dragons in their first season, mindful that expansion teams do not traditionally experience great success.

"It's a great opportunity for me to come and be part of a brand new franchise," Price said.

"I'll do my best to try to get this organisation on the right foot and get some excitement going about the South Dragons and take it from there."

An attacking guard during his prime with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Price would like to play an up-tempo style of game.

Whether he has some players to provide that kind of game will soon be known, with the Dragons eager to start talking to NBL free-agents and available overseas-based Australians and have them signed by the time Price comes to Melbourne in about a month.

The Dragons are expected to announce

Price is right for coach of Dragons
Email Print Normal font Large font By Stephen Howell
March 2, 2006

Advertisement

AdvertisementYESTERDAY was a special day for basketball, the South Dragons said in announcing that NBA All-Star Mark Price would be their first coach next season.

Dragons co-owner, Melbourne businessman Raphael Geminder, made the claim  and he was talking about Melbourne Tigers' win in the championship series on Tuesday that gave them the title 3-0 over Sydney Kings, winners the previous three years.

Since the Tigers last won in 1997, the league has lost fan, corporate and media support in Melbourne and has not been able to revitalise itself. Now, it has the chance to build on what the Tigers have done and what the Dragons promise to do.

"It's special because it's been a long drought," Geminder said. "The crown is back.

"We would like to see a very strong Victorian basketball team and we hope the Tigers will wind up being the second most successful franchise in Victoria."

The new team has promised much since it was unveiled late last year, and the appointment of Price (42) for one season is a substantial building block.

For the Tigers the championship cements the work done off court by owner Seamus McPeake to halt bleeding that had reached a depth of $2.4 million. He forecast annual profits of up to $1 million, perhaps as early as next year.

The Dragons have shown they will bring the people to the game, buying a block of seats for their fans with "we're coming" T-shirts at game two of the grand final, and making the Price announcement while the Tigers celebrate their championship.

Price was expected to visit Melbourne in about a month.

Cowan said the coaching announcement, accompanied by an e-mail to 5000 on the Dragons' database, was about "building the whole hype about the state of basketball in Victoria, which is as exciting right now as it ever has been".

Tigers legend Andrew Gaze agreed. Now coaching a junior team, he haunts suburban stadiums and points out that the chance for "rhetoric to become reality" is founded on the strong state of junior basketball. "Basketball's extremely healthy, has been for some time," Gaze said. "The new rivalry will help."

$250 k - that's not bad money Isaac.

I think considering the press he is getting them - why not.

Say whatever you like Skyhook...Boti actually said in his article "the price was right"!

$240K if he has a go at the umpires.