NBL News

Best photo I could find at time of publication, but I think this lovely female "digs" Kirk Penney.

With only two more sleeps before the Wollongong Hawks and the Perth Wildcats begin to battle for the tittle of 2009/10 NBL champ, lets see what is making news in the region.

- Hawks starting point guard Rhys Martin has dual Olympian CJ Bruton to thank for his move to the beachside town in New South Wales.

- There is a war of words brewing between the journos in the respective towns that are competing for the NBL title. Keep it going boys. Oh, it's starting to get better. Cannot wait to see what tomorrow brings.

- Gold Coast Blaze forward Anthony Petrie once honed his skills in a little country town on the New South Wales/Queensland border, Tenterfield.

I used to love heading to Tenterfield and playing in their annual carnival. I just wonder if a young Petrie was one of those kids hanging around?

- New Zealand Breaker Kirk Penney and Hawks Head Coach Gordie McLeod have taken out the NBL's player and coach of the month award respectively to end the season.

- Thanks to Twitter, we find out the Andrew Bogut believes the Perth Wildcats will win.

- Perth are ready to roll after the "bug' got them.

- Is Perth Wildcat Martin Cattalini retiring?

- Have Galen Young and Corey Williams made up?

- The Townsville Crocodiles indicate that they are ready to keep Corey Williams around.

Hoops Hot News

Click on the sweet 'do to the left to see other stylish locks of NBL players created by some artistic guys from the west. By the way boys, the wife loved the Vanilla Ice look.

- Yes, he's back. The NBL's MVP will be back on court this week. I can vouch for it as I spent my morning chasing him around at practice. Kirk Penney will be back in uniform when the New Zealand Breakers take on the Cairns Taipans this Thursday night.

I'm looking forward to teaming up with one of the premier perimeter players in the league.

- Adelaide 36ers Head Coach believes his team is nearly back to full strength which will allow him to go with his preferred starting line up.

- Melbourne Tigers franchise player Mark Worthington feels it is time for his team to "rip people's heads off". Read all his words here in the Herald Sun.

- Are the Cairns Taipans back after going 2-0 this past week?

- Gold Coast Blaze CEO Dave Claxton is calling the come from behind win, the best in the club's brief history.

- The Townsville Crocodiles are fired up about the officiating.

- Brad Newley continues to put up impressive numbers in Turkey. Although his team lost a close contest, Newley dropped in 33 points. He went 7-10 from down town. Newley is currently the 7th (17.8pts) leading scorer in the Turkish league and his team sits in 3rd place with a 4-2 record.

- Joe Ingles was solid with a 9 point, 6 rebound effort in his teams blow out win in Spain.

- Matt Nielsen had 10&5 as his Valencia ball club had a solid win.

- NCAA D1 Aussie performer of the day is Gold Coast native Christian Salecich. He helped lead the St Louis Billikens over Kennesaw St Owls 76-66.

Salecich finished with 15pts, 6 assists and 4 rebounds.

Fellow Aussie Cody Ellis should be joining him after the semester.

Check out this shot of the day by Kobe!

Team Of The Week

Not even the King could have stopped the red hot CJ Bruton in Round 1.

Since there is no Fox Sports magazine style show, I thought I better continue in the tradition of the sport, and hand out a team of the week.

Rules are simple. You need to be a winner during that week, unless you drop 50 and have 20 rebounds in a triple overtime thriller.

Point Guard: CJ Bruton - The New Zealand Breaker was nearly perfect in his season opener against the Cairns Taipans. 28 points on 10-11 shooting (8-9 from deep), no one could ask for a better offensive start to their season. He even jagged 5 rebounds and did not turnover the ball at all in his 26 minutes of playing time.

Shooting Guard: Tywain McKee - Every year there's an import that captures everyones attention early. This year the label squarely sits with this Butch Hays look-a-like. The Coppin St grad has the Hawks firing early and the Perth Wildcats got a taste first hand on Friday night.

McKee finished with 22 points to go along with 7 assists. The only real blemish was a late game turnover that led to a potential game winner for the Wildcats.

The shot missed so for now McKee is the hero of the new NBL.

Small Forward: Kirk Penney - Mr New Zealand basketball has started the season on a tear. Last year's MVP is cooking on all cylinders from the start.

Penney finished the game with a Round 1 high of 32 points on 11-17 shooting and 4 assists.

The only question I will ask of Penney is, can he maintain his current pace for the whole season? He was involved in a huge off season with his national team, so will petrol become a concern late in the year.

I only see burnout being the only thing that stops Penney this season.

Power Forward: Cameron Tragardh - Tragardh registered the first 20-10 game for the season. This also saw him reach 500 rebounds for his career.

"Tragargamel" has been on fire all preseason. Can this ABA juggernaut lose that title with a huge NBL season?

Centre: Rolan Roberts - The Townsville Crocodile import has had a rough preseason. Battling foul trouble and fitness to date, Roberts posted a double double (11pts, 12rebs) in the season opener.

Roberts needs to play smart and save his fouls for late in the game. The Crocs need his defensive athletic presence around the basket.

This week will test this philosophy as he takes on the Twin Towers (Luke Schenscher & Paul Rogers) from Perth.

Strained Calf For "Homicide"

Ingles Saves The Day

Joe Ingles saved the day for the Boomers tonight.

For what appeared to be a scrappy Game 1 of this Australian Boomers versus New Zealand Tall Blacks series, Joe Ingles stepped up in the fourth and saved what could have eventuated into an embarrassing lose for the Boomers.

Ingles (game high 26pts) was the man to kick start the green and gold in the first quarter, then he saved his best until the fourth, when his team really needed it. The Boomers eventually overcome a pesky Tall Blacks 84-77.

For the first three quarters of the game, it looked like most guys on the floor were trying to show their respective coaches they deserved to be on the floor. I guess that can happen when you feel this is an opportunity to impress.

As everyone would have expected, Kirk Penney (23pts) was the offensive punch for the Kiwi's early. To my surprise Penney received scoring support from 7 foot centre Alex Pledger (16pts), but most of these would have come in the first half.

It looked like this game was going to become an arm wrestle down the stretch until Ingles stepped up and showed why he has generated interest from the NBA over the past few years.

He kick started it with a stand still three and followed it up with a rhythm two along the baseline. Then Tom Abercrombie become putty in Ingles hand. The rest is history and the Boomers move on to Game 2 with a +7 advantage (two game series so points spread can come into it if it ends 1-1).

Just a few notes from the game:

- Mark Worthington was dressed in street clothes. Does anyone know why "Wortho" did not grace the court tonight?

- Tom Abercrombie was "apple crumble" tonight. If he wants to make me a believer about this hype he is receiving, he better bring something on Tuesday.

- Nathan Jawai needs to slow down in the post. "Heath" Pledger is not going to cause you any headaches down low. Slow down young fella.

- Brad Newley can still sniff out some points late in a game. Andrew Gaze was speechless during this part of the game as it brought back fond memories.

- Damien Martin was surprised to see that many people attend a basketball game at the State Sports Centre. I would still like to see what the official attendance was...and I hope they only counted Andrew Vlahov once.

- Message to Joey Wright about Mika Vukona's "smooth stroke"..that is Vukona having an offensive game.

There you have it, don't forget Game 2 is on Fox Sports Tuesday at 5pm.

Rickert Wants To Be A Kiwi

Yes, I'm back and Kirk did not even punch me.

Minnesota native and former NBA second round draft pick Rick Rickert has taken a pay cut to rejoin the New Zealand Breakers and now he talks of one day representing New Zealand.

Now, no one has ever accused "big men" in the sport of basketball of ever being the smartest guys getting around, but Rickert might just be starting to change this trend.

It was becoming evident over the NBL off season that the Breakers were prepared to go in another direction than with Rickert at centre.

I'm sure his ego took a little bit of a beating at first as he shopped around to see if any other teams had a genuine interest in his services. There were some window shoppers but no one was prepared to pull the trigger on a deal with the 6'9 centre.

From here this is where Rickert has learnt some valuable lessons over the years.

Back in the day this young NBA aspirant was clocked on the chin by NBA superstar Kevin Garnett. There is no doubt in this incident that KG lost his mind. But as sporting teams go, do not get under the skin of the franchise player because your time will become very short spent.

It seems obvious to me that Rickert wanted back in with the Breakers so looking back at past experiences Ricky decides to get a little cozier with last year's NBL MVP Kirk Penney.

There is no doubt this former Big 10 pair already have an existing friendship but Rickert seeks out Penney for one last chance with the Breakers and the potential to pull on the New Zealand Tall Blacks uniform.

This is where the centre got smart. He seeked out the superstar this time and asked him to make it happen. And like all superstars, they make it happen. (The selling point to Penney must have been the idea of Rickert rebounding for him all year round, including the national team.)

The phone call between him and Penney is history. Rickert is more than happy to be back in New Zealand rebounding for Penney, CJ Bruton, Tony Ronaldson and Oscar Forman and any other mad bomber that will suit up for the Kiwi franchise this season.

I just can't wait for the next conversation that the Minnesota native has with Penney.

How does a guy from the Mid West of America do the Haka without looking like a goose, Kirk?

News

- Former Sydney Kings owner Mike Wrublewski celebrated his 63rd birthday as a charity fundraiser. Click here to see what stars attended and here Wrublewshi speak.

- Australian Boomers score double OT victory over Argentina.

- Nathan Herbert is the key to the Geelong Supercats season.

Penney MVP, Phill Best 6th Man

MVP: Kirk Penney
This article is courtesy of http://www.stuff.co.nz/

The New Zealand Breakers may have come up short in their quest to make the Australian NBL's Grand Final, but received a pretty decent consolation prize with news that star player Kirk Penney had been named the league's Most Valuable Player.

On top of that, as the final series between the Melbourne Tigers and South Dragons was locked at one game apiece across the Tasman, the New Zealand club completed a rare double with Penney's team-mate, Phill Jones, named the league's Best Sixth Man.

Penney's MVP award is richly deserved, even if it did come as somewhat of a surprise after he failed to guide his club to an historic appearance in the Grand Final. The Breakers shooting guard led the league in scoring, averaging 24.2 points a game, and also had 4.4 rebounds and 2.8 assists as he completed a second straight standout season in the ANBL.

But with the Breakers falling 0-2 to the Tigers in the semifinals, and squandering a 20-point lead in the second game at home, many - including Penney himself - had presumed the judges (in this case the league's coaches) would look for someone from one of the two finalists.

However Penney's resume spoke for itself and when the likeable Tall Blacks star was announced as the first ever Kiwi MVP winner at the club's awards dinner on Friday night, he had to admit it was somewhat of a bittersweeet moment to receive the ultimate individual accolade at the end of a season where the team fell short of its main goal.

Describing an emotional awards night as a "celebration of the season we had and the history we made", Penney conceded that there were mixed emotions as he reflected on a campaign where the Breakers went into uncharted playoff territory.

"We, the players and coaches, definitely had a bit of a sour taste in how we lost to the Tigers. We felt like we should have played better and had a chance of winning the series," Penney told Fairfax Media in an exclusive interview.

"I guess it is a little [bittersweet] because you want to win a championship, and they're the memories that never leave you. But as a personal accolade it's just a huge honour."

Just in case he needed reminding, Penney's outstanding team-mate CJ Bruton wandered by, nudged his backcourt partner and told him that was now three MVPs he'd played alongside.

"Clearly he's claiming responsibility for it," added Penney with a broad grin. "He is a big part, and not just CJ, all the little pieces we had that put us in a place to finish third in the regular season, which was great progress for this club. To have a home semi, so many positives came from it, but once you get there your goals all change, and suddenly you're looking at a championship. You can smell it, because it's right under your nose."

Penney's right to throw a little love Bruton's way, for his team-mate also had an MVP-type season, curtailed perhaps only by injury that slowed him through the middle stages. Bruton averaged 15.4 points to finish 15th overall in scoring, but was second leaguewide in assists (5.4), third in steals (1.7) and had the best free-throw percentage (88.1) and third top three-point percentage (47.1).

Jones also richly deserved his Sixth Man award, the southpaw shooting ace coming off the bench to average 14.7 points, 3.6 boards and 1.4 assists an outing. His long-range percentage (42.4) was also fourth best in the league.

The sad part of Jones' accolade is that the Breakers are struggling to find a place for him on their roster for next season, though their thought processes may have to be revisited.

Having already secured Bruton, Penney, Forman and youngster Thomas Abercrombie for next year, and with the league reverting back to international-standard 40-minute games, club officials are battling over whether they have either the minutes or salary cap space to retain Jones who also carries close to the maximum points rating.

But Penney issued a heartfelt plea that the club retain as many pieces of the puzzle as they could as they look to continue their emergence as one of the Aussie NBL's premier sides.

"I feel like continuity is so important," said Penney. "This has been a really good year but it's important to build on it and decisions now are crucial."

It's inevitable, though, some players from this season will not return. With the league undertaking a makeover there could be some key new personnel available.

"It's also likely the club will look to replace import Rick Rickert at centre, while the disappointing Adam Tanner is one and done and Tim Behrendorff's spot may also be in doubt. Classy veteran Tony Ronaldson still has to negotiate another contract, but it's likely he'll stay on board.

"There's two steps above where we've been," said Penney. "Right now we've got a little ways to go obviously because we didn't get it done this year. As a player you're never satisfied and as a team we've got to keep working."

But both Penney, and Jones, spoke about the "special" bonds this team had formed. "I've never been on a team like this before, and I've played all over the world" said the league's MVP. "You touch it in college a bit because it's so pure and no one gets paid but in the pro ranks like this it's unheard of."

For that reason alone there will not be a major overhaul of this Breakers roster, with maybe one or two bigs on the shopping list, and not too much else.

Penney says he'll take a break over the off-season, spend some time touring New Zealand (he's keen to check out the South Island) and then probably head to the States to get himself ready for the next campaign.

But one thing's clear. The way it finished, for Penney who didn't get to show his best stuff against the Tigers, and for the club, there is plenty of fuel for the off-season fire.

"Over the last week certainly you wonder what more could you have done," shrugged Penney. "That's why I'm so glad that the coaching staff and most of the players will be back. So we're all on the same page starting off, and we all know the feeling we had at the end of the season, and know exactly what we've got to do to be successful."

Penney succeeds the Tigers' Chris Anstey as MVP. But with Anstey still battling for another title in Melbourne, it was more than clear which prize the Kiwi shooting star really wants.

Awards roll call:
Australian NBL MVP: Kirk Penney (NZ Breakers)
Best Sixth Man: Phill Jones (NZ Breakers)

Breakers club awards:
MVPs' MVP (voted by season ticket-holders): Penney
Player's Player of Year: Paul Henare
Club Player of Year: Penney

Who Will Be NBL MVP?

Two thirds of the NBL season is in the books and the time to race for a playoff spot is upon us. It is also that time of the year when people begin to toss around who they feel will be the league’s MVP.

Now I have done a little searching to see who the buzz is around and my search turned up very little so I had to ask myself the question of “why?” and this is what I have come up with.

In most previous NBL seasons, the list of MVP contenders would have already narrowed itself down to two or three players with a real chance with a handful of dark horses lurking around the outskirts. This year that does not appear to be the case. There is no clear favourite or small group of favourites to date. It would seem that it will come down to how a top player performs during that final third portion of the year.

Nevertheless, this is my group of guys that I feel have to be in the running:

Chris Anstey is always the favourite in my book. Whether you like him as a player or not, when Chris decides to play there is little you can do to stop his impact on a game.

Reports have Anstey with a mystery illness which is affecting his play to date. If the Tigers can find a cure quickly and they can have a strong finish to the season, he will be well on his way to collecting another MVP trophy.

If Anstey remains unable to perform at his best and the Tigers finish the season in first or second place, look for teammate Ebi Ere to hold the MVP trophy for the first time.

Ere has been the bridesmaid on a few occasions for this award, will this year be his time?

Adelaide’s import Julius Hodge has come in and turned it around for Scott Ninnis and the Adelaide 36ers.

Hodge is putting up impressive numbers (25ppg, 9rpg and 7apg) AND his team is winning. This is a good combination when I’m looking to crown someone MVP.

Hodge was impressive in his time with the Sixers last season but did not play enough games to come into contention for individual awards. This year he will have played enough games to be in the running for MVP, but will the 36ers win enough to help Hodge’s cause?

New Zealand Breakers Kirk Penney got his season off to a flyer but I feel the contributions from team mates CJ Bruton, Tony Ronaldson and Phill Jones will have a bearing on Penney’s fate.

This Breakers team compliments each other very well which often makes it difficult to say that one is better without the efforts of those surrounding him.

Last but not least I think Mark Worthington’s name will be on the list of finalists. He is the most consistent player on the top ranked South Dragons team, which has to get you at least a look.

What may hurt Worthington is the fact that their team is consistent as a whole and votes may be spread throughout the roster. Also, if new import Dante Smith is the all round player that he has been touted to be, he may detract from Worthington’s cause for this individual accolade.

Now I have been known to be wrong a time or two, but I will be surprised if an MVP award is given to anyone not mentioned in my list. As I mentioned previously, there are always those darkhorses lurking just outside that may just sneak into the spotlight if their team goes on a tear on the tail end of the season.

Look for the race to heat up over the next two to three weeks.

"The OT" Is Here

JR, Kirk Penney and DJ Rod. Penney received his CD for being player of the week.

Episode 11 of "The OT" has finally been completed. This episode sees us catch up with former NBA and current NBL player of the month Kirk Penney. The NBL's leading scorer talks about his time at Wisconsin, the Miami Heat and caddying at The Masters.

As always we discuss the issues in basketball and review and preview the games from the NBL.

Hope you enjoy Mr Penney.

On another note DJ Rod is all about Movember. He has currently raised $115 for the cause. If he gets to $187 he has guaranteed he will sport a Corey "Homicide" Williams mohawk, spider web and all. If you wish to donate and see DJ Rod sport a hawk, click here.

Weekly ABA Wrap and Homicide Siting

Homicide vs Artest during the summer. Read below to find out how this ended.


Breaking News: New Zealand get off to a good start as they try to secure one of the remaining three Olympic Games spots up for grabs.

They defeated Cape Verde 77-50 with Kirk Penney dropping in 25pts. Next up for the Kiwi's Dirk Nowitski and Germany.

If you want to follow all the action live from this Pre Olympic Qualifying tournament click here.

Now back to our usual schedule.

It's that time of the week again to go around the nation and see what's doing in the various ABA leagues. Whether it is the free flowing QABL (Queensland) or the self proclaimed "Australia's Premier Winter Basketball League", SEABL, you can find all the boxscores right here with the click of a button or two. (click on the League to get boxscores)

Queensland: Cam Tragardh needs to hang out with me more often. Last week I coached him in a few games in China. He took the knowledge I passed on and gave Toowoomba 67 points (30/40fgs), 26 rebounds and 11 fumbles (assists). Pretty good Tragargamel, was Jimmy Wong in the building?

Waratah: Bruce Bolden dusted off his shoes, licked his fingers in preparation for a high post jumper and player/coached the Hornsby Spiders to a loss. I cannot wait for him and Butch Hays to match up against each other. Maybe those two should just go one on one for the game.

Big V: Sandringham's Simon Conn keeps putting up impressive numbers (another solid double double this week). Why can't he get a look at the NBL level?

Western Australia: I read on Geraldton's Micheal Lay's blog where he is torn about going to Germany to play and giving up the opportunity to stay with Geraldton. I will keep you posted as to his movements.

South Australia: Last week I gave Rupert Sapwell a wrap, this week his team Norwood gets dominated by Pero Vasilijevic in a top of the table clash. Talk about going from the penthouse to the outhouse for "Monkey Boy".

SEABL: I've been storing this one up all year. Best name in the league? Ballarat Miners Brett Goodgame. I will let you insert your own joke here.

During the NBL offseason Crocs import Corey "Homicide" Williams goes home to New York to work on his playground legend status. Recently he matched up against NBA wildman Ron Artest. Check out what happened when they matched up.

"We’re going to have to play very, very well together and we’re going to have to have great team camaraderie and do something special. But I think we have the ability to do that." Words from the great Spin Doctor Brian Goorjian while moonlighting as the Boomers coach. Article courtesy of The Western Australian.

"By evolving into the Sydney Spirit, we believe we are offering all basketball fans in this city a team to call their own." Sydney Spirit chief Steve Aquilina speaking. Article courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald.

As predicted here a month ago, Ebi Ere signs with Dragons. I wonder if Smith being released had anything to do with this?

Check out the Vegas Summer League action. It is free to sign up (only takes a minute), then you will be able to watch Aussie Nathan Jawai live in action. He makes his Toronro Raptors debut Tuesday morning (Aussie time) at 8.00am.

Self Proclaimed Australian League Superstar, Corey "Homicide" Williams!