RIP Mike Wrublewski

Just weeks ago the Sydney basketball fraternity celebrated with this man. RIP Mr Wrublewski.

The former Sydney King's colourful owner Mike Wrublewski has lost his battle with pancreatic cancer.

One of the true pioneers behind turning the NBL into a professional sport in this country, his ideas, personality and quotes will sorely missed.

Below is an article from the FoxSports website.

"Former Sydney Kings chairman Mike Wrublewski has lost his battle with pancreatic cancer.

Wrublewski was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in June and held a farewell dinner in Sydney earlier this month to raise funds for the Mike Wrublewski Foundation, which will be his legacy for young athletes needing financial help.

Basketball Australia CEO Larry Sengstock on Saturday paid tribute to Wrublewski, a pioneer of the NBL. "Basketball Australia (BA) and the entire basketball community are deeply saddened by the news of Mike Wrublewski's passing and our thoughts go out to his family," Sengstock said in a statement.

"Mike was a pioneer of the NBL who had a crazy vision of taking basketball from the tin sheds in which it was being played into major arenas.

"It is a true reflection of his energy, his passion and his brilliance that he was actually able to realise that dream.

"Mike almost single-handedly put basketball on the map in Sydney, and turned the Sydney Kings into an iconic Australian sporting team.

"The fact that he did so whilst working in Australia's toughest sports and entertainment market is all the more amazing.

"BA, the NBL, the WNBL and all of basketball owes him an incalculable debt and we will now look for some appropriate way in which we can honour his legacy."

All Things Jawai and Kings Can Share Sydney

There is enough room for both these food groups in Sydney and the NBL!


The 2008 NBA draft is fast approaching (June 26th) so I thought I would step up my updates on Aussie hopefuls Nathan Jawai and Aleks Maric. Until the draft is done I will keep a daily spotlight on these guys and provide sufficient information to serve your Jawai/Maric sized appetite.

Nathan Jawai:

Kings (Sacramento) works out the Bamiga product.

Suns will be Nate Dogg's next workout.

Bleacher Report - check out pick 17 by Raptors!

Aleks Maric:

Below I have listed Maric's scores when he tested at the Orlando Pre Draft Camp last week. Without boring you with stats, he was neither the best or worst in all categories.

Vertical Jump (no step) - 23inches Vertical Jump (max) - 28 inches

Bench press (185lbs) - 15times Lane agility - 11.76sec

3/4 court sprint - 3.35 sec

Maric works out for Pacers.

Hoopsworld has scoop.

Now to the NBL and Mike Wrublewski saying that Sydney should have only one team in town, and that team should be the almighty Kings.

Well Mike, if the NBL season was to start tomorrow, that one team would be the West Sydney Razorbacks and not your beloved Kings. The purple and gold that you bleed is doing its best imitation of a "Violet Crumble" as we speak unless you can save the "Purple Rein".

Now that I have that off my chest I will try to speak some sense about this situation.

I believe there is a place for both teams in Sydney but they cannot be living in each others pocket.

West Sydney looked at playing at Penrith but the latest has them moving back to the $hitlam Centre. I call it that with much respect as I am a huge fan of the facility and look forward to making the drive out the Hume Highway and lacing up the boots for another game there. Talk about home court advantage!

If the Pigs remain out west I cannot see how this will impact the Kings and the marketplace they are trying to attract to their games.

I praise the Pigs for moving back to the Whitlam Centre as now they can really work on maintaining a bigger fan base. Homebush may have seemed like a good move at the time, but as we have seen the crowds struggle to find their way to the Olympic site.

By moving back to Liverpool you have a residential hub (170 000 pop) to draw from and the fans do not have to waste half their day travelling to and from the game.

Sure the Whitlam needs a little TLC but the size of the arena is ideal for where the sport of basketball is at in Sydney.

It will be interesting to see if the Razorbacks can find new corporate money to inject into the franchise. I believe that they will see an increase in fan numbers by moving back to Liverpool.

I honestly believe the Pigs are on the right path to capturing their slice of the Sydney market by moving back "Home".

Now the Kings. Providing the NBL board approves Mr Wrublewski and his people the Kings will definitely see and increase in corporate support. Wrublewski has a great track record in this area and I'm sure that trend will continue.

Where I see the Kings having to improve is their complete game night presentation and you must start with your oncourt team.

The Kings used to sell out the Entertainment Centre regularly when they had zero titles to their name. Why is this? They had characters!

Everyone remembers Dwayne MacClain (D-Train) and Steve Carfino for their flashy play and breathe taking moves. But to go with this, they had the "hard nuts" in The Dalton Gang, Tim Morrissey and Three O (Damien) Keogh.

Why I highlight this point is Sydney is a fickle market. You have to have some style and swagger about yourself so people will take notice and attend.

There is no doubting that Brian Goorjian led this franchise through its most successful period (3 titles in a row) on the floor but there was no one there to witness it. (This goes back to a previous blog, where I talk about measuring success in the professional sporting world.)

I feel the Kings fans could never get a read on their team as they always had a high turnover of personal. There was no intimacy between fans and the team.

I ask you, would Sydneysiders have a better recolection of little used pint sized guard Brad Rosen or three time championship winner Brad Sheridan?

What else needs to happen for the Kings is they need to find a better sized facility. The Entertainment Centre can play host to the bigger drawing games while a 4-6 thousand seat stadium would be ideal for the majority of teams that come to town. (The Tigers play out of a 3500 seat arena and make it work.)

The facility cost would be one of the biggest expenses incurred by teams so when your true crowd numbers are low, that is a lot of money that cannot be recovered. I hear all you Sydneysiders, where to then Smartass? Good question, and I do not have the answer. State Sports Centre is the best size venue I know of but has turned into a white elephant and its location I question.

There is no doubt Sydeny has the toughest job as far as getting the recipe of success right but with Wrublewski at the helm again I hope they can turn their fortunes around.

Sydney is more than capable of providing two successful teams in the NBL and I feel with the respective moves each franchise is making this can happen in the near future.

NBL News:

NZNBL playoff teams are set.

Razorbacks fire back to Kings comments.

NBA News:

Gasol needs to lift his game.

Scoop Jackson on Paul Pierce's worth to the C's.

Terry Porter is Suns new coach.

Del Negro is on the Bulls radar now.

Preview to Game 2

Game 1 To The Celtics

Paul Pierce was the "Truth" during the third quarter!

Although I have predicted that the Los Angles Lakers will win the Final, I have to give credit to the Boston Celtics. They were the better team tonight.

There is no doubting Paul Pierce's red hot third quarter swung momentum back in the C's favour but I have to say it was the intangibles by the supporting cast that was the difference in the game.

Rajon Rondo keep the Celtics in the game in the first half by knocking down three jumpers as the shot clock was winding down. The Lakers were going to leave him open and he made them pay.

In the second half both Sam Cassell and PJ Brown made plays that helped. Both these veterans were acquired during the season for just this reason.

Cassell knocked down some jumpers and added a spark when Pierce when down injured, while Brown was rock solid on defense, especially in the pick and roll situation as well as on the boards.

I am a little bias towards James Posey but once again he had his say in the game's final result. His consistent defensive pressure on Kobe Bryant did not allow the leading scorer during the playoffs any easy looks. Plus Posey knocked down a three late in the fourth to extent the lead out of the reach of the Lakers.

There is no doubting the Celtics "Big Three" (Garnett, Pierce and Allen) had their own individual moments but it was the "supporting cast" that was the difference in this game.

The Lakers need to get the same type of productivity out of their guys. Luke Walton, Ronny Turiaf, Vladimir Radmanovic and Sasha Vujacic have to give the Lakers productive minutes if they are to turn this series around.

I expect more of the same from the Celtics come Game 2 but I'm looking for Kobe to be aggressive early so they do not head back to LA 0-2.

Boxscore

Game 2 will be on Monday Australian time.

Other articles from the NBA

Pierce inspires Celtics to win.
Daily Dime
Kobe was not himself..can the C's keep him in check for the rest of the series?
Sonics court battle, especially posted for DJ Leon Smith

NBL News: Wrublewski wants the Pigs gooone.
Jawai moves onto Seattle for tryout.
Nathan Herbert is living the dream.
More on Jawai and his Seattle hopes.

Nathan Jawai - Interview before his Warriors workout...check it out!

King's Have A Saviour & Lakers Begin Their Run

Old is new again, Wrublewski is back in fashion.

Former owner Mike Wrublewski has put his hand up again in an attempt to breath life into a club that he loves with a passion, the Sydney Kings.

Wrublewski was the owner of the Kings franchise back in the late 80's and 90's when they were considered one of the best sporting franchises in Australia. Since Wrublewski had sold the Kings they have tasted great success on the court (3 championships) but have suffered greatly in holding onto corporate support within the Sydney community.

For the past twelve months their owner Tim Johnston (Firepower) has been running the club into the ground and has gained much media attention over the past two weeks due to his lack of paying his players their monthly salaries.

Enter Wrublewski. To cut a long story short, Wrublewski called Johnston and told him your doing the club no good. Give it to me before we have absolutely nothing to restore.

It is not as simple as that though. The NBL Board has to meet and agree that Wrublewski has a plan that is fit for the Kings and the NBL. Lucky for everyone the Board just happens to be meeting late this week.

He feels he has what it takes. "I need to come in with a clean slate, come in with some credibility, to come in with some statements that people will believe in and will support," he told Fox Sports

"In the past the one thing that I did leave the club with was when I said I would do something I did it and the corporate world backed me", he continued to say.

Obviously the man has the runs on the board so I cannot see the NBL knocking this on the head.

This is great to hear for the league and the Kings players. Finally some good news and finally maybe, some bums on those ugly purple chairs at the entertainment centre.

Although I did make comment that the league would continue with or without the Kings and Brisbane Bullets, I'm sure glad they are staying.

Kings are truly a sporting franchise that you love to hate and I think that will only be enhanced with Wrublewski at the helm.

Sydney, Sydney, Sydney.....I can hear Rodney O already!

Today myself and teammate Brad Sheridan made a visit out to the Children's Ward of the Hospital. It was part of a community project the Townsville Crocs and the hospital do together.

It is always a good time out there when you spend a little time with kids that are having a tough run with sickness or injury.

We just sat around a table with the kids helping them colour in and shoot the breeze. Yes, I had trouble staying between the lines but I'm sure I will get better.

Other NBL News:

Pero Cameron cleared of rough play.

Former Razorback Miles Pierce dumped.

Jawai works out for Warriors.

Young Victorian player shooting for the stars and college.

A reduced Boomers squad has been announced. (More on this in the coming days.)

Wildcats to get a "big" as second import.

Fox Sports will cover the Boomers/Iran series.

Maric works out for Pacers.

NBA News:

You can catch Game 1 of the Lakers/Celtics series on ESPN (508). It all starts at 10.30am.

What will win out? Celtics "D" or the Lakers "O".

Bill Simmons with his preview of the Finals.

Flip Saunders gone from Detroit.

Former Piston player to be new head coach.

Could D-Wade be leaving Miami?

Draft notes.

Could Kobe go for 81 Against the C's?