When Something Just Eats At You

I didn't agree with this at the time and still don't, but the Pigs are dead.

"The Spirit are a relatively new team to the NBL and they have had some success; however, they have never won the grand final. Being a new member to the team; what do you think needs to be done to win a championship and how are you going to help achieve that?" A question asked by Nick Thomas of http://www.nbl.com.au/ when interviewing import David Gruber.

This question has been eating away at me all day for some reason so I will be interested to see what you the reader thinks as well. (So post a comment if you wish.)

At first read I thought it was my lack of sleep over the past few days (I've been rising at 4.45am to co host a radio breakfast show. 4TO is the station if you wanted to know.) that was clouding my brain, but the more I think about it the more it eats at me.

Nick Thomas, the Sydney Spirit (and even that is questionable at the moment) are a brand new team and have absolutely no success to talk about. They have no history as a club, so how have they had success as a club?

Your right in saying they have never won a grand final but they have never been in one either, unlike the Pigs that played in two during their ten year existence.

The Razorbacks are dead and buried. The moment the Spirit was formed the history book on the Pigs was closed.

If I'm Gruber, I'm saying it is fantastic to be a foundation member of a new team and I hope the Sydney public support their team.

If you want to unite the Sydney people you cannot continue to refer back to the Razorback days. You need to move on and call it what it is.

Although I don't agree with this "merger" you have to call it a fresh start otherwise Kings fans will get sick and tired of hearing about the Pig days.

I could talk about this topic for hours but I would give you all a headache, including myself, so I will end this ranting and raving for now.

Mr Thomas and everyone else, the Pigs are dead, so we all need to move on!

Other Stories

Q & A with Adelaide 36ers Luke Schenscher.

The full Q & A with Sydney Spirit's David Gruber.

Hawaiian born Derrick Low is seriously looking at a contract with the Spirit. The Washington State grad would come in and run the point for the new franchise.

Scott MacGregor to be a catwalk model. I would love to see that. It is all for a good cause, the Jane McGrath Foundation.

Neil Mottram will study till Christmas, then hope a job comes up.

Matt Nielsen named captain for Beijing Games.

The (wild) cat is out of the bag. Andrew Vlahov is running the sport of basketball in Australia.

Tasmanian coach wins award.

NZNBL player admits to "blazing up".

Questions asked about Team USA.

George Hill - Spurs rookie guard ready to crack the Big Time.

RIP Sonics - Reign Man's Top 10 Dunks

Pigs Turn To Spirit

RIP. Sydney now has the Spirit?

The West Sydney Razorbacks have traded in the bacon for bucket loads of spirit after a decade in the NBL.

That's right, no longer will the team from the western suburbs of Sydney be referred to as the Pigs. From today on, the Razorbacks franchise will be known as the Sydney Spirit.

Being an original team member for this franchise I will always have a soft spot for the Pigs, but this will not be so for the new look Spirit.

I can kind of understand what the owners of this franchise are trying to do here by trying to offer the people of Sydney a fresh start for their new basketball team.

But could this move backfire?

Will the Sydney Kings faithful all of a sudden want to jump in bed with the cross town rival, especially if they're still trying to get a new franchise happening themselves for next season?

I don't think the new franchise can bank on all the Kings members supporting the new franchise. Even by signing Jason Smith, there are many a Kings sponsor and fan who has been left with a dirty taste in their mouth.

No doubt you will always have your odd fanatical hoop lover that will go anywhere to watch a game, particularly if there is only one team in town. Hell I used to go into the city to all the Kings games, and they were my least favourite team.

I just cannot see all of those 3500 Kings fans (very generous number) automatically becoming Spirit fans.

The biggest risk I see happening here is alienating your current sponsorship and supporter base. (Yes, insert your own supporter base joke here.)

There have been a core group of fans and sponsors that have been with the Razorback franchise from day one, now they are expected to support the Spirit.

The Razorbacks have spent the last ten years trying to brand themselves in the tough Sydney market but now they want to switch direction and pump up the Spirit.

Pigs fans loved playing up the Silvertails vs Fibros rivalry with their cross town foes, now they are trying to get in bed with each other.

Although this is not a full on merger, merging is what the Spirit hierarchy is trying to do with the fans and sponsors. Take a leaf out of the NRL's history books with mergers, they do not work.

The Pigs should have believed in their product and keep soldiering on as the Fibros from the west. This is what the past ten years has been spent on doing.

Once the emotion of the Kings fans and sponsors had settled they would have no other choice then to get in their cars and head out the Hume Highway to catch a game.

Once at the charismatic Whitlam Centre and knowing there are no more "Violet Crumbles " to support, they will become fans and friends of the Pigs just as they were with the Kings.

Instead Sydneysiders now need to be re-educated as to who the Sydney Spirit are.

I'm not sure (please prove me wrong) but I do not think too much money was being tipped into the marketing budget of the Pigs. Now the Spirit on the same budget has to re brand a team that has been in the market for 10 years.

I confess I have no marketing degree but it just doesn't make sense to me how this will work on the same budget. Remember this is the same ownership group of the Razorbacks, now just operating under a new name.

As I previously mentioned, I have a soft spot for my former team and I wished the franchise nothing but good times.

In my mind the Razorbacks franchise is history.

I hope the Spirit captures the imagination of Sydneysiders and all games can be considered marquee games played in front of 10 000 fans at the Entertainment Centre.

Trouble is, there is part of me that sees this attempt to unify Sydney basketball fans backfiring.

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NBA rumours getting around the bleachers in Vegas.
TrueHoop blogs from Vegas.
Clippers dirty on Brand's agent.
A report on 50 Rookies at Summer League.
Jawai article.
Warriors sign Maggette.
Another Barry in Houston.

OJ Mayo throws it down on (Paris) Hilton Armstrong!

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