Your Daily Links

Running a little late this morning so I will just provide you with a handful of links at this early hour.

Enjoy your Friday.

- Boti Nagy makes a good point about age/college. I will be expressing my thoughts on this over the weekend.

- New Zealand lose to Estonia in European tour opener.

- Cairns Taipans Head Coach Aaron Fearne starts putting in his philosophies.

- Shellharbour, NSW the next hotbed for young Aussie hoopers?

- Cleveland Daily Banner speaks to Darnell Mee about his future.

- Dallas Maverick Nathan Jawai feels extended court time with the Australian Boomers will help his NBA cause.

- Catch the latest news from the Boomers Sydney camp with Nathan Jawai and assistant coach Shane Heal.

Boomers Assistants Named

New Zealand Breakers Head Coach Andrej Lemanis gets his chance on the international stage with the Boomers.

This article is courtesy of Sportal.

Three new assistant coaches have been named to help Brett Brown pilot Australia's men's basketball team through to the London Olympics in 2012.

Brown, who was named as the new Boomers coach last month, will be joined by Andrej Lemanis, Shane Heal and Marty Clarke and they will guide the Australian team through until at least 2012.

That means outgoing coach Brian Goorjian will have no role, while Brendan Joyce and Gordie McLeod also find themselves on the outer.

Basketball Australia Chief Executive Larry Sengstock was thrilled with the quality of the new assistant coaches and believes they will be able to help Brown guide the Boomers to an Olympic medal in 2012.

"We have entered a new era for the Boomers and I am excited and hopeful about what this coaching staff can deliver," Sengstock said.

In addition to the selection of Lemanis, Heal and Clarke, Bill Tomlinson has also been drafted in as a network coach to assist in the development and preparation of players on an individual basis.

That means Brown will have four experienced people to call on for advice when required and this should help the Boomers in their quest for an Olympic medal.

Brown, who is currently in the United States working as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA playoffs, was extremely happy with the selections of his assistants.

"They are a competitive, astute group and together we are excited to embrace the difficult challenge of securing Australian men's basketball's first medal in senior men's competition," Brown said.

"Marty has a terrific record with the junior program and knows the playing group well from their time together at the Institute; as a four-time Olympian and former Boomers captain Shane is an untapped resource of great value and an inspirational leader; Andrej has an outstanding knowledge of the game and has done very good things with the New Zealand Breakers; and Billy has been one of the top coaches in Australia for the past 25 years."

Let me know what you think about these selections.

News and Notes

If you want to tune into the Melbourne/Perth game, click here.


Campbell and Sav got to finish their careers in Wollongong off in style.

Here's some news to kick start your Saturday.

- Let's take a look at some of the stories that centred around the Wollongong Hawks playing there very last home game at the 'Sand Pit".

Hawks leave fans with lasting impression. They defeat the Adelaide 36ers. boxscore

Hawks Mat Campbell and Glen Saville to receive honour.

877 games later, and it's all over for the Hawks.

- Newcastle just going to have a look at NBL meeting.

- If you want to keep a close eye on the Melbourne Tigers clash with the Perth Wildcats, click here and you should be able to listen to the Saturday night contest.

- Sydney Spirit donate their final pay to the fire victims. Well done boys.

- Local kid could make it hard for the Perth Wildcats to taste victory against the Melbourne Tigers.

- Gold Coast Blaze import Luke Whitehead talks about his hot rebounding of late.
- Bleacher Report gives us his top ten draft classes from the NBA.

- Shane Heal is ready to coach his daughters.

Just throwing out ideas for the new NBL marketing department.

Just Surfing The Net

2009 NBA All Star jersey

While I wait for DJ Rod to edit our latest installment of "The OT", I just surfed the net and this is what I came up with for my fellow hoop junkies.

- Portland Trailblazers rookie guard Rudy Fernandez won the vote to be the fourth dunker in this year's All Star Dunk Comp. The Spaniad will be joined by defending champ Dwight Howard, Knick Nate Robinson and Gudy Gay of the Memphis Grizzlies.

- Grade 7 kids are now being recruited by colleges in the USA.

- Is Colorado University becoming a hot bed for young Aussies? My tip, Cody Ellis to St Louis University.

- Nathan Jawai put on his Toronto Raptors uniform on for the first time today. He did not play.

- Shane Heal's last game in Adelaide? That's a must see.

- The boys from The Sport Count have been very creative over the festive season. Well done boys.

You need to watch this Nathan Jawai video. Classic Aussie humour.