The Time Has Come

There are seismic like movements in the NBL and it's about to explode.!

Watch this space for some earth shattering news on the NBL in the very near future.

Late Night Links

Before I head to bed I thought I would provide the latest in hoop links from around the place.

- South Dragons owner Mark Cowan predicted it months ago and it has happened. Former Boomers coach Brian Goorjian has been snapped up by the Chinese National Team.

I'd love to be a fly on the wall when Goorj has his first conversation with Yao Ming.

Somehow I cannot see Yao buying what Goorj is selling as he tells him how Lygon St is much better than anything the Houston Rockets have to offer.

- Sounds like free speaking journo Boti Nagy wrote this article with a muzzle on. Boti you will be able to take it off soon, I hope.

- In one of the worst keep secrets in basketball, Joey Wright has been named coach of the Gold Coast Blaze.

I like this hiring because it allows me to rekindle the little chit chats we would have during a game.

- Former Sydney Spirit forward Liam Rush has come up trumps with his decision to leave the struggling Sydney club midseason.

His Swedish team (Sundsvall) has just taken out the title in an epic seven game series.

What does this mean for the NBL?

No chance of Rush returning to the NBL any time soon. His heroics in the final game will see him receive a contract somewhere in Europe I imagine.

Is this just one of many more to follow suit?

- While in Europe, former NBL players Larry Abney and Julian Khazzouh are locking horns in Holland as we speak. Their series is tied at one a piece right now.

- This is a message for kids in South Australia or young hoopers willing to travel a few miles to get coached by a former NBA Slam Dunk Champion. Former Boston Celtic Dee Brown will be conducting clinics in South Aussie in September/October. Click here for more info.

- "The 2004-05 Tall Black, who relished playing against his former NSW age-group teammates cum Boomers such John Rillie and Matt Neilson in the 2006 test matches, has no qualms about his pick-me-up role with the Hawks."

This passage comes from an article from the Hawkes Bay Today about gypsy basketballer Miles Pearce.

Like any article where the colourful Pearce is quoted, he leaves you shaking your head in some direction.

For those interested in the facts, I'm nowhere near Pearce's age-group and I'm not a cockroach.

QUEEEEENSLANDER!

- If your looking for NBA news head over to NBAMate. The Aussie blogger was actually at Game 2 of the Lakers/Rockets series.

More news here on the fiery series to date.

- Scibz's Spiel has come across an article where Brian Goorjian was referred to as "Bruce".

Just how good is our sport going in the media right now?

Tim Johnston & The Firepower Saga

I could not keep ignoring this article I stumbled across in the Sydney Morning Herald about Firepower con-man Tim Johnston. Thanks to journo Paul Sheehan for providing a good read on the trials and tribulations of the company that was going to provide fuel relief through a "pill".

It is difficult to exaggerate the scale of the lies, the extent of the damage, the trail of destructive bastardry left behind by Timothy Francis Johnston, who lied to everyone, cheated everyone, and, as you read this, lives in luxury overseas because the Australian authorities are too stupid to charge him with fraud and thus be able to seek his extradition.

Perhaps "inert" is the best word to describe the collective ineffectiveness of the Australian state and federal regulatory authorities which allowed Johnston to run rampant for the past 14 years, stealing at least $100 million in the process. Or bovine. Or lazy. Or complicit. Take your pick. When the authorities eventually rouse themselves on this matter, they will find a paper trail that leads all the way to Moscow.

Since Johnston graduated from St Laurence's College, a Christian Brothers school in Brisbane, he has become an increasingly deluded, reckless, pathological and criminal predator. His exaggerations accumulated until they became a pyramid of lies which became a pyramid of frauds, built on pyramid selling. Almost nobody checked the detail, and there were so many details which would have exposed the lies.

He could never have wreaked the damage he did without the active support of the Australian government, and the passivity of regulators and police.

Johnston had no patents. No intellectual property rights. No scientific evidence. No factories. No prospectus. No audited accounts.

No large export orders. In fact, he had almost no sales. He spoke of a global company but in reality it was a handful of people in an industrial estate in Perth. The unprecedented scale of this horror story has never been fully understood, and never been available to the public, until today.

Because today is the publication date of a book, Firepower, which lays out the magnitude of this fraud and the depth of its implications. It has to be mandatory reading for the Trade Minister, Simon Crean, and his senior departmental officials. Crean will enjoy the discomfort it brings to his Liberal predecessors in government, but not for long, because Johnston is now his problem.

Firepower must be read by the chief executive officer of the Australian Trade Commission (Austrade), Peter O'Byrne, who could only feel a burning anger and unease as he reads the full extent of his agency's reckless naivety. Anger and unease, too, should be felt by Tony D'Aloisio, the chairman of the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, and the ASIC commissioners, who will read, yet again, that ASIC was slow and passive in the face of large-scale corporate fraud.

Firepower does what the state and federal regulators failed to do.

It is the missing due diligence, the prosecutorial zeal, the big picture. It presents the events that should have animated every agency that came into contact with Johnston and his idiotic narcissism. Instead, the job has been done by Gerard Ryle, a journalist.

Firepower groans with a mass of damning detail, the work of someone who has won 15 awards for investigative journalism, including four Walkley Awards. Ryle has been a Walkley finalist 11 times. He is the news editor of this newspaper.

Four defamation suits were issued against the Herald in 2007 by Johnston and his chief executive after the paper published the first expose. Johnston deployed a squad of lawyers and spin-doctors and created a labyrinth of corporate entities to prevent investors and supporters from seeing that the core of his story, the essence of his business, was just an innocuous brown pill.

The pill, the Firepower, was a fuel additive which Johnston and his numerous supporters claimed increased fuel efficiency and cut pollution. It was going to help the world and make millions for early investors. Nonsense. Firepower was an industrial placebo. At best the pill was worthless and at worst it was corrosive.

The fraud could not have continued for so long, or become so large, had it not been for the crucial intervention of Austrade. Somebody at the trade commission, probably someone junior, failed to make a rudimentary verification of any of the grandiose claims Johnston was making. Austrade took on Firepower as a client, and opened doors to contacts around the world through Australian embassies.

Over time, Firepower received $394,000 in grants under the Export Market Development Grants scheme. A senior Austrade manager, John Finnin, was recruited by Johnston as his chief executive. The senior trade commissioner at the Australian Embassy in Moscow, Gregory Klumov, was recruited to run Firepower's Russian operation. For years, Johnston was able to wrap himself in the credibility of government patronage.

Every prominent person connected with Firepower, and there are many, has been damaged by the association. After the Herald's first expose was published on January 7, 2007, the co-owner of the South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league club, Peter Holmes a Court, described the piece in a private e-mail as "a largely unprincipled piece of journalism".

Ten months later, when Firepower's credibility was under siege, Holmes a Court still publicly defended Firepower, saying it had met all its obligations to the team. (Such was Johnston's desire to insinuate himself into the circle of South Sydney's other co-owner, Russell Crowe). They were the exception.

After Johnston took over the Sydney Kings basketball team he drove the franchise out of existence.

That Tim Johnston has not even been charged with fraud, and extradited, is an indictment on the federal authorities. These are the same federal authorities being given considerably more power and responsibility by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, as he builds a command economy run by Canberra.

Based on the evidence presented in Firepower, they are not up to the task.

My All Time Fav 4

The inspiration for this post was created by Facebook. FB has an application that allows you to choose your All Time favourite five athletes.

So thanks to YouTube and my kind words, here are my Fantastic Four.

Why four you ask? I could throw another big name athlete on the list to make five, but in all honesty these where the guys I worshipped growing up.

1. Greg Chappell

Growing up on the Darling Downs it was easy to be drawn to Chappell as a young kid dreaming of playing cricket for your country.

Chappell was textbook with the bat and I would stay up to the wee hours of the morning to watch him play his classic strokes while touching up the Poms in the old Motherland.

With a test average of almost fifty four and a century on debut, the hairs on the back of my neck always rise when he is not mentioned amongst the best batsmen to ever use a Grey-Nicolls.


2. Mal Meninga

When I wasn't working on my straight drive, I was palming my brothers off for another brilliant backyard try. I would calmly finish the play off with a toe poke conversion.

All this was only achieved because I was decked out in my Souths Magpies long sleeve jersey. Oh, of course the number 3 was on the back.

I loved how Meninga could bust open a game with his own pure strength and ability. A real match winner and an attribute I love to see in a player.

My childhood love for Meninga only grew when I met the great man at Davies Park (Brisbane). I remember it as clear as day. Dad took me to watch my beloved Magpies but Meninga did not dress as he had a rep game the following week. I managed to snag an autograph (which I still have) from Mal as he watched the game from a deck chair on the sidelines.


3. Ivan Lendl

The surly Czech was always the underdog but if you study his record you will soon realize that he was quite the player.

He captured eight Grand Slam titles but never won Wimbledon. I believe this is why he does not get the love he deserves. He competed in a record 19 Grand Slam titles, which is still a record to this day.

I could ramble on all day about how good I felt he was, but his biggest impact on me was the wristband. He was the reason I donned one in my early playing days and basketball was lucky that our playing shorts had no pockets. Otherwise I would have had sawdust in my pockets too.


4. Moses Malone

The NBA in the 80's was all about the Lakers and the Celtics. Magic, Kareem, Larry and Co dominated the press. My man was Moses Malone of the Philadelphia 76ers at that time.

I loved watching Malone punish Kareem as Mo (not Dr J) lead the 76ers to their title in 1983.

His rebounding prowess I have tried to incorporate into my game over the years but it was his Nike Air Force footwear I so dearly wanted.

He was playing for the Atlanta Hawks at the time when I sent him a letter trying to acquire a pair. It was a long shot but I got the Hawks address out of the Basketball Digest (remember that read) and nervously penned a letter to Mo asking if he could send a 14yo Aussie guy a pair of his kicks.

I'm not sure where the letter ended up but I still go out to the mailbox everyday anticipating that those shoes will arrive.



Who are your all time greats?

Could Free-To-Air Be Back?

Remember this logo. It could be what saves professional basketball in this country.

It seems that momentum is gaining that free to air NBL basketball could be back, all thanks to Channel Ten's new OneHD sports channel. The article below is courtesy of The West Australian.

The National Basketball League could return to free-to-air television next season — if there is an elite men’s competition at all in 2009-10.

Key players in Basketball Australia’s reform process are understood to have held discussions with the Ten network about having NBL games shown on the broadcaster’s dedicated sports channel, One HD.

The concept is viewed as a major boost for the league, which suffered a drop in popularity around the country once Channel 10 stopped showing matches almost a decade ago.

Although pay-TV provider Fox Sports has held the NBL rights in recent seasons, some of the competition’s more powerful clubs believe their product isn’t beamed into enough homes.

However, a new deal with Fox Sports, which included broadcasting every match live as part of a five-year, $30 million arrangement, was a sweetener from BA to convince NBL clubs to give away their control of the league to a new independent body last November.

Despite BA claims the arrangement would lead to a more commercially friendly competition to tip off in October, the game’s governing body has yet to release details of the new NBL.

A major issue that could hurt the Foxtel deal is the expectation that there will be no franchises from Sydney or Brisbane — two of the pay-TV provider’s three biggest markets — in the new NBL.

According to Federal Government agency Screen Australia, only 27 per cent of Australian households subscribe to pay-TV. But One HD is beamed only into Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane. Supporters of franchises in Cairns and Townsville would not be able to access the service.

The West Australian understands even if the Fox Sports deal goes through, replays of NBL matches could also be shown on One HD. The digital station shows NBA matches, including the play-offs, live. One HD also beams the ANZ Championship netball competition.

NBL great Phil Smyth said last week the lack of free-to-air coverage was a big stumbling block in plans to revive the 30-year-old competition. “There are two major factors in this,” Smyth told the Adelaide Advertiser. “Private ownership in sports in Australia is not looked at favourably. The second component is losing free to-air TV — that really hurt the game.”

Meanwhile, new Perth Wildcats coach Rob Beveridge could begin signing players as early as next week although the structure of the revamped NBL has yet to be released. Beveridge will make a short visit to Perth to discuss his recruiting process with Wildcats management. He will move west in June.

The former Sydney Spirit mentor, who has recently returned to Australia after working in the US and the Philippines, has plenty of work to do.

Perth have just three contracted players for the 2009-10 season, although the existing deals for Shawn Redhage, Brad Robbins and Stephen Weigh have yet to be ratified by BA.

Some clubs have legal opinion the existing arrangements will be void in the new league. The contracts were signed under old NBL guidelines. BA expects to dissolve the NBL as an entity at the end of next month.

News

- Panathinaikos wins their second Euroleague title in three years. They snuck by defending champs CSKA Moscow 73-71. match report

In the consolation final, Aussie David Andersen continued his great Final Four form with another productive game at the offensive end. He finished with a game high 20 points.

Barcelona/Olympiacos boxscore match report

- Pat Mills can be found at #30 on NBA Draft Day Countdown draft board.

This is good for Mills as this is the last pick in the first round and gets him a guaranteed deal.

It will be interesting to see where Pat goes as this is quite a deep draft for point guards.

Remember, as long as he does not hire an agent, he can still return to St Mary's for his junior year.

- The real "Birdman", Denver Nugget Chris Andersen is getting some credit for locking down scoring machine Dirk Nowitzki of the Dallas Mavericks.

- Aussie NBA enthusiast NBAMate pens his thoughts on the second round of the playoffs.

Labor Day Holiday = Links

#1 - Kobe's jersey is the best selling NBA jersey this year.

Although it is a public holiday (Labor Day) and a none work day for most Aussies, I thought I would still provide some coverage for those who log on during the day to get their hoops fix.

You will find lots of links so you can catch up with what is happening in the basketball world.

- A great article about the Adelaide 36ers and what is happening with basketball in the city of churches. Comments from 36er legends Phil Smyth and Mark Davis.

- Perth Wildcats finally announce that Rob Beveridge is their new coach. For those two people who didn't know this was happening, happy reading.

- David Andersen did his part to try and get his team over the line. His 24pts was not enough to lift Barcelona over CSKA Moscow into the Euroleague final. report boxscore

Don't forget you can catch the final (CSKA vs Panathinaikos) on ESPN at 4am Monday.

- Andrew Gaze to become a lifestyle show presenter? Yes he is. Look out for "Guide To The Good Life", in June on Channel 7.

- Colourful Kiwi coach Jeff Green is back in the driver's seat. If the name does not ring a bell, he was the first coach for New Zealand Breakers.

- "But, in all honesty, I'm 50-50 about whether there will even be a league next year _ that's 100 per cent my gut feeling." Courtesy of the Townsville Bulletin.

My teammate Russell Hinder sharing his feelings. He's such a sensitive guy.

- Brad Newley and his Panellinios team were swept 2-0 in their Greek League quarter final matchup against Marousi. Game 2 boxscore.

- Kobe Bryant jersey is the number 1 seller in the NBA.

- The NCAA has decided that the student/athlete needs to decide on his NBA dream earlier.

Charles Barkley, Overrated?

According to Houston Rocket Ron Artest, Portland Trailblazer Brandon Roy is the best player he has played against in the NBA. Also Artest mentioned that Hall of Famer, Charles Barkley is "overrated".

I'm hoping Ron Ron was doing this purely with tongue in cheek.

Enjoy the interview.