Hoops

NBL 2020 Coach of the Year: Mike Kelly

Despite all the money spent by Paul White on the team Will "Mr Sheffield" Wheaton will always have a chip on his shoulder as he's no Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Nobody gave Weaver anything.

Will Wheaton played a teenage dirtbag on The Next Generation.

So who is wheatus then?

The Kings stayed first the whole year but their form in the second half of the season was middle of the pack. If they weren’t gifted an easy and confidence-boosting draw to start the year (Cairns, Illawarra, then NZ twice in the same weekend they returned from the US) then they might not have gone 11-1, in which case they would have been in the pack for 3rd or 4th.

I think they meant Wheatus. He's just a teenage dirtbag, baby. Like you.

Noi just missed what, 10 games? And they kept winning

Try putting together a team on a small town budget and winning games with your best 2 or 3 guys sitting on the bench. You're a tough cookie to please!

Actually, this is a good example of recency bias

Cairns has an awesome season exceeding all expectations

Get thumped in a meaningless last round junk game when they rested their stars. And people keep talking about it!

Why do people keep mentioning the last game?

They had nothing to play for, Machado and Oliver played less than half the game.

Who cares? It means nothing.

“ Did you say last year? That was a long long time ago”

It was about 12 months ago.

"he's a better coach than a new guy who puts together May be the best team the nbl has seen in forever and does something no one in the nbl has ever done in 41 years?"

No, I'm saying the guy who took a team from 6-22 to 16-12 on a relatively small budget did a more impressive job than the guy who took a team from 18-10 to 20-8 on a massive budget.

Ware starts every season slowly and has had patches of poor form in each of the past 2 years. That's nothing new.

They have the best point guard in the comp (arguably 2nd now behind Machado, although Despite Machado's season given Wares long term record I'd sign him before Machado for next season).

And you also have Bogut. Then you already have no excuse not to do really well

Tate has a bright future ahead of him. As does Didi.

Newley, Kickert, Moller, Walker, Bruce all experienced, proven NBL players.

Taylor, another import, was going OK for Adelaide in pre season.

Cooks made the Boomers ahead of Creek and Motum.

Superstar talent at both ends of the floor. Championship winners. Leadership. Experience. Depth galore. The ability to sign whoever, whenever. World cup Boomer pick? Done. Import replacement for Lisch? Done. An NBA draftee in his 3rd pro season, as a *wink wink nudge nudge* "next star"? Done.

Kings had ome of the best rosters ever. Couple of injuries? Ok. Just sign quality replacements. Top up your roster with Xavier Cooks.

Don't understand why 20-8 is supposed to be super impressive with that team.

Gleeson rounds out my top 3.

I see what you're saying Paul about Rice. Fair point. But judging the entirety of the season I'm more impressed by NZ going 15-13 considering the injuries and absences they faced, than I am by Sydney going 20-8 or Perth at 19-9.

"Rice wasn't actually a bad player. It was a regrettable decision for PR purposes due to his ill character."

Rice was a very good individual talent but a horrible player for the Breakers, his impact on team chemistry was a big negative and that influences on-court performance.

Shamir should have known better the first time, and definitely shouldn't have brought him back the second time. Horrible decision making that hurt his team.

The way the team wiltered under injury was a poor reflection on Shamir, and it's since emerged he was having a hard time winning the team over. That said, the way they galvanised around the midway point of the season and charged home is a very good reflection on Shamir.

So for me he has good and bad coming from this season, and the team should be better next season for what he has learned.

Bogut and Casper were top 2 MVP last year

Casper was all NBL first team the last 3 years in a row. How many players have ever achieved that? Probably no more than 10 or 15 players in the history of the NBL.

Add a gun import in Tate, 23 years old and ready to fire in his 2nd year as a pro.

Then add a deep squad full of quality role players. Weaver had it made.

Yeah, but Bogut wasn't even the real MVP last season, winning it was in his contract or something, didn't you hear?

Kelly not much good this weekend. Hard to see that reversed against Gleeson
at the next game

[His decision-making around Rice is probably what cost them a playoff spot in the end]

I disagree- Loe, and Delaney were out together for a few games, in addition to Hopson. NZ had no hope of winning games with those 3 out, so they had to get someone in quick smart.

Rice wasn’t actually a bad player. It was a regrettable decision for PR purposes due to his ill character.

As soon as he left, Hopson returned anyway. It’s unlikely they would’ve got any more wins if they’d brought in someone else.

Besides, if you criticise Shamir on personnel decisions, you gotta look both ways. He should get credit for bringing in Hopson and Henry. Two guys he knew from Israel. One close to MVP of the league, one a very valuable player for NZ.

NBL - "Coaches and captains from each of the nine teams will now vote on the nominations with no coach or captain allowed to vote for a player from their own team."

"Shamir 2nd for mine."

Second half of the year, sure, but he didn't handle their adversity in the first half of the season well and the team fell apart on a number of occasions. His decision-making around Rice is probably what cost them a playoff spot in the end, that was extremely poor.

With his eye in about what's required I expect the Breakers to be very tough next season.

It's a basketball team, not a charity.

Playing the bench was what lost them all those games early in the season, you dolt.

Cairns were clearly most improved team jumping 5 ladder spots.
That certainly helped Kelly win.

If Illawarra made playoffs next year would Flynn get it?

Mike Kelly thoroughly deserving of the award.

Ball should not have got it considering the amount of games he missed.

Article on NBL.com.au also has the votes

Yep, Fox Sports just posted an article with all the numbers.

Here's the voting for the 2019-20 NBL Coach of the Year.

Mike Kelly (Cairns) – 65 votes
Will Weaver (Sydney) – 39 votes
Trevor Gleeson (Perth) – 32 votes

These votes look just about right.

— Olgun Uluc (@OlgunUluc) February 16, 2020

Where? I haven't seen them.

Found on Twitter.

Where are you getting the voting numbers?

Adelaide Lightning held their Awards Presentation on Sunday night at the Verve Bar and Kitchen at Marion. MVP- Suzy Batkovic; Rachael Sporn Award – Stephanie Talbot; Coaches Award – Lauren Mansfield; Players Player Award – Jo Hill
Lightning Awards Night

Well, that is it as the Milbanks are retiring from basketball photography and concentrating on Nature and Wildlife photography and just taking life a little easier. However, my website will still feature a section named Basketball Memory Lane where I will post pics from our archives every few weeks. Hope you enjoy the games from 2001-2002 to 2013. Here are the first postings
Basketball Memory Lane