The 1998 Adelaide 36ers - legendary team

Today we feature the '98 Adelaide 36ers (and no, we haven't forgotten about an earlier legendary Adelaide team).
http://classicbasketballtees.spreadshirt.com/legendary-teams-C159208

In 1998 when debutante coach Phil Smyth recruited Paul Rees to play alongside former NBA pair Darnell Mee and Kevin Brooks, the Clipsal Powerhouse was hanging the “sold out” sign at every home game. The 36ers turned their fortunes around under Smyth and finished the regular season in 2nd place with a 19-11 record. They won through to the 1998 NBL Grand Final series to face the heavily favoured South East Melbourne Magic that many thought were the greatest team of all time. Adelaide stunned the Magic and swept the series to claim the clubs first championship since 1986. Kevin Brooks was named the Grand Final MVP in what was the last ever winter season for the NBL.

NBL Hall of Fame vs 1998 Adelaide 36ers

Here are some of the highlights from the NBL Hall of Fame vs 1998 Adelaide 36ers held last weekend. The Hall of Fame team features some of the legends we've immortalised in t-shirts so far:

• Leroy Loggins 
• Cal Bruton 
• Mark Bradtke 
• Andrew Gaze 
• Lanard Copeland
• Steve Carfino

None of them were moving too quickly or playing any defence but Kevin Brooks looks to have been the star of the show.

To represent your favourite NBL legend, check out our range of t-shirts here:
http://classicbasketballtees.spreadshirt.com/

Foot Locker Elite Classic - Day 1

(I had planned to blog daily but my schedule over the last week just didn't permit)

I woke up early on Tuesday morning and since I hadn't drawn the curtains in my room I could see there was a major storm happening outside. It was black and there were flashes of lightening ... I thought to myself its a good thing basketball is played indoors!

I went downstairs to hoe in to the buffet but a few minutes in to it I got a call from JVG advising that everything was going to shit and we needed to meet in one of the guys rooms to get things sorted. It turns out that the storm had been going most of the night and the Adelaide Dome was without power. This wasn't ideal as we had guys out at the stadium from 6am and they had a lot to get organised before tip-off.

There was a large possibility that we were going to need to push back the live starting time as things weren't going to be ready but thanks to all hands on deck and some frantic last minute work by everyone, somehow we got it all done and started on time. This was amazing to everyone concerned as 2 or 3 times JVG had called One to advise we would likely not be ready.

Day 1 started with a VERY small crowd which was disappointing but not overly surprising considering the politics we had faced in the lead-up to the event not to mention the timing of the games and it being shown live on One.

None of the games on day 1 were overly exciting/close and the only upset came when the Reef knocked off the Pythons in the final game of the day. We didn't give the Reef much chance of doing well in this tournament but they played hard and knocked off the more fancied Pythons.

It was a stressful day with a lot of running around behind the scenes as people learned their roles and figured out what needed to be done.

Thanks to Kevin Brooks for organising a restaurant discount for all involved in the tournament at a restaurant called Scoozi's. It would quickly become the dinner option of choice for everyone, we were well looked after and the food was great value.

More Foot Locker Elite Classic - High Stakes Hoops

I was down in Melbourne for the weekend so I'm just getting to catch up on things now, but on Friday afternoon Jeff Van Groningen was on Inside The Game TV with Kevin Brooks & Brett Maher.

I've been meaning to check out this show for a while now, so when JVG was the special guest and the hot topic was the Foot Locker Elite Classic - High Stakes Hoops, I made sure I didn't miss it. If you didn't catch it, check out the show here. Congratulations to Kevin & Brett, I really enjoyed the show and look forward to catching another episode again soon.

I also came across Mookie at A Stern Warning's analysis of how High Stakes Hoops will effect the NBL. As always, nice work from Mookie.

The Foot Locker Elite Classic - High Stakes Hoops

After the big announcement yesterday the Australian basketball world has been a buzz! Twitter conversations were all about it yesterday, people were talking about it on message boards and everyone was wondering what was going on and how it effects the NBL and its players.

If you missed the actual announcement, here's a clip from Sports Tonight:



A lot of people jumped to conclusions one way or the other despite only limited information being released about the event. Here are the main conversations about it:

OzHoops
Hoops SA

The press conference and the announcement were covered in most papers this morning and here are some of them:

Brisbane Times
Adelaide Now

And the first comment from an NBL player:
Townsville Bulletin
Its a pity they continue to spell Corey's nickname wrong (check the title).

I've just found that Jeff Van Groningen will be on Inside The Game TV with Kevin Brooks and Team Owner Brett Maher. The show is on from 6 - 7pm (I assume SA time) and they will no doubt be discussing the event, answering some of the questions that have been raised and dispelling some of the myths that are already out there.

Keep checking in here for more announcement regarding The Foot Locker Elite Classic - High Stakes Hoops.