Anna Bligh and the Gold Coast Blaze

I mentioned a few weeks ago that one of my friends had essentially put together the relationship to have Queensland Premier Anna Bligh as the Gold Coast Blaze's # 1 ticket holder this season. It was this friend that hooked me up with the corporate seats for the last game and why we were treated like VIP's by the Blaze. Yes, I'm people who knows people! LOL

Anyway, when we were at the game last week my friend started to organise a time for Anna to meet the team, the front office and officially receive her #1 jersey. This all took place earlier today while the team were shooting around before their game tonight with the Cairns Taipans. Here are a couple of photos from the event:

Premier Bligh with Blaze captain James Harvey

Premier Bligh with Blaze team and GM Dave Claxton

NBL'ers in the NBA continued

Its been a very busy couple of days in the office so I'm just catching up on the blog now. Its already late tonight so this will be a quick one and I'll catch up more on the weekend.

After my last post about past NBL players doing there thing in the NBA, there's been some big news for two of them over the last few days. One good one bad.

First the good news. Most Australians have heard the news that Nathan Jawai has been traded from the Dallas Mavericks to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Here's the Australian's take on it and how he'll be following in the footsteps of Luc Longley and Shane Heal.

This should be a good move for Jawai as he wasn't exactly welcomed in Dallas and seemed like an afterthought that they didn't know what to do with and likely would've been sent back to the D League or waived. In Minnesota, he has the opportunity to make the roster and hopefully see some substantial court-time. The T'Wolves have suffered some injuries to a few of their star bigmen and are talking about developing Nathan which is what he needs.

Secondly is the bad news today that Carlos Powell has been cut by the Phoenix Suns. Powell got so close to making the squad but has just missed out. Look for him to again star in the D League or maybe head to Europe and get paid.

Another Aussie will be suiting up for the T'Wolves

Carlos Powell: Working Hard to Reach the NBA

I stumbled across the following article about former NBL'er Carlos Powell and his quest to make it in to the NBA.

I remember Carlos from the one season he played in the NBL with the New Zealand Breakers. I was working with the Brisbane Bullets at the time and we were one of the few teams that did a decent job of containing him. That season he was a scoring machine and everyone knew he wouldn't be back in our league the next year. His eyes were always on the NBA and after spending some time in the D-Leagues he's getting close to a roster spot for the Phoenix Suns.

Click on the title below to read the full story.

Carlos Powell: Working Hard to Reach the NBA - Bright Side Of The Sun

Phoenix Suns preseason roster addition Carlos Powell was undrafted coming out of South Carolina in 2005 where he played all four years. Since then he's played overseas in both Europe and Asia and spent the 2007/08 season with the NBA D-league's Dakota Wizards where he averaged 22 ppg, 6.4 rpg and 4.8 apg. Powell's known as a physical small forward (6'7', 225lbs) who can shoot the three, has good vision and can still bang a little bit.

Carlos is a prototypical guy 'on the bubble' and is trying to make it to the NBA the hard way just as former Suns Matt Barnes and Raja Bell did. From the look of things, this summer has brought Powell much closer to reaching his dream.

In July the Phoenix Suns added Carlos to their Vegas Summer League roster where he played well putting up 9 points in 16 minutes of play and shot 60% from three. That apparently was enough to earn Carlos an invitation to join the Suns training camp and preseason squad where he continues to impress.

Suns Head Coach Alvin Gentry said this about Powell, 'He's played well at camp. He's a good guy. Real aggressive guy and a real physical guy. He's done some good things. Shot the ball real well.'

NBL'ers in the NBA

Still no good news regarding Patty Mills and his attempt to play in the NBA but there are Aussies or NBL-related players seeing some action in the NBA pre-season.

Firstly, David Andersen has been putting in work with the Houston Rockets. He knows he can't replace Yao Ming but in his last 3 games has average 25 minutes per game and has started 2 of them. He had 8 points 4 boards, 17 points 4 boards and 12 points 7 boards. Respective production, let's hope it continues in the regular season.

Secondly, former New Zealand Breakers import Carlos Powell is getting a run for the Phoenix Suns. Carlos was a scoring machine for the Breakers and had high hopes of stepping from the NBL to the NBA. He's spent some time in the D League but with Shaq in Cleveland and Robin Lopez injured, the Suns could using another scoring bigman. He came off the bench in his first game for 6 points 3 boards but started yesterday and had 12 points 3 boards.

Finally, Nathan Jawai has FINALLY stepped on court for the Dallas Mavericks. This article would tend to suggest he's unlikely to make their roster but it was nice all the same to see him get 2 points and 2 assists in 7 minutes of court-time (not surprisingly, a blowout Dallas win).

Thanks to the guys at NBA Mate for pointing out an article from NBA.com about our two main Aussies in the NBA.

Mate vs mate, Anderson shooting over Bogut in a pre-season game

Gold Coast Blaze recap

If you're following me on Twitter you may have read parts of this story already, if not, here's the trip report from the Gold Coast Blaze vs Melbourne Tigers game last night.

I've been going to basketball games for the last 20+ years and including my 5 years with the Brisbane Bullets have had some great game night experiences. Firstly, when I was 17 one of my friend's dad had a corporate box at Boondall that he gave to us for a couple of games. We were of course underage at the time but that didn't stop us enjoying the corporate drinks and generally having a great night out. Then a few years ago, there was the time that Eddy Groves chartered a plane to take all the Bullets support crew down to Melbourne to cheer on the team in game 2 of the grand final series. As well as the trip, I was lucky enough to sit at the end of the player's bench to watch the game. But last night's Blaze game was definitely right up there ...

One of my friends organised some tickets for us and mentioned they would likely be corporate seats. I was keen to get to the game so the corporate part was really just a bonus. She received confirmation from Blaze GM Dave Claxton about the tickets as well as an invite for us to the pre-game cocktail party.

We arrived at the service counter at the stadium and were advised that Katie had just taken our tickets to which my friend and I looked at each other and jokingly questioned who Katie was. One of the staff walked us to the function room and introduced us to Katie who then introduced us to a few people in the room. We grabbed a drink, something to eat and then went over to say hi to Dave Claxton who informed us we were in the owner's box tonight with Owen & Katie Tomlinson as well as Basketball Australia CEO Larry Sengstock. Katie then came back and chatted to us and it was then it dawned on me that Katie was in fact one of the Blaze owners.

After speeches from Dave & Larry we chatted to the CEO for a few minutes prior to the game and then headed to our box. As we were walking with Owen & Larry we of course walked around the edge of the court and got the chance to say hi to Joey, Ronny, Big Joe and Gibbo before taking our seats. The box was of course centre court and it was great to watch the game with the league's CEO and have the owner's passing me beers all night!

Now, my observations from the actual game:

• Another poor crowd in attendance
• Ben Knight will not be back anytime soon from the knee injury he suffered in the first quarter
• The Gold Coast Blaze's defence and rebounding needs work and quick
• Blaze look terrible when they go to the "no-motion offence"
• Mark Worthington was a one-man wrecking crew, killing the Blaze for most of the game (31 points, 9 boards)
  
• Erron Maxey can play and will put up some large numbers this season (29 points, 7 boards)
  
• Blaze look good when they get offensive contributions outside of their stars
• Chris Goulding is a big chance for this year's Most Improved Player award
• Sam Mackinnon is still average from the free-throw line
  

It was great to see the Blaze come good in the second half and get a much needed home win. They looked dangerous for periods of the game and will be a contendor in this league if they can do that for the entire game.

It was a fantastic night and I owe a big thank you to my friend for hooking me up in VIP fashion. A massive thank you also to Owen, Katie & Dave for their warm welcome and generous hospitality throughout the night.

The view from the corporate box ... and yes, that's the back of Basketball Australia's CEO Larry Sengstock's head sitting in front of me.

Gold Coast Blaze vs Melbourne Tigers

One of my friends has hooked me up with a corporate ticket to the Gold Coast Blaze game tomorrow night against the Melbourne Tigers.

This is my second game of this new NBL season and I'm hoping that firstly the Blaze can get the win and secondly that the crowd is better than it was for game 1 against the Crocs. Like the first game, I'll be tweeting updates so if you're not already follow me on Twitter.

The Blaze are currently last on the ladder but I said it before the season started, it will take time for them to gel. They've got a new coaching staff, new imports and a number of other new players in key roles. I saw it first hand when the Brisbane Bullets over-hauled their roster, we had a star team on paper but it took time for them to come together and

I found two good articles talking about the Blaze and their start to the season. Click on the titles below to read the full stories.

Time is Wright for side to fire Blaze | goldcoast.com.au | Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia

WHEN Joey Wright was appointed coach of the Gold Coast Blaze, he asked supporters for some time.

With an almost completely new playing group, he was only too aware it would take a few matches for his side to gel.

His prediction was correct -- the Coast are sitting bottom with one win and three losses.

But Wright says his squad is 'starting to look like a basketball team'.

There is a renewed confidence in the group after returning home on Saturday from a tough away trip to Cairns and Perth for two matches in three days.

They lost both games but pushed the Wildcats all the way on Friday night.

Wright -- an NBL championship-winning coach with the Brisbane Bullets -- saw enough to predict his side is on the brink of turning their form around.

The View from Downunder – Local Edition #4

Adam Gibson is an impressive young basketballer. When you watch the disciplined way he plays defence, and the uncompromising way he takes the ball to the hole, it is easy to forget that he is only 22 years of age.

But watching the Gold Coast Blaze put up just 66 points last Wednesday against the Cairns Taipans, it was clear that Gibson is still a developing playmaker. Just as the Blaze are a developing team at this point in time.

The way the Blaze played in Cairns was very un-Joey Wright, for want of a better description.

Wright has put together a small, quick, versatile team on the Coast, just as he did at Brisbane. When I asked him why he said: “In this league, as much as we want to say ‘big’ wins, I think the versatile teams win more games, and that’s what we have tried to put together.”

Yet to start this season, the Blaze have been a half court team, with Gibson walking the ball up the floor repeatedly. The half court offence consisted mostly of pick and rolls and clear outs. That won’t get the Blaze far, with no real low post threats and very few people who can create shots off the dribble.

Gibson isn’t a playmaker, he is more of a place-setter at this stage of his career. He is absolutely reliable when it comes to playing defence, pushing the ball in transition, hitting the open shot and scoring in the lane.

NBA Fantasy Draft recap

After discussions on Friday night, its official ... the NBA Fantasy Draft is the BEST night of the year. Sorry Christmas and birthday, you lose.

As mentioned in my last post, I did some research and thought about my strategy for about 2.5 hours on Thursday night and a bit during the day on Friday. My plan was not to draft the best available player but instead look to build a team. A number of fantasy articles talk about grabbing as many point guards and power forwards as you can and then filling out your line-up with small forwards and shooting guards that can provide you with threes or give you forward or guard type stats (assists, boards, blocks, etc). This would be taken in to consideration when building my team as well.

The night started with me picking up a few of the boys in town where they had been having after-work drinks. Considering it was just before 8 when I picked them up, not surprisingly a couple were well on their way to drunk. We then met up with the others at a Mexican restaurant at Bulimba and enjoyed some beers and dinner before having drinks back here. A few photos from the night are on my Twitter profile.

When the draft positions were announced I was pleased to get the 6th pick having had the last pick last year. With this in mind I hoped someone like Dirk Nowitzki might slip in to my hands but he went in 5th so I instead went for Danny Granger who I owned for most of last season and I think is more dependable than Kevin Durant. Disappointing not to get a top level point guard or bigman with my top pick but Granger does it all so I'm pleased with that pick. Second round I wanted a quality bigman and the best available was Tim Duncan. Sure, he had some injury issues last season and he's getting old but he's consistent and the Spurs are doing their best to manage his health. By round 3 I wanted a quality point guard so it was between Kidd, Baron Davis, Rondo or Rose and I went with Kidd because of his ability to help with steals, boards, triples and assists. His average field goal percentage would be nullified by Granger and Duncan as my first picks.

From there, my later picks were:

• LaMarcus Aldridge
• Nene Hilario
• OJ Mayo
• Russell Westbrook
• Luis Scola
• Nate Robinson
• Lamar Odom
• Mike Dunleavy
• Brendan Haywood
• Anthony Parker
• Anthony Morrow

In review, I'm relying on Mayo and Westbrook to really step up from their rookie years. I hope Nene is at least close to the excellent fantasy season he had last year and Scola to step up even further in the absence of Yao Ming. My weaknesses seem to be fg% and ft% and I could use some more assists and triples. Hopefully my side can stay healthy and we'll see how the opening weeks play out.

Danny Granger, my #1 pick