Joey Wright - Geelong Supercats

Our feature Geelong Supercats Legend today is Joey Wright.

Long before he took over the coaching reigns of the Brisbane Bullets back in 2003, Joey Wright played for the Geelong Supercats in ‘95 and ‘96. In his first year in the NBL, Wright was known as one of the best guards in the league, and had one of the most memorable games of the 90s when in June 1995, he went 24 from 25 from the free throw line (a current NBL record for most attempts and most free throws made in a game). He finished the game with a triple double scoring 28 points, 10 assists and 10 rebounds.

In the ’95 season, Joey averaged 22.2 points, 5.8 assists, 5.6 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 2.2 triples per game. 

To grab your very own Joey Wright t-shirt, follow this link: http://classicbasketballtees.spreadshirt.com/joey-wright-classic-A13272548/customize/color/1

Geelong Supercats t-shirts

Gather round and let me tell you about a time when the NBL was booming! So much so that back in the early 80’s you actually had to earn your way in to the league, proving yourself against NBL teams in a gladiatorial-style running of the gauntlet!
 
The (other) Geelong Cats were founded as part of the Victorian Basketball Association in 1978. After achieving championship success in that league in 1981, the club was pitted against four NBL clubs over two tournaments. After defeating all of these NBL teams the Supercats were accepted into the NBL for the 1982 season.

With star players such as Cal Bruton and James Crawford on the roster, the Cats recorded 13 straight victories and finished second overall at the end of the regular season with 21 wins and 7 losses. The Cats would go on to compete in the Grand Final in their first season, losing to the West Adelaide Bearcats.

1991 was probably the final high point for Geelong when they finished third at the end of the regular season and boasted such guns as Shane Heal, Terry Dozier, Bobby Locke, Vince Hinchen and John Dorge. 

Grew up in Geelong but don’t like AFL? No problem, we’ve got you covered with our tribute to the once great Geelong Supercats. Representing them in our “Legends” series are James Crawford, Cal Bruton, Bobby Locke, Joey Wright, Shane Heal and Vince Hinchen.

Geelong its time to represent, show your support for our game, and remind everyone that your town is not just about AFL! Like, share and shop!

Check out our store for the team 5 of the "Legends" range:

http://classicbasketballtees.spreadshirt.com/

NBL Announce 2013/2014 schedule

MEDIA RELEASE

9 August 2013

NBL ANNOUNCE 2013/14 SCHEDULE

The National Basketball League is pleased to announce the full schedule for the 2013/14 season which will commence on 10 October 2013 with the final games of the regular season being played on 23 March 2014.

There will once again be eight teams competing, which includes the new community-owned Townsville Crocodiles.

Each team will play a total of 28 games over 23 weeks with the top four teams to contest the NBL Finals in March and April.

Dates and venues for the finals will be confirmed following the final round of the regular season.

The 2013/14 NBL Season tips-off with three-time defending champions, New Zealand Breakers raising their championship banner and also retiring Dillon Boucher’s singlet on opening night when they take on the Wollongong Hawks at Vector Area in Auckland.
On the Friday night of opening weekend, two new coaches go head-to-head when Trevor Gleeson’s Perth Wildcats take on Joey Wright’s Adelaide 36ers at Perth Arena.

This will be the first of 10 Friday night games in The Jungle for the ‘Cats who last season averaged crowds of more than 11,000.

Round one continues on Saturday night with the first Reptile Rumble of the season as the Cairns Taipans take on the Crocodiles, under the guidance of new coach Shawn Dennis in Townsville.

The first round of the season closes out on Sunday afternoon with a huge match-up between the Sydney Kings and their capital city rivals the Melbourne Tigers.

This game will celebrate the Kings' 25th season in the league, with past legends tipped to make an appearance at the game that will also signal the return of Mark Worthington to Melbourne and the debut of AJ Ogilvy in the gold and purple.

Round three will see the 2013 Grand Final re-match at what will be a packed North Shore Events Centre when New Zealand play host to Perth on Thursday 24 October.

In a tough road double, the Wildcats will then have to fly to Sydney to play the Kings on Sunday, which will also mark their 1000th game in the NBL since being established in 1982.
The 2014 NBL Finals Series will once again see the top four teams face off in a best-of-three series commencing on Friday 28 March, with the best-of-three Grand Final Series expected to conclude in mid-April.

Games will once again be broadcast on both free-to-air television as well as live and on demand on PC, iPhone or iPad via NBL.TV (TV games and tip-off times will be announced shortly).

Click here to see the full list of fixtures for the 2013/14 season.

Blaze win and Gibbo gets POTW

Going in to this round the Gold Coast Blaze were looking a little shaky having dropped two games in a row, had been without Adam Gibson for a couple of games and then lost playmaker Ayinde Ubaka to injury.

Saturday saw the Melbourne Tigers come to the coast with momentum on their side and their season on the line. With the Breakers also finally stringing some wins together the Blaze needed a win to solidify their top 4 spot.

The Tigers came out strong and led after the first quarter but Gold Coast stepped up narrowly winning the next three quarters and after a big 3 on the buzzer from Mark Worthington the game moved in to overtime. In the final term tho Erron Maxey stepped up and the Blaze dominated 12 - 4 to get the important win.

News came out today that Adam Gibson was named Player of the Week for his contribution to the Blaze's victor. Gibbo had 15 points, 12 assists & 7 boards against the Tigers. Great numbers from Adam and the 12 assists is the stand-out stat for me, especially in the shortened 40 minutes of action.

Looking ahead, this week the Gold Coast Blaze play Perth at home on Friday and then head to the 'Gong to take on the Hawks. Hopefully the Blaze can take some revenge on the Hawks after the stinker they put up last time they played. In the final round of the regular season Gold Coast are away to the Breakers and the Tigers.

As teams jockey position to make the top four coach Joey Wright believes they need two more wins to ensure their spot in the playoffs.

Gold Coast Blaze heating up

Its great to see the Gold Coast Blaze starting to find some form and stringing some wins together.

My last post regarding them was heading in to their two game road-trip and how they needed to get at least one win. They upset the shaky Breakers in NZ and almost knocked off the 36'ers in Adelaide but fell just short.

Since then, they've defended their home court against the Townsville Crocodiles and last night against the Perth Wildcats. It was good to see them knock off the Crocs who won on the Gold Coast in round 1. Last night would also give the team confidence after they came from more than 20 points down to get the win against the #1 ranked Perth. The win set up by a defensive effort in the 3rd quarter that held the Wildcats to just FIVE points.

The Blaze started the season slowly but now find themselves in the top 4. I mentioned from day 1 that the Gold Coast would take time to gel and this has obviously been the case. Coach Joey Wright will be pleased with their development but will no doubt still expect more from them.

The keys to winning for the Blaze seem to be:

• So goes Adam Gibson, so goes the Blaze. When Gibbo has a good night, this usually leads to a win for the Blaze
• Gold Coast need offensive production from one or two players outside of their 3 main weapons (Harvey, Maxey & Ubaka). This tends to be from Gibbo, Petrie, Vukona or Goulding.
• Their defence is the catalyst for their offence.

Ahead for the Blaze will be a tough return encounter against the Wildcats but this time the two teams meet in Perth ...

Gold Coast Blaze vs Cairns Taipans

I didn't make the trip down the coast last night. Traffic would have been rough not to mention that its the what used to be Indy, then SuperGP, now V8 weekend in Surfers. For this reason (V8's), I'm not surprised to see that it was another disappointing crowd of roughly 2400 which is less than 1/2 the stadium's capacity.

From reading the game recap on the NBL website, this is the most pleasing part:
"but it was the defense of the Coast that was most impressive in a sign that the bottom placed team had turned the corner"
In the two games I've seen so far this season the Blaze have struggled on the defensive end getting killed on the boards and general allowing easy buckets. As the team gels and learns Coach Joey Wright's system, this was something that I knew would improve eventually.

Here's the other highlights from the game/boxscore:

• Ayinda Ubake (Chewbacca) top scored with 25 points (9 of 12 from the field) including 4 triples
• Anthony Petrie was a beast defensively with 10 points, 4 boards, 5 blocks and 2 steals
• Dusty Rychart was well and truly shut-down scoring just 2 points and 5 turnovers
• Erron Maxey was again solid with 15 points, 7 boards
  

The Blaze convincingly won the game 80 - 63 despite not getting much on the offensive end from young-guns Adam Gibson, Chris Goulding or Greg Vanderjagt. The win takes the Gold Coast Blaze off the bottom of the ladder and when they get all cylinders firing look for them to make a move up the leaderboard.

Ayinde Ubaka (Chewbacca) led the Blaze in scoring

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.

Gold Coast Blaze update

I didn't get a chance to post this on the weekend but it was great to see the Gold Coast Blaze get their first win of the NBL season on Friday night at home against the Wollongong Hawks. I'm sure it was dedicated to team manager Big Joe's birthday the next day!

I didn't make the trip down the freeway this week but the game looked fairly close for most of the night according to the FIBA live stats. It was pleasing to see a more balanced scoring attack from the Blaze this week, not solely relying on James Harvey to get it done. Four players in double figures this week led by import Michael Joiner with 18 and Ayinde Ubaka with 15. Mika Vukona was also active with 10 points, 13 boards.

Now it was good to see Joiner put some numbers on the board after a terrible opener, but I got the news on Twitter last night that he was the first import cut. So it seems his performance on Friday night was too little too late. I put up a story last week about how NBA players get in shape during the off-season and Joiner's lack of fitness was likely the reason for his axing. Click on the title below to read about his replacement.

Blaze make import switch

The Gold Coast Blaze have signed a new US import for season 2009-2010.

Former college and California Pro League player Erron Maxey has arrived on the Coast to replace the departing Michael Joiner.

At 100kg and 6’6”, Maxey is a strong rebounder with a handy outside shot who uses ‘outstanding leaping ability’ to beat taller and heavier players to the hoop.

'We put our team together this year from scratch and, quite simply, the eventual line up left no place for Michael,” said Blaze Coach Joey Wright.

'We've brought Erron in knowing that he is a strong forward and someone who has the leap and reach to block shots all over the court.

“He’s a hard working small forward who can knock down the open perimeter jump shot.

'With our team still developing our own playing style, we knew the sooner we could get him out here, the better,” he said.

Maxey comes to the Gold Coast with a solid reputation as an exceptional athlete, able to dominate bigger players at the post when needed.

NBL tidbits

After a solid start to the work today, there's been a lull in the last hour or so which has given me the chance to see what's happening in the NBL.

Firstly, here's a story about the return to the court of ex-Brisbane Bullets guard CJ Bruton. After two off-season surgeries, expect CJ to start the season slowly but once he gets back to 100% expect the basketball shooting displays we're used to from him.

Positive Bruton ready for return | Stuff.co.nz

New Zealand Breakers star CJ Bruton is hoping that the pain of a couple of major off-season surgeries will translate into some serious gain on the Australian NBL court before too long.

The 33-year-old Aussie point guard has only just been able to resume full training after going under the knife over the off-season to have some work done on his ankle and elbow, both of which hampered him through the club's record-breaking 2008-09 campaign.


Then, while checking out the OzHoops board, someone mentioned this interview with ex-Brisbane Bullets and now Gold Coast Blaze head coach Joey Wright. I'm looking forward to heading down the freeway numerous times this season to see Joey, Big Joe, Gibbo and the rest of the Blaze in action. It will certainly be more entertaining (and no doubt more competitive) than the Blaze games I have seen over the last few years.

FIBA.com - News - Interviews

BRISBANE (NBL) - Brisbane Bullets championship coach Joey Wright has returned to Australian shores to coach the Gold Coast Blaze, and is a most welcome returnee, bringing up-tempo, exciting basketball back to the Coast. His mission is to take the Blaze from the NBL cellar to the top of the heap, just as he did with the Bullets.

He has coached some notable internationals in club competition, including Nigeria's Ebi Ere, Tall Blacks Dillon Boucher and Mika Vukona, and Australian greats Mark Bradtke (4 Olympics), CJ Bruton and Sam Mackinnon. This year at the Blaze he will coach 2002 FIBA World Championship All-Star Pero Cameron, Stankovic Cup MVP James Harvey and emerging Australian Boomers point guard Adam Gibson.

Wright always has some interesting views on world basketball, and FIBA's Paulo Kennedy caught up with Joey to talk about the contrasts between different countries.

Gold Coast Blaze and the kiss of death

I read on Big Joe's Facebook account yesterday that he was picking up the first import for the Gold Coast Blaze from the airport. Big Joe wasn't happy that he had to get up so early (and had slept in a single bed the night before ... which I find hard to picture) but was tight-lipped on just who that import was.

As we wait to hear who it is and also who their second import will be, I came across an article on the NBL website about how upbeat people around the Blaze are. Click on the title below to read the full story but it starts with coach Joey Wright saying how he's very excited and that he believes they can make the playoffs. Check out the exerpt below and see how carried away the co-owner gets. Its WAY too early to even be thinking about the championship.

NBL > News

Blaze CEO Dave Claxton said he’s optimistic of a strong season showing.

“We want a team out on the court that want to be there from the first minute to the last and obviously every game we go into, we would be expecting to win,” Claxton said.

“The coaches and the players in their own right are very competitive and what I like about this team is that they are physically aggressive players.
“That’s the style of game people will see from us this year,” he said.

Franchise co-owner Owen Tomlinson was even more upbeat in his assessment of the team’s chances.

“I honestly believe we can win the championship this year,” Tomlinson said.

“We’ve recruited extremely well, Joey continues to put together a hand-picked, tailor-made team and there’s nothing to suggest we can’t go all the way,” he said.

NBL schedule released

First we had NBL teams signing up players and now the league has announced its game schedule. Things are finally starting to get back on track!

Looking at the schedule I'll likely be at the Blaze first home game of the season against the Crocs. It'll be disappointing and strange not to see JR playing for Townsville and it'll be even more strange to be cheering for the Blaze!

I've had a few messages with Coach Joey Wright over the last few weeks so my ties to the Bullets will have me jumping on his new team's bandwagon.

Click on the title below to read more about the upcoming season and to check out the full schedule.

NBL > News

The schedule for the 2009/10 National Basketball League season has been released, with the eight-team competition set to tip-off on Thursday September 24.

The opening game of the season will see title hopefuls the New Zealand Breakers host the resurgent Cairns Taipans at the North Shore Events Centre.

Wollongong fans won’t have to wait long to celebrate their emotional return to the court after what was thought to have been their last match ever last season. They host the Perth Wildcats on Friday 25 September.

Other opening round match-ups see a Queensland local derby at the Gold Coast Convention Centre between Gold Coast and Townsville on Friday 25 September and Cairns hosting Adelaide on Saturday 26 September.

Gold Coast Blaze signings

Its been a busy week for the Gold Coast Blaze. Yesterday was the big one, it had been rumoured for the last few months, but Adam Gibson had officially signed. Today some of the bench signings fell in to place with Tyson Demos, Greg Vanderjagt and Chris Goulding all putting pen to paper.

Its great to see Vanderjagt get another shot after he put up good numbers in limited minutes last season. He's an imposing force in the lower levels of the game so this could be a breakout season for him.

I joked on one of the NBL forums earlier that they should rename the Blaze the Spartans with all four of the players mentioned having played for the Brisbane/Southern Districts Spartans (in the SEABL) at one time or another.

Gibbo and Goulding were both part of the Brisbane Bullets so the band is definitely getting back together under coach Joey Wright. Joey is currently in the US on a scouting mission.

Here are the official announcements:

NBL > News

The Gold Coast Blaze have announced the first player to ‘agree to terms’ to play for the 2009/10 season. Australian Boomers and former Brisbane Bullets and South Dragons player Adam Gibson will head to the Coast in about three weeks after a superb 2008/09 season that saw him help his team to the NBL championship and be named the league’s Best Defensive Player. The 188cm, 93kg Tasmanian-born point guard launched his NBL career in Brisbane in 2005, snaring the 2007 championship before heading to the Dragons in 2008.

NBL > News

The Gold Coast Blaze basketball team has announced three more key players for season 2009/10. Blaze young gun Tyson Demos and towering centre Greg Vanderjagt will line up for their second seasons on the Gold Coast alongside former Brisbane Bullet and Perth Wildcats guard Chris Goulding. Vanderjagt and Goulding were recently named in the 2009 Australian Boomers squad.

Adam Gibson and Joey Wright in their days with the Brisbane Bullets

Joey Wright back in the NBL

I've been waiting all day for the NBL to update their website with the announcement of the new Gold Coast Blaze head coaching position taking place at 11am this morning. It will come as no surprise to most that the new coach is ex-Brisbane Bullets head coach, Joey Wright (pictured below).

His assistant will be Ron Radliff who worked with Joey in Brisbane and also played for the Gold Coast back when they were the Rollers. I know team manager Big Joe is also back onboard, now we have to wait and see if Dale Ryan joins the team and which ex-Bullets players Joey can lure to the coast. The rumour mill has names such as Adam Gibson and Ebi Ere in the mix.

I'm excited at the news ... let's just hope the season actually goes ahead!

NBL > News

The Gold Coast Blaze have confirmed that former Brisbane Bullets coach Joey Wright has joined their organisation.

Blaze CEO Dave Claxton said a conditional agreement has been entered into that will see Wright take on the head coaching duties for the next three seasons.

“Joey’s appointment is entirely conditional on a new NBL competition being formed and, of course, the Blaze being a part of that competition,” Mr Claxton said.

“He joins our club in the expectation of the launch of a new national competition for the 2009/10 season.”

“His coaching contract with us will begin at the start of the new league.”

“In the meantime, we’d expect Joey to begin the process of assembling a competitive team that with his coaching guidance can compete for a championship,” he said.

Wright will be assisted in his coaching duties by former Brisbane Bullets and Gold Coast Rollers favourite, Ron ‘the Rat’ Radliff.

Gold Coast Blaze news

I was checking out the Ozhoops boards this morning and came across this news. It seems that the rumour mill has ex-Brisbane Bullets coach Joey Wright as the new head coach of the Gold Coast Blaze. Nothing has been finalised as yet so it will be interesting to see what happens.

The Boards @ Ozhoops • View topic - Brendan Joyce Fired

Word is Wright will be new coach
Nick Smart- Gold Coast Bulletin (2/3/09)

SPECULATION is rife that former Brisbane Bullets coach Joey Wright will soon be unveiled as the new coach of the Gold Coast Blaze.

The Gold Coast Bulletin understands that incumbent coach Brendan Joyce, who is currently holidaying in Hong Kong and could not be reached yesterday, will be replaced at the club he took to the playoffs in the Blaze's first year.

The Coast struggled with injuries and a tough draw on their way to a wooden-spoon finish in their second season.

The shake-up has already begun with assistant coach Mark Watkins - who declined to comment when contacted yesterday - believed to have already been told his services at the club are no longer required.
The former West Sydney coach has been Joyce's loyal and hard-working right-hand man at the Blaze since their formation.

But it appears the highly respected basketball mind will now be looking elsewhere. With Watkins understood to be out the door, Joyce is expected to soon officially follow suit. The Bulletin believes the former Wollongong championship-winning coach was recently told of his fate by the club.

Sources close to the club suggest Wright - a former Bullets championship-winning coach and two-time NBL coach of the year -has agreed to terms with the Blaze and will be announced once the Coast receive word they have been accepted into the new league.

However, one stumbling block could be the fact Joyce still has two years remaining on his current deal.
The club could have a legal fight on their hands if Basketball Australia force current clubs to honour existing contracts in the revamped competition next season.

An NBL spokesman yesterday said a decision had not been made on whether current contracts remain valid.

Blaze co-owner Owen Tomlinson would not be drawn when contacted by The Bulletin yesterday.
``Brendan Joyce is not gone and Joey Wright is not in,'' he said.
``We haven't really done anything yet, and don't take that as misleading either.
``We haven't made any specific moves.
``We are not going to do anything until we find out officially that we are in the league and that's what we are doing now.
``We are trying to put everything in place and then we can look at the structure of the team and the coaches if we decide to make a change.'

In other Blaze news, not surprisingly Luke Whitehead was rewarded for his extremely productive last couple of months with the team's MVP award. The only question now is, Luke ... what are you wearing??