2010/11 NBL season & off-season news

[Gozu]

Basketball Australia CEO Larry Sengstock has announced that they will help facilitate an NBL team's signing of Patrick Mills as Patty has now confirmed he's interested in playing in the NBL this season.
Also today Townsville re-signed Chris Cedar and have elevated him to the full roster after previously being a development player.

That is potentially very big news for the 36ers, who would have to be considered front runners for his services.

The problem is though they just signed Chris Warren. Unless they wanted to go with a tiny backcourt in he and Mills I just couldn't see it happening now unless of course they sacked Warren before the season even starts

[Gozu]

Townsville have signed Mitch Norton from the AIS to complete their roster for the upcoming season.

[Gozu]

Andrew Bogut will act as an assistant coach for the Boomers during their three game Olympic qualifying series against New Zealand in September. He won't be playing as due to the NBA lockout he's not insured and Basketball Australia can't afford to insure his $60 million contract with the Milwaukee Bucks.

[Gozu]

The Boomers team for the Stankovic Cup has been announced:

Australian Boomers – 2011 Stankovic Cup Team
Peter Crawford, Townsville Crocodiles
Matthew Dellavedova, St Mary’s College, USA
Anthony Drmic, AIS
Adam Gibson, Gold Coast Blaze
Hugh Greenwood, AIS
Luke Nevill, Triumph Lyubertsy, Russia
Luke Schenscher, Townsville Crocodiles
Nate Tomlinson, University of Colorado, USA
Cameron Tragardh, Melbourne Tigers
Jesse Wagstaff, Perth Wildcats
Stephen Weigh, Adelaide 36ers
Mark Worthington, Gold Coast Blaze

Boomers 2011 International Schedule1 Aug Stankovic Cup vs. Russia - Haining, China
2 Aug Stankovic Cup vs. Angola - Haining, China
3 Aug Stankovic Cup vs. China - Haniing, China
4 Aug Stankovic Cup (FINAL) vs. Opponent TBC - Haining, China

8 – 12 Aug Training Camp - Gold Coast

16 Aug Olympic Test Event vs. China - London, England
17 Aug Olympic Test Event vs. France - London, England
18 Aug Olympic Test Event vs. Croatia - London, England
20 Aug Olympic Test Event vs. Serbia - London, England
21 Aug Olympic Test Event vs. Great Britain - London, England

25 Aug International Friendly vs. Spain – Murcia, Spain
26 Aug International Friendly vs. Spain – Valencia, Spain

3 – 6 Sept Training Camp - Melbourne

7 Sept 2011 FIBA Oceania Championship for Men (vs. NZ) – Game 1, Melbourne
9 Sept 2011 FIBA Oceania Championship for Men (vs. NZ) – Game 2, Brisbane
11 Sept 2011 FIBA Oceania Championship for Men (vs. NZ) – Game 3, Sydney


Boomers 2011 International Results
25 June YouYi Games – Australia defeated China 67-65 (OT) in Perth
27 June YouYi Games – Australia defeated China 62-57 in Singapore

[Gozu]

In some big player movement news, perhaps the NBL's best player kiwi star Kirk Penney has quit the Breakers and signed with a team in Spain for next season. It'll be interesting to see who the defending champs sign to try and replace such a large part of their team. For the time being at least it opens the door for other teams next season.

Also the 36ers have announced they will be playing a pre-season game against the Melbourne Tigers in Geelong in late September.

[Gozu]

The Boomers went down in their opening game of the Stankovic Cup in China tonight, losing to Russia 99-97 in overtime.

Russia 99 (Kashirov 31, Smygin 17) def Australia 97 (OT) (Worthington 25, Crawford 17, Schenscher 14, Wagstaff 14)

Next game is against Angola at 5:30pm tomorrow night.

[NFC]

The Boomers went down in their opening game of the Stankovic Cup in China tonight, losing to Russia 99-97 in overtime.

Russia 99 (Kashirov 31, Smygin 17) def Australia 97 (OT) (Worthington 25, Crawford 17, Schenscher 14, Wagstaff 14)

Next game is against Angola at 5:30pm tomorrow night.

Rather uninspiring names... Then again, pretty uninspiring squad.

[Gozu]

In last night's other Stankovic Cup game Angola defeated China 67-64.

In NBL news with the departure of Kirk Penney the Breakers have announced they have re-signed import Gary Wilkinson to a two year deal.

[Gozu]

Tonight in the Stankovic Cup the Boomers had a narrow win over Angola.

Australia 76 (Crawford 12, Wagstaff 12, Worthington 10) def Angola 68 (Mingas 19, Gomes 10, Morais 10)

In tonight's other game Russia def China 67-52.

[Gozu]

The 36ers have announced they've signed their second import for this season, John Williamson an undersized 6'6" PF who has been playing in Finland.

[Gozu]

Tonight the Boomers beat host nation China at the Stankovic Cup and have advanced to tomorrow night's final.

Australia 69 (Dellavedova 18, Weigh 14) def China 62 (Yi Jianlian 16, Wang Shipeng 16)

Angola will play the Boomers in the final after defeating Russia 60-53 also.

[Gozu]

Unfortunately the Boomers went down to Angola tonight in the Stankovic Cup final.

Angola 85 (Morais 26, Gomes 21) def Australia 66 (Worthington 11, Greenwood 10, Schenscher 10, Wagstaff 10)

In the bronze medal game Russia def China 50-49.

[Gozu]

The Cairns Taipans have signed their first import for this season in Jamar Wilson who funnily enough was a teammate of new 36ers import John Williamson in Finland last season.

[Gozu]

The next Boomers squad has been announced ahead of the UK & Spanish tours:

Australian Boomers squad for Camp II, Southport QLD

David BARLOW, CAI Zaragoza, Spain
Aron BAYNES, EWE Basket Oldenburg, Germany
Peter CRAWFORD, Townsville Crocodiles
Matthew DELLAVEDOVA, St Mary's College, USA
Adam GIBSON, Gold Coast Blaze
Hugh GREENWOOD, AIS
Joe INGLES, Regal FC Barcelona, Spain
Daniel KICKERT, PGE Turow, Poland
Aleks MARIC, Panathinaikos, Greece
Damian MARTIN, Perth Wildcats
Patrick MILLS, Portland Trailblazers, USA
Brad NEWLEY, Lietuvos, Rytas, Lithuania
Matthew NIELSEN, Olympiacos Piraeus, Greece
AJ OGILVY, Valencia, Spain
Jesse WAGSTAFF, Perth Wildcats
Mark WORTHINGTON, Gold Coast Blaze

[Gozu]

The Sydney Kings have announced they have signed their second import in Jerai Grant from Clemson University. He's the son of former NBA veteran Harvey Grant and the nephew of former Bulls/Lakers championship winning PF, Horace.

[brod]

The Sydney Kings have announced they have signed their second import in Jerai Grant from Clemson University. He's the son of former NBA veteran Harvey Grant and the nephew of former Bulls/Lakers championship winning PF, Horace.

Grants obviously like to keep education in the family, another from Clemson

[Gozu]

The NZ Breakers have signed their second import in Cedric Jackson who had been playing in Italy and has spent some time in the NBA before and Perth Wildcats have re-signed Greg Hire.

[Gozu]

The Wollongong Hawks have signed import Joevan Catron straight out of college at Oregon.

Also the Melbourne Tigers have signed their first development player in Josh Wilcher.

[Gozu]

The Boomers have named the team for the London International Basketball Invitational tournament and the two game series against Spain:

2011 Australian Boomers Men’s Basketball Team: European Tour
David BARLOW, Murcia, Spain
Aron BAYNES, EWE Basket Oldenburg, Germany
Peter CRAWFORD, Townsville Crocodiles
Matthew DELLAVEDOVA, St Mary's College, USA
Adam GIBSON, Gold Coast Blaze
Joe INGLES, Regal FC Barcelona, Spain
Daniel KICKERT, PGE Turow, Poland
Aleks MARIC, Panathinaikos, Greece
Damian MARTIN, Perth Wildcats
Patrick MILLS, Portland Trailblazers, USA
Brad NEWLEY, Lietuvos, Rytas, Lithuania
Matthew NIELSEN, BC Khimki, Russia
AJ OGILVY, Valencia, Spain
Mark WORTHINGTON, Gold Coast Blaze

London International Basketball Invitational - Schedule
16 Aug Olympic Test Event vs. China - London, England
17 Aug Olympic Test Event vs. France - London, England
18 Aug Olympic Test Event vs. Croatia - London, England
20 Aug Olympic Test Event vs. Serbia - London, England
21 Aug Olympic Test Event vs. Great Britain - London, England

[Gozu]

A fair bit of NBL news today, first up the Gold Coast Blaze have completed their roster with the signing of import Will Hudson who is straight out of college at Michigan.

There has been a suspected arson attack at Adelaide Arena (formerly The Dome) last nigh with the building sustaining only minor damage.

The 36ers have announced they will be playing two pre-season games against the Cairns Taipans on the 10th September at Starplex (Gawler) and the 11th September at Adelaide Arena.

NBL Pre-season games have already started with the Blaze defeating the touring University of Texas San Antonio 90-68. UTSA will also play a game against the Taipans on Wednesday as part of their five game tour.