Mark Planamente
NormDragons Need Healing Process
October 23rd 2006 13:18
Well we are now five rounds in for the NBL Phillips Championship for 2006-07, and already the second Melbourne franchise is already struggling in their debut season.
The South Dragons, who entered the competition behind a long list of failed second Melbourne sides, are already behind the eight ball after not even a quarter of the season passing by. No wins after five matches, and announced today that they were parting ways with American coach Mark Price and import Todd Fuller.
Shane Heal, the club’s marquee player and by far the most talented player on the roster, has taken the reigns of the club, and whilst they will be looking for Price’s replacement, he will try to steer the Dragons back on the right track.
Heal has wasted no time in ensuring this. Sacking Fuller due to a lack of ‘work ethic’, he has commented on instilling a new work ethic philosophy into the side and will try to “turn the season around because we are only five games in”.
Even though it is humorous to hear a coach commenting on ‘turning the season around’ after only five games, the best comment in this whole debacle was by Dragon chairman Mark Cowan, who responded to why Price was sacked as stating that “The basketball program wasn’t achieving what we thought it should be achieving”.
You think?
I mean seriously, it was always going to be hard for the Dragons to enter this season. The era of Gaze had just ended, yet the Tigers were able to dominate the competition last season to be premiers, and looked like they would do the same this time around.
For anyone in Melbourne during the winter months, no one can deny that the Dragons did a great job in marketing their new club. Dragging marquee player Heal everywhere, and their interesting advertising campaign did seem to pop up in every medium. However they seemed to leave out one important factor of their campaign, building a decent team.
Yes they have Heal, who is absolutely fantastic on the court, and their import Fuller was drawing some interesting stats in each game before being canned, but other than that there is no real depth to the squad. Well other than the youngster guard Joe Inglas who is indeed having a great start to his career.
It just seems to be that the Dragons need more than a new coach to get out of this pickle. They might be drawing a crowd at the moment, but if they keep up this losing pattern I can guarantee that it will not last long. My final point is this, the Giants, the Titans, Magic; three Melbourne sides who when they struggled for a small bit were deserted by their home town. A common fact of the small NBL crowd in Melbourne is that the Tigers will always take top spot, and they will only allow space for another side if they are in fact winning, and winning convincingly.
It looks like Heal has a tough row to hoe.
Until next time, sports minds.
The South Dragons, who entered the competition behind a long list of failed second Melbourne sides, are already behind the eight ball after not even a quarter of the season passing by. No wins after five matches, and announced today that they were parting ways with American coach Mark Price and import Todd Fuller.
Shane Heal, the club’s marquee player and by far the most talented player on the roster, has taken the reigns of the club, and whilst they will be looking for Price’s replacement, he will try to steer the Dragons back on the right track.
Heal has wasted no time in ensuring this. Sacking Fuller due to a lack of ‘work ethic’, he has commented on instilling a new work ethic philosophy into the side and will try to “turn the season around because we are only five games in”.
Even though it is humorous to hear a coach commenting on ‘turning the season around’ after only five games, the best comment in this whole debacle was by Dragon chairman Mark Cowan, who responded to why Price was sacked as stating that “The basketball program wasn’t achieving what we thought it should be achieving”.
You think?
I mean seriously, it was always going to be hard for the Dragons to enter this season. The era of Gaze had just ended, yet the Tigers were able to dominate the competition last season to be premiers, and looked like they would do the same this time around.
For anyone in Melbourne during the winter months, no one can deny that the Dragons did a great job in marketing their new club. Dragging marquee player Heal everywhere, and their interesting advertising campaign did seem to pop up in every medium. However they seemed to leave out one important factor of their campaign, building a decent team.
Yes they have Heal, who is absolutely fantastic on the court, and their import Fuller was drawing some interesting stats in each game before being canned, but other than that there is no real depth to the squad. Well other than the youngster guard Joe Inglas who is indeed having a great start to his career.
It just seems to be that the Dragons need more than a new coach to get out of this pickle. They might be drawing a crowd at the moment, but if they keep up this losing pattern I can guarantee that it will not last long. My final point is this, the Giants, the Titans, Magic; three Melbourne sides who when they struggled for a small bit were deserted by their home town. A common fact of the small NBL crowd in Melbourne is that the Tigers will always take top spot, and they will only allow space for another side if they are in fact winning, and winning convincingly.
It looks like Heal has a tough row to hoe.
Until next time, sports minds.
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