Frazzled Gaze to move on

BASKETBALL: Andrew Gaze will leave the Sydney Kings at season’s end but with his respected reputation intact.

Gaze shocked the basketball community yesterday morning when he announced he had mutually agreed to part ways with the Kings as head coach.

The club had originally planned to wait until after the team’s playoff campaign before addressing Gaze’s future.

However, this changed at 9pm on Monday when Gaze contacted Sydney officials to inform them he wanted to publicly reveal his decision that he was departing.

The Australian basketball icon said the mental challenge of coaching and being away from his family in Melbourne had taken a toll.

Gaze had made his mind up not to continue weeks ago, but felt the time was now right to end the speculation around his tenure.

“Given my family situation and where I’m at and the process they (the Kings) wanted to go through, we mutually agreed to part ways,” he said.

“I’ve got a real strong desire to spend time with my family, but we are all comfortable with the decision because we’ve known for some time.”

Illawarra coach Rob Beveridge is favoured to take over from Gaze at the Kings.

Marquee man Andrew Bogut praised Gaze for his contribution to the Kings and said the coach’s imminent departure would motivate the players to send him out a winner.

“We love Drewy as a person and we want to play hard for him,” Bogut said.

“But our focus is also having nine or 10 free agents on this team that might not be here and could sign with other clubs.

“They’ll also want to put in good performances for their career. Hopefully we can move on from it and win a championship.”

Gaze will leave the Kings in a stronger position than at the time of his arrival.

He has a 50 per cent winning record, with 42 wins and 42 losses, making him the third most successful coach in Kings history behind Brian Goorjian and Bob Turner.

He is also the first Kings coach to make the playoffs in six years, and this year he has led the franchise to its best regular season record since 20072008 (18-10).

The Kings take on Melbourne United in their semi-final series, with game one in Melbourne on Thursday, February 28.