Hawks coach’s mini-setback
Sharks live up to billing in money stakes as they pounce on Saints in Wellington final
If Hawks coach Zico Coronel’s postulation on the worth of basketball franchises is correct then the final National Basketball League outcome in Wellington this winter shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone.
SIT Zerofees Southland Sharks last night claimed their third Sal’s Pizza-sponsored NBL crown with a 98-96 victory and, in doing so, deprived perennial champions Cigna Wellington Saints of their 11th bragging rights and third attempt at a three-peat.
Coronel, who was hoping his former franchise Saints would prevail, made the remarks on Saturday night after the Taylor Corporation-sponsored Hawke’s Bay franchise team lost the opening semifinal 99-73 to the hosts.
The Sharks had pipped Mike Pero Nelson Giants 98-93 in the second semifinal at the ASB Trust Bank Arena in the capital city.
Coronel said success stemmed from the drawing board even before the NBL tipped off, based on their ability to buy marquee players.
Of the Final Four contenders, he suspected the Hawks had the smallest budget, albeit not above that of the Saints and Sharks.
“The Giants have a heck of a roster and that wouldn’t have come cheaply. Southland would have had double what we have and the Saints probably not as much as they ordinarily do because they didn’t have some of the players they were expecting to have,” he said.
While there as no “one-to-one correlation between budgets”, Coronel said, there was a “strong correlation” to an open chequebook policy to winning. That was often the parameters of operation for the coaches who also had to pay their dues to raise their families.
“Everyone expects sports to be different but it’s not because it’s just another organisation.
“Players are going to go where they can support themselves and to teams who have the best budgets.”
Coronel said the Hawks were fortunate to have the personnel they had this season and now faced the arduous task of retaining the core of the team.
The players, he said, had expressed in the changing rooms how much they had appreciated each other’s company to the extent where they were “like brothers”.
“That’s not always possible because someone in the group is not of good character but ours is so that’ll help to bond the team.”
However, it remained to be seen of the composition would remain unchanged next winter so the franchise’s work was cut out for an immediate undertaking. On Saturday, the Hawks made a sluggish start in the first quarter with captain Jarrod Kenny and Boomer centre Angus Brandt in early foul trouble.
It was catch-up stuff from there on but the Hawks struggled to contain Saints point guard Shea Ili and US import LJ Peak who claimed a matchhigh 31 points.
As romantic as it sounded preFinal Four, is it realistic to harbour NBL ambitions with just two imports and without the prowess of a Peak prototype?
“We would love to have a third import and we’d love to have a player like LJ Peak,” Coronel said. “Hidden behind the singlet and uniform of the Final Four is a big discrepancy of budgets.”
He likened Ili to ex-Saint Corey Webster, adding few, if any, players were capable of containing him in the NBL. All said and done, he wanted the Saints to prevail last night because of his previous association with the players, including his role as assistant to Breakers-bound Kevin Braswell.
“But there are so many great and deserving people in a lot of clubs, especially as it’s cool to see people who are winning their first one and that’s amazing feeling.”
But for basketball to be the winner in the country should another team break the Saints’ stranglehold?
“Not necessarily. The Saints are the model of our league . . . so we will all benefit for the good of basketball or whatever endeavour if we all try to look at what they do and why are they the best and try to learn from them,” he said, emphasising owner Nick Mills Snr made huge sacrifices to be the common dominator of the 11 campaigners.
“Some people invest their money into having nice things and Nick invests his into having a nice basketball team so people in Wellington appreciate that and you cannot begrudge them winning.”
Perhaps Mills Snr will want to raise the stakes to enter a second Kiwi team in the Australian National Basketball League with the Breakers?
That, my fiends, is another subject for debate another time.