NBL

Has the Dragons and Magic fan charge stopped?

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When talk of the South Dragons possible return to the NBL was running rampant in the media, Facebook group ‘Save Our South Dragons‘ experienced a massive surge in numbers of likes for their page but now the page has been stuck in the 800’s for some time,

The same has occurred over at ‘Bring Back The South East Melbourne Magic‘ for they have stopped in the 600’s after experiencing a boom of their own which is a shame considering when thriving they have a very passionate community.

With the United Ballers all but missing out on the 2014/15 NBL finals series, now is a good time for both the Magic and the Dragons fans and the teams consortium’s to start flexing their muscles while readying for the 2016/17 season for Victorians don’t like teams who fail to make the big time and will be looking for a team who state they can walk the walk and talk the talk.

On the other hand, the Melbourne Tigers are still busy rebuilding and planning their future with their fans hoping for some BigV success this year so don’t count out the Tigers from looming in the shadows of the United Ballers and raising the stakes in the ‘Battle for Melbourne’.

Stay tuned fans.

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United Ballers got Crocodile Rocked

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The eyes of the majority of Australia were focused on the Australian Open last night but not far away from the action at Hisense Arena, Melbourne United Ballers discovered that despite all of Townsville’s problems in recent seasons they can bite hard and so the United Ballers fell to Townsville 81 to 69.

The loss hurt United Ballers more when hours earlier Adelaide smashed Sydney to keep pace with and then pass Melbourne United Ballers into fourth spot which is the last finals spot.

The situation is that Adelaide must hold on to their one win advantage over Melbourne United Ballers for if the two sides finish equal in wins then United Ballers will get through based on outscoring Adelaide in their matches this season.

Melbourne Tigers fans unhappy with Melbourne United Ballers have never been more grateful to Adelaide and Townsville and hope that other NBL teams have equal success against United Ballers to shut the team out of the finals and prove that a name, culture and history change doesn’t do a thing when the side can’t make the finals.

United claims state for Heritage Round

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Melbourne United Ballers this morning posted an image of Daryl Corletto from 2002 in Melbourne Tigers gear with the caption ‘Circa 2002: Kicking off Heritage Round with this Melbourne youngster!’ leading fans to speculate the team was returning to the Tigers for the game against Townsville.

Hours after this post, Melbourne United Ballers revealed that they will be wearing 1953 Victorian state jerseys in a move that has puzzled Basketball lovers from around the country, this isn’t the first time United have chosen state gear with pre-season matches played in Victorian colours due to the team not having their jerseys launched at that time.

Imagine if Collingwood, Carlton or any of the other Victorian teams played say Port Adelaide in Big V gear with their justification being that because some of their players played for Victoria as kids they can wear the Big V for the AFL game, nobody would buy that for a second because although Collingwood etc are in the state of Victoria they are not the state team and cannot claim to be that team at any time.

One more thing to consider is that with a second Victorian team looming in the distance could Melbourne United Ballers be trying to do good for the state now so they get a head start on state opposition when they arrive? The team is based in Melbourne, want to play in Ballarat and wears state jerseys for Heritage round, what more could they do to say that are wanting the entire state?.

The big losers from all this is the Melbourne Tigers fans, first Melbourne United Ballers owners took away the Tigers name and history then they disregarded the five retired numbers that hung proudly at home games by allowing their players to wear them and now they bypass direct history, is there anything more United Ballers want to take away from the fans?.

A slightly empty Christmas for Tigers fans

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Christmas time used to be special for Tigers fans for it meant that the NBL season was entering the second half of the season and thoughts of finals start to enter the mind.

For this festive season there is no Tigers in the NBL or any major competition but Tigers fans find some cheer in knowing that the number of Christmases without the Tigers in competition are numbered for we have every faith in the team being built up to be nice and strong again and playing in a number of strong leagues.

Enjoy this Christmas, wear some Tigers gear and add to your Christmas some Basketball cheer by playing a game or watching a classic match or two in the company of family and friends and may next Christmas be one of 100% Tiger positivity.

Does anybody care about the Giants anymore?

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When it comes to teams that are missed you have people missing the Melbourne Tigers, West Sydney Razorbacks, Canberra Cannons, Brisbane Bullets, South East Melbourne Magic, South Dragons and many others but one team gone from the NBL but is still around is the Coburg Giants.

The team started their NBL journey as Coburg in 1980 before moving to North Melbourne in 1987, winning the NBL title in 1989 and 1994 before merging with SE Melbourne Magic for the 1998/99 Season before becoming the Victoria Titans and finally Victoria Giants before it was all over in 2004.

The Giants live on in the Coburg Basketball Association with the team having great success on and off the court but when it comes to NBL chatter the talk about the Giants is little compared to the other teams and so We Are Not United encourages Giants fans to talk Giants basketball, make a page, educate people about the team and who knows maybe the Giants can become a force again one competition at a time.

Flashback to 2012 commemoration of 1993 title win

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Just two years ago, the majority of the staff and members of the Melbourne Tigers 1993 team gathered at The Cage during the NBL’s 2012/2013 heritage round to celebrate the 1993 title.

It was a fitting commemoration even if the celebration was a year short of the 20th anniversary of the great win in Perth, the Gaze’s were there, Lanard Copeland was there, Al Westover was there plus many more of the 1993 heroes and thanks to AndTheFoul.net fans who missed out on watching the commemoration get to see it on YouTube anytime they like.

No article is complete without a video of the highlights from Game 3 of the Grand Final series which is considered by many to be one of the greatest Grand Final matches in NBL history and to finish off there is a video comprised of several news reports on Game 3 of the Grand Final series which is great viewing as both teams gave their thoughts on the game.

SEABL plan reportedly fails

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Melbourne Tigers hopes have reportedly been dashed with reports from Brad Simpson that the 2015 season draw has already been finalized, earlier today we speculated that it was possible Melbourne Tigers could of replaced the Knox Raiders in the competition but it seems negotiations between the Tigers consortium and SEABL (and possibly Melbourne United) did not reach a satisfactory conclusion.

There are no details on why it has failed but it could be anything from the consortium unable to get a compromise from Melbourne United, the Tigers did not raise enough money for SEABL or SEABL did not want the Tigers in at this time plus an array of other options.

If this report is true this news is no doubt a result the Tigers fans were not hoping for but the supporters will bounce back and support the team in the BigV competition as the march continues towards getting the team back towards top level basketball.

The 50 heard around the world

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It was Round 21 of the NBL 2013/14 season, The Melbourne Tigers were finals bound and 7532 people went to Hisense Arena to see the Tigers take on the Sydney Kings or as some people called it Chris Goulding vs Sam Young as the season’s two highest point scorers went head to head.

Early on it was noticed that Chris Goulding was a man on a mission as his long range shots started going in while the Kings who were good at close range were having far less success from the 3pt line which kept the Tigers in the game as Sydney were crashing the Tigers party by leading by 5 points early in the third quarter.

But before the Kings could get comfortable and settle into the lead on Hisense Arena, The Tigers roared to life thanks to threes by Goulding and Tommy Greer and soon a lead was opened up that the Kings just couldn’t close up despite Sam Young and company’s best efforts.

Mark Worthington, Nate Tomlinson and Tommy Greer all had starring roles as they blocked, rebounding and assisted their team on the court with such examples being Worthington having six rebounds to go with Tomlinson’s nine assists.

Melbourne held on to win 92 to 82 with Goulding scoring 54% of the Tigers total, news of Goulding’s efforts went right around Australia and even around the world as the achievement set in the full game total of 40 minutes was something not seen in the country for a long time and in some NBL basketball minds it matched Wilt Chamberlain’s 100 point game in the NBA in terms of outstanding scoring performances in a game.

A few games later Chris Goulding played the last of his games for the Tigers while the Tigers themselves were removed from NBL in the name of bigger profits but until the Tigers return to the NBL few will forget the day Goulding ruled over the Kings.

For video of the great game plus all the finer details check out the NBL article here.

WANU Tigers SEN wrap

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Andrew Gaze and Nigel Purchase have been on SEN in the last week to talk up Basketball and other topics, Andrew of course co-hosts ‘The Morning Glory’ and one segment had Ask Gazey where he answered questions from those on Twitter who had #AskGazey,

Nigel Purchase appeared on Kevin Bartlett’s ‘Hungry for Sport’ where he talked about his son Jack and his college basketball experience in the US, they discussed Golf and then talked a little about D-Mac and Brian Goorjian, United’s form and who they will be coming up against while suggesting people check out the game .

Returns do happen

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There is no denying that people hate sports teams folding, relocating or being booted out and most never return but there are teams that have gone due to various reasons only to return to the league they came from years later, below are three examples with a potential fourth example coming next year.

1. Sydney Kings returned to the NBL competition in 2010 after being removed in 2008.
2. South Sydney Rabbitohs returned to the NRL in 2002 after being booted in 1999, won title in 2014.
3. Cleveland Browns were reformed and returned to the NFL in 1999 after the original team moved to Baltimore for the 1996 season.
4. Brisbane Bullets may be back for the 2015/2016 NBL season after folding in 2008.

Although the Cleveland Browns were moved to Baltimore to become the Baltimore Ravens, legal battle erupted and after negotiation between all major parties, the Browns were declared deactivated and the intellectual property from the team name to the training facilities of the Browns were not included in the move and were protected in a trust to allow Cleveland to have the Browns back when the NFL expanded which happened in 1999 therefore the Ravens have no claim on the past success of the Browns.

South Sydney after they were left out of the league at the end of the 1999 season was reinstated to the NRL for the 2002 season thanks to court cases and people power and now with private ownership the team has become a success by regularly featuring in the finals and winning the 2014 NRL Premiership.

Sydney Kings collapsed due to fraudulent actions by Firepower International chairman Tim Johnston who brought the club for two million dollars, Sydney Kings players were owed a total upwards of a quarter of a million dollars while Super Rugby team and NRL team South Sydney Rabbitohs were left in the lurch financially after Firepower collapsed, the Kings returned to the competition in 2010 and after a slow start is now playing great Basketball.

The Brisbane Bullets fell after Eddy Groves business empire started to collapse in early 2008, banks loaned money to Groves against the value of his company’s shares and unfortunately for Groves and the Bullets his company had a massive net profit loss of 42% which combined with rumours that the company were in default of it’s lending covenants the banks were owed money and the Bullets were cut loose to try keep ABC Learning Centres afloat, unfortunately for the Bullets no buyer was found and the team was gone at the height of success.

It is now believed a return of the Brisbane Bullets would create a more solid foundation for the NBL for teams would now be in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney, Perth and Brisbane and so the NBL will be working overtime for the Bullets to return for the 2015/16 season.

The Melbourne Tigers situation is closer to the Cleveland Browns than the others although the team (now Melbourne United) never really left it’s home but changed everything else while keeping the Intellectual Properties of the Tigers to itself but it is hoped that common sense will prevail and the IP of the Tigers is released and in a Browns like deal a place in the NBL is given to the team in the future.