36ers coach Joey Wright has been angered at how the officiating is evolving but admits the end result of the changes will be worth the short-term pain. Picture: Tait Schmaal Source: The Advertiser
CONTROVERSIES over the new officiating style for the NBL is water off a duck’s back to Adelaide 36ers coach Joey Wright.
“In the end, it will be the best team that wins (the championship) and it won’t have anything to do with referees,” Wright said.
Wright was irate despite Adelaide’s 105-101 win over Cairns at the pre-season Blitz tournament in Sydney at how the officiating was evolving but admitted the end result of the changes would be worth the short-term pain.
New NBL general manager of the officials, Mal Cooper, said the early heavy calling at the Blitz was part of the “work-in-progress” and the end of the tournament showed what the league wanted its game to look like.
“We recorded every game over the three days of the Blitz tournament and reviewed every single decision made across more than 30 hours of vision,” Cooper said.
“We didn’t get them all right, I admit that. But I have given teams examples of the incorrect decisions and they can be assured those calls will be rectified in the future.”
Early foul issues for most teams meant teams hid in zone defences for the second halves of quarters and Adelaide yesterday was training hard on its zone tactics.
“No, we’re not practising zone to hide anybody (in foul trouble),” Wright assured.
“We are definitely going to use it as a tactic.
“It’s not a case of: ‘oh we’re in zone, we don’t have to play hard’ - it’s quite the opposite.”
The 36ers finished third at the Blitz in the chase for the inaugural Loggins-Bruton Cup.
It beat Perth and Cairns, ironically the two teams which finished first and second and which figure to be top-four contenders.
Reigning champion New Zealand again has assembled the right pieces for a run at a record fourth consecutive NBL crown, despite finishing the tournament in eighth place.
