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Q & A with Coach of the Sydney Kings and the Australian National Team: Brian Goorjian

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  • Q & A with Coach of the Sydney Kings and the Australian National Team: Brian Goorjian

    A nice article I found from the Sydney Kings official website.

    Q & A with Brian Goorjian
    Monday, April 30, 2007
    MEDIA SOURCE: Sydney Kings - Matt McQuade


    Following a trip to Russia, Lithuania and the United States where he caught up with Australian Boomers Andrew Bogut, David Andersen and Matty Nielsen, Brian Goorjian sat down with Matt McQuade to discuss the season just gone for the Firepower Sydney Kings and what lies ahead for the three-time National Basketball League champions.


    You've been overseas for a while on Boomer duties, but have you had time to reflect on the 2006/07 season for the Firepower Kings?

    Yeah, with the way I"m set up I put aside some time to analyse everything about the season before I went away…I looked at the imports and the Australian content separately. For me, what came out was that we weren’t quite at the mark we were the last four years, we were maybe a little young. But to be honest I felt like if (David) Barlow hadn’t gotten hurt and I had done a better job with the imports from the start I think we would have had a chance to win the whole thing. In the past we had enough talent to cover for any potential hiccups, we’ve had issues every year but we’ve been able to get it done anyway. The difference was this year it was Brisbane and Melbourne who were able to overcome any problems and we just couldn’t do it in the end. As a group we need more, obviously.



    Based on the season you had, what with the Bryant Matthews situation, EJ Rowland didn’t work out, you lost Barlow for the season and other guys getting hurt, do you still feel a level of satisfaction given you won 20 games in the regular season and gave the eventual champions a tough time in the semi-finals, and do you believe this team went as far as it realistically could under the circumstances?

    Yes to both questions. When I evaluate the team I also evaluate myself personally, and I felt good about what I, the coaching staff and the support staff did with that group, and I was really pleased with the development of BJ Carter and Russell Hinder when you look at how those guys started and how they finished…I think a key to Hinder was (Ian) Crosswhite. I think Ian was great in the (pre-season) Blitz, but when we started the season proper I was like 'where are we at’? Crossy came on late in the season and that really made Russ a better player. So when we finished up I was pleased with those guys.

    I guess one consideration is that I really don’t know how much of an effect the World Championships had on our players. I mean Mark Worthington started great, had a down patch in the middle and finished great; Luke Kendall had a really tough year and I don’t know how much playing all the way through affected them. We had guys getting hurt like you said, Barlow went down, Mark got hurt, Jason Smith had the broken hand but all up I was very happy with how the guys performed last season and how they bounced back from a lot of adversity.



    Losing a super young talent like David Barlow is obviously a huge blow to the franchise, even though you must have had it in the back of your mind that he might have wanted to head back home to Victoria. How much does his loss hurt the team?

    It hurts the team, definitely. Dave Barlow was someone that wasn’t wanted as a development player in Victoria, and he came to the Kings to develop. Sometimes these things work and sometimes they don’t. A lot of things can go wrong during that process but I thought the process with Dave, the Kings and myself was really good. He moved farther as a player than anyone else, he fit in, and he got the most out of what we do. I thought it was great for him, I thought it was great for the Kings, and I really enjoyed it personally. Usually when it works like that, you don’t expect someone to leave; it’s more when there’s a hiccup or a problem. The positive is that we still have a nice youth group there and now we get the opportunity to add a senior player.



    I guess the other loss was Brad Sheridan, which wasn’t really a surprise. But you’ve been his only coach at senior level. Talk about what he has meant to the program and what he has meant to you personally.

    Well one is I think it was something we both agreed on. It was obvious that he wasn’t pushing forward with the team anymore, and with the environment the way it was he needed a change, and sometimes that happens. He and I and the club were all good about it, and it’s not very often in sport where you can say you shake hands and have a hug when it ends, but that’s what happened. I know Brad appreciates what took place over our time together, and I know that he knows that I appreciate what he has done. I knew down the back stretch of the year that this wasn’t working anymore, but you know, we won three championships together and went to six Grand Finals, and I think he was the key in that first season in Sydney. I brought him with me from Victoria and he came into a team where there was no pressure on him to score and he could just play a role, which he did exceptionally well.

    He’s going to Townsville now, which I think will be a good fit for him. With the scoring power Townsville already has he won’t be asked to put points on the board so much but just play a role again which he’ll do well. He had a great career in Sydney, he’s in his prime, and he knows the club, the fans and I wish him all the best.



    You often spoke about the fact that Brisbane and Melbourne had separated themselves from the pack last season. What does the team need to do to get back up to that level?

    Well we need the younger guys - I say younger but that’s something you understand when you go overseas, guys like Worthington, Kendall and Crosswhite aren’t young anymore, they’re in their prime. However, compared to guys like (David) Stiff, (Axel) Dench, D-Mac, Dave Thomas – that’s a group that’s really just all about maintenance – our guys are still relatively inexperienced. Each year they should be taking a step, Worthington should be a step better, Kendall should be a step better, and we as a team should get a lot out of that alone. Then we need to get the imports right and we are looking to add a senior player. It’s no secret we are going after Glen Saville, a lot of teams are, but if we can get that done you’ve got Russ Hinder, Sav, Jason Smith – that’s a more senior group than we’ve had – then the younger guys and the imports.

    The big thing about last season is that we played essentially with the contribution of one import, so we need at least 20 points a game from that frontline position, be it a power forward, a small forward or the five spot. I was real happy with Ed Scott’s contribution and maybe that’s an option we could definitely look at.



    You’ve always spoken about getting the Australian content right first and then getting imports who just fit into the program, so is it an unusual situation for you and the team to need imports who can provide that offensive firepower that was lacking last season?

    I guess when you say what kind of player the import is – you can be a great player like a Rosell Ellis for example who is very effective but who isn’t really a scorer…I’ve had teams in the past where I didn’t need points from an import, I needed him to be a great player but help us in other ways. What stands out when you compare us to Brisbane or us to Melbourne is that we had trouble putting points on the board. We defended Brisbane well but we had no one we could go to for a bucket when we really needed it. The Kings’ championship teams have all had those players, whether it be Chris Williams or Shane Heal or Matty Nielsen or Ebi Ere or CJ Bruton or Kavossy Franklin – last year’s team didn’t have that kind of firepower.



    Finally, you’ve talked about self-motivation a lot in the past. Does not making the Grand Final and not winning a title just give you added motivation, get you even more pumped and excited to get the team back where the fans and the organisation feel it belongs?

    It’s interesting really in that the challenge of winning a title is not what truly motivates me, obviously it’s something I strive for every year, but for me it’s all about the process. I actually really enjoyed last season for example even though we didn’t win it all, and its something I’ve noticed as I’ve gotten older, whether it be with the national team or the Kings, that I really like that development side of it. That’s why I’m excited that we’ve got our core group of Aussies back. When you say it’s about getting back to the Grand Final, what I have to do is get the right people around them so they can flourish and that would lead I think to the possibility of a Grand Final or a championship. That’s where my focus is right now.
    "No hay poder en el mundo que pueda cambiar el destino"
    -El Padrino
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