Basketball On The Internet.

YES, it is amazing but right this second - unless a behind-closed-doors deal is done - half the teams in the NBL are without a coach.

Think about that for a half second. If the AFL or NRL was in the same boat, it would be headline news.

OK, maybe those are a bad comparison, given our relative standings as sports, and the fact they also have a lot more teams than eight.

(That's if we have eight. I'm presuming Townsville will survive because I'm a glass-half-full person.)

But as I write this, Perth has no coach, Adelaide has no coach, New Zealand has no coach (Dean Vickerman, come on down) and Townsville has no coach.

Joey Wright has been linked to so many coaching jobs, his head is spinning. It's a good thing he doesn't read the media!

Add this fact. Shane Heal at Sydney and Chris Anstey at Melbourne are a relative rookie and a rookie respectively.

(Yes, Shane was a playing-coach but that is vastly different experience to sideline analysis.)

Gordon McLeod (Wollongong) and Aaron Fearne (Cairns) are our only existing "veterans'' so it would be great if the injection of new - or old - coaching blood would make it a priority to veer away from the wrestling/grappling, holding/shoving mentality and return the sport to its spectacular greatness.

If you don't coach to be dour, we don't have to get on the officials as much.

NICE of Michael Jordan to remember his own comment pre-NBA season when he said of Mike Dunlap: "I could play for this guy.''

Well, not anymore.

Despite signing Dunlap for three years to try and bring the hapless, hopeless mopes of the Charlotte Bobcats to some measure of respectability, the club Jordan owns unceremoniously fired him yesterday.

Considering he started at the Bobcats last June, replacing Paul Silas after Charlotte went 7-59, the worst winning percentage in NBA history, the former Adelaide 36ers mentor (1994-96) didn't even see out a full calendar year.

Dunlap's Bobcats went 21-61 to edge Orlando by one game, avoiding the worst record in the NBA.

On a positive note, there are four NBL jobs available...

 

GOT a feeling we might see a new face get the Crocs gig, the more established candidates more likely looking at the Wildcats or 36ers jobs.

Yes, I know Wildcats assistant Shawn Dennis has already been an NBL head coach at Newcastle but he was raw then and now brings much greater knowledge and experience to the role.

He and Crocs GM Pat Reidy also have (good) history.

Or what about someone such as Brad Davidson, a former Crocs player and now a successful State junior coach in South Australia as well as an SBL mentor at Norwood?

Townsville's situation - like Cairns' back in the day - lends itself to a punt on a newer face which can only be good for the game's growth.

Most pundits were thrilled when rookies such as Darryl McDonald, Scott Ninnis, Marty Clarke, Ian Robilliard, Anstey and Heal got their shots because we all want to see and embrace new talent.

They didn't all work out but it was good to have the injection of fresh ideas.

While most will focus on who gets the Perth job, and then Adelaide, who coaches the Crocs could be the most interesting call of all.

THE Thunder are getting ready to roll into the 2013-14 WNBL season in no uncertain manner.

Logan already has the "biggest signing in club history'' with Ruth Riley joining the club from WNBA franchise Chicago Sky.

Riley, 33 and 194cm, is an Olympic Gold Medallist with the USA and a dual-WNBA championship winner, logging seasons with San Antonio Silver Stars, Detroit Shock and Miami Sol.

"Ruth is the highest profile import to join the club,'' Logan coach Jason Chainey said.

Well, championship-winner Tegan Cunningham (Dandenong) is a pretty fair pick-up too.

And what about Adelaide's 2008 Grand Final MVP Renae Camino returning from winning a second championship, this time with Bendigo?

Not enough?

How about Hanna Zavecz?

Remember Logan still has one of the premier point guards in the league in Kristen Veal, a solid four in Emma Langford... Roll on Thunder!

 

KELSEY Griffin made it pretty clear how much she enjoyed the whole Bendigo/WNBL experience but it is still good news to have her return next season confirmed.

She is one tough cookie.

My (e)mail has another Dandenong defection with Carley Mijovic Canberra-bound.

Lauren Mansfield has signed again at Adelaide, rejoining Laura Hodges, Jenni Screen, Angela Marino, Amy Lewis and Nadeen Payne.

Lightning's Rookie of the Year, Stephanie "$h!+loads" Talbot, being wooed by Dandenong - the Rangers sure have a few available spots - is expected to confirm her decision before the weekend.

MUST confess, was pretty happy today as Golden State Warriors made it 1-1 in Denver, beating the Nuggets 131-117 in Game 2 in the Western Conference's first round.

They were stiff to lose Game 1 on an Andre Miller virtuoso effort and it is great to see The Bogeyman - Australia's own Andrew Bogut - enjoying some overdue team success, despite the Warriors losing David Lee to injury.

But what the??

The Celtics are leading New York 48-42 at the half, 48-40 when I left the room to run a few errands (I've never "run an errand" in my life, but I always wanted to write it. Sorry. I was really in the ... oh, maybe you don't need that much info.)

Anyway, I amble back in and New York is up by 14 en route to an 87-71 win!

What?

Boston scored 23 second-half points as the Knicks put the vice on defensively.

"They say the series hasn't started until the road team wins," Boston coach Glenn Rivers said.

"But I am positive the series has started because we are down 2-0."

 

IT would be "nothing short of remarkable'' if BA CEO Kristina Keneally, or perhaps her PA and PR writer Sabina Husic, could find a turn of phrase even more remarkable than the remarkably repetitive remark they keep disembarking with.

When the Breakers won the iiNet NBL title earlier this month, KK said: "What we have witnessed from the New Zealand Breakers has been nothing short of remarkable."

Do tell.

Talking about Andrej Lemanis' appointment as Boomers coach, KK said: "What he has achieved during his time with the New Zealand Breakers is nothing short of remarkable.''

And there you have it.

Remarkable.

Well, nothing short of.