The NBL has hit the news in recent days for the wrong reasons following the best-ever credentialled NBA signing Josh Childress losing his cool for the Sydney Kings, but that leaves the league in a tough spot and his team needing to find a way to be competitive.
Childress joined the Kings with 391 games of NBA experience behind him, including a four-year stint with the Atlanta Hawks where he was bordering on being a star, and that led to plenty of excitement with him entering the fledgling Australian league especially at just 31 years of age.
The problem with that profile is that if something goes wrong the NBL could gain attention for all the wrong reasons, and that’s exactly what has happened.
The Kings were blown away early on Friday night in front of over 12,000 fans at the Perth Arena against the defending champion Wildcats, but Childress was working hard with 11 points, four assists, three rebounds and three blocks through late in the third quarter.
However, the physical nature of the Wildcats’ defence was wearing thin, and once he was taken out by a screen on defence by Jesse Wagstaff that caught him high and left him with a blood lip, he saw red.
While it could have been a foul against Wagstaff, the referee didn’t call it and while it provoked what Childress did next, in no way did it excuse what he did.
Watch the incident in the video player above.
He violently lunged at a shooting Wagstaff, who still made the basket, and connected with a high forearm that floored him and after some deliberation, Childress was sent back to the change room with 12,000 Perth fans hurling abuse toward him.
While Childress’ initial reaction was to blame the NBL for playing favourites towards the resource-rich Wildcats, he did calm down on return to Sydney with an apology on Twitter.
“I am cognisant of the responsibilities that come with being a professional athlete. I would like to apologise for my behaviour and acknowledge that my actions were unacceptable,” Childress tweeted.
“I am committed to upholding a standard of excellence both on and off the court. I sincerely apologise to the Wildcats and Kings organisations, the NBL and the fans.”
The damage had been done, though, and had attracted national and international attention with the video of Childress ‘smashing’ Wagstaff as proclaimed on the Channel Ten broadcast by commentator Lachy Reid going viral.
The problem is what happens to Childress next, and it’s an impossibly difficult position for the NBL.
The league has a reputation of going soft on penalties with no player receiving more than a two-week suspension since Perth’s Clint McDaniel copped four in 1998 for striking.
The only other suspension in recent memory was to Gary Ervin for Game 3 of the semi-final series for Adelaide against Melbourne last season when he delivered a low blow to Chris Goulding, but such a violent forearm delivered by Childress to Wagstaff is a whole different matter.
The act itself deserves a suspension but that would mean the NBL and the Kings lose their highest-profile player and best marketing tool in the biggest market.
The Kings have certainly not taken Sydney by storm since returning to the league for the 2010/11 season following a Firepower-induced exile which is where Childress can make a difference, but a multi-week suspension would put a halt to that.
Childress might also decide that the NBL isn’t for him. He isn’t here for the money, he is still bringing in $7-million a season from an NBA contract, and admitted to coming to Australia for the lifestyle and to enjoy playing basketball.
The NBL would set a poor precedent by not suspending him, though, and that no matter how violent an act on the court, you can get away with it if you are too valuable to have sitting on the sidelines.
Perth Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson has no doubt what he feels should happen.
“You do that in the AFL and you’re out, anything around the head is done and it’s a no-no,” Gleeson said.
“I thought it was a pretty cheap shot and there’s no room for that in our game and I hope the league takes a stand on it because it wasn’t deserved. I didn’t see the full thing until the replay after the game. Hopefully the authorities take care of that.”
The Sydney Kings face more problems than just worrying about what happens to Childress though.
If he is on the sidelines for weeks then it only exacerbates a problem that has become obvious for the Kings. This team was built solely for him to do his thing.
Captain Ben Madgen is a terrific scorer, but outside of that it is a very thin Kings line-up and that’s where the second import should make his mark, but Kendrick Perry proved last Friday that he is not ready to be a point guard in the NBL.
The 22-year-old had an impressive college career at Youngstown State University, but this is his first professional gig and Wildcats captain, and four-time NBL Defensive Player of the Year, Damian Martin, embarrassed him last Friday to the point where coach Damian Cotter had to bench him.
Perry could not get the ball up the floor due to the defence of Martin and when the support came from his Wildcats teammates to trap, he continuously coughed it up.
Whether the Kings have Childress or not for this week’s road clash with the unbeaten Cairns Taipans, it looms as another disastrous night for Perry up against the league’s MVP so far, Scottie Wilbekin.
No matter the result of the NBL tribunal on Tuesday night, it’s clear that Perry is not going to give the Kings that cool head to run the ship and allow Childress and Madgen enough shots.
Sydney needs to make a move on Perry and sign another point guard. In the interim, Jason Cadee is their best point guard and he was his team’s best player last Friday. Even he was hardly glowing in his confidence that Perry can rebound.
“Kendrick is a good player and he’s going to learn from this, and get better for next week. I’m sure he will move on and I’m sure he will bounce back,” Cadee said.
“I think I’m lucky to have been in the league for a few years so I know it’s coming. We are young and I think we were just overwhelmed by the crowd, their pressure and Perth are a tough team when they get you on your heels.”
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