Andrew Gaze fears the “light” one-match NBL ban handed to American star Josh Childress could have negative repercussions throughout Australian basketball.
Childress will miss just one match for the Sydney Kings despite pleading guilty to bringing the game into disrepute for what Gaze has described as “one of the biggest hits ever seen in the NBL”.
Touted as the best-credentialled import ever to come to the NBL, former NBA forward Childress charged at and clobbered Perth’s Jesse Wagstaff with his forearm in a heated reaction to a physical screen. The incident has attracted nearly one million YouTube views.
An NBL tribunal on Tuesday night cleared Childress of striking with his elbow but banned him for one game and fined him $3750 for another charge of unduly rough play.
He was fined an additional $3750 for bringing the game into disrepute.
Australian basketball great Gaze expressed some concern about what message the case may send.
“Based on the evidence I have seen, I think that (the punishment) is a little light-on,” said Gaze.
“If the same incident had happened in an AFL game I think it’s highly unlikely that… he would have got off any lighter than three or four games suspension and possibly a fine as well.
“I think when you have these type of instances and it’s seen to be punished in a way that most people consider relatively minor then you run the risk of that having a rippling effect (to lower grades of the sport).”
Childress has deactivated his Twitter account after copping vicious racial abuse on social media over the incident.
But he said on Wednesday he did not think the abusers should face punishment if tracked down, saying people were entitled to free speech.
He has expressed remorse over the incident, saying he acted out of character after being blindsided by Wagstaff’s screen play.
He told Fox Sports a two-game NBA suspension in 2006 was his only previous offence and he would like to contact Wagstaff, presumably to apologise.
“Obviously, it was a feeling of embarrassment, having to walk that long walk back to the locker room, and getting booed and all that stuff. It’s not my proudest moment,” he said.
“I think the process in itself was fair. But it’s not my call to say what type of suspension I get. That’s the tribunal’s call.”
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