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Sydney Kings star import Josh Childress has escaped with just a one-game ban and $7,500 fine for striking an opponent in an incident that Australian basketball great Andrew Gaze described as “one of the biggest hits ever seen in the NBL”.
Childress was handed the surprisingly lenient ban on Tuesday night after appearing to run in and raise his forearm at Perth’s Jesse Wagstaff in a heated match against the Kings on the weekend.
Yet a two-hour, three-man tribunal hearing in Sydney dismissed the charges of striking Wagstaff with an elbow and bringing the game into disrepute.
Instead the former NBA player was fined $3,750 for the unduly rough conduct and another $3,750 for publicly criticising officials on top of a two-game ban, one game of which was suspended.
Childress, who has played three games so far for Sydney, will miss this weekend’s away clash with ladder leaders Cairns.
Perth coach Trevor Gleeson expressed his disappointment at the outcome.
“I was disappointed that the league didn’t take a stand on it,” Gleeson told AAP.
“I don’t think there was intent for the ball at all. I think the intent was to hurt the player and I think that has got to be stamped out.
“I think the league had a chance to do that and I’m disappointed. Hopefully a player doesn’t get hurt down the track.”
Among the evidence considered by the tribunal was the referees’ report and a statement from Wagstaff.
“The evidence was inconclusive to support the charge of striking by elbows because of the camera footage and the referees’ reports,” tribunal chairman and solicitor Marcus Connor told reporters.
Childress, who has suffered just one previous disciplinary blemish in his career, said he was thankful the process was over, with his contrition for the incident taken into account by the tribunal.
He said he would need to keep his cool if provoked in the future.
“I think the process was very fair,” Childress told reporters.
“They took into account my track record and my character. I’m just happy to get this behind me.”
His foul on Wagstaff triggered some vicious comments on social media, but Childress stressed it hadn’t soured his attitude towards Australia.
“I think there are bad apples everywhere, Australia so far for me has been amazing,” Childress said.
“Australia has been good to me and the people have been awesome and I can’t allow a few bad comments to affect how I view a great country.”
NBL chief executive Fraser Neill said he intended contacting Twitter to see if some posts could be traced, but Childress didn’t think it was worth the effort, despite describing some comments as mean and hurtful.
“In my opinion, I would say don’t even waste the energy to do so,” Childress said.
“I have blocked those individuals on social media. I will probably end up taking a break from Twitter for a while anyway.”
Neill said while it was good of Childress to adopt that attitude his organisation needed to take a stand.
“Consistent with other codes we’re not going to stand for it and if we can do anything about it, we will,” Neill said.
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