Now, two months later, he returns to Melbourne as a member of the New Zealand Breakers – and the simmering tensions surrounding his departure have finally boiled over.
Tigers coach Trevor Gleeson kicked things off with comments in The Age on Wednesday.
“We were hoping he would stay for the rest of his career but he decided to take the money and go,” he said.
Corletto, who had been asked to stay with the team despite no longer being on the roster, hit back.
“They expected me to sit there and wait on the sidelines until Patty Mills heads back to the NBA,” he told SEN. “At the end of the day, I was 29 when it happened. I wanted to play basketball, I wasn’t going to train every day just to watch guys play on the weekend.”
An amicable split, this was not. But for all the back-and-forth comments this week, it’s clear one side comes out looking a lot better than the other.
Put simply, the Tigers were trying to have their cake and eat it too by signing Mills and expecting Corletto to stick around. Of course, it would’ve been great for them if they managed to pull it off, but they have no right to complain after it didn’t work out.
They were, after all, asking for loyalty from a man they’d just cut after ten years of service.
As if that wasn’t enough of a bad look, we were then treated to Gleeson’s comments this week, which came across as childish. The suggestion that money was the reason Corletto walked out – when the Breakers were offering him the opportunity to actually, you know, play basketball – was nothing short of absurd.
You see players change teams because they’re not starting or getting enough minutes and no one bats an eyelid. Yet Corletto wasn’t going to be getting any minutes at all – surely that alone should be enough justification for moving clubs.
Secondary to that, he would have every right to feel aggrieved given his treatment by the Tigers after being there for so long.
Without knowing went on inside Corletto’s mind, right there are two pretty huge non-monetary factors that would’ve surely had a major influence on his decision to join the Breakers. That’s not to say money wasn’t a factor, but it definitely wouldn’t have been Corletto’s sole motivation.
Perhaps Gleeson was just trying to drum up interest in Saturday’s game – someone has to fill Homicide’s void, after all – but even if that were the case, Corletto’s clearly taken offence to the comments and supporters across the league have been outraged by them. There was just no real need to make any negative comments.
It’s at this point where I’d normally write something like, “All this sets up a hostile game at The Cage on Saturday night.” However, apparently even the Tiger fans are with Corletto on this one – some are planning a “blackout” in support of him at the game this weekend.
Doesn’t that just speak volumes?
B-Rock
Roar Guru
From what I hear the fine print of the contract says that "Live" is defined as up to 3hrs after the start of the game (hence the 10:30 tip offs) NBL clearly got screwed, but who are their lawyers? The early momentum built last year has now been lost, with NBL unlikely to get back into the mainstream in the near term as there is now no local or foreign professional basketball on both pay TV and free to air. A real shame
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
Ah, fair enough!
Football Fan
Guest
@Ryan O - I don't confuse 'hoping' with 'expecting'! They offered, he didn't like it, end of story. Corletto looked at a couple of clubs before settling on New Zealand where he got the best deal so I really don't see this as anything truly remarkable in the sporting scheme of things..
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
Football Fan, how can you say there is nothing anywhere to suggest the Tigers expected him to stay? Tigers head coach Trevor Gleeson: "We were hoping he would stay for the rest of his career but he decided to take the money and go.” That's pretty unequivocal, no?
Michael DiFabrizio
Expert
Sorry I did read that earlier. Doesn't change much in my view, because Gleeson still said what he did and those comments have not been retracted. McPeake did say some classy things in that article, I'll admit that, but he didn't mention - let alone distance himself or the club - from what Gleeson said. And yes, the league needs some Homicide.
Football Fan
Guest
Seems to run a bit deeper than that, Ryan... There's nothing anywhere that suggests the Tigers 'expected him to stay' other than a player who is bitter at getting shunted for a better player. Also - I think it's safe to assume Corletto is getting paid more at the Breakers than he was on at the Tigers?
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
Even if Corletto sent an email saying "Thanks for everything, and I still love the club", it doesn't change the fact that the club is arrogant for expecting him to stay and claiming that he left for money.
Football Fan
Guest
This, published same day as your article: http://www.theage.com.au/sport/basketball/corletto-email-to-shed-light-on-tigers-feud-20111020-1maa3.html I do miss Homicide though.
Michael DiFabrizio
Expert
If by recent events you mean Corletto's comments then they were taken into account when the article was written, so feel free to tell me why the Tigers are the good guys!
Football Fan
Guest
Recent events make this article look a bit strange, Michael...
Chris
Guest
I don't understand why anyone shows any loyalty anymore in this age of professional sport. The quicker everyone recognises that it's a business, the sooner everyone can get over being offended when players move clubs (for whatever reason).
Michael DiFabrizio
Expert
"instead of serving Patty Mills his Gatorade" - great line!
Ryan O'Connell
Expert
The Tigers are an absolute disgrace. Fancy a club preaching loyalty, with their history of showing the door to lifelong Tigers individuals like Al Westover and Warwick Giddey. That’s hypocritical to the extreme. It’s worth noting that Corletto was never on big money with the Tigers. As a professional sportsmen, at age 29/30, even if he did go for the money, could you blame him? And it’s quite clear he didn’t anyway. The Tigers should be thankful that Corletto found a team so late in proceedings for 2012 season. Begrudging him the opportunity to play at a team that will actually give him court time, instead of serving Patty Mills his Gatorade, is poor form from the Tigers. This club is a long way from the house that Lindsay Gaze built. Nice piece, Michael.
Steve Sardi
Guest
There is a growing moment that want the NBL to be shown live or at least at a reasonable time. What happened to the commitment that ten made to the NBL and its fans...? If you look on face book you will see how many are disappointed with One and the telecast of the NBL........ Time to make a change!!!!