When the Sydney Kings announced that former club and NBL great Shane Heal would return as head coach for the remainder of the season, there were immediately two schools of thought.
The first was that another overhaul to a languishing Sydney franchise trying to find its feet since re-joining the NBL in 2010 could place the league and the club in turmoil.
The other is that the presence of Australia’s greatest ever point guard on the sidelines would have a positive impact across the entire NBL.
Heal, who was living on the Gold Coast and doing NBL TV commentary for ONE when the call to re-join the Kings came, has had a stint coaching in the NBL previously with the now defunct Melbourne South Dragons.
Heal’s second season with the Dragons wasn’t a great one. He was sacked at season’s end with the club struggling at the bottom of the table. But crowd numbers and interest in the Melbourne based club were always high during his tenure.
Feisty and uncompromising as a player, intelligent and forthright as commentator, passionate and strategically capable as a coach, Heal must be retained by the Kings if the NBL is to flourish going forward.
The Sydney Kings, based in the biggest market in Australia, must be a strong brand if the NBL is to return to the days of live TV coverage and strong attendance numbers.
With Brian Goorjian, Bruce Palmer, Lindsay Gaze and Cal Bruton now gone, the NBL needs involvement from Heal and also other former greats Andrew Gaze, Lanard Copeland and Darryl McDonald, to be just as marketable as the great young talent this country has running around.
Those names are familiar to everyone when the NBL boomed in the mid 1990s. They are strong personalities and great basketball people.
The NBL and its clubs must get them more involved going forward. They have given a lot to this game granted, but at this point in time, for the sake of the league’s long term vialbility, they just need to give for the game they love one more time.
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