Perth Wildcats CEO continues Heal-bashing via Facebook

Well, as has been mentioned around the NBL traps lately, all publicity is good publicity, right? The biggest news in Australian basketball circles of the last week has been the Wildcats v Blaze post-game press conference that saw Brendan Joyce explode at reporter Ross Lewis of the The West Australian, demanding he be thrown out of "the presser" for his treatment of new Gold Coast recruit, Shane Heal.

Whilst The Hammer seemed unfazed by all of the attention (he normally thrives on all of this stuff), his coach came out to bat for him, which ended up in a visit to Chuck Harmison's office by Brendan Joyce. Joyce was exonerated of any wrongdoing and given a warning by Harmison. However, it seems that Perth Wildcats CEO Nick Marvin is not happy with the war of words ending there.

According to an anonymous tipster, Marvin's Facebook profile currently reads "Nick Marvin to those who were at the presser: the hammer has always been a tool you know!" with a humourous play on words directed in Heal's direction. Clearly he was not happy with the result of the press-conference scuffle. These are clearly not the professional, measured words that would be expected of a team CEO, who would require his players to act with a certain level of class. In fact, I don't know why the Wildcats are even getting involved in all of this, given that they clearly have bigger fish to fry, like winning games. The Cats are in a position to do very well this season if they keep their heads screwed on tightly.

Meanwhile, Adelaide journo Boti Nagy, is not happy with the result of the of the whole situation either, claiming in a round-about way that there may have been a conflict of interest, or bias involved with Harmison being the investigator of Joyce's conduct, given their history:

"PATHETIC. The NBL's interim chief executive Chuck Harmison let his league down - and not for the first time - in his handling of the "Brendan Joyce press conference" affair.

You'll recall Joyce lost his mind at Perth journalist Ross Lewis for having the pound ! #@&%* audacity to raise questions over Gold Coast signing a 38-year-old Shane Heal.

Joyce wanted Lewis out of the presser but was told that wasn't happening by Wildcat CEO Nick Marvin. He had a further crack at Lewis after the interviews, the sum total of which led to another stellar investigation by Harmless-one.

No, he didn't contact Lewis at all before giving Joyce a caution, then reacted badly when some in the media brought up their former Wollongong CEO-coach connection. Hey, no-one even mentioned their playing days together at Nunawading. (Well, not until now.)

Considering Chris Anstey was fined $2000 for a gesture at the crowd, Joyce's a caution is laughable. All he achieved was curtailing coverage of the NBL in the west.

Well done to all concerned."

Nagy also made it clear on a recent HoopsTV interview and in his column that he wants to stick up for freedom of journalistic licence in the league, as the NBL needs all the reporting it can get. Obviously Joyce felt that his player came under undue scrutiny and didn't appreciate it and no doubt he crossed a line, but whether he was within his rights is a matter of personal opinion.

Back at the ranch, Heal managed to score 19 points, including 5 three pointers in his team's 17 point loss to the South Dragons. Mark Worthington did most of the damage for Heal's old team, with 20 points.

Photo Credit: Ian Munro
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