Aussie legend suggests PBA, NBL games

SYDNEY – Australian basketball legend and Sydney Kings assistant coach Ben Knight said yesterday interest for the game in the Asia-Pacific region will get a major boost if there are regular tournaments involving PBA and NBL teams.

Knight, 37, said in the NBL, teams practice twice a day to play once a week and the season is over after less than 30 games. “It doesn’t make economic sense for a club to pay a player 12 months a year and he plays only about 28 games,” he said. “I think it would be great for the game if the top four clubs in Australia and the top four clubs in Asia played in a championship tournament to decide who’s No. 1 in Asia-Pacific.”

Knight said he welcomes Australia playing in the FIBA-Asia zone. “Beyond the club level, Australia should play its national team in FIBA-Asia like in soccer,” he said. “In Oceania, the title is always just between Australia and New Zealand. If we move to FIBA-Asia, the competition would be wide open. I think it would create a huge interest in the game all over the region.”

Filipino-style basketball isn’t new to Knight. “I recruited Jayson Castro to play for the Singapore Slingers and I really believe he could’ve played in the NBL,” he said. “Jayson played for Singapore in the preseason but when it was decided not to play the Slingers in the NBL, I returned to Australia and Jayson went to the PBA. At practice in the preseason, I saw Jayson’s potential as we worked a two-man game. He’s a quality player and an excellent defender. I grew up in Woolangong, not far from where there is a large Filipino community in the western suburb of Sydney. My closest friends are Filipinos, including Charles de Jesus whom I played with in junior tournaments and Leasel Avila who was my girlfriend for two years. I know Mick Pennisi quite well, too.  I think Filipino players on the average are aggressive, skilful, smart, play hard and never back down. They play with a lot of pride.”

What hinders the Philippines from bumping off China or Iran as Asian champion is lack of size. “Height’s a problem,” he said. “I support the idea of employing naturalized players to even the playing field and for the Philippines, that means getting a big because the national team could use a dominating center.”

In 2005, Knight came to Manila with the Kings to play two games against the Philippine team coached by Chot Reyes. The Philippine team was split into two and the Kings won over both sides, 63-59 and 104-91.  One side included Jimmy Alapag, Sonny Thoss, Jay Washington, Dondon Hontiveros and Yancy de Ocampo while the other listed Willie Miller, James Yap, Tony de la Cruz, Danny Seigle, Kelly Williams and Romel Adducul. The Kings were coached by Brian Goorjian and included Brad Sheridan, Luke Martin, Brett Wheeler and C. J. Bruton. Sydney had just won the NBL title and topped the Singapore Cup, beating Batere Mengke and the Beijing Ducks, 87-59, Fastlink of Jordan and TG Xers of Korea.

Knight joined the NBL with the Kings in 1997 and ended his career after 399 games in 2011. Aside from assisting Kings coach Shane Heal, Knight is a playing coach with the Norths Soul Sports Bears in the Waratah League of the Northern Suburbs Basketball Association (NSBA) headed by Graeme Reid. Last season, Knight led the Bears to the Waratah championship as a rookie head coach.

The other night, Knight collected four points, six rebounds and three assists in 13:48 minutes in a cameo playing role as he piloted the Bears to a 79-55 rout of the Parramatta Wildcats at the North Suburbs Indoor Sports Center in Crow’s Nest, five kilometers north of downtown Sydney. The Bears got 13 points and nine rebounds from 6-6 lefthander Ryan Thompson who played two years with the University of Connecticut.

“I’d love to go back to Manila and visit my Filipino friends,” said Knight. “I could do a clinic for bigs if you want specialization or a clinic for kids to teach the basics. We could also bring the Sydney Kings to play games against PBA teams. I think the future of basketball in Asia-Pacific lies in creating regular tournaments involving Australia and Asia’s top basketball countries like China, the Philippines, Iran and Korea.” While Knight has never played for Australia in the Olympics or World Championships, he represented the country at the East Asia Games and the Goodwill Games, both in 2001.

Reid said the Indoor Sports Center was inaugurated in 2000 with four full-sized basketball courts that are used for over 13,800 hours in 8,000 games a year. Reid estimated that 8,750 people visit the facility every week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. On school holidays, the center is open until after the last game is over with a final start time of 10:30 p.m. Learn-to-play courses are offered five days a week from 4 to 5:30 p.m. In the summer, basketball camps are held for two weeks with over 500 kids signing up. The NSBA, a four-time awardee as Basketball New South Wales’ premier association, has a membership of 4,900 players with the youngest at 4 and the oldest at 81.