South Dragons

The South Dragons is a team in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). They made their début in the 2006-07 season. The club is based in Melbourne, and is the city's second NBL team; the other is the Melbourne Tigers, which entered the league in 1984.

History

On October 13, 2005, Mark Cowan, a graphic designer and owner of Cowan Basketball, and Raphael Geminder, chairman of Visy Industries, bought the license of the former Victoria Giants/Titans NBL franchise to establish a new NBL team in Melbourne. Cowan is the Dragons' majority owner with 51% control, with Geminder owning the remaining 49%. The team's name and uniforms were not announced until December 15, 2005, and until that time the Cowan Basketball website left a message "UNLEASHED 15.12.2005" as the only details on the team.

The Dragons entered the NBL in the 2006-07 season as the 12th franchise, and promised to look to fill its roster with young Australian basketballers returning home after playing NCAA college basketball in the United States.

The Dragons hired former NBA All-Star Mark Price as their inaugural head coach on March 1, 2006. Price is arguably the biggest name to play a major role in any Australian basketball club. [cite news | last=Hand | first=Guy | title=NBL Dragons confirm coach | date=1 March 2006 | publisher=The Australian | url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18311879%255E23769,00.html] His appointment was announced one day after the Melbourne Tigers had won the 2005-06 NBL Championship. The team also hired various other front-office staff with extensive basketball experience, including former WNBA player and Australian team captain Michele Timms as basketball development officer.

The team played its first NBL championship season game on September 26, 2006 against the New Zealand Breakers at the North Shore Events Centre in Auckland, New Zealand, losing 112 to 106.

Price resigned his position on October 22, 2006 after the Dragons lost their first five NBL championship season games, citing family reasons; he was replaced by Shane Heal, who was appointed as captain and interim coach for the remainder of the season, [South Dragons (2006). [http://www.southdragons.com.au/default.aspx?s=dragonsnews&id=598 Price resigns, Heal new head coach] thus becoming the league's first player-coach since Cal Bruton with Hobart Devils in 1992. Retrieved October 23, 2006.] The following day Price spoke to the media and claimed that Heal had undermined his position, stating, "I've been in professional basketball a long time and I've never seen undermining of a coach quite like this before." [Sportal (2006). [http://www.sportal.com.au/basketball.asp?i=news&id=90159 Price blasts Heal] . Retrieved October 24, 2006.]

The team won its first NBL game on October 29, 2006 against the Cairns Taipans 96-86, having lost its first six games.

On Boxing Day, 2006, the South Dragons claimed a memorable victory over their cross-town rivals, the Melbourne Tigers 107-94, leaving its mark on this newly formed rivalry in front of 9175 fans at Vodafone Arena.

After finishing their first ever season with a 15-18 record, the Dragons reached the knockout phase of the playoffs - losing to Cairns 97-118 on February 15 2007 at the Cairns Convention Centre.

The team's season 2007/2008 campaign began on September 22, 2007 against the West Sydney Razorbacks at Vodafone Arena with a 116-106 loss. It was a turbulent season for the club, ending with the clubs chairman Mark Cowan stepping down [cite news | title=Dragons sack Heal | date=1 February 2008 | publisher=AAP | url=http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23143562-23769,00.html] and the sacking of star player/coach Shane Heal [cite news | title=Dragons and Heal part ways | date=1 February 2008 | publisher=South Dragons | url=http://southdragons.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=74112] . This came after the team once again started the season with six straight losses, prompting the sacking of import Nick Horvath, who was replaced by American Bakari Hendrix. Initially the move looked to have paid dividends as the Dragons claimed their first win of the season on October 28th at home to New Zealand. However, wins once again dried-up, with only another 3 coming in the remainder of the 2007 calendar year. On January 9th 2008, with the team sitting on the bottom of the ladder at 4-17, assistant coach Michele Timms resigned from the club, citing overseas job opportunities as the reason behind her sudden departure. Timms wouldn't be the only coach to go, as the club announced on February 1st 2008 that player-coach Shane Heal had been sacked, effective immediately. The last coach remaining at the Dragons- Guy Molloy- took over as interim coach for the final four games of the season, and took just two games to secure an elusive victory and snap a 14 game losing streak with a 95-90 win over Cairns at Vodafone Arena on February 6th.Despite returning to the winners list and showing greater energy and competitiveness under Molloy, the Dragons finished the season on the bottom of the ladder with a 5-25 record. On the 1st of April 2008, Brian Goorjian was signed as head coach on a 3 year deal.

Recruiting process for first season

At the team's December 15 launch, Cowan said, "If you're Victorian and you're in college and coming home, you're on our list." It was believed the team was looking to sign Luke Schenscher — a member of the 2004 Georgia Tech team which went to the NCAA championship game against the University of Connecticut, and at the time an NBA Development League player — as its first marquee player. [cite news | last=Howell | first=Stephen | title=South Dragons fire up to sign new talent | date=15 December 2005 | publisher=The Age | url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/basketball/south-dragons-fire-up-to-sign-new-talent/2005/12/15/1134500960486.html]

On March 3, 2006, it was reported by Melbourne's "Herald Sun" newspaper that former Australian star Shane Heal was considering coming out of retirement to captain the Dragons for the 2006-07 NBL season, and is involved in contract negotiations with the team. [cite news | last=Bernard | first=Grantley | title=Heal weighs up Dragons captaincy | date=3 March 2006 | publisher=Herald Sun | url=http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,18328459%255E10914,00.html] He officially signed with the team on April 6 as the Dragons' inaugural captain. [South Dragons (2005). [http://www.southdragons.com.au/default.aspx?s=dragonsnews&id=129 Heal back in black] . Retrieved April 6, 2006.]

On March 17, 2006, 18-year-old Australian Institute of Sport graduate Joe Ingles became the team's first signed player. [South Dragons (2005). [http://www.southdragons.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=87 Meet Joe Ingles] . Retrieved March 17, 2006.] The Dragons were unable to sign Schenscher because the Chicago Bulls called him up to fill a roster vacancy earlier that month.

Current roster

Notes

External links

* [http://www.southdragons.com.au/default.aspx?s=home Official site]
* [http://www.nbl.com.au/default.aspx?s=dragons NBL team page]
* [http://ozhoopsalmanac.com/wiki/index.php/South_Dragons Almanac wiki entry]