Happy New Year 2005 13-7
Happy New Year to you all and hope it brings you everything that you wish. The New Year started out good for us as we beat Perth and Sydney to improve our record to 13-7. Winning on the road as been a difficult one for us this season but we managed to get Perth. It isn’t easy to get a win on the road especially in Perth. Coming off of our Christmas break I was a little worried that we would have eaten too many Christmas dinners and be a little rusty. That wasn’t the case at all as it seemed that the break allowed most of us to recover and heal our injuries that have been nagging us for the last couple of weeks. Perth has started out the season well but lately has been hit by the injury bug and was without Ricky Grace, Matt Burston and their import. This left them without a true center making them small and forced to use younger inexperienced players. The game started out tough as Perth seemed like they were ready to play and secure their home court. Perth is a team that wants to come out of the gates to intimidate teams with their physical presence and pressure. That worked for a few minutes but we wanted to come and be aggressive and that is what we did. Being aggressive and matching what they had it was just a matter of time before they would fall over and then it was off to the races. This game was good for us as a team but mainly Jake and Oscar broke out of their little slumps to really carry us to the victory. We really need those two to be consistent and when they are playing their best we are hard to match up against. Winning this game on the road was a good boost for us but we knew that we could only cherish the moment for a little while because Sydney was waiting for us at the Dome for the New Years Eve game.
Sydney is currently at the top of the ladder and is very strong even without CJ and Luke Kendyl. The one thing about the Kings is that they never give up no matter how many points down they are. They have come back 2 or 3 times this year from 20 points down. If we wanted to make a statement that we are a top 4 team means that we have to string together multiple wins and not just win one and then lose one. A couple of weeks ago we beat New Zealand on the road and were so happy that I think that we lost focus on Townsville at home and they come in and took one from us. This time around we were happy that we won but we knew if we are going to be a team to contend we must stay focused and hold down home court. Sydney is a team that plays very physical and intimidating defense not allowing teams to get into their offence. We really never trailed most of the game except the first couple of minutes but then we got it going. Everyone played well and worked well together not allowing the Kings to get going. I think that the Kings thought they called the game to close not allowing them to get in and push us around. That raised another point that I would like to talk about. People are always asking why we can’t win on the road or why teams have trouble winning on the road. I think the main difference is the refs and how they are so different from place to place. For instance at the dome they call a game that isn’t physical so we are used to playing with refs that will make calls that are too physical but on the road such as Sydney, Wollongong, Cairns they let a lot of things go. It gets very physical on the road and sometimes gets to be something like a football game. I know we are supposed to adjust to the refs but this is hard when they are so different from place to place. I don’t know if this is because of homer refs but it just amazes me how they can call such different games. The NBL should have monitor this and train all the refs to call games the same. I must admit that I think that we have been saved a couple of times this year by homer refs. I am not mad about it but I know how it feels to be on the other end of the calls.
I can’t believe that there are only 12 games left in the season before the finals start. We have a lot of work to do but I think we have a good chance at doing something this year if we can continue to improve and work as a team. It still amazes me how many people look up to or admire all of us on the team. I never look at myself as someone that people look up to. New Years Eve games we usually stay after to give interviews and sign autographs for the fans and kids. I got approached by a lot of people saying thanks for coming back and glad to have you here. I don’t know if they know this but it puts a big smile on my face that people appreciate what I do. I think of myself as a boring type player that just busts his ass to win at all costs. It is also weird to see people wearing my jersey with my name and number. I mean in 20 years I will be fat, bald and old looking back telling my kids that their dad had his own jersey and people wore it. They will probably say that I am lying but I have the pics to prove it. Haha
I just want to take this time to thank all of you fans out there. I sit here sometimes thinking if or when I will give up the game of basketball but it makes it that much harder when you touch so many people in so many ways. I wish you all a Happy and Safe 2005…
Get to the dome we need the place full and bring the excitement.. By the way nice to see that the wave was going around during one of our timeouts! Great to see! That’s the kind of excitement that we are looking for!
Final Stretch 16-11
The last couple of weeks have been rough, one week we felt good about how we are playing and then the next we hit rock bottom and nothing goes right. Funny how things work out during the season one minute are think that you are guaranteed a spot in the top three and the next you could fall all the way to 6th or 7th. That is how tight this year’s league is compared to years past and there is no margin for error. Coming into the New Year we came off of some pretty good wins against the Kings and Bullets but then hit a snag for a week or so. I remember looking at the ladder early in Jan thinking that we were going to finish top 4 with no problem and now if we lose another game that will push back fighting for spots with the others.
I haven’t been able to get online and update my journal as much as I would like but that is because I am studying at the moment trying to further my education and that I taking a lot of my time up. Frustrating as hell when I am online I have to do homework staying up for hours on end. So with the added stress of the last part the season and homework I feel like my brain is going to explode at times. Or I want to throw objects at the TV or walls… haha Frustration is the main topic at the moment with our team because right when you think that things are going well they just get worse. For instance starting the year we were injury free and looking strong winning games. Then All-Star weekend comes and I hurt my knee, Oscar and Jacob Sprain their ankles and Brett has a slight tear in his hamstring leaving us with a very thin team. Add the injuries to Nashy and J-Will taking away all of our main guys leaving us to go to our bench. I don’t think that I have ever been apart of a team with some many injuries at once but I guess that is what the season does to you as a player. So that left us without many bodies to take to the floor and then comes the coaching brilliance of Phil and SJ adding Brad Hill to the line-up giving us a more athletic player that can slash to the hole opening things up for the rest of us.
We have a tough schedule ahead of us and we need to win our share of game to give us some kind of leverage going into the play-offs. I would love to have home court advantage and see the Dome packed with standing room only. How pumped would that make a player feel and give us an atmosphere that hasn’t been seen in a long time.
Plus I have some items from the All-Star game being auctioned on Ebay and some shoes so take a look if you are interested in some collector items.
Any questions email me at dustyrychart@yahoo.com
2004/05 Finals are HERE!
The season has finally ended and now the teams prepare for the run for the Phillips Championship. We end the regular season 19-13 which is a huge improvement from the previous year. The 19 wins have given us a 4th place finish which means that we get a home elimination final against the winner of the Brisbane Bullets and Hunter Pirates game. It has been a long and bumpy road for us this season as we have seen our share of good times and bad times. When I mean bad times I mean injuries that set us back or last second losses to teams. Well that is all in the past and now we must focus on making a strong run at winning this thing!
Going into the playoffs one is never sure if everyone will be on the same page but I hope the guys come ready for war! No matter who we get this Friday one thing is for certain and that it is going to be a physical war on court. The Brisbane series has left me sore and aching after each game just because of the physical style of play that they bring to every game. Hunter on the other hand isn’t as physical but they have huge bodies in the middle that can give a beating and throughout a game it can have its advantages. No matter what we have to come ready to play and know that it is a must win for us because I know that I want to get into the semi-finals and bring home the championship! I know that most of you have seen the ticket prices for the game Friday but we need a full house. Anything less than a full house would be disappointing so please come.
Sorry that this journal has been short but I plan on doing a journal
every game of the finals and I hope that it is more than one….
Season Over
Well the season has finally come to an end a lot earlier than I and most the people in Adelaide ever wanted. What can you do when Brisbane shoots from anywhere and drains threes and threes and threes. It seemed no matter what we did we couldn’t stop them and by the time we did stop them it was too late. I think that a lot of people didn’t feel the excitement that a playoff game should bring. The stadium was half full and the buzz didn’t seem as if we were playing for our life and for a championship. I know myself that I would rather have a three game series but that isn’t how things go in the NBL. All year we have beaten Brisbane and then all of a sudden we get smashed at home. Some people have asked me why we lost. Well all I can say to that is they came out and wanted it more than us. I think that the NBL should have series just for this case here. We work our asses off all season for what? One single game!
Enough of that! Our season was a successful one in my eyes. We were picked to finish near the bottom of the ladder this year and turned up finishing top 4. I think that we stunned a few people but all of the guys on this team work their asses off and when we work together we are hard to stop. Now that the season is over there are a lot of guys that need to be signed back up including our coaches. I hope that Phil and SJ are back because I love playing for these two as they give you a stress free environment and understand a players needs and wants.
For the off-season there are a few guys leaving the country to pursue other opportunities such as Brett, Jacob, Coops and Myself. Brett is going to Turkey to play for a team that currently has a point guard from Minnesota and one of the top teams in that league. As for the rest of us we are going to New Zealand to play in their NBL. The New Zealand NBL isn’t as long as ours but it is supposed to be competitive and fun. I am looking forward to my experience.
Well I better going cause I have to organize some details before I leave..
Plus I have one more shoe that has been signed if someone wants it let me know.. brand new basketball shoe…
Hawks Bay Hawks
So I have been in New Zealand for a little over a week now and things are a little different than Adelaide. The guys on the team are a great bunch and I like being around them. The only thing that is hard to get used to is the small town and that there isn’t much to do besides a Saturday night. I know that I am from a small town but it is different when you are young then when you are in your mid-twenties. I don’t have cable and I just have dial-up internet so I am getting by just fine. I am living in Napier in a place called Westshore along the Esplanade. The beach here is a little different than Adelaide because they actually have huge waves and I am too scared to go out and have a walk fro recovery. Haha
Being that I have been to New Zealand twice to play the Breakers in Auckland I really never understood what people were talking about. The times that I have been here I have seen nothing but rainy skies and bad whether. I was told that it is one of the most beautiful places to see. I finally got to know what all the hype was about when I flew in a few days ago. As I was flying from Auckland it was a bright sunny after-noon and I really got to see the landscape and it was the most beautiful site that I have seen from the air. Ever since that Sunday it has been cold and rainy as the locals say it usually isn’t like this but I have brought it with me from Adelaide.
People in Hawks bay love their basketball as it showed with leading the league in attendance for the first game of the year. Playing here kind of reminds me of high school with the small community getting together to really support the team. The Adelaide fans are huge supporters but I consider this different because it is on such a smaller scale so don’t get all defensive on me.. haha The practices are different to that from Phil’s and not saying they are bad just different. We practice 2-3 times a week and go for 2-3 hours I would think give or take 30 minutes. It is a good change for me because you learn something different from each coach you play for which makes you a more knowledgeable player. So everything is all good but the one thing that is a lot different is the amount of clinics that we have to do. In Adelaide the schools come to the Dome and we just do ten 45 Min clinics per person a season. Here in Hawks Bay each person does a clinic twice a week going for 2 hours and we have to go out to the schools. I have found the clinics to be fun and the kids really enjoy it but just one thing that is different for me. Other than that I find it hard to pass the time away.
Besides the clinics we do actually play some games and we had our first last Friday at home. The game was sloppy because we only practiced with each other twice before the game. That is hard to do because you really don’t know the style of game that your teammates play. It takes some time to gel together and really flow well together. Besides the fact that we didn’t play our greatest ball we won the game pretty easily. We had a few times during the game where the other team got with 4 points at the end but I still had that feeling that it was our game.
Overall my first few weeks here have been good and I have been looked after very well. We now have a weekend double header in Auckland so we will see how that goes…
Easter Weekend
Week #2 so far in the Kiwi League of National Basketball action and we are 1-2. Over the weekend we played the Harbor Heat and the Auckland Stars losing both games. Our first game of the weekend was against the Harbor Heat which I didn’t really know too much about. I knew that they had a few guards that could really shoot the hell out of the ball and that is what they did. They are a team that lacks some talent but make it up in the hustle and hard work department. From the start we were down and never really made a run at taking the lead. I think that we had close to 30 turnovers and when you are that careless with the ball you really don’t have much of a chance at getting into any kind of game unless you are playing the school for the blind and deaf. I didn’t play anywhere near the game that I could be playing and I don’t know what the problem is. In the Australian NBL I Average a double-double and for some odd reason I am struggling at the moment. In this game I 9 points and probably 6 rebounds if I am lucky. I hate losing with a passion! With this lose it has but our season record at 1-1 and moving on to play the Auckland Stars on Saturday.
Auckland is a more talented team with guys like Lindsey Tait, Casey Frank, and Aaron Olson and have a deeper bench than the teams that we have played so far this year. I think we all knew going into the game that we needed to step it up on both ends of the court and add some hard work and hustle in order to win. We started off the game great developing a nice 10 point lead but that quickly disappeared again late in the first as we turned the ball over 2-3 times and fouled them as time ended to put them up to the line with no time left in the first. The rest of the way was pretty close but again in the fourth we just turned the ball over again and again and again making it difficult for us to make a run. We ended up losing 81-70 to the Auckland Star making our record 1-2 for the year.
So far this year in the Kiwi League has been very frustrating
for me as an individual because I am not playing the way I should be.
Maybe I need some more time to get used to my teammates or even the
league. It is funny how leagues change from each other. In college the
BigTen is an athletic physical league, Europe is a slow down and physical
league, Australia is an up and down league and Kiwi hoops is more of
a guard league. I’ve never had much of a problem adjusting so
I don’t know why this is different. Maybe we just have to play
a few more games as a group to fully understand the playing styles of
each individual. I wish I knew but until then I will just keep working
hard and try to work it out.
New Zealand Hawks Bay 1-3
So far the season hasn’t been going the way that I thought or anyone else would have thought at the beginning of the season. We were picked with the best starting five in the league and the fan favorite to win the title this year. Well as you can see we are currently 1 -3 and looking at the bottom of the table and if we don’t change things fast we won’t make the playoffs. I know people have been saying be patient but this league is only a couple months long and they play 18 games so therefore we don’t have much time to mess around. Last Friday we played the Rams and were pretty much in the game from the start putting up leads as far as 7 points and we couldn’t put them away because of our inefficiency on both sides of the ball. I don’t think that we as a team are all on the same page yet. The one thing that is difficult in basketball is getting used to new coaches, players and style of play. Not every situation is the same and I am sure that is how it is in every aspect of life when you change settings.
I always get people telling me that I have the best job in the world because I get to play basketball. I agree that playing a game is fun and I enjoy it most of the time but it isn’t the best profession on the planet. I mean for instance if you are working a job and you mess up for a week you can just ask for help or assistance and someone will gladly help or point you in the right direction. With basketball if you mess up for a week and have a few bad games as an import you are deported back home. I mean it is a cut throat business and I don’t think that most people realize that we are pieces of meat that come and go if we have one bad game. Now that is stress….. Think if you were to have one bad day at work you would end up being fired and sent packing pretty stressful huh? I have been talking with Derek Moore about overseas basketball that is why this topic is brought up. We both have experienced the days when our games haven’t been on and then getting threatened to pick it up or we won’t get paid and sent packing. What other profession handles business like this? It sounds as if I am whining but I am just stating facts about my life as well as others that play the game overseas. It isn’t all peaches and cream.
Yes I choose to be in this profession and I love it but as one gets older you kind of need that security that if you miss a shot you wont be sent home. There is nothing better than a challenge and I think that this is very challenging as well risky. Now back to the New Zealand league as we have a game this Friday at home which is pretty much a must win situation for us. If we don’t win this game it could be a long year and we have to dig ourselves out of a massive hole. I think that the players have there heads on straight and are ready for a dog fight and hopefully we come out as winners.
Another thing that I noticed about traveling around
the world is how different each culture is and how cost of living is
different. New Zealand is a beautiful place and it is so close to Australia
but the people and culture are totally different. I thought that they
would be similar but that isn’t the case. The people here have
a lot of respect for their heritage and ancestors. You don’t see
that respect most places these days for reason unknown. I have enjoyed
my time here learning about the culture and their ways. Winitana has
told us many stories about the old days and the wars taking us to certain
monuments explaining the stories to us. It is something I will cherish
my whole life especially when I get older.
Weekend Off
We had a bye this weekend giving me the chance to check out a little more about New Zealand see some of the beautiful landscapes it has to offer. While there isn’t much to do in Napier Derek Moore and I decided to meet a friend of his a few hours away in a smaller but tourist destination. Derek’s friend had a laptop and some DVD’s for him so that was the main reason for our journey up north. I would tell you what town we were in but I can’t remember how you spell it but all I know is that’s a smelly place because of the natural sulfur coming up from the ground. We took off on Saturday morning after a rough Friday night of being a judge for a bikini model talent contest that was held at the Shed 2 in Napier. I was one of the celebrity judges that got to rate all the top talent that Hawks Bay has to offer. I didn’t think it was as serious of a contest as it was. I was surprised to be a judge but I was more than happy to supply my expertise as a male judge. The contest was fun as there were some nice girls in the contest that brought out the hooting and hollering from the guys and girls in the bar. There were four areas to judge on dinner wear, speech, confidence and last but not least bikini wear. I was put in between a rock and a hard place because we as judges had these girls’ careers in our hands ha ha. Overall it was a good experience for me giving me a little more knowledge about a model searches.
Saturday rolled around leaving Napier to the city that stinks from sulfur. I was beat from the night before so Derek drove all the way there as I slept in the passenger seat. The roads here are very interesting and dangerous because you are driving up in the mountains without any guard rails nothing to stop you from going over the edge. Besides the roads Derek and I made it safely to our destination. I think the name of the town we were in was called Rotaura but I am not sure how to correctly spell it. This place had plenty of touristy things to do so we had plenty to do. I went on some jet-boat ride that whips you around and the damn thing goes 0-100 km in less than 4 seconds. It was pretty exciting and fun but it did hurt my neck a little but was worth it. We had heard that the one thing that you should do in this area was try the louge (don’t know how to spell) but basically you get on this three wheeled cart at the top of the mountain and ride it down the road. We had been told that it was totally safe but then we heard that a few people have been killed by falling over the edge. So Derek and I thought very hard and long about it and decided to think it over a few dozen vb’s. As the night ended we decided to find some place to eat and that was almost impossible because everything was closed. We did manage to find Joe’s Dinner and let me tell you that I have never seen food like this before. I mean they served us dog food on greasy and nasty and just by looking at it made you want to hurl. We were so hungry that we forced it down as every bite was a struggle. So the next day as we woke up feeling a little dehydrated and sick from Joe’s dinner we decided that we couldn’t function properly so we took a rain check. It was a good weekend to get away and see some of New Zealand which was living up to my expectations as the landscape is unbelievable.
I forgot about one other thing that we saw on TV a few days before we decided to go up. There was a commercial 60 minutes was running talking about gangs and gang violence that controls 70% of this little town and we were thinking damn that it must be dangerous in that town. It turned out that the town was the same town we were heading for that weekend needless to say that put a little few into our eyes. As the courageous, strong men that we are we decided to take that risk. Thank goodness we made it through.
I have some pictures that will be posted
soon from this weekend so I hope you enjoy. On another not my friend
has told me about the spelling errors and sentences that don’t
make sense in my journals. Well I just have to say that I don’t
proof read it because I’m not an English major. Ha-ha
3 Games in Six Days and 3 wins
The last week has been pretty hectic for us as we had our mot grueling stretch of games so far this season. After almost two weeks off from playing any league games we came up across our 3 games in 6 days stretch. Our first game would be against the mountain Airs, Giants and finish with the Jets. Each of these teams are tough and we had to make sure that we won these games or we would fall victim to the rest of the pack. At the moment the league is tight as there are 5 teams in the middle tied with 3 losses apiece. Knowing that if we lost we would fall in the last half of the league provided us with the motivation that we needed to get us over the top for the week.
Our first game of the stretch would be against the Mountain Airs with Tony Rampton, Brad Davidson and a strong supporting cast of New Zealand players. One of the funniest things that I’ve ever done happened this day. We have all this advertising of corporate sponsors that line the side of the court all the way around. The signs are 7 feet long and 3 feet high so it takes some effort to get over safely. Well when we got introduced a few players were in front of me taking their time and I thought why the hell not and try to leap over the signs to get on the court faster. I was telling myself the whole time that if I was going to do this that I need to get my feet over or I will fall right on my face. I sat there looking at it and decided to go for it the whole time conscious of the embarrassment of me falling over in front of a couple thousand fans on national television. We I finally made my run to jump over the signs my legs feeling good leaping over then gravity and stiff tight muscles took over. I was in mid air knowing that I was going to make it safe then all of a sudden in a flash the sign got a little higher (so I thought) as my right toe caught the top of the sign. It was all she wrote after that as I fell flat on my ass giving the crowd some pre-game entertainment and something to chuckle about. I sat there lying on the ground laughing off the embarrassment as my teammates walked past me wondering why the hell is Dusty on the ground? Only a few players saw me fall so they were wondering what I was doing and why everyone else was laughing. As I stayed on the ground I was wondering when and if someone would help me up and pat me on the back. Then finally one of the young development guy’s lended a helping hand and I got up to around of applause from the crowd. It was the stupidest thing that I have ever did coming out before a game but it was also one of the funniest moments that I have seen or been apart of. The game didn’t go much better for me as I got into foul trouble quick and sat most of the game giving the team plenty of moral support from the bench. During this game our home score bench kept messing up the fouls and points during the whole game when in the 4th Derek Moore was on 3 fouls got another and then the score bench realized that he has 5 know but was showing that he had 3 so he unexpectedly went to the bench and then I went from 4 fouls to 3 fouls at the same time because they had given me one of Derek’s fouls. That could have cost us the game and I would have had a chance to play more but your own home bench shouldn’t be making mistakes like that. The game was won by the Mighty Hawks but it was closer than the score indicates. 1-0 and two more games remaining.
Our second game of the stretch brought in the Nelson Giants and my Adelaide 36er teammate Jacob Holmes. This is another team that has been playing extremely lately while Jake is leading the way. I think Jacob is averaging close to 22-10 while not shying away from his share of shots. Haha We all know Jacob is a good player that hasn’t met a shot that he didn’t like. The giants have a good combo of height and athletic ability so they would provide us with an interesting match up. Nelson got in a few hours before the game because this is a semi-pro league and most teams can’t afford to travel a night before the game and leave the next day after. So the Giants were going to be a little tired from travel all day s that would give us an advantage so we thought. Prior to the game I was still getting jokes from the guys about watching out for the signs. My new nick name is “Burger King” because that is the sign that tripped me. (Haha) The game was close the whole way tied at half-time and at the end of regulation. We used the momentum to lift us into overtime taking control early and not looking back. Once again the score bench messed up the time in over-time putting up an extra minute on the clock that shouldn’t be there. The game resumed with an extra minute before we realized what was wrong then the game stopped. After much debating we managed to get the clock right as it was supposed to be 2:50 remaining instead of the 3:50 they had on the clock. That isn’t acceptable from your home score bench and almost cost us the game. I have never been more frustrated on an issue during a basketball game before. Jacob ended the game with 21 -12 shooting a impressive 7-28 from the field.
It feels good to finally get over the hump and be one game above 500 for the season at 4-3. By winning these 2 games allows us to gain on the front runners of the league and another win will put us in 3rd place. Our next game would be against David Cooper, Miles Pierce and the rest of the Jets. This game is on the road and so far this year we are 0-2 looking for our first win of the year. This game is going to test our fitness, mental toughness and team character. After playing with Coops all year in Adelaide he likes to give all the guys scouting reports on players that he has played with so I can just imagine what he was telling everyone about me. He probably was saying that he can’t jump therefore he tries to shoot quickly while trying to rebound his misses to pad his stats.(haha) Well I don’t think that he told too many people about me because he ended up guarding me and did a great job cause I couldn’t hit the ocean if I tried. I had the worst shooting night of my life or at least for a long time going 2-13. It was a good game from the start but we had the lead the whole way and never really felt threatened even when the score was close. Derek Moore and Aj started out hot and then the bench really came on and gave the boost that we needed hitting 3’s and getting and 1’s. The Jets couldn’t match our bench as their coach got a technical with a minute remaining down 6 giving us 4 shots plus the ball. Three wins in less than a week moving us into 3rd place giving us a good look at the top spot of the playoffs. Our next game is against the Auckland Stars.
In my last couple of journals I was talking about how tough it is to be an import and the added stress that comes along with it. In the world of basketball if a team is losing they first point the fingers at the imports well that is the case in Otago with Rusty Hinder and Scotty McGregor. Over the last week or so they have been called into the office and a few shouting matches between the coach and Scotty. Rusty has his own website and has written about it in his blogs so go to his website and take a look as it is some of the funniest shit that I have ever read. www.thehinders.com I can feel for both Rusty and Scotty because it isn’t easy being the imports. It has been getting cold as shit lately without having central heat and only a small LPG heater to hear my whole house I find myself sitting on the couch bundled up watching DVD’s and TV. It isn’t as cold as Minnesota but they don’t have heat in every place like we do back home and I haven’t been this cold since I left for Australia 3 years ago. That is pretty much my life here in Napier and I spend a lot of time trying to look at new things on the web. I have some Mpeg files to put up on my site and they will be available soon. Just some clips on me playing provided by Simon.
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