Sydney Kings star Andrew Bogut said the NBL's handling of the grand final series has had a detrimental affect on players' mental health, and he also backed owner Paul Smith's claim that the league and Wildcats back-flipped on a handshake agreement not to award the championship to either team.
Smith told the Sydney Morning Herald that the Kings, NBL owner Larry Kestelman and the Wildcats had decided that no team would be crowned 2020 champions of the unfinished best-of-five grand final series that Perth were leading 2-1.
On Tuesday the Kings decided to abandon the series after denying Perth's earlier suggestion to play it as a best-of-three contest.
Then on Thursday night the Wildcats were suddenly announced champions by the NBL after the league had consulted its board, lawyers and FIBA.
"We had an explicit three-way conversation last Friday because the NBL could provide no guidance, they hadn't a clue what to do, with the scenarios that were unfolding," Smith told the Herald.
"It was explicitly stated by the Wildcats and the Kings that neither was to have the championship without completing the five-game series. Explicit.
"That was last Friday before we played game two. We won game two. Imagine if we limped home two-down? That was before we won the game.
"They [the NBL and Wildcats] have disregarded an agreement to put down the guns and play the five games out."
On Friday Bogut said he had no reason not to believe Smith's claims about the agreement.
"I trust Paul Smith, and I have no reason to think they lied," Bogut said at a press conference.
"They've been straight-shooters. I haven't caught them in a lie.
"Our guys said there was an agreement it doesn't finish, it doesn't finish."
Bogut ripped into the actions of the NBL throughout the COVID-19 pandemic which has forced world sports to come to a halt as player and fan welfare is put at the forefront.
"I think there's a lot of half-truths throughout this whole process," Bogut said.
"It's hugely disappointing for any professional athlete to have to make the decision we made [to abandon the series], but to me what's more disappointing is the way NBL has handled this.
"And that's got nothing to do with them picking Perth as the winner - so don't get me wrong - I have no issue with all that. It's lead-up to it and the way things were handled.
"There's handling things pro-actively, being reactive and then doing things retroactively. The retroactive aspect has been 10/10, the pro-activeness has been barely a 1 and the reactive stuff is probably about a 5.
"It's block your ears out and hope everything goes alright - that's what I felt."
Bogut described the entire NBL's process over the last few weeks as "embarrassing".
"We were told numerous times when we reached out to the league that it's business as usual, everything is fine. A day later the NBA shuts down. A day after that the [Australian] Grand Prix shut down, and we were in limbo.
"We're one of the unique sports in Australia that has a number of players that aren't from Australia or based in Sydney. Half our roster is from either interstate or overseas.
"It's not so much that we were scared of catching the flu - that was one percent of this decision. There was a lot of ramifications that came into play.
"The disappointing thing was it was left up to the players to decide.
"Our front office had to ring the league and find out if fans were coming or not.
"For the players to have to initiate these meetings and make these decisions, and give ourselves pros and cons for what we're dealing with, is embarrassing.
"After Game 2, it was an afterthought. As it got closer, the fan thing happened, which we initiated. We shouldn't be put in that position."
Bogut said the players were left feeling like "pawns", which led to mental health issues among the Kings squad.
"You just feel like you're a pawn in a machine and guys really struggled with that really bad mentally," Bogut said.
"You don't want to feel like a pawn of an organisation and I think that's what a lot of players felt.
"These cases are rare. But there was no contingency plans, no scenarios put out.
"I can tell you for a fact that there are guys in our locker room that are having some pretty big mental health issues just from all of this.
"That's a frustrating part of it. It's not a case of not wanting to get on the plane. We know generally [COVID-19] is not going to put us on our death bed for guys our age and health.
"There's travel restrictions for guys in the States. There's people that have grandparents that only have a year or two left and want to see their grandparents.
"We had a three hour meeting with a lot of tears before coming to the conclusion to pull the plug."
https://twitter.com/PerthWildcats/status/1240515380222681089Smith said the NBL was always behind the eight ball when it came to decision-making, and questioned the leadership of Kestelman.
"We both decided to not play in front of crowds to ensure player and community safety. The league had no interest in buying that. Larry Kestelman said, 'I just want you to realise that you can't come back for compensation from us'. That is the mentality of what you are dealing with," Smith told the Herald.
"This is a void of leadership because it's not leadership, it's ownership."
Earlier this week NBL commissioner Jeremy Loeliger denied that any agreement was reached.
"There were a number of phone calls but to the best of my memory there was no agreement to that effect," Loeliger told RSN radio on Wednesday.
Though the NBL has admitted there will be an "asterisk" next to the Perth Wildcats' championship win this year, it will stand as their tenth title in the league, cementing their spot as the NBL's best ever team.
from WWOS http://wwos.nine.com.au/basketball/nbl-sydney-kings-perth-wildcats-owner-reveals-handshake-backflip-on-championship/ebf1f220-983d-402d-a25b-7cfd824d9f90
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