D'Arcy Waldegrave: Basketball NZ are the architects of their own humiliation

Basketball New Zealand has punched itself in the face.  

Broke its own nose, and is trying to tell us it walked into a door.  

The barely believable antics of not only the week just gone, but the entire season, and if players I’ve spoken to are to be believed, the pre-season, leads me to think that they are the architects of their own humiliation.  

The Indian Panthers were suspended this week after a series of stumbles which eventually lead to them falling over their own feet, leaving themselves prone on the court floor.  

Yes, the Panthers has been a problem child, yes, they’ve failed to deliver on court, yes, they’ve treated their staff both on court and off with disdain bordering on exploitation, yes they’ve dragged a wonderful competition into the swamp with them, but no, the blame should not lie solely at their Air Jordaned feet.  

Claims from the commission chair Tracey Garland that “careful due diligence” was applied before their inclusion in the league are difficult to swallow. I did some retrospective diligence. A quick skim of the internet around the history of the parties involved with the Panthers (yeah, I’m like an antivaxxer – I did my own research) points to clumsy management and financial chaos. More red flags than a wealthy, good looking hit on Tinder. 

Sal's NBL, NZ Basketball, whoever holds ultimate responsibility for this circus needs to stand up and tell us who opened the door and let these 20 clowns jammed into a tiny car in.  

They can finger point and obfuscate all they want. The Indian Panthers management are a fast talking, blame laying excuse factory, but if they weren’t in the league, this wouldn't have happened.  

Fess up BBNZ, this is a monster you let in, own it. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the All Sport Breakfast podcast with Darcy
Wildgrave from News Talk zed B.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Sent twenty nine here on the All Sport breakface on
that News Talk ZB big story this week in his
own sport, basketball and he's in and punched itself in
the face, broke its own nose, and now trying to
tell us it walked into a door. The barely believable
antics of not only the week just gone, but the
entire season, and if the as I've spoken to her

(00:34):
to be believed, the preseason as well leads me to
think the basketball are the architects of their own humiliation.
The Indian Panthers were suspended this week after a series
of stumbles which eventually lead to them falling over their
own feet and leaving themselves prone on the court floor. Yep,
the Panthers short a problem child. Yes they've failed to

(00:55):
deliver on court. Yes they've treated their staff both on
court and off court, with disdain bordering on exploitation, and
yes they've dragged a wonderful competition into the swamp with them.
But no, the blame should not lie solely at their
air Jordan's feet. Claims from the Commission chair Tracy Garland

(01:15):
that quote careful due diligence was applied before their inclusion
of the league are difficult to swallow. It bes I
did some retrospective diligence quick skimm of the internet around
the history of the parties involved with the Panthers. Yeah,
I'm like an anti vaxxer. I did my own research,
but it points to clumsy management and financial chaos. It's

(01:38):
more red flags than a wealthy, good looking hit on
Tinder sALS NBL and he's on basketball. Whoever holds ultimate
responsibility for the circus needs to stand up and tell
us who opened the door and let these twenty clowns
jammed into a tiny car And they can fingerpoint and

(01:58):
obsercate all they want. The Indian Panthers are a fast talking,
blame laying excuse factory. But if they weren't there, this
wouldn't have happened. This up, BB and Z. This is
a monster. You lid in, you own it and then
you can move on.

Speaker 1 (02:18):
For more from the All Sport Breakfast with Darcy Watergrave,
listen live to News Talk set be on Saturday mornings,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.