Melbourne Tigers

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Melbourne Tigers

Established	1984
Team Colours	Red and Yellow
Home Venue	State Netball and Hockey Centre, Melbourne
Major Sponsor	Aust Tiger Wines
Championships	1993, 1997, 2006
Team History	Melbourne Tigers (1984-Present)
Chief Executive	Seamus McPeake
Coach	Alan Westover
Captains	Darryl McDonald and Chris Anstey
Website	www.tigers.com.au

The Melbourne Tigers is a team in the Australian National Basketball League (NBL), and along with the South Dragons is one of two teams based in Melbourne.

The Melbourne Tigers Club has become one of the premier clubs in Australian basketball, and also enters a team in the Big V conference of the Australian Basketball Association.

1 Club history
2 Honour Roll
3 Current roster
4 External links

[edit] Club history

The Tigers joined the National Basketball League in 1984. Throughout the majority of the 1980's, they saw limited success, despite the number of records which superstar Andrew Gaze, son of coach Lindsay, racked up. One season saw Andrew average 44ppg, and set a single game scoring record of 61 points, however, the team still failed to make the playoffs. Once imports Dave Colbert and Dave Simmons were recruited, the Tigers began to see greater on court success, however, when Colbert left the club to move to Brisbane, the Tiger's growth again appeared to be stunted.

Import Lanard Copeland teamed up with Andrew Gaze in the 1992 season, forming a decade long backcourt partnership, which many observers cite as the greatest backcourt duo in Australian basketball history. They became dubbed, 'The dynamic duo' and were noted for their signature 'alley-oop'. With this potent backcourt leading the way, the Tigers made the Finals in 1992, against the newly formed South East Melbourne Magic. Despite the Magic losing point guard Darren Perry to a torn achilles tendon in game one, they managed to rally to beat the Tigers in 3 games.

The Tigers filled their biggest need in the off-season, by recruited one of the best big men in the country in Mark Bradtke. Teaming up with Gaze, Copeland, Simmons, and the newly recruited Robert Sibley from Brisbane, the Tigers boasted a formidable starting lineup. They defeated the arch rival Magic in the second round of the playoffs, to set up a Finals matchup with the Perth Wildcats. Having split the first two games, the Tigers faced the difficult task of the deciding game in the hostile environment of the Perth Entertainment Centre, a venue they had never won at.

The Tigers controlled much of the game, but in the closing minutes had to withstand a furious comeback from Perth, led by their captain Andrew Vlahov. Andrew Gaze iced the game with a pair of critical free throws in the final seconds. The emotional toll of the championship was evident on coach Lindsay, and son Andrew after the game, as they broke down crying whilst embracing. The Perth crowd were noted in the media for a lack of sportsmanship, as they booed Andrew Gaze during the acceptance speech.

The Tigers were unable to reach the Finals for another three years, where they faced cross-town rival South East Melbourne once again. In a tough three game series, the Magic once again prevailed. During the following off season, import Dave Simmons departed, and was replaced by Jarvis Lang. Having to deal with a mid-season return from Mark Bradtke from the NBA, the Tigers started the 1997 season in very poor form, with a 3-11 mark at the midpoint of the season. Lang was sacked due to concerns over tendinitis in his knees, and Marcus Timmons was brought in on a tip from former assistant coach Brett Brown.

From that point, the Tigers did not lose another game until the second game of the Finals against the Magic. They equalled the now defunct Sydney Supersonics winning streak of 16 consecutive games. With Timmons teaming up with Gaze, Copeland and Bradtke, this quartet accounted for over 95% of the Tigers points production. Game one of the Finals was a whitewash against the Magic, which saw coach Brian Goorijan resort to a more slowdown offense and physical defense in Game two, to combat the Tiger's free-flowing style. The Tigers regained the ascendancy in Game 3, as they claimed their second championship in front of their home town fans.

The Tigers were unable to recapture their championship form throughout the rest of the '90's. Andrew Gaze spent part of the 1999 season with the San Antonio Spurs in the American National Basketball Association - the team won an NBA championship in 1999 - however, without Gaze's on court leadership and point production, the Tigers staggered in the latter half of the season after looking like running away with the competition at the midpoint of the season, eventually falling in the first round of the playoffs. Import Marcus Timmons requested permission to break his contract, to play in Poland after this. This was granted, however, he returned for the next season, this time with the Perth Wildcats, where he led them to the team to the championship and was named Finals MVP.

As basketball's popularity fell throughout the late '90's and into the new millennium, the Tigers experienced great financial trouble off the court. This finally came to a head in 2002, where it was revealed that they were $2.5M in debt, and in serious danger of folding. Andrew Gaze himself, did not have a salary paid to him for his final few playing years in order to ease the financial burden. He supported himself through endorsement deals.

A new ownership consortium under Melbourne Businessman Seamus McPeake and the Gaze's, saw financial stability restored to the club for the 2002-03 season. At the same time, Melbourne's other team, the Victoria Titans (formed under a merger of the North Melbourne Giants and South East Melbourne Magic in 1999) were unable to survive and folded. The license was quickly picked up and the Victoria Giants were formed, with many former Titan players, including league legend Darryl McDonald.

The Tigers embarked on a financial rationalisation project, the first priority of which was to stop playing games at the very high rent Vodafone Arena, and move to the smaller capacity State Netball and Hockey Centre in Royal Park. On court, with their ageing superstars Gaze, Copeland and Bradtke unable to produce at the same levels they did in the '90's, the Tigers were perennial playoff contenders, however, never finalists. The 2004 season saw the demise of the Victoria Giants. They had decided to sack Darryl McDonald at the start of the '04 campaign, and the Tigers gladly picked him up as a backup point guard to Andrew Gaze.

The conclusion of the 2004-05 season saw a changing of the guard for the Tigers. League legend Andrew Gaze retired, and Mark Bradtke accepted an offer from Brisbane, in part to be closer to his wife's (Nicole Provis - former Australian Tennis Champion) family. Lanard Copeland's dwindling production saw the Tigers decide not to renew his contract, although, he was offered an off court role with the club. Believing he still had playing years in him, he followed Mark Bradtke to Brisbane. Imports Rashard Tucker and Dave Thomas would take the lead on court roles at the club, joined by big man Chris Anstey who returned from a 3 year stint in Europe.

With D-Mac moving into the starting line-up, joined by Thomas, Tucker, Anstey and an improving Neil Mottram, the Tiger's had an extremely successful regular season, which saw them finish second to the Sydney Kings. Tigers coach Al Westover was named Coach of the Year. Centre Chris Anstey was named both the Grand Final Series' Most Valuable Player and league MVP and Stephen Hoare won Sixth Man Of the Year.

The Tigers swept the playoffs, defeating the Perth Wildcats 2-0 in the Semi Finals and the Sydney Kings 3-0 in the Finals. D-Mac's season was particularly impressive, as he outclassed many quality point guards throughout the season, including starting Australian Boomer point guard CJ Bruton in the Finals. His stellar performances were seemingly at odds with his advanced age of 42, making him the oldest player in the league.

A new Melbourne team should provide strong competition in the 2006-07 season, with the South Dragons having enticed Shane Heal back from a two year retirement. In addition they have added former NBL stars such as Frank Drmic and big man Matt Burston from Perth. Former NBA All Star and all time NBA freethrow percentage leaderMark Price added a great measure of respectability to the organisation, as their inaugural coach but has since been replaced by Shane Heal.

The Tigers roster remains potent for the new season. D-Mac signed a new two year contract, and former Tiger Nathan Crosswell has returned from Cairns to play back up to him.

On July 3rd, the Herald Sun announced that Neil Mottram had exercised his European out clause to play with Italian second division team Fabriano.

On July 4th, it was reported that Rashad Tucker and Perth import David Bailey (basketball) had been fined $5,000 each for cannabis use by the world governing body. Andrew Vlahov (Perth General Manager) sacked Bailey immediately, however, the Tigers have stuck by Tucker, as he reported that the positive test resulted from second hand smoke, rather than him smoking.

Despite rumours that local big man Simon Conn, or ex West Sydney Razorback Simon Dwight were in their sights to replace Simon Dwight, the Tigers managed to secure Axel Dench's signature on August 9th, just before leaving for Singapore for a pre season competition. They successfully appealed Dench's point status, allocated from when he was previously active in the NBL 2 years ago with the Hawks. The Tigers now look extremely strong for the upcoming season, as League MVP Chris Anstey returns to the Tigers, after not receiving a call-up from the NBA after his off-season work out with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Tigers recently won the Singapore Cup, in their first games with new additions Axel Dench and Nathan Crosswell. D-Mac's son also played with the Tigers on the trip.

[edit] Honour Roll

NBL Championships:	3 (1993, 1997, 2006)
NBL Finals Appearances:	16
NBL Grand Final appearances:	5 (1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2006)
NBL Most Valuable Players:	Andrew Gaze (1991,'92, '94, '95, '96, '97, '98), Mark Bradtke (2002), Chris Anstey (2006)
NBL Grand Final MVPs:	Lanard Copeland (1997), Chris Anstey (2006)
All-NBL First Team:	Andrew Gaze (1984 - 2000; 15 times), Mark Bradtke (1994, '96, '97, 1999-2005; 10 times), Lanard Copeland (1999), Chris Anstey (2006)
NBL Coach of the Year:	Lindsay Gaze (1989, '97, '99), Alan Westover (2006)
NBL Rookie of the Year:	Andrew Gaze (1984)
NBL Best Sixth Man:	Darryl McDonald (2004), Stephen Hoare (2006)

Source: www.nbl.com.au

[edit] Current roster

Melbourne Tigers Current Roster
Head Coach: Alan Westover			Edit
C	13	Chris Anstey - Captain	(VIC)
G	4	Daryl Corletto	(VIC)
G	21	Nathan Crosswell	(NSW)
C	30	Axel Dench	(VIC;Gonzaga University)
F	5	Tommy Greer	(VIC;Nova Southeastern University)
F	33	Stephen Hoare	(VIC)
G	45	Gerard Leonard	(VIC)
G	44	Darryl McDonald - Captain	(New York;Texas A&M)
G	14	Matt O'Hea	(VIC)
F	9	David Stiff	(VIC;Boston University)
G/F	11	Dave Thomas*	(Ontario;Michigan State University)
G/F	3	Rashad Tucker*	(Illinois;Southern Illinois University)
* = Import			Melbourne Tigers