NBL coach Mike Wells aims mid-court training tirade at Adelaide ...
41 minutes agoThu 19 Sep 2024 at 11:29am
An evidently frustrated Mike Wells lambasted his Adelaide 36ers players during a training session ahead of his side's clash with the Sydney Kings.
The former NBA assistant coach was appointed last month when club favourite Scott Ninnis was sacked.
What's next?The 36ers take on the Kings on Sunday.
New Adelaide 36ers coach Mike Wells has made no apologies for a heated training session, which included an expletive-laden spray, ahead of his side's NBL opening round clash with the Sydney Kings.
The former NBA assistant coach was unhappy with his players' preparation, just three days out from taking on the league's title favourite.
In an emotionally charged spray, the evidently dissatisfied coach lambasted his players, and then demanded that cameras filming the session be turned off.
"Stop, we are f***ing around," he yelled mid-court.
"It's bullshit.
"Goddamn it, what the f***? Turn the f***ing cameras off too, goddamn it."
Asked afterwards if there were tensions heading into the opening round, a more tranquil Wells responded "absolutely not", saying it was important to create an "emotional" atmosphere and "then be able to reel it back in".
"What you're trying to do is you're trying to get iron to sharpen iron, you're trying to compete, you're trying to get guys to compete at the highest level," he said.
"You're just trying to mould the group and I have an idea of the way I think that we can play and how we can function."
Wells was appointed last month when club favourite Scott Ninnis was sacked, and is trying to get his squad to gel and play unselfish basketball.
Wells says he is trying to "mould the group". (ABC News)
He said he wanted to be "pushing the lines and pushing the boundaries" with the players.
"We're all at different levels and different, I guess, stages of our professional career. We're all here right now, we've all got Sixers on our chest," he said.
"What we want to do is come together as a group, we want to be hardened by competition."
Adelaide has not won the NBL since 2002 and savagely cut its roster at the end of last season.
Its new-look squad includes late replacement import Montrezl Harrell, and faces an early challenge on Sunday, when the 36ers take on title favourite the Sydney Kings.
"They have a standard and everybody knows the brand," Wells said.
"It's always good for us early in the season to kind of take a shot at somebody that's really good."
