Newly appointed Australian Boomers Interim Coach Rob Beveridge has praised the JackJumpers and coach Scott Roth for their start to the NBL season.
Speaking with Damien Martin and Chris Pike on the Basketball Hustle Podcast, Beveridge said he was impressed with what he had seen so far from Tasmania.
“I think Scott’s doing an amazing job, ýou know they’re one of the better coached teams i’m seeing in the league at the moment,” he said.
“He doesn’t have like superstar talent, he’s got a whole bunch of very good role players, I think he’s doing an amazing job with his systems, like his defensive systems and how he’s defending.
“He’s giving their team a chance to win with not a whole lot of talent. and I think that shows that he’s a very good coach.”
Embed from Getty ImagesPersonal challenges coaches face
Beveridge also discussed the challenges Scott Roth has faced since taking the head coach role in Tasmania. In a recent article by NBL’s Chris Pike, Roth openly explained the hardship of not seeing his wife and family for 18 months and the difficulties of being isolated from them on the other side of he world.
Beveridge, who has been an advocate for mental health support in professional sports explained the challenges Roth and a lot of coaches regularly face.
“Being he’s been away from his family for a long period of time, I get it, its really really difficult,” Mr Beveridge said.
“What got me through that type of thing, and its probably what Scott’s doing as well is his team is his family and I think he’s very tight with his players and that’s going to be what gets him through.
“And at the end of the day coaching is quite lonely at times, so its very important that you have a very small inner circle of people that are there through the good and the bad.
Bringing out the best in players
Similar to Roth, the NBL championship winning coach Beveridge knows a thing or two about getting the best out of his players. Many know him from his time with the Wildcats and Hawkes, but in 2008 he was head coach of the short-lived Sydney Spirit. The Spirit were a rebranded West Sydney Razorbacks entity that changed its name to be more inclusive of Sydney Kings supporters, who were without a team following the collapse of their club in the off-season.
The re-brand was not popular with either sets of supporters and the spirit Spirit went into administration two months into the season. Despite this, Beveridge coached the team to an 11-19 record. The results even more impressive after the players and coaches agreed to NBL minimum salaries after the league stepped in to allow the club to finish the season.
Embed from Getty ImagesAcknowledgements – A big thankyou to Chris and the team at Basketball Hustle Podcast, for allowing me use their interview with Rob Beveridge for this story.
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