Fisher and Wright to lead NBL All-Stars

Two of the Philips Championship’s hottest coaching properties, Perth’s Scott Fisher and Brisbane’s Joey Wright, will make their All-Star coaching debuts at the 2006 NBL All-Star Game at the Distinctive Homes Dome in Adelaide on 25 November.

Fisher, whose team currently sits atop the ladder, will coach the Aussie All-Stars, while Brisbane mentor Wright will lead the way for the World All-Stars.

The positions of teams on the Philips Championship ladder at the end of Round Eight were used to determine which coaches would be given the honour of leading the All-Star teams.

The coach whose team was on top of the ladder was assigned the Australian All-Stars and the mentor of the second-placed team was given charge of the World All-Star side.

Fisher’s Wildcats ended Round Eight on top with a 9-3 win-loss record. ‘Fish’ currently has a 44-37 win loss record in his NBL coaching career.

This will be the first time Fisher has received the All-Star coaching honour. Currently in his third season with the Wildcats, the former championship-winning player was recently named the NBL’s Coach of the Month for September/October.

Fisher was delighted with the news and can’t wait for the game, which will see him coaching the best Australian players in the Philips Championship.

“The game is a going to be a lot of fun and it will certainly be a great experience and I’m very excited about it,” Fisher said.

Fisher will coach his regular Perth stars in Tony Ronaldson and Paul Rogers, and will also coach against his star forward Shawn Redhage for the first time.

“It will be a little bit strange having Shawn on the other team and as much as I know Paul and Tony love their court time I will be sharing the time around the entire team.”

Fisher is also looking forward to going up against Wright with the pair both well known for their competitive nature.

“I think we both are obviously very competitive and as much as it will be fun at the end of the day, knowing Joey and myself we both will want to win. I’m not going to say we are going out to trade baskets, we will be going out to win it.”

Wright’s Bullets finished Round Eight in second place (9-4), having hit form in recent week’s going 4-1 in their past five games. The 2006 NBL All-Star Game will also be Wright’s first as coach.

Wright said he is excited about the opportunity to coach the best of best.

“It’s a great honour to be named as the world coach for the 2006 NBL All-Star Game,” Wright said. “This is a great opportunity and I’m really looking forward to coaching the stars of our game and to really get involved with them.”

When asked about his coaching tactics against his own players CJ Bruton and Sam Mackinnon, who will suit up for the Aussie All-Stars, Wright said it was certainly going to be very competitive.

“I think it will be a lot of fun, we have a very competitive bunch and I’m always teasing them about been a better shooter then them, so it will be very fun and very competitive going up against the boys.”

The team’s for the 2006 NBL All-Star team are listed below:

This season’s All-Star Game will be played at the Distinctive Homes Dome on 25 November with tickets on sale now through all normal Venue*Tix outlets (08 8225 8888 or www.venuetix.com.au).