Goorjian, 36ers meeting reported

The NBL25 coaching carousel is starting to turn, and after weeks of links between Australian coaching icon Brian Goorjian and the impending vacant job at the Adelaide 36ers, ESPN’s Olgun Uluc has reported there has been a meeting between the pair.

Goorjian is currently preparing for this year’s Olympic campaign with the Boomers, but has stated his desire to return to domestic coaching upon the culmination of the tournament.

“I’m told earlier this week Brian Goorjian met with Grant Kelley, the owner of the Adelaide 36ers. They discussed the potential of Goorjian filling that eventual head coaching vacancy in Adelaide,” Uluc said.

“This is the first correspondence the 36ers and Goorjian have had in this process and it gives us an idea in the interest Adelaide has in Goorjian, and there is a mutual part of that too.

“Brian Goorjian has done this before. He came into Illawarra and he helped lift that franchise up off the scrapheap, and this is something it seems like he may want to do in Adelaide.

“As much as Scott Ninnis has a bunch of goodwill in that team in Adelaide, it’s a very hard thing to turn down Brian Goorjian if there’s mutual interest there.”

It’s a near general consensus that Goorjian is held up as the greatest coach in the history of the NBL. He’s coached the most games (803) of all-time, and holds a better winning percentage (68.9 per cent) than any other coach in NBL to have coached at least 70 games.

He has also won a record six titles.

Despite the apparent interest from Goorjian in the role, Adelaide guard DJ Vasiljevic has backed interim boss Scott Ninnis to continue as the club’s head coach next season.

“I want to keep harping on it, Scott deserves it,” Vasiljevic said following Adelaide’s defeat to Brisbane on Friday night.

“You watch where we were in the FIBA break when CJ was fired, we had three days or two days to prepare for Cairns and we gave up 116, 117 points. We went to United, competed well against them, beat Brisbane, then lost two games and the New Year rolled over. We beat United, we beat Sydney, we had a close one against Cairns, each week we got better and better and we were starting to get respected.

“It wasn’t being last, it was ‘Adelaide might make the six’. For sure, Scotty does deserve it, and I would be pissed if he’s not the coach for two years and onwards.”

While the 36ers are still a mathematical chance to make Finals, the odds look stacked against them heading into Round 20.

Their solitary fixture in the final round of the regular season is on Sunday against New Zealand at 4pm AEDT. The game will be shown on ESPN via Kayo Freebies, 10 Peach and 10 Play, and Sky Sport in NZ.