Behind the Laundry Door
Calling out your own players in the media always ends well...
Melbourne United currently sit at 2-4, good for 8th in the NBL this season, ahead of only the injury-ravaged Illawarra Hawks and the rapidly-imploding Brisbane Bullets.
Jo Lual-Acuil was an MVP level player during his tenure in Melbourne.
Jack White parlayed his strong play and seamless recovery from a torn Achilles tendon into a two-way contract with the Denver Nuggets.
Matthew Dellavedova’s leadership was poached by a young team trying to find its way in the Sacramento Kings.
Three big losses to be sure, but there was reason for optimism in Melbourne this season, with Next Star Ariel Hukporti deciding to return for a sophomore season in the program, along with the signature of a proven NBL import in Xavier Rathan-Mayes, X-factor forward with NBA experience in Rayjon Tucker, star local center Isaac Humphries, and impact forward role player Jordan Caroline.
There was a lot of optimism and projection in United’s lineup going into the season. Rathan-Mayes and Chris Goulding were going to be a dynamic, dual-threat backcourt duo, while Hukporti was set to be a bigger feature in the system after the departure of Lual-Acuil.
That all came crashing down in the NBL Blitz in a 250 pound heap when the hulking German center tore his Achilles.
All of a sudden the lineups were out of whack. Projected role players were thrust into starting spots, combinations had been set off-kilter, a misfortune that would comfortably set any franchise back several weeks to recover.
Losing Hukporti was something an already besieged franchise did not need after their huge output over the offseason. Remember, this team was a playoff team last season, finishing the season in top spot before being bounced by ultimate runners up Tasmania in the opening round of the playoffs.
But they were a strong team, a tight group, before the vultures came to pick the carcass clean and United were forced to reboot.
In a way, this factory reset has exposed some rather nasty truths about Melbourne’s culture and mood right now.
United in name, divided in combat.
Xavier Rathan-Mayes, much like Cairns Taipans star Tahjere McCall, is an excellent player, a star of the league, an elite presence on the court. He is not, however, a point guard. Rathan-Mayes had a good year last year in Illawarra, but he was a sixth man, coming in off the bench with his role being to score at will against weaker bench lineups.
Granted, Shea Ili has missed the season so far through injury, but forcing XRM to run the offense has raised some eyebrows thus far.
Rayjon Tucker entered the league and immediately painted a target on his own back, declaring that he was the best new import in the league. I like chat, I like confidence, I like the suspense it adds to the league. But the NBL is unforgiving, and Australian media and fans are quick to criticise, so when Tucker stalled out of the gates, the hyenas were quick to let him know about it.
To his credit he has lifted and looks a bonafide star right now.
The problems with United run deep. David Barlow and Brad Newley, two legends of the game in Australia, are key parts of their rotation in the twilight years of their career. Hell, Barlow retired this past offseason, and only came back when it was clear United needed a last minute signing to fill out the roster.
Isaac Humphries has been dogged by injuries the last year, and hasn’t looked remotely close to returning to the player he was for Adelaide two seasons ago, forming one of the league’s most entertaining double acts with Oklahoma City star Josh Giddey.
Shea Ili, a DPOY candidate and starting point guard, has missed the entire season to date with a lingering concussion, and while he is inching towards a return, his steadying presence has been sorely missed at both ends of the court.
A lot has gone wrong for Melbourne this year, which makes head coach Dean Vickerman’s apparent scapegoating of Jordan Caroline puzzling at best, and embarrassing at most.
Melbourne lost heavily for the second time in a row to the reigning NBL champions Sydney Kings, on their fabled home court of John Cain Arena. Melbourne don’t lose two in a row at home to the same team. Melbourne DEFINITELY don’t lose two in a row at home to the same team by a combined 38 points.
Jordan Caroline is a role player. He was signed to be a role player. He’s averaging 5.5 points and a shade over 6 rebounds per game this season. Not huge numbers, no. He’s shooting it at an abysmal 27% from the field and 30% from the free throw line.
He’s struggled, I accept that. It’s a comment on the standard of the league that imports can’t waltz in here and expect to dominate anymore.
What I can’t hack is the public pining over a former player, throwing out hypothetical scenarios and whataboutism to deflect from, and protect, yourself.
Take a listen to what Vickerman said postgame after the second Kings loss.
Even David Okwera, a young up and coming big forced into more action due to Hukporti’s injury, is a little taken aback by what he’s hearing from his coach. You can see the comments register across his face, before he catches himself.
The tone of Vickerman’s comments, to me, are at a base level, unprofessional. There’s no reason to be airing this level of criticism, sour grapes, dirty laundry or whatever you want to call it in such a public forum.
We accept NBL teams are constantly doing due diligence on ways to improve their roster. Teams let imports go all the time early in the season due to underperformance. But I struggle to remember a time it has all played out so openly like this.
Has Caroline been good? No, but if there isn’t a blatant element of scapegoating here by one of the more experienced coaches in the league then maybe I’ve been using the term ‘scapegoat’ wrong for my entire life.
As I said, Vickerman’s comments are unprofessional, that much is obvious. But to me, they also reek of desperation. He knows United are in freefall, and in a season as condensed and even as the NBL, one bad month is enough to entirely derail a campaign, he knows he has to act fast to find a fix.
But not like this. And you can miss me with the “Caroline is a professional, he needs to step up, this is Vickerman’s job.”
It’s Vickerman’s job to have these conversations yes. To have these conversations behind closed doors.
What message does it send to potential imports they’re trying to sign that Caroline is being dragged through the mud here? What self-respecting import sees this situation and doesn’t think long and hard before signing, because what’s stopping this from repeating itself with whoever they bring in.
Caroline, like I said, was signed to be a role player in a stacked front court with Hukporti and Humphries. I’m not even sure he was projected to start for United, but if he was, he would be starting next to a far more dynamic presence than Humphries in Hukporti.
It’s unfair to me that Caroline has been thrust into a higher role than expected and then blamed when he’s looked overmatched.
Caroline has found support all over from sympathisers to his current situation. Including, funnily enough, an unlikely one in a fierce rival from the Kings themselves.
Melbourne United are full of problems right now.
Except Caroline is the only one that matters, apparently.