WILL the sudden departure of Adelaide coach Conner Henry affect Kai Sotto’s upcoming stint for the 36ers in the National Basketball League of Australia?
That’s still unknown, for now.
Saying “the direction of Henry and the club are not ideally matched,” Adelaide gavethe pink slip yesterday to Henry, three months before the season gets going in October.
“With preseason training yet to begin, and plans forming for the upcoming 2021-22 NBL season it was determined that coach Henry’s direction and that of the club were not ideally matched and the decision to release the coach was made accordingly,” the team said in a statement.
“The decision allows the club to now consider available options and move strongly towards the recently announced Hungry Jacks NBL season start date of November 18th.”
The 7-foot-3 Sotto was signed up by the ball club last April after a botched try to play for Ignite in the NBA G League.
“When Kai’s name was first brought to me a couple of months back, the staff and I started to do some really solid investigation on who the young man was personally as well as what skill level he had. You see Kai being 7-foot-3 and you’re immediately intrigued basketball-wise. Can he play? Does he have a certain skill level at that size, at that age?” Henry said in a previous interview.
“And when we saw the initial films of him, the coaches and I were immediately excited cause he’s got a really solid feel for the game.”
Henry called the shots for the 36ers last year but could only steer the squad to a seventh-place finish with a 13-23 card behind star Josh Giddey, who was chosen sixth overall by Oklahoma City in the NBA draft last month.
“While decisions such as these occur regularly in professional sport and are part of the business, they are never easy. Coming off a challenging season, we now pivot to the future, and we felt that the fit between Conner and the Club was not aligned as we move to that future,” general manager Jeff Van Groningen said.
“On behalf of chairman Grant Kelley, the staff, players and those that support our club, I thank Conner for his time and efforts and wish him well into the future.”
