Rare Coaching Mateship Blossoms

Wednesday, July 12, 2023

Australians are taking over the sidelines at the NBA Summer League.

A rare Aussie coaching contingent is taking over the NBA Summer League.

The Playoff battle between Sydney Kings’ assistant coach Fleur McIntyre, and Cairns Taipans’ head coach Adam Forde, has been pushed aside with the two coaching together for the San Antonio Spurs at Summer League.

“It’s so great, Fordey and I have been laughing. We’ve been talking a fair bit about the semi-finals series last year, and everything to come,” McIntyre told NBL Media.

The Kings defeated the Taipans in the Playoffs last season, 2-1, which led to the Kings claiming the championship for the second year in a row.

Two-time NBL champion for the Kings, and 2004 NBL MVP, Matt Nielsen, is head coach of the Spurs, with McIntyre and Forde in the assistant coaching roles, creating an unexpected Aussie reunion.

“It’s such a pleasure to coach with Nelly [Nielsen]. The calmness that he brings – particularly amongst the chaos and the excitement – is exactly what this group of young kids need,” McIntyre said.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Kings assistant coach <a href="https://twitter.com/FleurMcintyre?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@FleurMcintyre</a>, who is a guest coach with the <a href="https://twitter.com/spurs?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@spurs</a> at the 2023 <a href="https://twitter.com/NBASummerLeague?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBASummerLeague</a>, chatted with the <a href="https://twitter.com/NBL?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NBL</a>'s <a href="https://twitter.com/PeterHooley12?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PeterHooley12</a> after their match with the <a href="https://twitter.com/trailblazers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@trailblazers</a> ??<br><br>Listen to the full interview ? <a href="https://t.co/hW2tuEa5fm">https://t.co/hW2tuEa5fm</a><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WeTheKings?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#WeTheKings</a> <a href="https://t.co/OxmC9ql9XI">pic.twitter.com/OxmC9ql9XI</a></p>— Sydney Kings (@SydneyKings) <a href="https://twitter.com/SydneyKings/status/1678303865639403520?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 10, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

The back-to-back championship assistant coach compared the similarities of playing styles between the Spurs and the Kings, with her NBL experience preparing her for the Summer League stint.

“Being with the Kings the last two years, and our success and our style of play, has prepared me really really well for this journey with the Spurs,” she said.

“It’s a very similar game style. They [Kings] play quick, we want to play quick paced as well.”

The Kings’ first game of NBL24 is on Saturday, September 30, against the Illawarra Hawks.