Melbourne coach opens fire at Kings over Gaze, Randle ahead of finals
Melbourne United coach Dean Vickerman has cast doubt over how the Sydney Kings will respond to knowing coach Andrew Gaze will leave the club after the NBL finals series.
Gaze and the Kings announced last week he would not be part of an end-of-season review or continue next season and would instead return home to Melbourne.
Many have backed the Kings players to give Gaze a memorable send off as they battle Melbourne in their best-of-three semi-final series starting at Melbourne Arena on Thursday night.
But Vickerman, who played with Gaze and was an assistant coach at Sydney in Gaze's first season, made it clear he didn't like the timing of the announcement and believed it should have been made once a season is over.
The Kings brought forward the announcement due to mounting speculation about Gaze's future.
"I don't understand why that came out so early," Vickerman said.
"I always struggle with NRL when people change teams midway through the year and different things like that but that's how they have done it.
"I'm not sure if I was a player how I would feel about knowing my coach was leaving but I'm not in control of that one."
Vickerman also said Melbourne would run embattled Kings point guard Jerome Randle through a number of screens after he has battled a glute strain which forced him to miss the last regular season game.
Vickerman's comments were a little tongue in cheek as he also said he expected Randle to be dangerous come game night.
"We will try and screen the hell out of him as much as we can – that's something we try and do every game," Vickerman said.
"He's a dynamic scorer and he's been known to be on his death bed then get up and play well, so I don't take much into that one."
Randle said he would play through pain and he fired up when told after arriving in Melbourne about Vickerman's comments.
"If that's what he said then I'm glad he put that out there so I'm a little extra focused,” Randle said.
"I'm not the kind of guy who is about to sit out there and be exploited in that way. If he thinks that is going to work then that's fine."
Kings star Andrew Bogut said his side would rally around Randle and also lean on their successful away record when trying to win at Melbourne Arena where game one and, if needed, game three, will be played.
"Jerome's fine – everyone in this league is playing through something and Jerome's no different," Bogut said.
"He's practiced the last few sessions and if they want to target him they can go ahead but we will be just as physical.
"We are not too worried about that, it's more of a mind-game played by Dean than anything, he's focusing on something that doesn't matter."
Melbourne United and Sydney Kings play game one of their best-of-three semi-final series at Melbourne Arena on Thursday at 7.50pm, then play game two at Qudos Bank Arena on Sunday at 2.20pm. If needed, game three will be at Melbourne Arena on Tuesday at 7.50pm.