“I hated it”: Melbourne United coach against NBL Christmas Day concept as currently constructed

Melbourne United coach Dean Vickerman has expressed his dislike for the Christmas Day games concept and has offered a solution to how to fix it.

Vickerman, who coached United in their 21-point loss to the Sydney Kings last year in the league’s inaugural Christmas Day game, has explained why he doesn’t like the idea and suggests what could be a better solution to keep everyone happy.

“I hated it,” Vickerman told SEN Mornings.

“To try and organise your team’s, their families (and) the sacrifice that they’re going to make to go interstate, (it’s a) really, really tricky one.

“If it had been in Melbourne and you had been able to be with your families in the morning and then go play a game, it might have been a different story.

“That would be a priority for me, the no travel part.

“I think it’s obviously good for the sport but, taking care of the families and players within the game and not being able to travel is a big one.”

Despite the issue with the marquee fixture, Vickerman has enjoyed a positive start to this NBL season. Sitting on top of the ladder after 16 games, Vickerman has explained how his squad has been able to get off to a hot start.

“When we built this team, we were trying to be more of a Euro-league team or (have) kind of a national team kind of concept where there is a depth to the roster and we are trying to play defence at a really high level,” Vickerman said.

“We saw some people not shoot the ball well in the first half of the year and now we’re starting to see Tanner Krebs come through and we’re starting to see Shea Illi come through and Luke Travers.

“Those guys are going to be really important to us in the way that they shoot the ball in the second half of the year.”

Ahead of their top four clash with the Perth Wildcats, Vickerman has acknowledged the influence that star point guard Bryce Cotton has on that team and has identified him as a player they would need to put a lot of work into.

“Obviously we’ve got key guys that have made his life tough before and Shea (Illi) is going to be a huge one in that and then Delly (Matthew Dellavedova). The combination of those two just stopping Bryce from getting catches to start with,” Vickerman said.

“He’s so good that limiting his number of touches is really important and then trying to keep him off the foul line when he gets those 12, 13 free throws and makes a couple of threes, he’s going to find a way to get his 20 plus points.

“(There’s) so many different areas that you have to be able to guard him that we’ll spend a lot of time this week on preparing for him.”

Melbourne United take on the Perth Wildcats this Saturday night as part of the team’s annual ‘open air’ game.