Ben Knight has been announced as the 2022 winner of the Sydney Kings’ Ring of Honour award.
The fan and member-voted award will be presented officially at Sunday’s massive clash at Qudos Bank Arena against the Illawarra Hawks. The Ring of Honour recognises players not just for their talents on the court, but for other reasons worthy of recognition consisting of: - The most entertaining;
- The most courageous;
- A great teammate; or
- Those who gave back to our community.
Ben joined Dan Boyce on the Aussie Hoopla podcast to discuss his NBL career which included playing for nine teams (an NBL record) during his 16 seasons in the league.
He also shares insights into the merger of the South East Melbourne Magic and North Melbourne Giants, helping to create a culture in Cairns, narrowly missing out on a championship in Townsville before returning to his hometown Kings to help them win a championship in 2005.
He talks about his decision to help the Singapore Slingers become the first Asian based team in the NBL and the obstacles it faced and discusses being a part of the Australian Boomers team which failed to qualify for the 2002 FIBA World Championships, losing to New Zealand at home for the first time in history.
Topics include...
- On being recognised for his role in Sydney Kings history and entering the Kings "Inner Circle" (2:00)
- Coming up through the Sydney Kings development program the Sydney Sky and making his debut for the Kings in 1997 (4:00)
- Playing for Brian Goorjian at the South East Melbourne Magic in 1998 (8:00)
- Is there truth to the narrative that Goorjian pushed his players too hard during the 1990s and by the Grand Final were always too 'gassed' to win the title (14:00)
- The Magic and the Giants merge to create the Victoria Titans and Ben gets squeezed out of the roster and signs with Brisbane (17:00)
- His fourth team in four seasons, playing for the Townsville Crocodiles in 1999/00 (20:00)
- A breakout season in Cairns opens up opportunities with the Australian Boomers (27:00)
- Being a part of the 2002 Australian Boomers squad which lost to New Zealand and failed to qualify for the FIBA World Championships (32:00)
- Financial instability in Cairns leads him to move to Wollongong to play with the Hawks (40:00)
- A homecoming for Knight as he returns to play for the Sydney Kings and helped win the team's third championship (42:00)
- Falling short in the Kings run for a fourth championship in a row before falling short to Chris Anstey and the Melbourne Tigers (49:00)
- The Singapore Slingers and the difficulties it faced being Australia's first Asian based team (54:00)
- A near career-ending injury during his year with the Melbourne Tigers (103:00)
- A return to the Sydney in 2010 to help re-launch the Kings (105:00)
- Reaching his 400th NBL game in 2016 (109:00)
- Coaching and life after the NBL (1:13:00)
- The highlights and the biggest lessons learnt during Ben's NBL career (1:15:00)
Listen to our previous interviews with the biggest stars in Australian Basketball, head to Aussiehoopla.com. Check out previous podcasts featuring; Australian Basketball Legends - Luc Longley, Andrew Gaze, Shane Heal, Mark Bradtke, Leroy Loggins, David Andersen, Andrew Vlahov, Phil Smyth, CJ Bruton, Chris Anstey, Brett Maher, John Rillie, Tony Ronaldson, Damian Martin, AJ Ogilvy, Daniel Kickert
Current NBL Stars - Bryce Cotton, Chris Goulding, Vic Law, Jack White, Dejan Vasiljevic, Thomas Abercrombie, Jason Cadee, Mitch McCarron, Anthony Drmic, Brad Newley, Dusty Hannahs
Our Finest Coaching Minds - Brian Goorjian, Barry Barnes, Joey Wright, Adrian Hurley, Aaron Fearne, Rob Beveridge, Ian Stacker, Shawn Dennis, Dean Vickerman, Trevor Gleeson, Lindsey Gaze, Ken Cole, Will Weaver, Bruce Palmer
NBA Stars Past & Present - Andrew Bogut, Matthew Dellavedova, Stephen Jackson, Randy Livingston, Torrey Craig, Acie Earl, Josh Childress, Reggie Smith, Todd Lichti, Ryan Broekhoff, Doug Overton, Donald Sloan
The NBL's Greatest Imports - Darryl McDonald, Ricky Grace, Derek Rucker, Leon Trimmingham, Scott Fisher, Lanard Copeland, Mike Mitchell, Darnell Mee, Isaac Burton, Adonis Jordan, Shawn Redhage, Willie Farley, Al Green, Corey "Homicide" Williams, Andre Moore, Steve Woodberry, Gary Ervin, Ebi Ere, Doug Overton, Kevin Lisch
And the men who run things - Larry Kestelman, Mal Speed, Paul Maley, Vince Crivelli, Jeremy Loeliger, Chuck Harmison, Jeff Van Groningen, Bob Turner
All that and much more.
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