Mike Kelly on his three years as coach of the Cairns Taipans and his chance to coach the Australian Boomers

Mike Kelly is currently the associate coach of the Perth Wildcats and recently was named as part of the coaching staff for the Australian Boomers FIBA World Cup qualifying team.

He joins Aussie Hoopla's Dan Boyce to talk about how the Boomers are preparing for the first round of qualifying games and how the Perth Wildcats are faring during a season heavily impacted by COVID-19.

He also takes us through the ups and downs he faced as head coach of the Cairns Taipans from 2018-2021 and how it developed him as a coach.

Topics include...

• Thoughts on the Perth Wildcats loss to the Sydney Kings this weekend (2:00)
• How do the Perth Wildcats split responsibilities among the coaching staff (5:00)
• Being named as an assistant coach for the Australian Boomers (7:00)
• How the Boomers coaching staff have been recruiting players for the FIBA qualifiers in February with most NBL players unavailable (9:00)
• How COVID-19 is making it extremely difficult to count players (14:00)
• The ups and downs of Mike's three-year stint as head coach of the Cairns Taipans (17:00)
• The mental hurdles the Taipans faced in 2020-21 during the COVID impacted season (19:00)
• Did the NBL's move from three imports to two help or hinder the Taipans (21:00)
• The NBL Next Stars program, how does a coach juggle a team trying to make the playoffs with a young player trying to make the NBA (24:00)
• Finding out he wouldn't be returning to the Taipans mid-season and the mental toll it took on him (26:00)
• Taking the job as associate coach at the Perth Wildcats and how it came about (29:00)
• How does Perth as an organisation compare to Cairns and Melbourne (30:00)
• The player's Mike has enjoyed working with the most since arriving in Perth (33:00)
• The return of Majok Majok (35:00)
• The biggest learnings Mike took away from his time with the Taipans (36:00)

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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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