Philip John Smyth AM (born 11 May 1958) is an Australian former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player and coach. He won three National Basketball League (NBL) championships with the

Canberra Cannons The Canberra Cannons are a defunct basketball team that competed in Australia's National Basketball League (NBL). They went into financial administration in 2003 and were relocated to Newcastle, where they became the Hunter Pirates. After thi ...

before going on to be a three-time championship-winning

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other Coach (sport), coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manage ...

of the NBL's

Adelaide 36ers The Adelaide 36ers, also known as the Sixers, are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL). The 36ers are the only team in the league representing the state of South Australia and are based in th ...

. Smyth was a four-time Olympian with the

Australian national basketball team The Australian men's national basketball team, known as the Boomers after the slang term for a male kangaroo, represents Australia in international basketball competition. Since the late 1980s, Australia has been placed among the world elite t ...

Professional career

Smyth, an Adelaide junior, was already seen as one of Australia's best point guards when the National Basketball League first started in 1979, yet it took him until 1982 to actually play in the league, despite having represented Australia at the

1978 FIBA World Championship The 1978 FIBA World Championship was the 8th FIBA World Championship, the international basketball world championship for men's teams. The tournament was hosted by the Philippines from October 1 to 14, 1978 in Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila an ...

in the Philippines and at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

in Moscow. For personal reasons, Smyth chose not to play in the NBL until 1982 and even then, while still living in Adelaide, he signed to play with the

St Kilda Saints The St Kilda Football Club, nicknamed the Saints, is a professional Australian rules football club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The club plays in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier league. The club's name originates fr ...

, commuting between his home in Adelaide and Melbourne where the Saints were based. He only played for St Kilda for the

1982 NBL season The 1982 NBL season was the fourth season of the National Basketball League (NBL). Regular season The 1982 regular season took place over 22 rounds between 6 February 1982 and 11 July 1982. Each team played 26 games, against every opponent twic ...

, winning the NBL's Defensive Player of the Year award and selection in the NBL's First Team in the process before signing with the

from 1983. At this time he also moved from Adelaide to Canberra for what would prove to be 10 seasons in Australia's

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses the go ...

. During that time he enhanced his reputation as one of the best ever Australian basketball players and helped transform the Cannons into a championship winning team. Canberra won their first NBL Championship in 1983, Smyth's first season with the club. The Cannons defeated the defending champion

West Adelaide Bearcats West Adelaide Bearcats is a NBL1 Central club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The club fields both a men's and women's team. The club is a division of the overarching West Adelaide Basketball Club (WABC), the major administrative basketball ...

75–73 in the grand final. They would go on to win the championship again in 1984, this time defeating the emerging

Brisbane Bullets The Brisbane Bullets are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL) based in Brisbane, Queensland. They competed from 1979 to 2008, and returned to the league in 2016. Brisbane were one of ten NBL fo ...

84–82 in another closely fought grand final win. Smyth's play during this time was a major contributor to Canberra's success. He won his second consecutive Defensive Player of the Year award in 1983 and was also a member of the ALL NBL First team in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988 and 1989. Smyth would win his 3rd NBL Championship when the Cannons defeated the

North Melbourne Giants The North Melbourne Giants, previously known as the Coburg Giants, were an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of ...

in the 1988 grand final series two games to one. He would also be named as the Grand Final MVP in 1988. He narrowly missed out on a fourth NBL crown in 1989 when the Giants reversed the 1988 result by defeating Canberra two games to one. He would play on with the Cannons until the end of the 1992 NBL season when he was lured back home to Adelaide to play for the Adelaide 36ers. Despite being in the twilight of his playing career, Smyth would again be a major contributor helping the generally under-performing 36ers get back into the playoffs. Smyth played two seasons for the 36ers and would lose his second and last NBL grand final series in 1994, again to the North Melbourne Giants who defeated Adelaide 2–0 in the championship series. After two season back home in Adelaide, Smyth had a falling out with 36ers coach

Mike Dunlap Michael Gregory Dunlap (born May 27, 1957) is an American professional basketball coach who serves as assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association. Dunlap is the former head coach of the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats. ...

who had a reputation for favouring the younger players. During 1994 Dunlap had even begun to start 3rd year player Brett Maher as the 36ers point guard and playing Smyth from the bench despite Smyth still being the starting point guard for the Australian Boomers (when Smyth questioned Dunlap on why he was benched, Dunlap told him that it was simply because he was old). This saw Smyth sign for the NBL's highest profile club, the

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The Kings were formed from a merger between the West Sydney Westars and the ...

for the 1995 season where he linked with his former Canberra championship winning coach Bob Turner. In an injury interrupted season, Smyth played just 16 games for the Kings, who didn't make the playoffs. He retired from playing professional basketball after his season with the Kings. Phil Smyth played 356 games in his NBL career, 25 with St Kilda, 282 with Canberra, 33 for Adelaide and 16 for Sydney. He averaged 22.3 points per game at 44.8%, 5.3 rebounds, 5.5 assists and 2.8 steals.

International career

Smyth represented Australia at four

Summer Olympic Games The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

(

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – In ...

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicentenn ...

and

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

), achieving a best result of 4th at the 1988 Games in Seoul where he was the team captain. He was also a member of the Boomers at the

FIBA World Championship The FIBA Basketball World Cup, also known as the FIBA World Cup of Basketball or simply the FIBA World Cup, between 1950 and 2010 known as the FIBA World Championship, is an international basketball competition contested by the senior men's nat ...

s in

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 � ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C., U ...

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 **Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal ent ...

, 1990 and

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

with a best result of 5th place in both 1982 and 1994. At the

1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

, Smyth and his wife,

Jenny Cheesman Jennifer "Jenny" Cheesman (born 2 November 1957) is a former Australian women's basketball player and coach. Biography Cheesman played 167 games for the national team between 1975 and 1988, competing at two Olympic Games, in 1984 and 1988. C ...

, would become the first husband and wife to captain Australian teams at the same Olympics.

Coaching career

After Adelaide 36ers coach Dave Claxton failed to take the team to the playoffs in 1997, the club hired the recently retired Smyth as head coach of the team from the 1998 NBL season, the club banking on his years of experience as a player despite his only previous coaching experience being as a specialist coach at the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

(AIS) during his playing days with Canberra as well as coaching South Adelaide women's teams in the early 1980s. Smyth's impact on the club was immediate, with the 36ers winning both the 1998 and 1998–99 NBL Championships in his first two seasons coaching in the league (according to Smyth, the 36ers coaching job in 1998 came down to himself and former North Melbourne and Brisbane coach

Bruce Palmer Bruce Palmer (September 9, 1946 – October 1, 2004) was a Canadian musician best known as the bassist in the seminal Canadian-American folk rock band Buffalo Springfield, who were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Early ...

, but the 36ers ultimately wanted someone local). The team was beaten semi finalists for the next two seasons before winning their 4th championship, and 3rd under Smyth, in 2001–02. Under his coaching the team would reach the elimination finals in 2002–03 and 2003–04 and improve to the quarters in 2004–05 and 2005–06 before failing to reach the playoffs twice which resulted in Smyth being replaced as head coach by former player and assistant Scott Ninnis. In all, Phil Smyth coached the 36ers in the NBL for 365 games over 11 seasons, winning 205 games and losing 160. Following his stellar international career as a player and his championship success coaching the 36ers, Smyth was appointed head coach of the Boomers in January 2001. Unfortunately his international coaching career only lasted eight months. After losing the 2001 FIBA Oceania Championship to the New Zealand Tall Blacks 1-2 the team failed to qualify for the

2002 FIBA World Championship The 2002 FIBA World Championship was the 14th edition of the competition now known as the FIBA Basketball World Cup, the international world championship for men's basketball teams. The tournament held by the International Basketball Federation in ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

as a result. It was the first time Australia had missed out on the

since making their championship debut in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). Between 10,000 and ...

. Smyth resigned from the job on 27 September 2001 and was ultimately replaced by the man who he defeated to win both the 1998 and 1998–99 NBL Championships,

Brian Goorjian Brian Warwick Goorjian (born 28 July 1953) is an American-Australian professional basketball coach and former player served as the head coach of the Bay Area Dragons of the East Asia Super League (EASL). He is also currently the head coach of ...

Media work

In March 2009 Smyth joined radio and sporting legend

K. G. Cunningham Kenneth George (KG) Cunningham (born 26 July 1939 in Adelaide, South Australia) is an Australian radio personality, and a former cricketer and football umpire. Sporting career Cunningham had a first-class cricket career from the 1960/61 to 19 ...

to host an internet sports show KG and the General, streaming live from 3-6pm weekdays and podcast.

Honours

Smyth was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 1988, inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1997, and received an

Australian Sports Medal The Australian Sports Medal is an award given to recognise achievements in Australian sport to commemorate Australian participation in major sporting events. Original recipients of the award included competitors, coaches, sports scientists, offi ...

in 2000.

Honour roll

NBL career stats

, - , style="text-align:left",

, style="text-align:left;", St. Kilda Saints , 25 , , 25 , , ''NA'' , , .491 , , ''NA'' , , .846 , , 5.2 , , 2.7 , , ''NA'' , , ''NA'' , , 18.6 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;",

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

† , style="text-align:left;",

, 27 , , 27 , , ''NA'' , , .498 , , ''NA'' , , .875 , , 3.1 , , 5.1 , , 2.6 , , 0.4 , , 14.6 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;",

† , style="text-align:left;",

, 22 , , 22 , , ''NA'' , , .450 , , .461 , , .873 , , 3.8 , , 6.1 , , 2.0 , , 0.2 , , 14.4 , - , style="text-align:left",

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 28 , , 28 , , ''NA'' , , .457 , , .372 , , .767 , , 5.6 , , 5.3 , , 3.4 , , 0.2 , , 13.3 , - , style="text-align:left",

, style="text-align:left;",

, 25 , , 25 , , ''NA'' , , .407 , , .341 , , .888 , , 5.3 , , 5.0 , , 3.0 , , 0.4 , , 12.2 , - , style="text-align:left",

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 22 , , 22 , , 42.8 , , .452 , , .472 , , .847 , , 5.3 , , 5.5 , , 3.4 , , 0.5 , , 18.4 , - , style="text-align:left; background:#afe6ba;",

† , style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 30 , , 42.3 , , .476 , , .456 , , .813 , , 5.3 , , 5.5 , , 2.8 , , 0.2 , , 22.3 , - , style="text-align:left",

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 28 , , 28 , , 44.3 , , .420 , , .408 , , .855 , , 5.6 , , 4.9 , , 3.3 , , 0.1 , , 17.4 , - , style="text-align:left", 1990 , style="text-align:left;",

, 22 , , 22 , , 36.7 , , .372 , , .367 , , .861 , , 3.7 , , 4.4 , , 2.4 , , 0.1 , , 9.7 , - , style="text-align:left",

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Ph ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 24 , , 24 , , 40.9 , , .390 , , .373 , , .852 , , 3.6 , , 4.7 , , 2.1 , , 0.2 , , 15.4 , - , style="text-align:left",

, style="text-align:left;",

, 26 , , 26 , , 40.0 , , .536 , , .534 , , .822 , , 1.1 , , 7.0 , , 2.5 , , 0.2 , , 12.9 , - , style="text-align:left",

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 28 , , 28 , , 37.7 , , .412 , , .398 , , .786 , , 2.6 , , 4.8 , , 1.6 , , 0.3 , , 11.6 , - , style="text-align:left",

, style="text-align:left;",

, 33 , , 1 , , 21.8 , , .442 , , .431 , , .818 , , 1.9 , , 2.8 , , 1.2 , , 0.1 , , 6.6 , - , style="text-align:left",

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake stri ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 16 , , 16 , , 36.9 , , .365 , , .296 , , .852 , , 3.3 , , 3.4 , , 1.4 , , 0.3 , , 6.8 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2" , Career , 356 , , 324 , , ''NA'' , , .448 , , .416 , , .839 , , 4.2 , , 4.8 , , 2.3 , , 0.2 , , 13.9

Coaching record

NBL

, - , align="left" ,

, align="left" ,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, 30, , 19, , 11, , , , align="center" , 2nd , , 4, , 4, , 0, , , align="center" , Champions , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 1998–99 , 26, , 18, , 8, , , , align="center" , 1st , , 7, , 6, , 1, , , align="center" , Champions , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 1999–00 , 28, , 22, , 6, , , , align="center" , 1st , , 3, , 1, , 2, , , align="center" , Semi-finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2000–01 , 28, , 16, , 12, , , , align="center" , 6th , , 6, , 3, , 3, , , align="center" , Semi-finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2001–02 , 30, , 17, , 13, , , , align="center" , 3rd , , 8, , 6, , 2, , , align="center" , Champions , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2002–03 , 30, , 16, , 14, , , , align="center" , 5th , , 3, , 1, , 2, , , align="center" , Elimination-Finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2003–04 , 33, , 14, , 19, , , , align="center" , 8th , , 1, , 0, , 1, , , align="center" , Elimination-Finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2004–05 , 32, , 19, , 13, , , , align="center" , 5th , , 1, , 0, , 1, , , align="center" , Quarter-finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2005–06 , 31, , 18, , 13, , , , align="center" , 4th , , 1, , 0, , 1, , , align="center" , Quarter-finalists , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2006–07 , 33, , 11, , 22, , , , align="center" , 11th , , —, , —, , —, , — , align="center" , Missed playoffs , -class="sortbottom" , - , align="left" ,

, align="left" , 2007–08 , 30, , 14, , 16, , , , align="center" , 9th , , —, , —, , —, , — , align="center" , Missed playoffs , -class="sortbottom" , align="left" , Career , , , 331, , 184, , 147, , , , , , 34, , 21, , 13, ,

References

External links

KG and the General
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smyth, Phil 1958 births Living people 1986 FIBA World Championship players Adelaide 36ers coaches Adelaide 36ers players Australian men's basketball coaches Australian men's basketball players 1978 FIBA World Championship players 1982 FIBA World Championship players 1990 FIBA World Championship players Basketball players at the 1980 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1984 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1988 Summer Olympics Basketball players at the 1992 Summer Olympics Canberra Cannons players Members of the Order of Australia National Basketball League (Australia) coaches Olympic basketball players of Australia Point guards Recipients of the Australian Sports Medal Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductees Basketball players from Adelaide Sydney Kings players 1994 FIBA World Championship players