Rice Added To Mix
Tagged in: In The News, NBL
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Hamish Bidwell, Hawke’s Bay Today
Given his relationship with Adrian Majstrovich, Andrew Rice‘s decision to sign with the Hawks is a little eyebrow-raising.
Majstrovich, the 2003 Dominion Finance NBL MVP, walked out on the last year of his contract with the 0800 Easy LPG Hawks amid, what might best be described, as some acrimony.
There was plenty of he said, she said stuff, with the upshot being that both parties felt hugely let down by the other.
Now, with injury problems having curtailed Shane Nicely‘s season, Rice has stepped into the breach as the Hawks’ second import.
Whatever Majstrovich told him, it wasn’t enough to dissuade him from joining the 2006 league champions when his six-week contract with the Wellington Saints expired last Friday.
“I grew up with Adrian Majstrovich and we played in the same junior teams together and in the NBL and now the Saints,” Rice said at his first practice with the Hawks last night.
“I’d never been to New Zealand and after the NBL season in Australia, I was just going to sit the next few months out and see what came up in Europe. Then AJ called and said Nick (Horvarth) had busted his thumb and the Saints were wondering if I was interested.
“I kind of know what went on here (between Majstrovich and the Hawks). He wasn’t bagging the team, he just wasn’t happy about some of the things that happened. But he said that this was an awesome place and the Hawks players were a good bunch of guys and that’s the main reason I came up here.”
And having arrived in Hawke’s Bay, the 27-year old 205cm power forward has brought with him a fairly impressive CV. Aside from playing with the Townsville Crocodiles (twice), Wollongong Hawks, Perth Wildcats and Canberra Cannons in the ANBL, Rice had three seasons in Italy, as well as captaining Australia at under-22 level and playing at the 1999 world junior championships.
But none of that means he’s got any tickets on himself. “I just want to try and fit in wherever (Hawks coach) Shawn (Dennis) wants me. He will have already established the playing roles within the side, so I can’t come in expecting to get to play a certain way. In this position, you’ve just got to fit in as well as you can,” Rice said.
As far as fitting in goes, he’s got at least one thing in common with a teammate, beyond basketball. Like Hawks co-captain Paora Winitana, Rice has a wife and two boys and takes them everywhere he goes.
“I hate travelling without them. It can make it harder (when they’re with you) because you have to worry about how the kids are doing and how the wife’s feeling, but I can’t stand being away from them and I need them with me.
“I was on my own for about two weeks in Wellington and had to fly them over. They’ve come up here with me now and I’m much happier,” he said.
The Hawks play the Otago Nuggets at Pettigrew-Green Arena tomorrow night – a team Rice has already met twice during his six weeks in the league.
“Yeah, I know them fairly well. I have to say, most people in Australia have always said that this league is about the same as the ABA, but it’s actually a step up and a much better league. I think this is a good league, I really do.”
