Glenn
03-21-2006, 10:47 AM
No mention of Darko? Hmmm.
LINK (http://www.wanganuichronicle.co.nz/localsport/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3677023&thesection=localsport&thesubsection=&thesecond%20subsection=)
http://www.wanganuichronicle.co.nz/pics/web200306WCKHpistons4.jpg
Former Wolfpack man now an international talent scout
21.03.2006
By John Maslin
BASKETBALL: In the high-powered, big-moneyed world of the National Basketball Association – the NBA – sometimes it’s a matter of not what you know but who you know.
And one man standing testimony to that is Tony Ronzone, the likeable Californian who was player-coach of the Wanganui Wolfpack in the late 1980s.
Ronzone made a flying visit to the River City at the weekend, fulfilling his role as international talent scout for the Detroit Pistons and on his way to catch some of the basketball matches at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Wanganui still holds a special place in Ronzone’s heart.
It’s in his resume that reads like an edition of the Lonely Planet travellers’ guide. If there is a country in the world he hasn’t been to then it would be hard to name it.
He’s even managed to get into North Korea on a scouting mission – a rare occasion for a US citizen – before he joined the Detroit front office. He managed it working for FIBA, the world basketball body, and also by making reference to his Italian heritage rather than his American citizenship.
Ronzone’s talents are rare in an international stage. A former colleague at Dallas Mavericks, Donny Nelson, says for all his boasting about fluency in several foreign languages, Ronzone would be lucky if he knew more than two words.
But he succeeds because his personality – at once likeable, embracing and charming – opens countless doors.
In his time as a scout he’s scored some big name players from around the world for the NBA, including Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming and Mehmet Okur.
That Ronzone was at the forefront of the talent spotting is no surprise.
After leaving Wanganui he got a job as assistant coach in college ball before other coaching jobs in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
All the time he was establishing a network of contacts, all with a view to getting into an NBA job.
“That sort of job just doesn’t happen. It’s so hard to get the opportunity, but I was lucky because I’d established a niche in the basketball world of going places and meeting people and recognising talent,” Ronzone said yesterday.
“It was a matter of being at the right place at the right time when the NBA was expanding. It was a game with a growing world audience and influence.”
A chance meeting with Donny Nelson at the Goodwill Games in Russia in 1994, opened another door, this time with the Dallas Mavericks.
A couple of seasons with that franchise then Joe Dumars, president of the Piston’s organisation, called. He was building his new management team, had heard good things about Ronzone and the rest, as they say, is history.
NBA teams maintain their player rosters by attending the annual draft where the best eligible players are available to be signed. The worst teams in the competition get to pick the best players. In Detroit’s case, as NBA champions and with another stellar season unfolding, it means they’re well down the pecking order. By the time their turn comes the best players have already gone.
That’s where Ronzone’s uncanny talents are crucial. It’s how he secured Mehmet Okur for his team. He’d seen the talent when he visited Turkey so was ahead of the rest.
He’s gone, or is prepared to go, to places other scouts have never been. Border guards at Kazakhstan, the Congo, North Korea, China have all stamped his passport at some stage.
He admits to being a “bit of a wild guy” when it comes to global scouting but says he “lives the high of doing it.”
He was no new kid on the block when the NBA started scouting globally. When he signed on with Dallas that team was pioneering player recruitment overseas. They realised that there was talent in other parts of the world, even if some of the places most of them had never heard of.
Ronzone had. And he’d been there already.
So to the future.
The first part of Ronzone’s “impossible dream” has been achieved. He’s part of Dumar’s management team at Detroit. The ultimate goal?
“I really want to become general manager of a team. That’s a big call I know but I’m hopeful.
“I’m young and I don’t know when but it will happen.
“But even if it doesn’t I’m still content. It’s great being a part of the game that you love.”
LINK (http://www.wanganuichronicle.co.nz/localsport/storydisplay.cfm?storyid=3677023&thesection=localsport&thesubsection=&thesecond%20subsection=)
http://www.wanganuichronicle.co.nz/pics/web200306WCKHpistons4.jpg
Former Wolfpack man now an international talent scout
21.03.2006
By John Maslin
BASKETBALL: In the high-powered, big-moneyed world of the National Basketball Association – the NBA – sometimes it’s a matter of not what you know but who you know.
And one man standing testimony to that is Tony Ronzone, the likeable Californian who was player-coach of the Wanganui Wolfpack in the late 1980s.
Ronzone made a flying visit to the River City at the weekend, fulfilling his role as international talent scout for the Detroit Pistons and on his way to catch some of the basketball matches at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne.
Wanganui still holds a special place in Ronzone’s heart.
It’s in his resume that reads like an edition of the Lonely Planet travellers’ guide. If there is a country in the world he hasn’t been to then it would be hard to name it.
He’s even managed to get into North Korea on a scouting mission – a rare occasion for a US citizen – before he joined the Detroit front office. He managed it working for FIBA, the world basketball body, and also by making reference to his Italian heritage rather than his American citizenship.
Ronzone’s talents are rare in an international stage. A former colleague at Dallas Mavericks, Donny Nelson, says for all his boasting about fluency in several foreign languages, Ronzone would be lucky if he knew more than two words.
But he succeeds because his personality – at once likeable, embracing and charming – opens countless doors.
In his time as a scout he’s scored some big name players from around the world for the NBA, including Germany’s Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming and Mehmet Okur.
That Ronzone was at the forefront of the talent spotting is no surprise.
After leaving Wanganui he got a job as assistant coach in college ball before other coaching jobs in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
All the time he was establishing a network of contacts, all with a view to getting into an NBA job.
“That sort of job just doesn’t happen. It’s so hard to get the opportunity, but I was lucky because I’d established a niche in the basketball world of going places and meeting people and recognising talent,” Ronzone said yesterday.
“It was a matter of being at the right place at the right time when the NBA was expanding. It was a game with a growing world audience and influence.”
A chance meeting with Donny Nelson at the Goodwill Games in Russia in 1994, opened another door, this time with the Dallas Mavericks.
A couple of seasons with that franchise then Joe Dumars, president of the Piston’s organisation, called. He was building his new management team, had heard good things about Ronzone and the rest, as they say, is history.
NBA teams maintain their player rosters by attending the annual draft where the best eligible players are available to be signed. The worst teams in the competition get to pick the best players. In Detroit’s case, as NBA champions and with another stellar season unfolding, it means they’re well down the pecking order. By the time their turn comes the best players have already gone.
That’s where Ronzone’s uncanny talents are crucial. It’s how he secured Mehmet Okur for his team. He’d seen the talent when he visited Turkey so was ahead of the rest.
He’s gone, or is prepared to go, to places other scouts have never been. Border guards at Kazakhstan, the Congo, North Korea, China have all stamped his passport at some stage.
He admits to being a “bit of a wild guy” when it comes to global scouting but says he “lives the high of doing it.”
He was no new kid on the block when the NBA started scouting globally. When he signed on with Dallas that team was pioneering player recruitment overseas. They realised that there was talent in other parts of the world, even if some of the places most of them had never heard of.
Ronzone had. And he’d been there already.
So to the future.
The first part of Ronzone’s “impossible dream” has been achieved. He’s part of Dumar’s management team at Detroit. The ultimate goal?
“I really want to become general manager of a team. That’s a big call I know but I’m hopeful.
“I’m young and I don’t know when but it will happen.
“But even if it doesn’t I’m still content. It’s great being a part of the game that you love.”