After it was revealed incoming Bendigo Spirit import Jamie Scott was unable to commit to a season in the WNBL because of injury, the team scrambled to find an immediate replacement.
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The process would usually involve in-depth analysis and research of a player’s performance.
However, due to time constraints this wasn’t an option.
Barbara Turner was announced as the replacement shortly after, and having just played a handful of games in the WNBL, her contract was cut short on Wednesday.
“We found the best player we could secure in the short time frame of 48 hours, we chose based on recommendations,” coach Simon Pritchard said.
“Unfortunately Barbara’s skills weren’t what we thought they would be.
“Her job in Australia was to score points and grab rebounds to have an impact, whereas she was more of a facilitator.”
“What we tend to have in Australia within our structures is that we need our imports to have an impact on rebounds, scoring and defence and Barb didn’t quite match our skills.”
Turner’s mismatched skill set for the Bendigo Spirit led to her being “frustrated during games” as she was unable to play her usual game style.
During the Spirit’s most recent interstate road trip Pritchard said he realised the “puzzle piece didn’t fit” and that it had caused significant pressure for the American import.
“The wheels fell off during the road trip,” Pritchard said.
“Turner couldn’t deliver what she had done for her entire career and that wasn’t fair on her.
“We gave it a good go and did the best we could do and so did Barb.”
Pritchard and Turner sat down and discussed the situation at length, with both agreeing it was a mismatch of skills which led to the import’s poor performance during the games played with the Spirit.
“Barb understood why and had been thinking about it herself for the past three days,” Pritchard said.
Reflecting on her performance against the UC Capitals when the Spirit were defeated 94-63, Turner wasn’t happy with her efforts which led to the mutual agreement to part ways.
Pritchard is confident Turner will enjoy some downtime over Christmas back in Houston and will excel as a player in the future.
Turner was key to the Spirit’s starting five players and her departure has made way for other players to take a greater role on the court.
“This week either Cassidy McLean or Marena Whittle will have to step up,” Pritchard said.
“It won’t matter who starts, both players will need to do their share.
“Barbara wasn’t producing that many points and was averaging 6 points per game, so if we can get points out of each of them we won’t be worse off.”
Pritchard said there were no plans for further dismissals and the release of Turner was the reality of holding professional athletes accountable.
“They’re paid to play basketball, put the basketball in the hole and to stop their player from doing so” Pritchard said.
Bendigo Spirit (6-8) will play Dandenong Rangers (5-6) in Melbourne on Sunday, tip off at 3pm.
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