Just when you thought you'd seen it all... 

Check out this video from the Melbourne Tigers Dinner Dance earlier this year as former Portland Trail Blazers guard and current Xinjiang Flying Tigers star Patty Mills performs the Spice Girls song 'Wannabe', alongside fellow Tigers Ayinde Ubaka, Ron Dorsey and Bennie Lewis.

Mills makes for an 'interesting' Ginger Spice. Meanwhile, I've never seen Scary Spice looking so scary!!

A massive piece of positive news for the Sydney Kings has arrived today in the 209cm form of Julian Khazzouh's return to the team. In a press release, the Kings have revealled that the NBL MVP contender was released from NBA try-outs with the Golden State Warriors, which should allow him to return to Sydney on Wednesday in time for their Friday home game against the Townsville Crocodiles.

Whilst Khazzouh had the support of many in his NBA quest, there will conversely be plenty breathing a sigh of relief in his NBL return, which comes on the back of some very solid local form of late.

From the press release:

Head Coach Ian Robilliard is confident that his time in the Bay Area will help both Khazzouh and the Kings.

“Julian’s achievements should not be understated, it’s nothing short of sensational and I believe this is the next step towards achieving his NBA dream. He has now seen first-hand what it takes to make it in the NBA and I have no doubt he will now take his game to yet another level,” Coach Robilliard said.  

“Julian’s arrival back in Sydney will give us a real shot in the arm as we head into Friday night’s game, and we also look forward to hearing about his experiences to see what we can incorporate into our own systems. In the spirit of cooperation we expect that the NBA will clear Julian immediately so there are no issues with him suiting up on Friday.” he added.

During his time with the Warriors, Khazzouh played in one pre-season game against the Sacramento Kings where he scored two points in limited minutes. In NBL games so far this season Khazzouh is a clear MVP favourite, leading the league in both rebounds (11 per game) and blocks (2.1 per game) and second in scoring (18.6 points per game) over the first 13 games of the season.

Boxscore from Khazzouh's exhibition match trial.

Last week at NBL.com.au, I dedicated my weekly column to the path of other great Aussie bigs Khazzouh was following in flirting with the NBA.

In a stunning piece of news for Basketball Australia, today they announce that former New South Wales Premier, Kristina Keneally will become Chair of the board. 

Originally from the USA, Keneally grew up playing basketball through high school. She was the first female Premier of NSW from 2009-2011. Her influence in the Labor party may be highly effective in pushing for federal funding for basketball -- a sport that typically struggles to get the money that the football codes attract.

Currently serving as the member for Heffron in State Parliament, Ms. Keneally said she saw huge opportunities for basketball to build on its recent gains.

“As a sport, basketball in Australia has some unique advantages that we are only just starting to capitalise on,” Ms. Keneally said. “Our incredible strength in terms of mass participation numbers, with over one million people regularly playing basketball, is largely untapped thus far. The continued excellence of our national teams and competitions in what is a truly global sport is not just a source of immense pride, but also a source of significant potential corporate opportunities.

“I am passionate about sports in general and basketball in particular,” Ms. Keneally added.  “I look forward to working with the rest of the Board to build further upon all the good work already done over the past few years.  I am genuinely excited to have been entrusted with this role.”

At the conclusion of Round 7 of the iiNet NBL Championship, when Jamar Wilson of the Cairns Taipans was awarded the Player of the Week award, I noticed a trend. At that point, players from seven different teams had won the award in each of the seven rounds of the season. The only teams yet to have players to take out the honours were the Gold Coast Blaze and the Wollongong Hawks.

And what do you know, in Round 8 the Player of the Week was Adris "2Hard2Guard" Deleon of the Blaze. That just left the Hawks as Robinson Crusoe on the POTW island.

2011/12 iiNet NBL Championship Player of the Week Winners

Round 1 – Patty Mills (Melbourne Tigers)

Round 2 – Shawn Redhage (Perth Wildcats)

Round 3 – Julian Khazzouh (Sydney Kings)

Round 4 – Daniel Johnson (Adelaide 36ers)

Round 5 – Gary Wilkinson (New Zealand Breakers)

Round 6 – Eddie Gill (Townsville Crocodiles)

Round 7 – Jamar Wilson (Cairns Taipans)

Round 8 – Adris Deleon (Gold Coast Blaze)

Last night was the Hawks' chance to continue that streak, as they took on the Townsville Crocodiles. As you can see on the video below, the Hawks put in a mammoth effort in the final seconds... 

...but unfortunately for the Wollongong players and the law of streaks (whatever that is), the Hawks came up one point losers. Surely that would eliminate anything but a huge Hawks player's effort to win the weekly award. Tim Coenraad was their best, with 22 points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists --  good, but not good enough to warrant award consideration on a defeated team.

[Video courtesy of andthefoul.net]

Now, this is not really my idea of romanticism, but hey, each to their own. It certainly depends on what is important to the couple in question.

Check out this video as a marriage proposal happens at an NBL game on the Melbourne Tigers' home court.

(image credit: zlatkobatistich.com)