BASKETBALL: Majstrovich: Why I've left

HAMISH BIDWELL
Adrian Majstrovich had hoped to maintain a dignified silence.
It was hard enough for him to walk out of the final year of his contract with the Primo NBL-winning 0800 Easy LPG Hawks, without burning the remaining bridges on the way.
But when he read Friday's SportToday on-line, from his base in Adelaide with ANBL club the 36ers, he felt compelled to put his side of the story forward.
He says the comments made by general manager Michael Barbour and coach Shawn Dennis in that story impugned his integrity and that they knew full well why he would not be back to defend the NBL title in 2007.
"The reasons I requested a release are very definite and there can be no question in the club's mind about why I've left," said Majstrovich.
"I was under the impression that the matter would be kept in-house, but after reading the article I feel that my professionalism has been questioned."
The guts of it is pay. Majstrovich says the Hawks have continually failed to live up to their side of the financial bargain and that he was left with no option. "I was under contract for 2007 ... but was subsequently informed that I would not be paid until March 2007, when the contract clearly stipulates that I be paid weekly, on a year-round basis," he said.
"Failure of payment is a direct breach of my contract and, as per the process, (Hawks boss) Jeremy Bayliss was given 21-days to rectify that. He ignored it, which resulted in the termination of my contract.
"I also want to have it noted that I haven't chosen to pursue the substantial amount of money that the club owes me, as part of the termination clause of my contract.
People need to understand that I'm a professional basketball player and that this is my only source of income.
"These conditions aren't tolerable and wouldn't be for any other employee in any other profession. The unfortunate thing here is that this isn't the first time I've been left by the club without income for months at a time - without any explanation from Jeremy.
"In the past, I was told to accept the situation and did so because of my loyalty to the club."
We've come to expect that contracts between players and clubs often aren't worth the paper that they're written on and that the two can, seemingly, part company at the drop of a hat. But it was a shock in Majstrovich's case, given that he'd always said the bond he had with Bayliss exceeded that of your normal employer-employee.
Majstrovich says that changed during this year's title-winning campaign.
"A number of situations arose where Jeremy made it perfectly clear that our relationship was solely a professional one and I don't feel the same loyalty that I did towards Jeremy or the club," he said.
Bayliss himself, says there is no rancour on the club's behalf and that everyone needs to move on.
"It's a bit like the Paul Henare situation, in that when a superstar leaves a club to embark on a new challenge, people want to know why," said Bayliss.
"All I can say, is that relationships run their course and that's exactly what's happened with the relationship between Adrian and the club. We won't be making any comment about his accusations, other than to say that they are completely false."