Basketball: Aidan Daly is holding court

Hawks v Otago Nuggets

NBL basketball

He is, after all, the one if basketball parlance is anything to go by.

Stereotypically Aidan Daly, all 34 years of him, fits the mould of a point guard.

That is, a shorter or smaller player in the HBS Bank Hawks basketball team who is quick, can drop baskets from either side of the three-point line or in the paint but, more importantly, he's the man conducting court, as it were.

The point guard is what a first five-eighth is in rugby, centre is in netball, midfielder is in soccer or what a quarterback is in American football.

Effectively Daly is that 1.83m fox terrier, albeit overzealous at times.

Old?

The Port Ahuriri School teacher laughs following a frenzied website and social media discussion this week on whether he should still be in the Bartercard National Basketball League (NBL) mix.

"At first I thought I wouldn't play past 35 but if Paora [Winitana] keeps going on, then we'll see," he says of the Hawks captain who is soldiering on at 36.

The question on the website is: "How is Aidan Daly still playing in the NBL?"

It goes on further to say: "His career stats are bench-warmer worthy [4 PPG, 2APG] but his shooting is atrocious, being a career 37 per cent shooter and an appalling 15 per cent from deep.

"Yet, despite all this, he started this week, getting 34 minutes against Southland. Maybe he's a great trainer?"

A bemused Daly, before Saturday's game against Otago Nuggets here, didn't know where some of the statistics came from.

"The whole thing is being blown out of proportion," he says, adding he had discussed it with his father, Craig Daly, last season's team manager, and they had had a chuckle or two.

For the record, Daly contributed 10 points in Sunday's 89-56 thrashing of the Paul Henare-coached Sharks in Napier. He scored three field goals from eight attempts, missed his only attempt from outside the paint but nailed all four shots from the charity line.

On the boards, the veteran claimed five defensive rebounds. He had three assists and a steal and collected three personal fouls.

Perhaps, new Hawks coach Tab Baldwin's take puts some of the vitriol in perspective.

"In today's world, Aidan is an old-'er' player but he's certainly not old. Many players go right into their 40s even at NBA level and that's not a rare thing," says the five-time NBL title-winning and former Tall Blacks coach.

Baldwin isn't familiar with the website author but felt compelled to respond.

"Like a good friend and coach should be, I've set the record straight."

He feels a lot of scribes tend to evaluate players' careers based on stats.

Needless to say, that someone has started a healthy brainstorming session and it invigorates him that anyone can be passionate about analysing basketball.

"It's his opinion and he's stated that as such but it's well off the mark."

Primarily, Baldwin says many coaches don't necessarily select point guards purely based on their ability to shoot.

"Aidan brings in the intangibles such as his organising ability, leadership, hustle, tough defence and all those sorts of things. He sets the tone out there and changes that, if need be."

Daly's fitness and agility is up there with the top four in the Hawks squad.

Baldwin says sports scientists tend to design fitness regimes that demand a level of strength and conditioning which ensure professional athletes' bodies hit at least a threshold of 40 before they start contemplating retirement.

Perhaps the last word should go to Daly: "Look, if coaches are happy, that's why you're still there. I'm familiar with the Hawks' environment and for me that's good enough."

Oh, and first-choice point guard Jarrod Kenny had symptoms of the bot so that's why Daly played 33m 42s and assumed the mantle of captaincy, too.