Phil Smyth

Philip John Smyth, known as Phil Smyth, was born on 11 May 1958 and is an Australian former professional basketball player and coach. He started playing basketball at the age of six with his local church team in Adelaide and attended Marion High School. He played for the Sturt Sabres in the South Australian state league from 1978 to 1982, then in the National Basketball League for the St Kilda Saints in 1982, when he won the league's Defensive Player of the Year award, for the Canberra Cannons from 1983 to 1992, for the Adelaide 36ers and finally for the Sydney Kings in 1995. He won three NBL championships with Canberra, in 1983, 1984 and 1988, and was grand final MVP in 1988. In 356 NBL games he averaged 13.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists. He was a four-time Olympian with Australia, at the 1980, 1984, 1988 and 1992 Summer Olympics, captaining the team to fourth place in 1988, and played at the FIBA World Championships in 1978, 1982, 1986, 1990 and 1994. As head coach of the Adelaide 36ers from 1998 he won three NBL championships in 11 seasons. He was appointed head coach of the Australian national team in January 2001 but resigned in September of that year after Australia missed qualifying for the 2002 FIBA World Championship.