Philip John SmythAM (born 11 May 1958)^[1] is an Australian former professionalbasketball player and coach. He won threeNational Basketball League (NBL) championships with theCanberra Cannons before going on to be a three-time championship-winninghead coach of the NBL'sAdelaide 36ers. Smyth was a four-time Olympian with theAustralian national basketball team.

Smyth, an Adelaide junior, was already seen as one of Australia's bestpoint guards when theNational Basketball League first started in 1979, yet it took him until 1982 to actually play in the league, despite having represented Australia at the1978 FIBA World Championship in thePhilippines and at the1980 Summer Olympics inMoscow. Smyth played for the Sturt Sabres in theSA State League from 1978 to 1982.^[2]

For personal reasons, Smyth chose not to play in the NBL until 1982 and even then, while still living in Adelaide, he signed to play with theSt Kilda Saints, commuting between his home in Adelaide andMelbourne where the Saints were based. He only played for St Kilda for the1982 NBL season, winning theNBL's Defensive Player of the Year award and selection in theNBL's First Team in the process before signing with theCanberra Cannons from 1983. At this time he also moved from Adelaide to Canberra for what would prove to be 10 seasons in Australia'scapital city. During that time he enhanced his reputation as one of the best ever Australian basketball players and helped transform the Cannons into a championship winning team.

Canberra won their first NBL Championship in 1983, Smyth's first season with the club. The Cannons defeated the defending championWest Adelaide Bearcats 75–73 in the grand final. They would go on to win the championship again in 1984, this time defeating the emergingBrisbane Bullets 84–82 in another closely fought grand final win. Smyth's play during this time was a major contributor to Canberra's success. He won his second consecutive Defensive Player of the Year award in 1983 and was also a member of theALL NBL First team in 1983, 1984, 1985, 1988 and 1989.

Smyth would win his 3rd NBL Championship when the Cannons defeated theNorth Melbourne Giants in the 1988 grand final series two games to one. He would also be named as theGrand Final MVP in 1988. He narrowly missed out on a fourth NBL crown in 1989 when the Giants reversed the 1988 result by defeating Canberra two games to one.

He would play on with the Cannons until the end of the 1992 NBL season when he was lured back home to Adelaide to play for the Adelaide 36ers. Despite being in the twilight of his playing career, Smyth would again be a major contributor helping the generally under-performing 36ers get back into the playoffs. Smyth played two seasons for the 36ers and would lose his second and last NBL grand final series in 1994, again to the North Melbourne Giants who defeated Adelaide 2–0 in the championship series.

After two season back home in Adelaide, Smyth had a falling out with 36ers coachMike Dunlap who had a reputation for favouring the younger players. During 1994 Dunlap had even begun to start 3rd year playerBrett Maher as the 36ers point guard and playing Smyth from the bench despite Smyth still being the starting point guard for the Australian Boomers (when Smyth questioned Dunlap on why he was benched, Dunlap told him that it was simply because he was old). This saw Smyth sign for the NBL's highest profile club, theSydney Kings for the 1995 season where he linked with his former Canberra championship winning coach Bob Turner. In an injury interrupted season, Smyth played just 16 games for the Kings, who didn't make the playoffs. He retired from playing professional basketball after his season with the Kings.

Phil Smyth played 356 games in his NBL career, 25 with St Kilda, 282 with Canberra, 33 for Adelaide and 16 for Sydney. He averaged 13.6 points per game at 44.8%, 4.2 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 2.3 steals.

Smyth represented Australia at fourSummer Olympic Games (1980,1984,1988 and1992), achieving a best result of 4th at the 1988 Games inSeoul where he was the team captain. He was also a member of theBoomers at theFIBA World Championships in1978,1982,1986,1990 and1994 with a best result of 5th place in both 1982 and 1994. At the1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games, Smyth and his wife,Jenny Cheesman, would become the first husband and wife to captain Australian teams at the same Olympics.^[3]

After Adelaide 36ers coach Dave Claxton failed to take the team to the playoffs in 1997, the club hired the recently retired Smyth as head coach of the team from the1998 NBL season, the club banking on his years of experience as a player despite his only previous coaching experience being as a specialist coach at theAustralian Institute of Sport (AIS) during his playing days with Canberra as well as coachingSouth Adelaide women's teams in the early 1980s.

Smyth's impact on the club was immediate, with the 36ers winning both the 1998 and1998–99 NBL Championships in his first two seasons coaching in the league (according to Smyth, the 36ers coaching job in 1998 came down to himself and former North Melbourne and Brisbane coachBruce Palmer, but the 36ers ultimately wanted someone local). The team was beaten semi finalists for the next two seasons before winning their 4th championship, and 3rd under Smyth, in2001–02. Under his coaching the team would reach the elimination finals in2002–03 and2003–04 and improve to the quarters in2004–05 and2005–06 before failing to reach the playoffs twice which resulted in Smyth being replaced as head coach by former player and assistant Scott Ninnis.

In all, Phil Smyth coached the 36ers in the NBL for 365 games over 11 seasons, winning 205 games and losing 160.

Following his stellar international career as a player and his championship success coaching the 36ers, Smyth was appointed head coach of the Boomers in January 2001. Unfortunately his international coaching career only lasted eight months. After losing the2001 FIBA Oceania Championship to theNew Zealand Tall Blacks 1-2 the team failed to qualify for the2002 FIBA World Championship inIndianapolis as a result. It was the first time Australia had missed out on theFIBA World Championship since making their championship debut in1970. Smyth resigned from the job on 27 September 2001 and was ultimately replaced by the man who he defeated to win both the 1998 and 1998–99 NBL Championships,Brian Goorjian.^[4]

In March 2009 Smyth joined radio presenter and former cricketerK. G. Cunningham to host an internet sports show KG and the General, streaming live from 3-6pm weekdays and podcast.

Smyth was made a Member of theOrder of Australia in 1988, inducted into theSport Australia Hall of Fame in 1997, and received anAustralian Sports Medal in 2000.^[5][6][7]

• KG and the GeneralArchived 31 May 2019 at theWayback Machine

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