Greer's Tour hits Hurdle | Thebigtip

The Melbourne Tigers want Tommy Greer to play in their pre-season tour of Ireland, but at the moment there is one obstacle preventing Greer from simply boarding the plane with the rest of the Tigers squad.

Greer, who signed a new 3-year deal with the Tigers this off-season, is signed with SEABL team the Nunawading Spectres, and when the SEABL playoffs begin is when the Tigers embark on their overseas adventure.

Quoted on the SEABL website, Spectres head coach Craig Simpson said, “We understand that the Tigers have threatened to tear up his 3-year contract if he doesn’t get on the plane to Ireland with a clearance in hand.”

With only two weeks remaining in the 2010 SEABL regular season, a decision from Greer is imminent but also very difficult for the 27-year old who would obviously risk backlash from whichever team he goes against in his decision.

With NBL rosters nearly completely full, if the Tigers did tear up Greer’s contract he would most likely be without a team for the upcoming 2010/11 season, although he may receive potential interest from the Cairns Taipans who had Daniel Egan reject their offer recently.

It would also force the Tigers to go shopping for another player, not one of the most appealing things for the team to do after they already made seven changes to last seasons roster.

A member of the Tigers championships in 2006 and 2008, Greer averaged 7.6ppg and 5.5rpg last season, his first full season as a starter.

With no rules or guidelines in place from Basketball Australia, regarding overlapping contracts, Greer’s choice lays firmly on his shoulders.

I can’t imagine the opposition in Ireland is going to be that difficult that the Tigers could not win every game quite comfortably, with or without Greer, but it is believed the Tigers are using this tour to also bond as a new team with so many new faces needing to learn the famous shuffle offence.

I believe Greer will choose the Tigers tour over the SEABL playoffs, needing the security of a 3-year deal, but at the end of the day it begs the question, ‘Why wasn’t all this decided before Greer signed the contract?”

There has been no word from ESPN whether they will televise Greer’s decision in an hour-long special.