Illawarra Hawks coach Rob Beveridge says newly-crowned NBL MVP Jerome Randle tarnished his legacy as a result of his stunning tirade against the Hawks earlier this week.
In an explosive pre-finals outburts, Adelaide 36ers dynamo Randle labelled Illawarra a 'dirty' team who 'fight first, play basketball second' and said he dislikes all their players.
Following the Hawks' comprehensive 93-78 defeat in Thursday's semi-final series opener, Beveridge hinted Randle - who starred with 26 points - risked being remembered more for his outrageous rant than his wondrous on-court feats.
"I was actually disappointed for him," Beveridge said. "I thought 'why would you say that mate, you are the best player in the league'.
"This guy's a special player - I've never seen a guy with a better pull-up jumper in my career, his ability to get people open, his competitiveness, the way he leads the team by example, and then he comes out with that?
"I'd prefer to say Jerome is one of the best players I've ever coached against rather than shooting your damn mouth off.
"He doesn't know me, he doesn't know anybody (in the Illawarra team).
"Each to their own, if that's what he has to do to pump his team up to win the championship, so be it, but I'm old school. I don't deal with that s**t.
"It's like come on Jerome, you're better than that."
Experienced Hawks forward Tim Coenraad, who was easily his side's best player with 26 points including five three-pointers, agreed with Beveridge.
"I'm with Rob on that, I'd rather think of him (Randle) as this good import who's brought the NBL up," Coenraad said.
"Instead when he says things like that I'm going to remember him for that (comments), not for his ability as an MVP of this league."
Randle can expect a hostile reception in Sunday's game two at the WIN Entertainment Centre but he has Sixers coach Joey Wright's full backing.
"He has his feelings and emotions, he's an emotional player," Wright said.
"I'm going to support him 100 per cent."
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