Legends Heap Praise on SE Favourite Son Kelly

Mike Kelly brings with him a tenacious will to win, an impressive coaching resume and hope for the Phoenix – but he also brings with him a sense of nostalgia.

This isn’t Kelly’s first homecoming to the South East, for that you’d need to go back to 1996 when the 29-year-old Californian first suited up for the now-defunct South East Melbourne Magic.

30-somethings would know all too well the joy he brought to the Magic supporters in the mid-90s, a pivotal cog in South East Melbourne’s unlikely 1996 triumph over the highly-fancied Melbourne Tigers.

“He’s one of the toughest competitors I’ve ever played against,” according to Andrew Gaze, arguably the NBL’s greatest ever export.

“He was a great player, an elite defender and an integral part of the Magic in their championship year.”

(Gaze comments as Kelly being one of the toughest opponents he has played against.)

Kelly would earn Finals MVP after an incredible three-game stretch in the 1996 campaign – but it was a far cry from where he began in the league.

Brian Goorjian, who coached all seven of the Magic’s seasons in the NBL, remembers Kelly’s work-ethic above all else.

“Mike started in the SEABL [Victoria’s second-tier league], he had to work his way up to the big league,” Goorjian told Phoenix Media.

“A lot of guys come over here from the States, and they expect to play the best league, but Mike worked hard, started from the bottom and got the best out of himself.”

Lanard Copeland’s career mirrored that of Kelly’s, and he remembers the 6ft 5in guard as someone wholly committed to the cause.

“I just remember Mike being one of those hard-nosed players who was dedicated to defence,” Copeland told Phoenix Media.

“He had that Goorjian mentality, the hardness, he was moulded into a special player, and I think if he can do that for his players [at the Phoenix] they’ll do a lot better than they’ve done.”

(Goorjian coached Kelly at SE Melbourne Magic.)

That ‘Goorjian mentality’ isn’t a term Brian Goorjian had heard before, but both Copeland and Gaze dubbed Kelly as someone with it, and for someone with already so much to be proud of in his decorated career, Goorjian holds that in high regard.

“I’m honoured that he’s seen in that light, or my name is linked to his, there is nothing but respect there,” Goorjian said.

“I guess it’s the system though, look after the ball, value defence, really lead the effort side of things.”

Gaze is in the rare position of having both played and coached against Kelly in the NBL and his ‘blue-collar’ approach is what will hold him in excellent stead according to the seven-time league MVP.

“Mike brings great character, players enjoy playing for him and the Phoenix players will need to buy into that blue-collar style,” Gaze said.

“He was a game away from a championship series with Cairns [in 2020] and he was able to get the very best out of that team."

(Kelly during the off-season training with Ben Ayre and Owen Foxwell.)

Above all else, anyone who speaks about Kelly’s character off the court is nothing but complimentary, citing his morals as of the highest order.

Kelly gave the Heartland some of its best memories in the 90s, and he’s come back to do it again in 2023.