Crosscourt: Montrezl Harrell hits back at ex-Adelaide teammate Kendric Davis in brutal video take-down, Jock Landale backs JaVale McGee amid NBL big man ref drama

In a brutal rebuke directed at the new Sydney King, the Monsta pulled no punches, hitting back at Davis over repeated public claims the 36ers mistreated him.

In a withering assessment, Harrell told CODE Sports the constant complaining made Davis sound like a “bitter ex”.

He said the picture the star guard had attempted to paint in public didn’t match the harsh reality that the 26-year-old’s own “childish” actions paved the way for his exit.

“I don’t care what KD says, it’s bullshit,” a pointed Harrell said, when asked if he’d heard Davis’ recent comments.

“Nobody did KD wrong.

“We can go ask many of the guys, not only me, (and they will) tell you how KD actually acted behind those doors — but we’re not doing that.

“You’re the one still going on. You’re the one still bringing it up. You’re the one still ‘Adelaide did this to me’.

“Every time you get in front of a camera, in front of a microphone, bro, why is Adelaide the first thing you’ve got to say?”

Harrell, who landed back in Australia on Monday, believes Davis’ pursuit of personal goals over team interests derailed the Sixers’ championship hopes and said it was time for his former teammate to “move the f*** on”.

“Move on, you’re in Sydney, bro, you made your choice,” Harrell said.

“You literally were too childish for us to accomplish what we wanted to last year.”

Harrell was among several Sixers players and officials who Davis clashed with last season.

He gave an insight into how the ultra-talented guard, who finished second to Bryce Cotton in the NBL MVP race last season, “belittled” a teammate.

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“I ain’t going to go into depth on everything you did to players … (but it got) to the point where nobody wanted to be around you, bro,” Harrell said.

“Every day you blew up with somebody.

“I told him I was done with him … you want to belittle somebody else on the team and that’s not the right way to do things, bro.”

Following repeated blow-ups and the infamous Affray at JCA, where both Harrell and Davis were suspended for their roles in an on-court scuffle with Melbourne United players and subsequent courtside fan clash, Davis found himself on shaky ground with the Sixers.

Club officials considered tearing up his contract around the November FIBA break.

“We babied you — they never pulled the trigger on what they actually should have done,” Harrell said, intimating the club should have parted ways with Davis.

Davis has claimed the Sixers “ghosted” him in contract talks and that he was “treated bad”. Harrell says that’s a fantasy and a Sixers source told Code Sports the club pulled a lucrative contract — understood to be worth over $60,000 per month — when Davis lashed out at officials via text.

Harrell believes Davis — who led the league in minutes per game (35.2), assists (8) and was second in scoring (25.6) — is experiencing FOMO in Sydney after watching Adelaide’s golden recruiting spree.

The 36ers lured the legendary Bryce Cotton from Perth as Davis’ replacement.

“He knows it’s going to be legit (in Adelaide),” Harrell said.

“You in Sydney, we over here in Adelaide.

“You made that decision by signing into Sydney … so think about what y’all got coming up for the season, bro.”

Harrell urged Davis to “be a man” and have some accountability for how things ended in Adelaide — just as the big man had done last year, in the wake of the ugly scenes in Melbourne.

“It’s always somebody else(’s fault),” Harrell said.

“I’m man enough to say if I made a mistake or if I did something wrong, like what I had happening in Melbourne, I take it on the chin.

“Be a man. Don’t point the finger at everybody else.”

Harrell and the 36ers fly to Sydney next week for a clash with Euro League powerhouse Panathinaikos at Qudos Bank Arena — straight after Davis and the Kings meet Partizan Belgrade on the same floor as part of the Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament.

Sixers and NBL fans won’t have to wait long for Davis’ first game back in the City of Churches in a Kings’ uniform. He can expect a savage welcome on October 11 when the Sixers host the Kings at Adelaide Entertainment Centre in what was an already highly-anticipated game that just went nuclear.

FLARES UP: LANDALE TORN ON NBL V EURO LEAGUE CLASHES

New Memphis Grizzlies big man Jock Landale can’t wait for Melbourne and Sydney to get a taste of the “fanatic energy I fell in love with” during his first professional campaign with Serbian powerhouse Partizan Belgrade.

But the Boomers Olympic star believes Adelaide and Sydney face a tall order in knocking off his former club and fellow Euro League giant Panathinaikos during next week’s Pavlos Giannakopoulos Tournament.

Straight out of St Mary’s College, Landale took the path less travelled by Australians, heading to Belgrade, where basketball is a more religion than sport.

“I mean, to this date, I still say they’re the best fan base I’ve ever played for,” Landale said of the club he joined in 2018.

“Their energy and passion ripples through the basketball world. Australians will get a taste of that.”

Landale said the star-studded 36ers and Kings had a real life chance to test the NBL’s claim to be the second-best basketball league in the world.

“I think that’s what’s so appealing ... to watch and see how do we really stack up?” Landale said.

“There’s some good players out in Euro League, and Euro League is tough-ass basketball.

“It’ll depend a little bit on how the game’s refereed, I’d say, because you get away with a lot more in Europe, compared to the NBL, which is a little more ticky-tack.”

The Melbourne United champion was torn on whether either of the NBL teams could get the job done.

“Oh, it’ll be interesting — honestly, I don’t know,” he said.

“Mate, I don’t want to go against my own countrymen but it’s going to be a tall task.

“They’re both bloody good teams, and I guess we’ll see what happens.”

Click to purchase last-chance tickets to the game between the two European teams at John Cain Arena in Melbourne on Thursday and the Kings’ meeting with Partizan and Sixers bout with Panathinaikos at Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney.

LET THE BIG MEN PLAY: NBA STAR’S CALL FOR CONSISTENCY FROM NBL REFS

Jock Landale says the NBL’s officiating of elite talls like former NBA powerhouses Montrezl Harrell and JaVale McGee needs to be more consistent.

In the wake of CODE Sport’s exclusive report on Illawarra’s frustration at the Sydney Kings’ rough treatment of triple NBA champion McGee during a scrimmage over the weekend, Landale revealed he’d struggled with foul trouble during his NBL championship-winning season with Melbourne United and urged the league to give big men the benefit of the doubt on “ticky-tack” contact.

“When you have elite bigs, these NBA bigs like JaVale McGee and Montrezl Harrell, who have been on the brink of being elite players in the NBA, you take them out of the game, it’s not a good thing,” Landale said.

“Anytime that you see that it’s fairly consistent the bigs are fouling out because you have guards coming into them and flailing, I think that’s a problem because it takes away a position of basketball and a style of defence which is important to the game.”

The Memphis Grizzlies centre acknowledged he was “a bit biased” because he revelled in taking and dealing out contact on the court, but he believed the league’s referees should “consistently let it be more physical”.

“It’s a tough thing to call, I don’t envy them (and) I’d never want to be a referee,” Landale said.

“But that’s the reality of it. As long as it’s consistent, you can kind of figure it out. It’s when the inconsistency comes into play, that’s when it’s a bit of a problem.”

The NBL21 grand final MVP believes McGee will be an elite performer in the NBL.

“Good, I mean, he’s just huge and he’s athletic still,” Landale said when asked how the 213cm 37-year-old would perform in the NBL.

“Illawarra is obviously a good team and, with the likes of Tyler Harvey coming downhill at you and JaVale running the other side, that’ll be a tough matchup for anyone to handle.”

He said the arrival of McGee among a conveyor belt of elite off-season signings had the NBL “in the best place it’s ever been”.

“I look around the league now — and I was watching the signings go down — and I was in shock with just how much talent is now out here,” he said.

FINAL FLING BEFORE NBL TIP OFF

Phillip Island-raised guard Pat Ryan has a golden opportunity to lock in the final development player position on South East Melbourne Phoenix’s roster.

Ryan recently returned to Australia to play NBL1 for Keilor Thunder following a US college stint with Menlo College in California.

The 22-year-old is favoured to fill the Phoenix’s last roster spot ahead of this weekend’s trial games in Perth against Japanese sides Ryukyu Golden Kings and the Sunrockers Shibuya.

Ryan had five points in 11 minutes in South East Melbourne’s seven-point loss to the Wildcats on Wednesday night.

Marquee Wildcats signing Jo Lual-Acuil Jr had 15 points and five rebounds in 13 minutes, while Nathan Sobey dropped a game-high 27 points for the Nix.

In other news, Melbourne United will rest veteran sharpshooter Chris Goulding against the Brisbane Bullets on the Sunshine Coast on Friday night.

A United club spokesman told Code Sports that Goulding is being ‘managed’.