Isaac Burton played 96 games in the NBL over four seasons with both the Sydney Kings and the Newcastle Falcons. A defensive ball hawk who excited the crowd with flashy dunks was a fan favourite in Sydney and the NBL during the late 1990s and early 2000s.
Burton became embroiled in a point-shaving scandal during his time playing basketball (and baseball) at Arizona State University, a moment in history that has recently been made into a Netflix documentary called “Bad Sports”.
The documentary focuses primarily on the players at the centre of the ASU scandal, namely Stevin “Hedake” Smith and Burton, but it also zooms out to lay bare the real villain in their story: the NCAA, which doled out stipends so insufficient that athletes came to see point-shaving as their only means of survival.
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Burton re-joins Aussie Hoopla to go into further detail on the point-shaving incident, discuss his involvement in the crimes and interactions with the FBI and how it impacted him.
He also discusses his time playing basketball in Australia and Cyprus with Dan, remembering some of the highlights and lowlights from his career.
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Podcast topics include;
- The Netflix documentary “Bad Sports” and why Isaac decided to be a part of it (2:00)
- Burton’s relationship today with Stevin “Hedake” Smith (5:30)
- Why Isaac chose to play basketball instead of baseball despite being drafted to the MLB three times (8:00)
- Growing up in Los Angeles in the 80s and 90s and the dangers he faced growing up (11:00)
- His college experience playing baseball and basketball at both East Los Angeles Community College and Arizona State (14:30)
- Arriving at Arizona State, meeting Stevin Smith and how they spent their time on campus (16:30)
- How the investigation began and his interactions with the FBI (19:00)
- Graduating college and signing with the Sydney Kings (23:00)
- The reasons Isaac loved living in Sydney (28:00)
- His first day at training with the Sydney Kings and who he spent time with on the team (30:00)
- Facing off against Andrew Gaze, Darryl McDonald, Ricky Grace and other NBL legends (35:00)
- Playing against Allen Iverson (39:00)
- Shane Heal heads to the NBA and his second season with the Kings (40:00)
- Matt Nielsen’s emergence into an NBL star (46:00)
- An NBA try-out with the Phoenix Suns (47:00)
- His friendship with Latrell Sprewell and the tension present during his time with the Warriors that culminated with him choking coach PJ Carlesimo (52:00)
- His season with the Newcastle Falcons in 1998 (55:00)
- His revenge game against the Kings while with the Falcons (58:00)
- How Isaac spent 2000-2001 in prison but was allowed out to play basketball for the Las Vegas Silver Bandits IBL team (102:00)
- A return to Sydney in 2001 (1:07:00)
- Playing basketball in Cyprus (1:11:00 )
- Thoughts on college players being paid to play (1:13:00)
- What life lessons Isaac took away from the point-shaving experience (1:18:00)
All of this and a whole lot more…
