Sydney Kings star import Josh Childress hasn’t been put off Australia by virulent social media criticism of his heavy foul on Perth’s Jesse Wagstaff, which has earned him an NBL suspension.

Former NBA player Childress received a two-game suspension – one of which was suspended till the end of the season – after pleading guilty to unduly rough conduct.

A two-hour, three-man tribunal hearing in Sydney on Tuesday dismissed the charges of striking Wagstaff with an elbow and bringing the game into disrepute.

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Instead he was fined $3,750 for the unduly rough conduct and another $3,750 for publicly criticising officials.

Childress, who has played three games so far for Sydney, will miss this weekend’s away clash with ladder leaders Cairns.

Among the evidence considered by the tribunal was the referees’ report and a statement from Wagstaff.

“The evidence was inconclusive to support the charge of striking by elbows because of the camera footage and the referees’ reports,” tribunal chairman and solicitor Marcus Connor told reporters.

Childress, who has suffered just one previous disciplinary blemish in his career, said he was thankful the process was over, with his contrition for the incident taken into account by the tribunal.

He said he would need to keep his cool if provoked in the future.

“I think the process was very fair,” Childress told reporters.

“They took into account my track record and my character. I’m just happy to get this behind me.”

His foul on Wagstaff triggered some vicious comments on social media, but Childress stressed it hadn’t soured his attitude towards Australia.

“I think there are bad apples everywhere, Australia so far for me has been amazing,” Childress said.

“Australia has been good to me and the people have been awesome and I can’t allow a few bad comments to affect how I view a great country.”

NBL chief executive Fraser Neill said he intended contacting Twitter to see if some posts could be traced, but Childress didn’t think it was worth the effort, despite describing some comments as mean and hurtful.

“In my opinion, I would say don’t even waste the energy to do so,” Childress said.

“I have blocked those individuals on social media. I will probably end up taking a break from Twitter for a while anyway.”

Neill said while it was good of Childress to adopt that attitude his organisation needed to take a stand.

“Consistent with other codes we’re not going to stand for it and if we can do anything about it, we will,” Neill said.

-AAP