Pity we lose another home grown kid though....

is there clubs already after his services or is this a big risk diving into the free agent market?

If he gets back to the Mavs and is playing OK, I can't see him having a problem finding a gig with Wollongong, West Sydney, Gold Coast or Singapore.

Didnt Brad Hill play last night?

From a different point of view, rumour is that Brad is no certainty to return to NBL level after his arm injury. Why would the sixers want to carry injuries into this season after the season they just had?

That's a rumour - see Boti's article from the other day suggesting that the situation has changed a little since then.

Read the article on the 36ers site and you'll see that they offered him a contract and he accepted and then later changed his mind.

i just think he would of been better off playing one more year to prove he is over the injury, then he would of been in a better position to neg. with other clubs for more playing time

Brad Hill's leaving? That's HUGE surprise.

Loss of a good local kid is a bad thing..even i start to lose faith in the coaching staff when we hear yet again of the "agreed to terms, then changed mind"

Heard that story before.

126514, less sense of ownership. People often like to feel some sense of history with their team - e.g., have watched them develop, or know their background, etc. At least, that's how it is for me.

How many local kids can we keep though?

We have to keep Maher, we've kept Sutton and Ng.

We've improved our rotation by adding a current starter to our squad in Davidson.

I'm all for keeping local talent but we also shouldn't be running a 6 guard rotation which is where we were headed with Hill in the line-up

I completely agree with you Clark. If all we sign is local talent are we denying ourselves the possiblity of something better. I know this issue has a bit to do with past management but the sixers still have more local talent then Brisbane, Cairns, NZ, Perth, Singapore, Townsville, West Sydney, Wollongong and Sydney.

Definitely a Dragon

Ng is a waste of space. He can shoot...but can't defend, has average court awareness, can't deal with any defensive pressure and can't handle even the slightest hint of physical play.

He is the epitome of the typical 36er last season&extremely limited, extremely soft.

The guy has to have time off every season for exams for god's sake. What's the deal there? This is a professional league!

The dude should go be a doctor and the Sixers should stop entertaining fantasies that he can ever be a useful player on a legitimate team.

I guess it comes back to the same question - do we field the absolute best team possible for the upcoming season, or do we balance our roster out so we don't face a huge decline in a couple of years time?

IMO, Davidson will prove to be more beneficial than a Brad Hill or Ryan Kersten type for the 07/08 season. I don't think too many would dispute that (though some may argue the difference won't be great). However, if you're looking at, say, 08/09 & beyond, who would you rather?

Davidson will be 33 before the season starts, Hill & Kersten both 21.

So my biggest concern, rather than acquiring & retaining local talent, is that we're just not signing/retaining *young* talent.

For example, had the 6ers chased an Adam Gibson straight from the 'tute, and said "look, we really think this guy is going to be superior to our local kid, Hill, we're going to chase him instead" and then actively did it, I don't think that's a problem. The inactivity in seeking & securing young talent is what bothers me.

But, again, if they genuinely believe they're going to pull off all the big signings that have been rumoured, and that with those signings, they'll be a real shot at winning the title, then I don't fault them for signing Davidson.

It's if we end up somewhere between good & mediocre (rather than exceptional) that I think there's an issue with passing up younger guys. For the past 4 seasons at least, I'd say we've hovered between good & mediocre.

That's just my theory on it, anyway.

I posted last year on my thoughts that winning a championship is the important thing, and yes id give up local players for the result. But, id rather win it with a couple of homegrown players, i still go to the game with Maher's name on my singlet...whose will it be in 2-3 years?

So how many players have the sixers lost to the Dragons now...?

Glad to see him go, he may look exciting but he has no ball control and bad shot selection, bring on Sutton with Ng as a back up any day, atleast Ng can shoot

NG having time off for exams is a disgrace....

I was tempted to make some comments re this being a bad thing, but I have to admit that what I saw of Hill last year, admittedly not a lot due to his injry, I was disappointed. It will be interesting though to see how he goes with his new club. If he ends up starring, then it is going to say plenty about the ability or lack thereof of Adelaide to development young players.
Agree also that to allow NG to have time off for exams is somewhat unprofessional. The lad really needs to improve about 100% to be anything approaching a key player.
Not feeling that confident about next season at this stage - once again, it seems very little communication with the supporters, then again, they don't seem to count for anything.

you are kidding on Kersten saw him on the weekend overweight and slow yeh he looks like someone who is committed to nbl guess cos he went to college we should sign him along with the other 100 plus aussie kids playing over there

Considering basketball will only account for another 12-15 years for Ng and he still has another 30 years after that of working life, then its not unreasonable that he should be given some flexibility when it comes to his studies. If players were paid millions here like they are in the NBA, they could probably retire at 35. Here is Australia they need to keep working.

hasnt ng moved his remaining studies to the off season, so isnt this mute,

also sad to see hill go but something tells me sutton is the better option at this point in time and also impressed more.

not saying hill wont bounce back and i sincerly hope he has a long ans sucessfull future in the nbl, but to me he i now where near the loss of say oscar or jacob i some how dont think hill will be the next big thing hope he proves me wrong though.

yes i know extremely poor grammer on my behalf,

SPOT on thomo....
"Darren Ng, 23 and 190cm, will put his medical studies on hold to focus on the 2007-08 Philips Championship, joining Brett Maher, Brad Davidson and Matt Sutton in a deepening backcourt."

I think Darren will surprise some detractors...

Good to see Ninja.

You can always go to Uni, any 'window of opportunity' to make it in a professional sport is a much more rare occasion.