I think Sutton provides nothing right now. His D is not that special and he is a non factor on offense. Hes a non scoring PG who doesnt even get assists.

Ng's D has improved a lot and he is a much better offensive player. I say give Suttons minutes to Ng and watch him develop further.

Agree in most respects Kwest .

IMO , Ng is a unique player and has the capability to score 15-18 ppg in 30 minutes .

Ng is in his 5th year and we still don't know what sort of plyer we have so give him 30 mins per game this year and see if he blossoms , at least we will know . I guarantee another team will notice his talent and make something of him

He should take both Copelands minutes and shots .

Phil is wrong to use Copeland and Ng at the same time . Maher and Ng work well together and Sutton and Copeland would be more suited and much more balanced .

Also copeland is a 10-15 minute a game guy , no more and he should not have a license to jack up whatever he wants

Someone said something about Breheny saying in an interview that Ng was a possible successor to Maher?

If Ng is the successor to Maher the sixers may as well give up now. Nice guy Im sure he is, much improved yes again, someone who you would even consider building a team arond - I think not!

He acually reminds me a bit of Daniel Joyce - too skinny, lack of composure when bringing the ball up under pressure, poor decision making under pressure, gets taen advantage of on D, but a great shot when on.....I wonder whether people would be calling for his head if his Dad was his NBL coach?

Ng is fine coming off the bench IMO. Does enough to cover for his lack of size and is a crowd favourite.

If Ballinger naturalises, could he be someone to build the franchise around? Allows us to run Davidson at the point and get two imports - a SG and either a SF or big man?

He said he naturalises in about 12 months,loves living here,but likes home of course.

Ballinger is definitely someone to build around especially naturalised but
besides him the future is umm somewhat hazy .

Hopefully we can get another year out of Brett , i believe he is undecided .
Davidson may get 1-2 more years but he is 34 already
Ng , we need to find out . Sutton is questionable .
Cooper and Dench = no thanks and Mottram is debateable .
Dodman ??

So realistically for 2 years the plan should be

Import PG / ??
?? / Ng
Import SF / ??
Ballinger / ??
?? / ??

See what i mean so much is undecided . Feel free anyone to build on this list .
I wonder if management have thought this far ahead .

The only question I'd have about Ballinger is his age - I wonder if he is already too old (almost 28) to build your franchise around. The better bet is to hope Newely doesn't make the NBA, gets sick of Europe and comes to Adelaide and we build the franchise around him.

If Ballinger naturalises, might as well try our best to hang onto him for as long as he's playing well and wants to stay. He's in his prime now. Could hold onto him for 5-6 years which is enough time to create a good team.

He becomes valuable.
Davo and Maher.
There is our best three, then daylight.
Ng wants to be a doctor.

Spot on Isaac .

I think we need to say Ballinger and 2 really strong imports and go from there.

We can't really bank on Newley as his future is his to decide not ours .

Liam Rush would have been a good move for this season but i guess the Newley signing smashed that .

What are our chances of gettin Ingles , Holmes or Forman back ? slim ?

After last year, Rush was asking for more money.

Forman has signed with the Breakers for three years. Holmes I'm not sure of, but he is co-captain with the Dragons so you'd assume they want to hang on to him.

Ingles would be a gamble should he make the NBA or head to Europe - have said it before, but I reckon us missing Ingles last year was one of the low points in franchise history. If we had Ingles this season, he'd play defense, drive and dish to Maher, create for himself, be exciting to watch, etc. e.g., play him in place of Chappell and you have an import spot to burn.

Agree again Isaac , will be tough to ever get over ingles decision .

Thought that may be the case with our other boys .
We need to understand what is required to stitch up franchise guys .

Look at Jacob , co-captain , leg into the advertising industry in Melbourne and a club that respects his leadership , and all round qualities off the court .
He would have made a beautiful captain when Brett retired but no we let him go .

As you said with Oscar he got 4 years , stability , culture and some life experience and was probably made to feel wanted and that is important .

I think so, yeah. Seems to be fairly popular around the league amongst fans.

This may not sound that popular, but I would not have either Holmes nor Forman back.

Not have them back full-stop, or not target them to bring them back as a priority?

I think more of a priority should be fresh talent - look at the rookies this year: Jawai, Bradshaw, Loughton, Knight, Petrie, Janev, Martin, Cameron, etc.

Were some at a different game last night? I thought Ng did pretty well last night. He had at least 2 specky blocks, he gets right up there for rebounds too considering his size. I think he gets pushed out of the way less than Cooper does. If you look at him, he's definitely put on some muscles. In fact, Peter Walsh was talking to him on 891 before the game and he's been working on his strength and put on 7kgs or so in the off season.
As far as medicine goes, he said in the interview that he has deferred a few months this year to play, but next year, he still has to do his internship for his 6th year to become a fully fledged doctor and won't be flexible with hours etc. so chances are we won't see him playing next season.

isnt always best to start a franchise around a big guy, atleast the big guy will be consistent, there not shooting jump shots like guards would. get some new big guy or ballinger is good, but get a new young big guy, start fresh and keep them for the next 5 years atleast

get jawai hes a gun.....yer i know im dreaming

...oh...and I counted many LH dribbles.. *grin*

I think we should have gone after Liam Rush even if he was after some good money this year. The reason is he is very unlikely to be good enough to make europe so his whole career will probably be in the NBL and he will be a star at this level.

The decision Smyth made was pretty much either Ng or Ingles. That pretty much sums up the quality of his decisions lately.

I wouldn't get Holmes or Forman back as they are probably getting paid quite nicely now and would probably be like a kick in the face to management now to get them back at such an increased price for not much improvement in their overall performance. Having said that I would have preferred if Forman had stayed here. We sure do need him at the 3 spot!

lay off the guys a bit ae, as they are still relatively young, but yeah Sutton isn't a very special player. He does what any ABA Player can do-Get the ball up and down the court-. I think Ng is waiting to really show us his true skills, it's just his playing time restricts him a bit

He also doesnt get the open looks he should. I would rather see him take thress than copeland or sutton.
He needs to be used more as an offensive threat and not just a ballhandler.

KingJames, you're right - two advantages of Holmes and Forman (capped for points cap, and salary) will not be retained if they bring them back.

Sutton got 8 points, took a charge, nice cut and layup and can hit the three well. His defence is good and he can bring up the ball.

Is he really THAT bad?

I cringe when I hear that "Ninja" crap!

Is that the best nick name we can come up with for someone of Asian appearance?

Love to hear the reaction in Singapore (if they are still around by then) if the court side announcer introduces him as the "Ninja"

Vomit!

The limited amount i have seen of sutton this year says that he is looking reasonable and may continue to improve.

ng is certainly a crowd favourite from my memory at the dome, and believe me other sides supporters recognise his ability, ask any wildcats fan about him.

NG is playing really well, and has improved IMO. Singlehandedly brough the sixers back into the Kings....when last season they wouldve lost the same game by 30+.

I agree with this Ninja crap, that is an insult in my opinion! Call him the Doctor or similar, that would be so much better.

Yeah, Ng and Sutton, there's the 2 reasons the Sixers are doing badly this year. Way to concentrate on the big issues, guys.

On the radio on Thursday night, Adam said he was 18 months away from being naturalised. After last night i certainly think they would be pretty keen to bring in an import point guard as soon as Adam is an Aussie, but there is even less long term depth in the team currently at SF.

I think it is a bit rough to say Sutts and Darren are worse than last season, but they {as well as Cooper those 3} are certainly no better. Darren started off pretty poorly last night, but then had a 2 minute spell of pure brillance; a 3, a steal and then another three. All 3 did not look much in the off season either in local comp as far as improvement or new skills goes, although in fairness to Darren he did get injured.

I did mean to add in my first post that Ng's reject last night was bloody amazing, but that final decision he made is what will be remembered

I thought it was Ng that took the charge?

yer NINJA took the charge against Crowe. Those two had a good battle.

yes,

Darren took a charge against Crow, but he also blocked a Crow layup on the break as well. He did quite a few good things defensively last night.

But his turnovers when he brings the ball up or just when he penetrates a little early are what people never forget.

Yes, Sutts has been solid.

But when the guy is 5th in the league in 3 point percentage after only 9 three point attempts in 6 games, you know he needs to take more shots, or at least look for his shot more.

Who knows Ng may be in Singapore next year . There are plenty of excellent hospitals here and no need to be the back up guard for the back up guard . Look after him and let him play some more minutes.

+1 on cringing at the Ninja thing. It's would be the same as us yelling out FATSO! whenever the courtside announcer says something.

Vote 1: Cringe at the Ninj!