is bruce coming back 2 nbl anyone know or goin europe?? perhaps blaze could nab bruce instead of heal.

anon- who told you about gibson and mackinnon?
reveal yourself!!!
i challenge you to a duel!!!

Maybe from me, last week.....

I haven't heard Kendall.

Smith & Wortho.

Also to be targetting Mackinnon and Adam Gibson.

Horvath better than Burston??? no chance.

thanks for clearing that up dicko :)

So would a line up of

C Burston/Horvath
PF Worthington/Hobba
SF Mackinnon/Herbert
SG Ingles/Bruce
PG Import?? Draper or Groves/Gibson

Could be more likely would be pretty strong and versatile, i guess if they dont get Wortho or Mack they could just add an import.
Or if they dont have enough points for a import PG split the minutes with Gibson and Bruce and sign a cheaper aussie guard maybe luke martin or Brad hill will be retained

Sammy is a god playa, but he is too old for the Tigers.

When I was speaking to Al, he was looking for youthfull experiene.

dear god schools out again, tommy and his friend al are back

tuck isnt comin back to nbl or austrlia, got the news from tommy

Vukona and Wortho to Dragons...plus:

"Plus Jason Smith is expected to sign in the very near future."

Gibson will be at the Dragons. Kendall is signed at Sydney so won't be. Smith is not keen to leave Sydney.

http://www.gaze.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1028&Itemid=2

In the same link that Vukona and Worth signing with Dragons...

surley dragons would look for an import to replace Horvath, is he still ranked a 10? I would be surprised if any team would want to waste 10 points on a second tier centre!

Smith is going to the Dragons - 2 year deal worth a lot more money than Sydney were paying. Worthington and Vukona all but done deals, Aaron Bruce is a probability.

Oh, and Gibson to Tigers. They wanted Kendall but when he didn't sign, Gibson was their next choice.

Assuming they keep Horvath, Shanahan and Hobba they are running at 62 points with no import and 2 spots to fill. Herbert is a 3 and may fall into the Sutton crunch as why would they spend 3 points when they could get a 1 point player to do the same job.

If Shanahan goes ( why would they keep him) that gives them 13 points and 3 spots to fill again with no imports yet.

So does Horvath get cut? As you could replace him with a better 10 points to somewhere else.

Forget the salary cap at the Dragons. There will be plenty of under the table stuff going on there. Tigers knocked back Worthington's demands - wanted close to $400K. Seems to be no problem for the Dragons.
Press conference said to be this week - surprising really as sources at Sydney understood that Wortho had signed a heads of agreement with them. Anyone know what the legal ramifications are with that - Isaac?

Sydney Kings holding up the Dragon's announcement at signing wortho...the solicitors are the only ones currently making any money out of this deal at the moment.

I looked at the points and this would be a pretty awesome team.

Burston(7)/Horvath(9)
Wortho(10)/Hobba(4)
Ingles(9)/Vukona(8)
Smith(8)/Herbert(3)
Bruce(3)/Martin(5)

Throw in a couple of rookies to fill the roster. Total points 66 (plus 2 rookies at 2points).

I'm still not convinced of Horwvath instead of an import. Even if he was re-rated to 9 that is still way over what he should be. Could have got a good import for that.

Plus seeing that Hobba and Martin haven't been re-signed I have a feeling it might be unlikely. Hobba would be great at 4 points. Maybe DICKO can tell us if he has heard anything about them?

Would if I could.....haven't heard much lately.

Also, I read an article that Cowan applied to have 3 imports but was rejected because they have Goorjian. This implies that he plans on having imports, but i can not work out how they are going to fit them in under the points cap. I'm confused.

I think that would be a top 4 team under Goorjian, maybe not premiers but challengers.

Hey DICKO what do you think of Horvaths signing and thefansmans roster idea? Likely? good?

Horvath is a 10 though and hasn't the period for objection passed?

Heads of Agreement can be thrown out as all it is, is a signal of intention to sign a full contract.

The full contract would have far more detail in it than the heads of agreement and therefore would give Wortho a leverage point to exit the Heads of Agreement.

So, Wortho could have signed a deal with Sydney at the alledged $400,000 but if there was something in the prepared contract that he did not like that accompanies the Heads of Agreement that is the "excuse" he could give for not signing the contract.

My understanding is that this is the same way Bullets players may be able to exit their deals and go else where.

thefansman - how will that squad contend?

Very heavily relying on Bruce and Martin. Smith/Herbert is a weakpoint as well, although Ingles can play SG and give Vukona more time. They'd be better off leaving off Smith and getting an import.

They'd have a weakish bench and three soft spots in the starting ranks IMO.

3 soft spots in the starting in the starting ranks?

Burston
Wortho
Ingles
Smith (people hate on him but he gets the job done)
Bruce

Where's the weak spot?

Yes they have a weakish bench. However IMO Hobba will develop quickly under BG. Horvath is as good as any back up centre in the league. Vukona just as in NZ will be great off the bench. I only added Smith because it looks like he will be there. I would have rathered an import.

I agree the PG position is weakish and the backups for the back-court will struggle. They do really need a combo guard in there, maybe an import.

I dont think its premiership material but to ask how they will contend is a little harsh?

Yeah I would have rathered a couple of imports in at PG and SG and have Bruce as a backup with Herbert and Ingles rotating. But they will contend with that team. I think that starting 5 is still pretty strong.

bballfan I wrote the post - you didn't add smith I did haha. I read an article that said he was likely to end up with dragons. Your post doesn't make sense, I wrote the original post haha. But I agree with your comments on the other 3 on the bench.

That team depends way to much on Worthington and Ingles.

Burston is night to night proposition, Bruce is an untested NBL player and Smith is well past it.

Vukona off the bench is the only thing solid there.

They will need to add a Cortez style player , but where do you fit him plus no points available to do it.


So either Smith and his 8 points wont happen in favour of an import 10 point player which means the bench sufers even more as they dont have the points space to sure up the bench.

bballfan - Bruce is untested at this level, Smith is well-advanced in his career and (as Brockman said) Burston isn't guaranteed to produce every night. They'll want to squeeze in 1-2 imports somehow IMO.

No mention of Vukona though

Anouncement to Dragons members, just released.

The Crazy John's South Dragons today announced the recruitment of one of the biggest names in the NBL, with former Kings star Mark Worthington signed to the club to the end of the 2010/11 season.

Worthington joins the Dragons on the back of an outstanding year with the Sydney Kings in which he averaged 17.2 points, 6.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists.

His remarkable 2007/08 season was capped with selection to the All-NBL First Team.

At just 24 years of age, Worthington has already achieved success beyond his years. A veteran of two NBL grand final series and one semi-final showdown with the Kings, Worthington is also a current member of the Boomers squad and was part of the team to win gold at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.

The 2006 NBL Rookie of the Year joins 2007 Rookie of the Year Joe Ingles on the Dragons' new-look roster.

The 202 centimetre, 95 kilogram forward said he was excited about the move and positive about the club's future.

"I look at it as an opportunity for a new beginning for both the club and myself," Worthington said.

"The enthusiasm the club has and the passion of the people running it, it's a great chance to turn the club around and it's already going in a positive direction with the signing of Brian Goorjian.

"Just talking to (Crazy John's South Dragons chairman) Mark Cowan about what the club is putting into place, it will definitely go up three notches to where it was last year.

"Obviously I want to continue the success I had last season and I look forward to doing that in Dragons' colours."

Worthington said the recruitment of Goorjian to the club was one of the major reasons behind his decision to move south.

"Brian's never done anything wrong by me, he's always steered me in the right direction and I think this is another opportunity within a different environment for us to shine together," he said.

"I just think it's a great chance for us to do something special."

Prior to his signing with the Kings Worthington spent four years at Metropolitan State University, Minnesota. In his time with the elite college team Worthington was named to the NABC All-American team and named NABC Division II Player of the Year.

Newly-appointed Crazy John's South Dragons head coach Brian Goorjian said Worthington had fast become one of the most exciting talents on the Australian basketball scene.

"It's an exciting time for the club because we have signed a great young player," Goorjian said.

"He is NBL First Team and is a versatile, young, exciting talent.

"More than that he is a great club guy and offers a lot off the floor as well. He is an integral part of the Australian team, so altogether it's a pretty good package."

Crazy John's South Dragons chairman Mark Cowan said the signing of Worthington, touted as the premier player on this year's NBL free agents list, was a massive coup for the club.

"This is a very big day for our basketball club," Cowan said.

"Mark was clearly the marquee player on the free agents list, and on the back of signing Brian Goorjian, this is huge. He will no doubt be one of the cornerstones of our team next season.

"Like the rest of the squad he is still young at 24 years old, and that suits us just fine."

Worthington joins Ingles, Matt Burston, Nathan Herbert and Nick Horvath on the Dragons' new-season roster.

Not sure how reliable my source is but I just heard that apparently Jason Smith has also signed a 2 year deal with option of a 3rd. Hear anything about this DICKO?

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,23505504-23769,00.html

http://www.southdragons.com.au/default.aspx?s=newsdisplay&id=74719

Interesting to see if the Vukona and Smith deals get done.