Brad Hill was easily the most impressive player in the game.

Talks that he is the next Newley appear to be not too far off the mark.

He has good height and athleticism, is a good shooter and has great skills.

Without wanting to put to much pressure on him, he also seemed to have the confidence and flair that has seen Newley do so well in his rookie year.

I just hope the 36ers do the right thing this time and do all that they can to pick this kid up.

Other's will know more about Brad Hill than I do, but from what I saw in the one game against the other top SA juniors, I would already have him in the line up ahead of Jason Williams, Gower, Gerlach and Hambour.

I'd be interested to hear from other's who know more about him. How many more years does he have at the AIS and is he planning on playing NBL or playing NCAA?

Brad Hill has been an impressive player for a few years now, hes got a good head on those shoulders and knows the game well

Brad Hill is good no doubt, but i highly doubt he would fit in ahead of brad gerlach. gerlach has always been the most underrated player in SA basketball, all through juniors, and is only now finally beginning to get the recognition he deserves.
GO SNAKE!!!

Brad is good??

Brad Hill is on his 2nd year of his AIS scholarship, is now the go-to man offensively. Look to see him pick up the MVP of the U20 Nationals in the first quarter of this year, and have a break out year in the SEABL.

Richard, I don't think I've ever seen Snake windmill it over a guy whose elbow was ring height trying to block him. Hill is Newley-esque, IMHO would fit in front of NG in the rotation. Do you reckon if he comes to Adelaide he'd play for Eastern again?

Who cares if he can windmill? true it looks good, but plenty of shite junkyard ball players can do it. not saying that brad is that, coz he is far from it, but snake has an allround game, excellent percentage, good scoring and assists, a good defensive game and one of the best set of bball smarts you will probly ever see in a guard.

He's not at the AIS, not in the Australian U22 team, and dare I say it, not sizeable enough to compete with NBL quality PGs. Hill would walk into the 36ers lineup. Snake doesn't.

This of course isn't saying that Snake is a great player, but how you could possibly rate Brad Hill better then him from an unbiased viewpoint I simply don't understand.

Was Snake scoring 20+ppg in ABL as a 2nd yr U18 player?

snake has nothin on b. hill

did snake ever get the opportunity? ive played alongside and against him for many years, as i have brad hill. they are both awesome players who should both be good NBL players soon. But ive yet to see hill show smarts even close to that of gerlach. gerlach has excellent smarts, awareness and knowledge of the game, the key ingredients for a good PG. not saying that hill wont get there, im sure in the end he will be better than snake, but then again, underrated snake never got the opportunity to get 2 years of AIS training, thats about all hill will have over him in the end

So in your unbiased opinion, Snake is a better player now then Brad Hill?

Madness!

Libertine,

I am just curious to know if you saw the Academy game against Eastern not long ago? Brad Hill played, as did Brad Davis, and neither could get a clean shot off while Gerlach was guarding them. Let's not forget, he's a 6'1" guard with slightly-above-average hops, and he lead the ABL in blocks last season.

On your point of Hill scoring 20+ PPG with Eastern while playing juniors at Sturt as a top age U18 - Hill fed off Jacob, and also Brad Davis & Ben Trebilcock to an extent. He's a scorer, much like Newley. It's not too difficult for him to score with defences focusing on his team mates. On the flip side, Gerlach as a bottom age U20 averaged 15ppg, and roughly 6 rebounds & nearly 4 assists, and contributing in taking an ordinary Tigers side to 7th (and he'd never made a state side at that stage, either!!).

I'm not pretending Snake is better than Hill, and he probably never will be, but I think he deserves a bit more credit than you're giving him. He's worked hard at his game, dealt with many tough set backs and is at the very least an ABL All Star quality player. He's only 20, and, given his rate of improvement over the past 3 or so years, could well become a solid contributor at NBL level.

Hill is more like Newley. Good athlete, long arms, smooth game - he's a guy people enjoy seeing play. I think he's somewhat a poor-mans Newley. Not quite as good a shooter, not quite the athlete, maybe a couple of inches shorter etc, but definitely in the same mould. In saying that, I see Newley going a long way, possibly beyond NBL level. I think Hill could easily be an NBL starter one day.

There is no comparison for NBL potential. Hill is 6'6, Gerlach is 6'1. That makes a huge difference at NBL level.

I never said don't give Snake any credit. What I did say was that Hill could probably walk into the 36ers roster, ahead of guys like Williams, Gower, Snake, and probably Ng!

He's a quality young guard in an ABL Conference with a helluvalot of quality young guards, and lucky enough to get the opportunity ahead of alot of other candidates who contribute similar things to their teams.

Hopefully he takes this one - he's been waiting for it for awhile - or next year the development guard will be Benson, or Sutton, or Kersten, or Burdon, or Campbell etc etc Unless your name starts with a J you don't get long to prove yourself. Ask Cioffi or Bell.

I do think snake has it over hill at the moment yes. to agree with hoop addict, the academy game before the 6ers V crocs game snake completely outclassed hill, who as you say has 5 inches on him. i tend to agree with hoop addict, hill is almost an exact copy of newley, only a little shorter, little less athletic and less skilled, not to take anything away from him coz i do rate him highly. i just think had snake been given the chance of getting 2 years AIS training like he deserved, he would easily be polaying minutes now.

snake is a good guard but their is noway he deserves to go to AIS, i could name a number of players in his year to go before him.

who are they then andrew? and if you were gonna say florence dont even bother replying, i know he went but nooone anywhere ever could say he deserved to go, except his parents

richard. my better Guard list than gerlack.1 brenton campbell 2. todd smyth 3 nate vaughan (even though he is small)4 eze 5 sutton

Anyone else reading all of these posts and waiting for the ABL season to commence so we can make direct comparisons again?

When does it start?

Anonymous,

Like leading the ABL in assists as well? Campbell is a great ABL player. Is he better than Snake? Debatable. Still, the guy gets no credit considering the season he had in 2004.

Libertine,

I agree, Hill would probably walk into the side ahead of Gower, Hambour, Gerlach and Williams. Ng... maybe. Having said that, Hill IS only 18. Another year at the AIS with a little more consistent minutes, and more responsibility will do him good.

Isaac,

Yes & March 5, I think?

Looking forward to it too...

The Academy are playing West Adelaide this Saturday at Wayville as a curtain raiser to the Adelaide Quit Lightning V's Bulleen game with tip off at 4.45pm

Andrew. Your list of guards who are 'better' then Gerlach is laughable.

Nate Vaughn... HAHAHAHA. Funniest post of '05 thus far. Keep up the good work.

It will not be easy to get a direct comparison between these players anyway as Vaughn has to fight for minutes with Bauer, Smyth, James-Martin, Shephard et al.

Gerlach's year also had Zorich, Bradley, Smyth, Benson, Webber, little NG (though he didnt play) etc Plenty of quality young guards there around the same level.

I remember when I bumped Brad Hill when he was running through the keyway, he just stopped right where I bumped him and started mouthing off at the ref for not calling a foul. Was it an illegal bump? Maybe, but that sort of attitude isn't going to get you far. Unless he camps on the 3 point line, where he no doubt excels, he is going to be hit a lot harder than I got him, and there won't be refs protecting him.

Someone mentioned Ryan Kersten... probably the greatest PG to come out of Adelaide in years. He doesn't have the height of Hill, obviously, but he has a much better shot and jaw-dropping skills. If I were Phil Smyth, I'd watch Kersten in front of Hill.

And someone else mentioned Marcus Ng, out injured for a year, but was one of two stand-out players for Woodville along with Eric Bradley in the 2004 ABA grand final. And he's only 18-19, shot, skills, and ridiculously high hops. It will be interesting to see how well he plays when he comes back from the knee.

to andrews list of guards. i just ahve one question? where do you pull this from? BC was not in his age group, maybe when gerlach was 1st, BC was 2nd yr. EZE is younger, but not even close to snake, todd smyth and vaughno and closer to the mark, but to quote someone else, scoring sint everything, and thats about all smyth has, and nath doesnt score a lot, although his passess excel from gerlachs, that ill give you. sutton i cant really comment, havent seen a lot of him, only that i dont see him getting a sport on the 6ers bench.

Libertine
to your other guards,
marcus is good yes, but not in the same league as gerlach. i have played with and against him, and like hill and his brother, just doesnt have the strength. i know snake is no power man either, but he can take a bump and knows how to use his body. as for benson, webber and bradley, are you serious? that must be a joke. benson sucks and cant be called a guard, his ball skills are questionable at best. Webber does nothing until the last 2 minutes of the game, not to mention his attitude which has to go. and bradley, well, i dont think i even need to say anything about him, except that i dont think anyone from his own club likes him, let alone the rest of us. Ziggy was probly the best mention, i think he is unlucky not to have a couple of extra inches on him, coz he is a high class player. again, its all opinion tho isnt it.

"Webber does nothing until the last 2 minutes of the game". Thats a pretty handy player to have in your team. And its the last quarter - generally 15 + points.

handy yes, not doubting that. not to mention his fitness and fairly dedicated too, just saying hes not in the same league as gerlach

richard - exactly. Peronal opinion is what makes this site oh so popular!!

anonymous,
you may have just challenged for the new worst post of 2005....dear me.

yeah im with hungry jacks, worst post of the year, and were only five days in