Hopefully he will be a bigger success than previous graduates.
Matt Sutton, Erik Burdon, Brad Gerlach, Peter Hoban, Jordan Dodman, Nick Hambour and Marcus Ng.

Atleast one of those names has made it Paul.

Sutton was serviceable. Burdon is decent and definitely didn't disappoint in his opportunities. Gerlach had few chances, Hoban was alright, Dodman went on to a different sport and probably lacked the work ethic, Hambour did OK with his opportunities, and M. Ng is off to Singapore to play in the new ASEAN league (or whatever it is). None of them have been disasters IMO.

Good luck to him. Hopefully he can make an impression and show a bit out there given the chance.

Maybe true Isaac, but I think the point was that none of them are NBL players, and the hope is that Moiltor will become just that.

None of them besides Sutton (who was def serviceable) really got any minutes/consistent rotation spots. These were all 11/12th men (with the exception of Sutton) that at times got bumped up into the 10 due to injuries.
This season you have to have a u23 in your 10, but going to be somewhat negated by the fact that it is only 10min qtrs, would expect most teams to use a 8 man main rotation.

DJ yes you are right. Even in ABL and State teams (juniors) you only use 8 or 9 out your 10 in the rotation normally. Depending on the game and who is playing well, foul trouble and injury of course.

If Jacob Templeton wasn't in college, would he be putting pen to paper? He won the under 21 medal at the Wollacott.

10 min qtrs. Is this for real or just hear say?
If so what a joke.
Did soccer shorten the time of their game when the a-league started?
Did netball shorten when the anz ch. started?
did afl shorten when it went from vfl to afl?
Pointless if you ask me. lets all get even less for our money

It's for real and has been for real all off-season. The pre-season games have all shifted to 40 minutes in preparation.

It's part alignment with FIBA (and every league bar the NBA) and part creating a better, tighter package for TV (you know how everyone wants to try and get basketball on FTA?).

I don't love it, but it's happening, it's not the end of the world and we'll get used to it. Stats might suffer a bit, but maybe not horrifically: Gilchrist almost had a triple-double on Sunday, Groves had 11 assists up in Darwin, Tragardh had 40 points up there, etc.

Last year there was effectively an under 24 rule for the main roster (known as the YAP) so it's not as if the Under 23 rules is something out of the blue.

In all decent comps around the world, the best teams play 9-10 guys each night, and the NBL this year wont be any different.

Good to hear the roster is finalised and Molly gets the gig. Well done!

D'Lin, I reckon you are about right with Templeton. He had a great season and well deserved his award. Overall, he finished about 15th (?) in the votes and when you take the Sixers, and the Sixers fringe players, out of the equation, he was right up there. He will probably end up on the radar soon.

17.2 ppg, 2.9 apg, 6.9 rpg is pretty good

CM 2009 ABA stats
13.1 ppg, 1.5 apg, 8.9 rpg

Reckon the only difference is + 13 cm to Molly. Molly will have up to two NBL seasons as U23, JT would be eligible for 2011/12 but turns 23 during the 2012/13 season.
At this stage the Sixers need height

A question re the 40 minute games:

I doubt many players would play more than 40 mins in a 48 minute game so does it actually mean that the better players won't play any less minutes anyway (and the stats shouldn't change too much?).

If Balls averaged say 36 minutes last year surely he would do the same again this year? Or is it about how long a rest they get (4 mins vs 12 mins) and not how much time they play?

Physiologically, how much rest an athlete gets is measured as a ratio. So if Ballinger is capable of playing 36 mins at high intensity in a 48 min game (3:4), he is likely to be able to play around 30 mins in a 40 minute game at that same intensity. On top of that, the intensity of the shorter game will be slightly higher, meaning he could well play somewhere around 28-30 mins at the same level he played at last season.

I think that'd be about right. I think the top players will be seeing about 28-34 MPG and hopefully the decline in stats won't be too severe.

30 point games will be more of an achievement though and I think few players will be averaging more than say 18 PPG.

Good points Isaac.
Wasn't aware the international side of things was taken into account for this so makes sense I guess.

Anon, I don't know if it's been mandated by FIBA, encouraged, or just that BA thinks it's a good idea. Someone who's seen a few of the NBL pre-season games so far said that people won't really notice the change too much and hopefully that's the case.