I tell u what, if Brad Davidson was there on Sat HODGE wouldn't have got off the court in one piece! Brad is good but if he can play Brett Maher can Play and i know who i'd prefer. Imagine the next Tigers V Sixers game if that happened.

I Think we need to have a good look at cortez groves performance this season. I dont believe he and Gilchrist work that well on court together. Maybe we could move him along and find another import.

Another concern is the Health of big Burston. Cooper is a great Centre off the bench but isn't a starter. I dont like Balls starting at C I'd prefer him Where he belongs shooting sweet bass line jumpers

Replace "Hill the turnover king" or "Ng I can shoot but dont like to when defended" with him and we would have a highly capable ball handler with scoring capacity.
If we did that, then played a centre we would have a viable team. Ofcourse we need to remove Ninnis first.

Davidson for groves would be a very good move, anyone for Hill as well.

While Davo's hot to trot, he has some important stuff about to happen in his life at the moment

Who defended Hodge on the weekend?

I would like to see Brad in for Groves . If we also let Burston go we should be able to afford a new centre.
Or if we let Burston go and used cooper more we could keep Groves and use him, Hill and Ng according to who is hot on the night. That would help the fact that we are thin on the bench.

I'd consider the Sixers looking at doing a full re-shuffle of the bench next year.

From the team we have now; the only reliable bench player is Cooper because he does what the team has needed of him. Ng certainly provides points, but relies too heavily on having plays run for him to score. If he was more aggresive like Maher or even Groves were/are then he'd create more opportunities for himself and would be a better player (even a decent Starter).

Having Gillie and Groves on at the same time definately seems to fail more often than not. Gilly is a great PG; but needs to keep his focus (that he starts the game with) all the way until the final whistle.

The Sixers really haven't had a good Forward (3-man btw) since Catallini and a pure shooter since Farley (not listing Maher considering he spent more time playing the Combo guard style than focusing on 25-30ppg

Why don't we all just play out the season and stop talking complete crap. Fire Ng, Groves, Hill, Burston (because of injury, no hard feelings) and the coaches, all mid season! Pffft.

Davidson has passion galore, and I like his game, but he was in our team last season which only barely made the finals. I love that people now have a romantic recollection of his effort levels, but he is not the answer. Brad is a competent back up pg, and is the sort of player that can occasionally light up (only once or twice in a season) but in other games he could be on court all game and you wouldn't notice. He also has an aging body going against him, that kept him out of a half dozen or more games last season. Easy to forget that.

Just put some faith in the team we have. Get used to it, it is here to stay.

First of all, Hodge did not do all the damage, Wortho was the key for the Tigers. Don't lose sight of that.

Brad Hill cops plenty on this forum. He gets praised one week, and then gets dumped on the following week. At best, Hill is going to be a solid contributor. I would not be considering getting rid of him any time soon.

I think Gilchrist is great and doing a very good job, but Groves, although trying hard, does not seem to fit the team balance at the moment. Do you make a change right now and dump him? Probably not, even though I would have done so long ago myself.

Burston has barely played and is always battling injury. Does he get dumped too?

I wouldn't be looking at making wholesale changes either. Davidson could add value
Davidson could add value. Could, maybe's, if's and buts' aside, does he really want to play? Is he ready to play? Will het fit in with the current team? who makes way?

I think the tinkering needs to come from within and that is where Ninnis needs to make his mark as coach. No need to dump anyone, however Ninnis needs to take some action and make some subtle adjustments instead.

We are guard heavy as it is:

Hill
Groves
Gilchrist
Ng
Herbert

vs

Holmes
Ballinger
Cooper

if anyone is to come in it must be a big guy.

If Burston isn't fit soon (before the qualification cut off) then management has to look at either a power forward or centre to fill his spot. But I am sure management is aware of that.

What is Smyth doing?. Time for Ninnis to go!!!!

I think they need to give Garlepp a run now with Burston out again. He has shown he can play but has had very limited opportunities, let's see what the big guy can do. If it works out we have our replacement for Cooper next season. If not, we know to keep looking!

How far off is Burston?

I agree - Garlepp should see minutes.

The Groves gamble didn't work - if Brad is available, we sure could use some experience come clutch time.

Scratch that - Big Fella is back for tonight's game.

We have a grossly under peforming import and a centre that has rarely played and has not been 100% when played and forcing our best player to play a role not suited to him or team. Yet we are in the four.
So demands to sack the coach isnt really on at the moment and wont happen.
Whilst thought Hill and NG might have done more this year they have something to offer but not as key players. Also they dont deserve to get replaced and for obvious reasons wont be.
But agree though if nothing changes we are more likely
will be just out of four at season end.
Seriously the change that needs to be made is replacing Groves as he is adding nothing to this team
in any areas.
If Burston cant come up to play consistently then Groves has to be replaced with a big import that can help out Jacob and Adam.
If serious about being successful a new import needs to be added to replace Groves.
However if there is totally no money at the bottom of biscuit barrell then Davo would give us some organization and passion back into the team.
Another concern was the demenour of Gilchrist on Sat. night. As been a great addition ,hope we have not got another unhappy import.
Has anybody got any feedback re Gilchrist Sat night.

I like the cut of Burston's jib, but is there a way we can drop him on the long term injury list and keep him warm?

The poor bugger does seem injury prone though. I mean slipping on water on court, finger injuries etc

I reckon if he had a hot pie he would burn his tongue!

Yeah despite all those interesting opinions is Brad the answer. Love the guy but would his body put up with our schedule coming up in Dec and Jan. 5 games in 11 days with 3 on the road in Jan ???

Go Burston. Badly in need of some luck to go his way.

Garlepp was well in favour with the coaches during the pre-season so I've been surprised not to see him get more time. Even in the same capacity that the Breakers have warmed to using Trueman - few minutes to rest the starters and soak up fouls. Trueman has hardly embarrassed himself either. Perhaps Garlepp hasn't been training too well?

Perhaps a cheap gamble on Groves would be to even play Erik Burdon? On offence, he could hardly shoot much worse from long range.

Bretts, I think Gilchrist is just sometimes like that. Not ideal, but he still got his numbers. Had he hit his free throws, that'd be a 25-30 point game against the Tigers.

Burston will probably jam a finger in his car door, trip over a step and do his ankle at the stadium just before the game, or even eat a dodgy curry at lunch today that wipes him out from the game...(touch wood!)

But in all seriousness, he must be the most injury prone player in the NBL. He has suffered ongoing injuries at every club he has played since stepping up to the NBL.

I like LC's post.

The coaching staff really need to make the adjustments with the current roster & start to try & motivate & bring some confidence back with some of the player namely Tez & Hill. Give Garlepp some meaningful minutes & hopefully Burston can work his way back into fitness & form.

If money was on tap the easy way would be to replace Tez & put the big fella on injury waivers for the season & get an import big but that won't happen.

Burtson has had a shocking run with injury/luck. The way he's going he'd finally get back to full fitness and actually start a game and the centre cube would fall from the ceiling onto him!

I think the first move should be to move Groves to the bench for Ng. See if he can have an impact there. If not, he's got to go. They tried Herbert as a starter earlier in the year, and that failed badly. He's had some great games lately, but he's one of those guys who is more effective in 20 minutes than he is in 30. I too am surprised that Garlepp hasn't been used more after playing a lot in the preseason. Hill needs a rocket up his a$$ at home games, but has been pretty good on the road. I think some of that is due to the stand and watch that goes on when Gilchrist is over-dribbling at the top of the key for the first 18 seconds of the shotclock.

Isaac, I know what you mean. Gilchrist seems to stat well, even when he hasn't played particularly well. I agree too with Burdon. He would at worst spread the floor a bit. We basically have only Ng as a perimeter threat (it is a bit hard for Ballinger to be one when he's playing the five). Alternatively, put Molitor in the corner, run a play for him, and see if he can actually make a shot. Even Gower hit a three once for crying out loud.

As I said in the thread that got canned if money is not an issue I would cut Groves, put Burston on injury waivers, bring Garlepp into the ten and get an import centre.

We can only use Garlepp if someone is not playing and have avoided talking about to avoid being critical of Cooper but as some posters say he is playing his role I am sure Garlepp can beat 1 rebound and no points and at least get in the way of opposition players.
Yes give young players a opportunity and more time for NG etc taken by Groves might give confidence and better results.
Thanks for feedback re Gilchrist Isaac yes did well especially early but hung onto the ball too long sat. and didnt drive at Hodge in last when could have but like his output and hope moods are not affecting team unity as did not stay on court long after game.

Cooper sure looks a whole lot better than Garlepp,at training. Maybe Groves will stop 'coasting' tonite.

My move at end of season would be this.

Ng - Let go
Hill - Retain
Gilchrist - Let Go
Groves - Let Go
Ballinger - Retain
Holmes - Retain
Burston - Let Go
Molitor - Let Go
Cooper - Let Go
Herbert - Retain

Assuming we can get these players.

PG - Croswell(Tigers)/Spehr(U23)
SG - Antonio Anderson/Herbert
SF - Calos Powell/Hill
PF - Ballinger/Holmes
C - Schencher(Perth)/Harris(Perth)

Imports are from D League
Anderson - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonio_Anderson
Powell - Well he is proven.

Love to have Davidson in team now,SIXERS wont realease Groves,hes cheap and SOS group not going to spend money getting another import here.Garlepp need more mins because Burston is injury prone alltime.

Flinders 80, pity there is such a thing as a salary cap.

Flinders80
I reckon personaly that Ng offers more than Hill.

Apart from two poor shooting games, he has always looked very dangerous coming off the bench and has turned several games in Adelaide's favour with his three point shooting.

Hill has had a very poor season, too many turnovers & not much productivity on offence or D!!

I would keep Ng,Herby,Captain,Holmes and Gilchrist unless they can recruit a better amercian point guard?

I think we need to see Groves gone.
But...
If we lose him for a tall, who then goes to PG when Gilchrist is off? Ng, Hill and Herbert are all very shaky when bringing the ball up against a full court press.

We need to lose 2 players to make a Groves swap work unless we bring in another scoring guard. If Burston gets injured at any time from now until the end of the season, he needs to be put on injury waivers and mothballed for the season. We seem to be bringing him back to early due to desperately needing him and it has been hampering his recovery. That and he's just ridiculously injury prone.

Bringing in Davidson isn't such a bad idea if we lose Groves and Burston. He'd be a mature and experienced head at the end of games, will relieve Gilchrist well, can fit into our structure having played with a few of our players before and you'd think wouldn't cost the world to get. He wouldn't need a starting spot, which we can give to Ng and run some plays for him to knock down the 3. We can then bring in an import big who is healthy and will relieve the pressure on Holmes and Ballinger on the boards. Even someone like a Luke Whitehead, who is a proven rebounder, doesn't demand the ball every possession, but can score when needed, adds some inside defensive presence and knows the league well after playing 2 seasons with Gold Coast.

Just bringing Davidson in as a straight swap for Groves won't work too well imo, but a 2 pronged move bringing in another big import and Davidson would work well.

Pretty well the ideal situation for us this season would be Burston injury free and a confident Groves making his shots, but we haven't had either of those basically since round 1 and we are running out of time for it to happen.
Having Burston consistantly out just isn't working. Especially when Ninnis insists on hardly playing Cooper and never playing Garlepp.

Your right Hendo it needs a two pronged move and considering that Ninnis let Davo go he might not have the balls to ask him back.
Actually we have done pretty well without Burston as the deficiencies that have shown up without him relate to small forward/guards, Holmes and Cooper have done a pretty good job considering.
We could finish the season with Cooper if we could get balance in the small forward/guards situation.