Anonymous
Years ago
Should the 6ers target Wilkinson and Jackson?
I know the 36ers have said they are going to leave their imports for last after selecting their Aussie core, but I was wondering if this is the best way?
Given their seems to be a real lack of 'Marquee' Aussies available and willing to come to Adelaide, why dont we have a crack at a couple of successfull, NBL proven imports who i think would be good fits for our team.
It wont be easy as NZ will possibly be able to out bid us, but the thing in our advantage as im assuming they have spent a fair bit of cap space locking up guys like Abercrombie, Vukona, CJ Bruton, Corletto, and even Pledger looks as if he is ready for an increased role and $$ it seemed hinted that he would be getting that, so maybe its not guaranteed NZ will be able to outbid us assuming everyone sticks to the cap, as they have significant local talent locked away.
Lets say Johnson is on 150k, Weigh is on 120k, Crosswell is on 60k and Creek will get 100k.
That leaves us with 570k for 6 spots and 2 starter spots. So i say why dont we offer Jackson and Wilkinson 200k each? It only leaves us with 170k for the reamaing 4 spots ($42k each) but that should be enough for guys like Ng, Bartlett, etc anyway.
I would rather have a really good 7-8 man rotation with a few cheaper players on the end of the bench, with 2 stud proven imports than 10 ok solid players with no real stars and miss the playoffs.
Why would hey leave NZ? This one is hard given they are the reigning champs and seem to be one of the most stable franchises in the NBL.
I think Wilkinson is gettable, as NZ have hinted at giving Pledger a bigger role and probably $$ and reducing Wilkinsons to accomodate this. The 36ers could offer him 200k, i doubt NZ would be able to beat this (assuming the cap is stuck to) and also a big role, he can come in and play 30+ mins and be one of the main players. I also think he would be a good fit along side Johnson, as he seems to play with hustle/ a real fire in his belly and goes at it hard at both ends, and is a decent inside scorer, rebounder and defender IMO. So if im the 36ers atleast have a crack, which Aussie big is realistically going to come to Adelaide that is better than Wilkinson? short of pulling off a miracle recruitment of Khazzouh (which i would think is unlikely) i cant think of one. Would definatly take Wilkinson over spending the money or close to it on a Trigger, Davidson or Crosswhite. If Europe calls for Wilkinson and offers him more then fair enough but atleast have a crack.
Cedric Jackson will probably be a harder one, as i'd say NZ would try harder to keep him as they dont have a top young PG coming through like they do with Pledger in the big man rotation, and CJ Bruton likely took a little less on his next Contract, so id say NZ would put up a harder fight to keep Cedric, but given they have surperior talent to us locked away we may have more cap space to play with. My guess is he will head overseas and if he does good luck to him, but 36ers please atleast make him a 200k offer, having a PG like him would make a huge difference, we could basically bring back last years roster with Cedric and be a much better team IMO.
If we went down this path, it would give us a roster of
C Johnson/?? Trueman
PF Wilkinson/??Dowdell
SF Weigh/Bartlett (Creek will slide to SF)
SG Creek/Ng
PG Jackson/Crosswell
I think that is a roster that could realistically fit in the caps and would be pretty decent. Not a huge amount of depth but Trueman is a good solid big who i think we could offer a few more minutes to as our 3rd big, and Crosswell as our guard 1st off the bench is a pretty good guard rotation giving us a pretty solid 7 man rotation, with Bartlett, Ng, Dowdell all playing their role but in limited minutes.
I cant really see how we can do much better than this line up with recruitng Aussies first, unless they do pull off a miracle signing like a Khazzouh, Newley, Nielsen type, so i think they should give it a crack, and am willing to bet it would be a fair bit better than this years team, still keeping 6 players.
