Kr
Years ago

Crocs, where to from here!

Very disappointing year for crocs fans, so lets start the discussion of who stay and who goes for next year. Signed players I believe are hinder, Holmes, blanchfield and pc. Both hinder and Holmes need to move to the bench next year for crocs to be competitive. Crocs management are said to be chasing Ervin and Neville for next year and norton should be an automatic inclusion as backup pg.

That leaves.

Ervin. Norton
Pc
Blanchfield
Holmes
Neville. Hinder

For me the biggest issue for crocs size and rebounding. We need a versatile 4 for can rebound, score and be a legit starter. Lazare fits the mound perfectly imo.

Michael cedar to go or take his brothers spot as the fourth guard. No need for two developing backup point guards in this team, Michael to play as combo guard third ball handling or time for a new direction. Damon heuir maybe.

That leaves adding more size at 3, weigh or the likes could be an option but better to find someone who can slot in behind blanchfield. So my call is Mitch young, 6'9" and versatile, great potential not needed to be a starter straight away and a queenslander.

So my call Allen out for lazare, Michael cedar moves back to 2, chris cedar gone and Mitch young as back up three.


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Mick  
Years ago

Ok. Here's my spiel:

No Damon Heiur. Last thing we need is another six-foot-nothing combo guard. Deserves an NBL shot eventually but not the right fit.

Chris Cedar has played hard for the Crocs all year long, but there is a point where "not stuffing up" isn't good enough and a point guard that can't shoot and doesn't rack up assists isn't very useful, even if he is a good defender. I definitely think he can be an NBL player elsewhere but unfortunately you can't afford to have two backup PGs, and though Woolpert played him at the two a bit, he is too small and his shot is too poor for that to work. He should focus on PG skills and finishing at the rim.

Allen is obviously out but I have a bad feeling they are just going to re-sign everyone else on the cheap and swap Allen for an import to save money. Prove me wrong, Pat Reidy.

I want Hinder sitting on the end of the bench, not as the sixth man. In fact I don't want him on the team at all but he is under contract.

5 - Nevill
4 - Import Four (Lazarre or similar). Must be a tough mother who doesn't back down. Nevill needs an enforcer to help him out.
3 - Blanchfield
2 - PC
1 - Ervin

6 - Holmes
7 - Norton
8 - SF like Young as suggested or similar (although Ben Allen has permanently left a bad taste in my mouth re: Gaels alums). Must be able to shoot the 3 ball.
9 - Tweener 3/4 like the several that Perth have for versatility in an ever-quickening league. Must be able to shoot the 3 ball.
10 - Russell Hinder (would rather have a young big stiff who just racks up fouls and can score at the rim if the ball falls in his lap but Hinder is under contract)

It's time for Mick Cedar to quit fucking around and start hustling. For every game he has where he is assertive and trying to make plays at the rim there is another where he lives and dies by his three point shooting (which has been atrocious over the past 24 months - hovering in the high twenties). Needs a hard-ass coach like Beveridge or Goorjian because he's just coasting in Townsville. He's either far too slow to play guard or he's just pulling a Jerry Seinfeld and "chooses not to run". If we could swap him out for a bigger player of similar age & value and he got an NBL gig elsewhere it would be better for both parties - he needs a fresh start. There's a certain comfortability that comes from living out your entire life and playing career in the one small regional city and a fire needs to be lit under his posterior.

Norton - whoever the brains trust over at Crocs HQ were that changed his once-pure shot to that flat, sideways-spinning Jake Holmes line-drive needs to be hung from the rafters. Kid has a long offseason ahead to work on fixing the thing, because there was a time when he was an automatice pure shooter and now his shot is fundamentally flawed.

Coaching - Woolpert needs to get his head out his ass. Without the on-court leadership of Eddie Gill everything has fallen to shit. Guys just aren't making the extra pass or diving on loose balls and it falls back on the coaching staff. Either get guys who can shoot, or make plays at the rim. Don't rely on the 3 ball if you shoot 30 per cent as a team. The other big issue here is effort. Never have I seen a team so lazy and unwilling to make the effort plays for an entire season. And benching Nevill for Hinder in fourth quarters is not going to fly.

Scouting - is just awful. It's like every time we play a team we play them as if we know nothing about them, a far stretch from the harsh reality of an eight team league where everyone is pissing in each others' pockets and scouting is more important than ever.

Development - since John Rillie left the club it's as if no one holds our young guys accountable or actively takes on a mentoring role. Remember the tutelage that Rillie put Brad Newley through? It was great to watch him develop under a veteran captain who took pride in imparting his knowledge to the younger guys. Todd Blanchfield, Mitch Norton, and any other young guys we take on board need the same treatment.

Conditioning - our guys get beat up because they are weak. Not only in the figurative sense but literally. Blanchfield and Allen aren't spending anywhere near enough time in the weight room for guys their age and body type, and Russell Hinder looks like he has just gone through chemo-therapy. Blanchfield isn't like Brad Newley with that skin-on-bone physique. He has a body that could easily add on many more kgs of muscle and his inside game will flourish because of it.

This team as it stands is just fundamentally flawed and it's not just one area that needs addressing: it's effort, it's sharing the ball, it's shot selection, it's shooting, it's points in the paint, it's defense, it's rebounding on both ends, it's choking in close games. It's just everything. Which I was why I'm leaning more towards the "blow it up" rather than the "improvement" model. Which is way it is a damn shame we have so many guys under contract.

It just sucks for us right now that the NBL doesn't have a trade week...

Finally, I could be wrong, but doesn't Woolpert also have to be re-signed? I wouldn't think this would be an automatic decision given his hand in the botched recruiting as well as the poor play and coaching all season long. One of Townsville's all-time worst seasons, including those awful days when the Suns were a newly-minted expansion team...

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Anonymous  
Years ago

my mum always told me not to comment on things I didn't know about... you didn't get that lecture did you?

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natwhereyouat  
Years ago

I think Ben Allen still has some upside, he just needs a new environment. Nothing against Townsville, but sometimes players just need a new team, new coach and new city.

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Isaac  
Years ago

Anon, why ask the question if you're commenting and only comment on things you know about?

Reply #410661 | Report this post


Mick  
Years ago

Oh shit. Sorry anon.

Your mum never sat me down and gave me the lecture on "why townsville basketball fans aren't allowed to share their discussions and opinions on an online basketball discussions and opinions forum."

Please tell me more...

Then maybe we can all sit down and listen to the lecture about "why it's annoying to make snide remarks about others under the spineless guise of anonymity on an online forum while bringing absolutely nothing to the discussion..."?

It will be a meeting of the minds, I'm sure...

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Mick I wish I could 'like' ur posts :)

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Vladimir Putin  
Years ago

Mick, wool pert has one more year to go..

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Yep Woolpert under contract for next season.

Point the bone at Liam Flynn!

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PlaymakerMo  
Years ago

Lazare would be a perfect fit for any team that is looking for a versatile 4 who can rebound and provide toughness.

However, be sure to read the warning label before signing: may be subjected to mental breakdowns and is incapable of playing team defence.

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Isaac  
Years ago

Every team needing a big should be going for Dunigan if he's available.

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Mick  
Years ago

@ anon. Well Flynn has to take some of the blame given how bad the scouting was. Isn't that largely an assistant's responsibility in this league?

@ nat. He definitely could come.good elsewhere. Anyone who is nigh on seven feet tall, under 30, injury free and can walk, talk and chew gum has upside in this country. I honestly think they will keep him. Pat Reidy has been personally tutoring him and now he's CEO. It will be the first test of whether Reidy has the balls to make it as a franchise boss. Put the team before his pet project. Smyhthe couldn't do that and now look where we are. Retaining him will be a colossal mistake, because even if he starts putting up decent numbers he wont be doing so in a way that contributes to Ws, and he will never be able to play D.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Ben Allen scored in double figures vs the Tigers today, who knows what kind of numbers he'll put up at Mt Gambier!!!

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Mick  
Years ago

I'd say about fifteen and twelve. But he's shown that preseason and state league form doesn't carry over for him.

Reply #410726 | Report this post


Kr  
Years ago

Allen did score in double figures yet every shot I saw him make was on or outside the three point line. The crocs need a 4 with toughness, mobility, rebounding and can score around the hoop.

Oh and for the love of god anyone that will chase an offense rebound!

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Mick  
Years ago

From this morning's Bulletin:

The Crocs coach said he would head back home this northern summer with a clearer idea of what he needed in his recruitment.

"We need to determine exactly who we want on our roster from our current roster," he said.

"And we need to address rebounding, which has been our Achilles' heel throughout the season.

"In my opinion we need to get bigger, stronger and more athletic and I think if you do that you address the rebounding situation."

He said the recruitment of Ervin and Nevill, who have been two of the most important cogs in the team's line-up, was a priority.

Following the Crocs' exit from the NBL play-offs to New Zealand in 2011-12, Woolpert said he would need to strengthen the bench, but ultimately the same second unit was re-signed.

"That's something I wanted to do last year but it did not get done," Woolpert said.

---

Why not, Woolpert?

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Anon  
Years ago

Mick - Liam Flynn does a great job at scouting! One of the best in the business.

If players don't read the scouting report of listen to instructions why is that the coaches fault? Yes the players may not be "Buying in" but that is a different conversation!

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Mick  
Years ago

There just didn't seem to be an air of discipline for the guys who didn't play hard and didn't put the team first. No one ever got in the doghouse. Guys just coasted all year long.

If the players don't buy in and it goes un-punished, it is the coaches' fault.

Look, coaching is one of the lesser of the Crocs' problems, considering their myriad of screw-ups, but it still has to be on the list of things that went wrong this campaign.

As far as scouting specifically, an ongoing stubborn disregard or ignorance (not sure which) of the many effective traps and pressure defences played in this league cost us way too many games this year and last.

Reply #410827 | Report this post


Mick  
Years ago

For the record I support the team of Woolpert and Flynn going forward, I just think they can't ignore the fact that there were some questionable coaching decisions that added to the quagmire of crap that was this Crocs' season. It wasn't all roster problems.

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Isaac  
Years ago

Woolpert has Ervin and Nevill as priority signings:

TOWNSVILLE Crocodiles coach Paul Woolpert says recruiting Gary Ervin and Luke Nevill for next season remains his priority, but he will start making back-up plans if the duo decide not to return.
Also mentions rebounding as a concern and wants to strengthen their second unit. The reporter notes that this was said last year and then Woolpert kept the same guys. Woolpert suggests he's for real this time.

If your surname was Allen or Cedar, I imagine you'd be nervous?

Reply #410848 | Report this post


Kr  
Years ago

Yep Isaac, surely norton is a lock based on his age and upside but the other three will most likely be gone. Only mick cedar has half a chance at a bench guard spot if there are no better college or free agent 2's available.

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Mick  
Years ago

I was super pissed off when they kept the same bench after last offseason, especially after it was publically stated that they were going to improve it.

But that was a Smythe bungle rather than a Woolpert one. Smythe brought Allen and Cedar, which was the first step to his downfall. Remember Smythe had publically said that 2011/12 was a "last chance" season for Cedar and Allen. They both showed no improvement and yet he brought them back anyway.

I doubt Woolpert would have re-signed them if he had it his way. Woolpert just brought in the imports after Smythe assembled the rest of the roster (which also was a massive failure).

I hope that this "recruitment and retention committee" nonsense is canned and a collaborative, holistic approach to retooling the roster between Reidy, Woolpert, and maybe Flynn AT MOST is adopted. But it won't be...

You can't build a team by committee.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Most underachieving franchise in the history of the NBL.

Reply #411276 | Report this post




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