paul
Years ago

Townsville Crocs sign Scott Kenny

The Crocs have signed Scott Kenny from the Brisbane Spartans as their 11th man, a cover for Peter Crawford whose recovery has been slow from surgery.

He is a 24 year-old, 193cm shooter who can light it up, needs to bulk up physically but is reportedly a pretty good athlete. Averaged 21p at 42% from long range in the SEABL this past season.

Great to see him get a chance in the NBL.

http://www.townsvillebulletin.com.au/article/2013/09/10/388838_crocs.html

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Anonymous  
Years ago

great news - I hope he makes the most of it and doesn't become the next brad williamson

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Hope you like the mouth guard hanging out look. Terrible. Limited ability.

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Happy Days  
Years ago

Good on him and im sure he can have an impact.

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Mick  
Years ago

Not sure if he can bulk up with that frame and narrow shoulders

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Kr  
Years ago

Whilst bulking up a bit would help, John rillie and reggie miller weren't exactly huge. Length, athleticism, scorers mentality and ability to consistently hit the three will be far more important for the role he will play as pc's replacement. We didn't need another guy that was ok from the three with a bit of versatility IMO, pace, marko, Djeric all fit that mould. We needn't a flat out scorer to replace PC and It seems that's what we got!

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Anonymous  
Years ago

He will go very well in the NBL. His allround game has improved big time in the last 12 months and has always been a scorer. Not many shooters like him in the NBL.

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Sammy  
Years ago

Great to see him get an opportunity.
Flat out scorer. Really hungry to succeed and has a very impressive work rate.
Good luck to him

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Anonymous  
Years ago

NBL needs more people who can actually shoot a basketball.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

If he concentrates on his game and not crying to the referees he will do well.

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paul  
Years ago

It will be interesting to see how well he shoots making a big step up in class. I've heard good things so looking forward to seeing him play. No question his lack of strength will go against him though, needs to hit the gym hard.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Great player and seems likea good guy. Wish him all the best

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Anonymous  
Years ago

stephen curry aint no beast in the gym.
as a SG he should do ok.
I dont see him driving to the bucket any where near as much tho. more a catch and shoot role player.
he will be good to watch.

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Tiger Watcher  
Years ago

Good signing by Townsville...as the 11th guys he is only 24...can get hot so could add a nice dynamic off the bench if were to get some spot mins and get hot as teams will have to respect his 3 ball.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

You don't need to bulk up in the NBL. The local players who do have bulk are carrying fat more than muscle.

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Mick  
Years ago

@anon my concern isn't with the lack of muscle but the slight frame. Narrow shoulders, etc. Just a tiny dude, especially for his age. Good luck to him but yeah he is very slight. There are lots of skinnier guys getting round but they have the broad shoulders and just a bigger frame which helps more so than pure bulk. He does have decent height for an NBL two guard so hopefully he can get his shot off and he'll be fine.

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paul  
Years ago

Yeah, it's not about bulk, it's being strong enough to handle the physicality and hold your ground defensively. Basketball is a physical game and if you dont have strength you need to be exceptional like some of the players mentioned above.

Kenny sounds like he has some tricks in his bad though so looking forward to seeing how he goes.

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Kr  
Years ago

It's not like Dennis had no options after trialling 7 guys for the spot, all with either nbl and or college experience, so to come out on top after the trials he must have bit of game. Could be an exciting long term prospect for the crocs, I'll be crossing my fingers.

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paul  
Years ago

That was meant to read tricks in his bag two posts above, not bad! Would be good to see more teams give an 11th man a go.

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Mick  
Years ago

So what's the go with the roster rule: 11 at home and 10 on the road?

I like everything about this roster except for russell hinder as the starting centre. Its going to be a season long frustration for crocs fans...

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Ganymede 86  
Years ago

Should've signed an import centre instead of Pace and no point in Vanderjagt as a Centre as a result. Not Rustys fault he'll have to start like him as a 3rd/4th just not as a starter

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Mick  
Years ago

Absolutely Ganymede. It's not fair on rusty to be carrying that sort of load. Dennis said Conklin is bigger than advertised so maybe he can start at the five.

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Wookiee  
Years ago

@Ganymede Unfortunately, those import centres don't grow on trees, especially for the budget that most NBL teams have, let alone a team coming back from near extinction... Would love some more quality big guys in the league, but it's not like the old days... So much more money in Asia if they can't make a Euro gig...

@Mick - it's still only ten players on a roster, be it home or away. The 11th player is usually for back up or be able to bring in against different teams (ie. if you're up against a bigger team like Sixers, would make more sense to have a bigger back up, even if a bit more raw, to help contend against them [and use up five more heavier fouls ;) ] than say have a 4th ball handler...

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Isaac  
Years ago

Wookiee, yeah, 36ers are weak in their guard rotation. Ervin, Gibson, Cadee, Frye, Creek... ;)

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Ganymede 86  
Years ago

@Wookiee - Saw Conklin play in NZ League and he can play 5 there but probs not much in Aussie League. If a NZ team can afford Rickert an Ozzie League team could maybe? Even Seth Scott?

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Anonymous  
Years ago

In recent years there have been Wilkinson, Rickert, Morrison, Scott, Dunigan, Hudson and Burgess. On top of that athletic guys like Clark and Grant can also play centre, a lot of European teams use 6'8 or 6'9 imports as centres because there's not a lot of really good Americans bigger than that who arent in the NBA, and most of them are in Asia.

I think the Crocs have a budget and decided they want to use Conklin inside at PF and Hinder to spread the floor at C. Will be interesting to see how it works.

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Ganymede 86  
Years ago

Don't get why they'd get Pace when hey have Blanchfield already

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Wookiee  
Years ago

@Isaac lol... I was thinking more of not needing a Kyle Armour level player but instead switching in an Auryn MacMillan type, not as high level as all the loaded players that you mentioned :p

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Isaac  
Years ago

Did the Crocs try for Hudson? He was cheap at the Blaze and serviceable again at the Breakers. Even Melbourne could've used him in place of Morrison rather than that unknown risk. Can only think he got offside with someone or there's a flaw in his game that coaches aren't keen on.

(e.g., for Rickert, it was the headless-chicken-on-D factor.)

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Mick  
Years ago

They went after Pace because they didn't have anyone to back up Blanchfield. I would have much rather they signed Hudson and used Henry or a rookie to back up Blanchfield though. Or just signed Hudson instead of Conklin. Not sure if wing players like Pace who can't shoot the three have much use in modern basketball anywhere, so hopefully he is very damn good at getting to the rack to compensate.

Hinder infuriates me as a crocs fan so the less said about him the better. But that's as much about the stupid roles they keep giving him as his propensity to choke it up in big games while providing terrible leadership. Either way it leaves me fuming.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

I assume the Crocs are looking at going with a starting line up of

Markovic
Pace
Blanchfield
Holmes
Conklin

A little small in the C, but not bad other than that.

Given in recent years guys like Dusty, Galen Young and Wortho have spent time at C in championship teams, having a guy like Conklin in C is probably ok, not ideal but better than Hinder or Vanderjagt playing a larger role for sure.

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paul  
Years ago

That line-up has three poor-average shooters, and little room for Conklin inside, I think theyll balance it a bit differently.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

True,

I guess i was thinking as far as playing style goes its not too dissimilar to the 2009 Dragons, sure the Dragons players were a bit more talented, but as far as style of player are

Markovic
Pace
Blanchfield
Holmes
Conklin


That much different to

Gibson
Ingles
Darden
Vukona
Worthington

Which was the starting 5 in the 2009 grandfinals.

Obviously the Dragons are far more talented, and they even had Donta Smith off the bench, so not arguing the Crocs are as good, but just that there line up looks to be built along similar lines. ie solid Aussie Pg, a couple of fairly atheltic and versatile wings, a hard nosed rebounding pf, and a undersized C.

I agree with 3 pt shooting being a weakness, hopefully Kenny/Crawford off the bench will provide that.

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paul  
Years ago

True, although Burston started that year, with Goorjian going to Worthington in the GF because he was a better match-up for Anstey.

Will be interesting to see what Crocs do. My suspicion is Markovic will have a lot of the ball working off ball-screens and finding cutters or shooters.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Yea, will be very interesting to see how the Crocs go, i think they could be fun to watch, but probably wont make the finals.

Having seen both the imports play in NZ, im also interested to see how they go, i think they will both be half decent, without really dominating. I think Conklin will be something between Gruber and Dusty average around 13 pts 8 rebounds and Pace will be of a similar level to Frye who i think will both average around 12 pts, 3 assists, 3 rebounds being solid all round players but not great perimiter shooters.

How do others reckon they will go?

Some on here seem to be a bit down on Pace, any reason for that? I see him (and Frye) as poor mans versions of a Tucker/Hodge/DT type player, if they can give even 70% of those guys they will do quite well. I wouldnt be too surprised if both turn out to be real bargains, when considering they are both on cheap contracts.

Also remember both are cheap, so not expecting Cedric Jackson level play, but will give good play for the buck they are on.

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paul  
Years ago

I think your last point is spot on, their clubs expect a certain contribution from them to complement the rest of the team.

I think you might be right about Townsville too - play hard, fun to watch, but not a playoff team.

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