Mick
Years ago

After-Blitz Thread: the season ahead

So now we have had a look at all the teams in action...what are everyone's thoughts on the 13/14 nbl season?

Have your ladder predictions or award winner punts changed?

What's everyone think of the new officiating mandates?

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Nino  
Years ago

Will be a very tight comp with a huge upgrade in imports. 6ers will be right around the mark and go very deep, with a few guys that can take over any given night. Decent coach has helped too.

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Annon  
Years ago

Who won the blitz?

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Mick  
Years ago

Perth

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Pre season is meaningless. As it has always been.

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Mick  
Years ago

No its not. The w/l results are meaningless but it gives you a chance to get a feel for the direction a team is heading in, especially after a coaching change or roster overhaul like several teams have had this offseason...

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Mick  
Years ago

It also gave us a chance to see the first steps towards redefining the official's points of emphasis to open up the offensive end of the floor...

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Pre-season is actually pretty meaningful for the teams. Most teams in the NBL go through pretty big roster turnovers and it's a chance to go up against the competition together for the first time.

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Ganymede 86  
Years ago

Think the competition will be very even this year and I was impressed by the standard of imports. In particular Ennis, Johnson, Dennis & Clarke. Pace also did a lot better than I thought

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Well Mick, Adelaide clearly has a long season ahead of them obviously.

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KET  
Years ago

Adelaide did well in the pre-season blitz. The only teams ahead of us are the ones we beat!

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MACDUB  
Years ago

I can't wait to see Clarke light it up.

He is a volume shooter, but there will be nights when he will be on fire.

He is actually very good at handling the rock too. He isn't like one of those combo guards who uses that label to hide the fact they are 6ft nothing and can't handle the ball.

He is a ball-handler with excellent shooting abilities.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Mick what did you think of the Crocs? and there new players? Do you think if Josh Pace can keep up his form or close to it in the season propper?

I must say i enjoyed watching the Crocs games, i think both there imports are legit, Pace is one of my new favourite players, and i think the Crocs will be fun to watch even if they do lose more than they win.

How are you feeling about your team?

its good to see a few athletic, versatile players im really going to enjoy watching guys like Ennis, Pace, Dennis, Frye, great to see more of these types of imports come to the league we havnt had as many versatile, athletic swing men the last few years.

I was happy with the 36ers, Frye looks the goods, and seems to have a good attitude, reminds me of a DT type player, who was awesome, so am super glad we have Frye and think he can continue the form in the season propper,

Overall my ladder predictions havnt changed, even though NZ didnt win a game i think they will still be top 4 in the end, my top 4 is still (in no order) Adelaide, Perth, NZ, Melbourne.

What did people think of Gliddons form?, is he the best Aussie sg/sf in the league already? if he can keep that form up he will be right there imo, super impressed, another do it all swingman, good athlete, shoot the 3, handle the ball, run the point, really love his game, Cairns snared a beauty with him last season, if they can keep him long term they will do well.

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Beantown  
Years ago

Yeah Gliddon continues to impress. With Madgen out, I think Gliddon is going to be one of the better Aussie SG's along with Goulding.

Cairns will be pretty good I think, with Gliddon, Tragardh, Loughton, Weigh and Wilson as their core. Young looked pretty good against the Sixers too.

I'd be interested to know what Mick thinks about the Crocs too. I thought they looked a lot better than I was expecting. Will need their imports to deliver the goods in season, but with Blanchfield, Crawford, Holmes, Markovic, Vanderjagt and Hinder they have solid, experienced players at every position and some nice young players in Djeric and Kenney as well.

Perth should be very good again and with an import like Ennis, I doubt they'll miss Lisch. They still need Knight to stay healthy to win it all, but they are locks for the playoffs IMO.

Breakers struggled to put it together, but they have themselves a nice playmaker in Johnson to set things up. They will need Pledger, Abercrombie and Webster to all take on more responsibility though if they want to challenge for a fourth straight title.

As for my Sixers, they have a lot of weapons that can attack the basket and get to the line, which should be pretty effective with officials calling a tighter game. I think they should improve a lot, but not yet convinced they will challenge for the title for a few reasons:
- defence was still pretty atrocious;
- drawing lots of fouls isn't as effective if you keep missing free throws;
- they still don't have enough reliable three point shooters to spread the floor effectively.

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mystro  
Years ago

If anything, the Pre-Season Blitz has shown us what an exciting group of Imports we have this season.

Can't wait for the regular season to begin but also hope that the injured players are back in good shape asap and contributing as much as they were to their respective teams pre-injury (R.Martin, Magden, Knight, Harvey, Goulding etc).

This season should be pretty good.

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Proud  
Years ago

Nate Tomlinson seems like a different player and with Goulding going down it could mean far more court time for him.

I'm super excited by the prospects of this season but every time I write a list of who I want in my dream team I get frustrated at it not being available... Be great when its up.

Wollongong losing the first games so convincingly surprised me and the fans they won their bench hardly saw court time... I had them finishing 4th but if they are that shallow and struggle to rebound then they won't make it and maybe Adelaide will join Perth, Melbourne and Cairns.

Good to see less players fouling out as the tournament went on and hopefully players are adapting!

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Ganymede 86  
Years ago

It appears that Tomlinson has improved and with Goulding out he will see a lot of minutes. Brad Hill with 42 vs Cairns wow!

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Mystro  
Years ago

"Brad Hill with 42 vs Cairns wow!"

I thought that but then read a comment about Cairns basically playing matador defense when he barreled into the paint so not to all foul out under the new contact interpretations.
Probably more than a little truth behind it IMO.

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paul  
Years ago

Pre-season is very meaningful for the teams, but it isnt all that meaningful for predicting how teams will go once the real stuff starts.

It always goes up a step or two and some guys who excel in practice games cant make that step. Brad Hill has been a pre-season star but regular season role player for a little while now, will be interesting to see if he has finally put it together.

While it seems like he has been around forever he is only 26 and will head into his prime period in the next year or two.

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Mr Johnny Eade  
Years ago

Hawks new import Durrell Summers can dunk.

They twittered these links last night

http://goo.gl/YXs5qo

http://goo.gl/0QgZ7K

For Hawks sake hope he can play. Rhys Martin will be a nice addition if and when he is ready to go.

Stephen Dennis looks great. Also impressed with Demeteri McCarney from Cairns.

The new rules look to favour ball handling bigs who lead with the shoulder like Shawn Redhage. Brad Hill could also be in for a breakout season.

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Mystro  
Years ago

Well said Paul, Ben "how's my hair" Allen even performed well in last seasons pre-season from memory.

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Mick  
Years ago

Townsville definitely impressed me. I had them pencilled in around the bottom but if Dennis can get them playing the right way on both ends all year then they will definitely be ahead of sydney and Melbourne, possibly wollongong too.

It was great to see two guys in Conklin and Pace that can score in the paint and arent afraid of dirty work. Pace reminds me of a poor man's rob rose a bit. I think we should be starting Vandy full time as well. Hinder is better suited to providing leadership off the bench. The other key for the crocs will be keeping iacob Holmes shot attempts to less than 5. Mirko is looking great early on as well. He's like Mitch Norton with a jump shot. We have plenty of guys who can legit handle the ball as well which is handy if we want to push the pace. But as it is with preseason, its hard to tell who of the new guys is going to keep producing at that level.

The officiating is another story. I loved the way it opened up the games but I hated all the incorrect calls that went along with it. When I talk to casual fans one of the biggest turn offs for a lot of them is ticky tack fouls. They need to make sure they are calling the hand checking fouls for sure, but leave the rest of the game alone.

That extra bit of space from being freed up on the perimeter but a few extra inches is all it takes to get the game going in a more attacking direction. It's going to be frustrating if any contact around the ring from a slashing play is now an automatic defensive foul, as was the case in a couple of games.

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paul  
Years ago

Agree Mick, all you need is that space for ballhandlers and cutters and the game just opens up and everything moves at a far greater pace.

What you dont want is big men called for fouls every time they defend the paint!

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Kelvin Talford could dunk too. Spectacular basketball is great but they need to avtually play the game at both ends rather than just dunk.

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sam  
Years ago

Looking at the Hawks and Tigers game compared to the Perth and Hawks games there was a big shift in the officiating points of emphasis. Geordie seemed pretty agitated at the end of the game with the officiating crew yesterday, and took them to task a number of times during the game because of the inconsistancy between the two interpretations.

From where I sat I thought the Tigers were able to get away with a very aggressive trap - which either the Perth side has completely moved away from as a strategy or it was called for a foul.

Another perplexing thing was both sides attacking the rim and the defense being given a lot of latitude. There were a number of occasions which went unwhistled much to the chagrin of fans.

On a lighter side, my moment of the match was Ballinger blowing up deluxe at Nate Tomilson while running up the court after he missed a defensive assignment.

From a prediction point of view the Tigers will lead the league in Technical Fouls this year if their approach/attitude doesn't improve.

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Isaac  
Years ago

One thing I liked about the Blitz was the absence of finals games so every quarter suddenly counted for something. Teams got to try their scrubs (mostly because of foul trouble to starters), but still looked to be working to win.

Fouls are going to be up in the short term, but that's the price you pay for forcing teams to adjust. And the stats were also up which was a bit of a dream result, IMO. Lots of high scoring games. Ennis could've broken 40 if it wasn't a blow-out, Hill did, Hawks had three starters yesterday with 20 or more.

Most imports had a reasonable tournament at least. A few guys may end up being role players (Lazare we knew, Beal, Morrison, etc) but others look to be in the MVP tier at this stage - Ennis, Clarke, Dennis, Johnson, etc). Pace could be in that group, Conklin in the middle maybe. One of the Kings imports perhaps? I think both Adelaide imports will be more even than outright stars, and I can see DJ leading the 36ers scoring making it harder to others to put up consistent 20+ point games.

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Isaac  
Years ago

The Blitz ladder:

Perth 15.5
Cairns 14.5
Adelaide 12.5
Townsville 12
Sydney 11.5
Melbourne 11.5
Wollongong 4
New Zealand 2.5

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Bear  
Years ago

Will be interesting to see how the rules are interpreted/enforced in the season proper for sure.

Should be quite simple really, especially defending in the paint.

If you are set and have the position on D and keep your focus on the ball, not reaching across and you get the ball more than the man (slight contact is okay), then it is no foul.

If you have not got position and come across from the side or from behind and make contact (say you put the other player on the ground or take him off balance), then it should be a clear foul.

Not that hard really....

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spiegel  
Years ago

Rotnie Clarck has that step back jumper for 3 that Lisch had. He plays a lot in the same mould as Lisch.He is probably not the playmaker Lisch was and he cant get to the basket like Lisch could, but he has the same type of game.


Ennis is a monster who can beat teams shooting, getting to the line with his size mismatches and speed. He can beat teams not just in one way. On defence he is a very good shot blocker and rebounds well.He has issues when he puts the ball on the floor, but he will get better.

Right now the Breakers whom never play seriouse in the pre-season, Perth, Adelaide and Cairns are the legit challengers.

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Ganymede 86  
Years ago

Liked the look of Clarke as well. He's first year out of college too. Johnson was very good.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Calvin Talford was a star, averaged 22 & 6 shot 53% from the field and 34% on 3's.

The fact he was probably the most athletic player in NBL history too shouldn't be held against him.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

And all his opponents scored more.

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Nathan of Perth  
Years ago

Waiting for the bookies to put revised odds up - seems everyone has taken them down, I guess to assess the results of the Blitz.

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Isaac  
Years ago

Thought Ennis was a bit like a big puppy. Loads of raw talent and size, but got ahead of himself often when handling the ball on the break, or jacked a few threes that seemed early in the clock. Pros outweighs the cons, however.

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Nathan of Perth  
Years ago

I think that's part of what he's here to sort out. If his improvement over the course of the three games is anything to go by, will be maturing quickly.

... I hope :X

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Isaac  
Years ago

Centrebet unmoved by Crocs' Blitz efforts. Still has them at $21 for the championship.

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Nathan of Perth  
Years ago

Same with Sportsbet - fascinatingly, has put a small piece of daylight between the Wildcats at 3.0, the Breakers at 5.0 and the Hawks/Tigers/36ers at 7/7/7.5

How much of that is what the bookies think will happen and how much of that is delusional fellow Perth fans putting oodles of dough on us I don't quite know.

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Isaac  
Years ago

Hawks at $7 is not going to get any money, surely?

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Mick  
Years ago

Crocs just posted on fbook that they werr first in rebounding and second in opposition points allowed, both massive improvements over last years reg season where from memory they were last in both categories.

No value in crocs for title EVEN AT 21 because they wont win it but if you could put an exotic on somewhere for crocs to make the 4 there would be a tonne of value IMO.

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The Situation  
Years ago

Sydney are pretty much second favourites for the title (according to the readers poll on the SMH website...)

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