Lucas Walker, Nathan Sobey and Matt Hodgson (pending fitness test) replacing Luke, BJ and Crawford.
Not unhappy to see Luke and Crawf gone, but disappointed i wont get to see BJ develop his game some more.
Article also mentions Gibbo, Peach, Teys all returning along with already announced signings of Creek and DJ.
Wilson still in the mix for an import spot, but Motum is going US or Euro so we should be able to fill both import spots.
Anyone have any ideas on who would fill the import spots to suit this line up?

BJ is still recovering from his Achilles so its not like he has been cut and replaced

Will Waxy bring his ego with him?

He is very arrogant for a 31yo role playing nbler.

He can play a little and could add some excitment in spurts to the team. But get off the hard stuff Joey, if he is playing your 5 spot, your dead in the water. No ned to over hype a role player to that extent. All comes down to the import spots now, If a DQ is recruited bottom, if they pull a stud out of a hat, could be interesting.

From @kris14ray on Twitter:

@HoopsForum Anthony signed in England with McMillan and corletto

The Hodgson risk is very low, Schenscher was being played budget minutes last few season anyways, so this guy wont get much chance to perfrom anyways. Its all about the imports, if they are mediocre will be very hard to swallow as a fan. Im really worried Joey will go down the same budget path as last season, but he isnt a great tactics based coach, more so a great manager of talent. See how it pans out in next few months.

Yea i like the 8 man rotation, assuming Sobey and Hodgson are 9 and 10th men.

I also reckon letting Schenscher go was to have more money for the 2nd import, so we can have 2 good imports this year, where last couple of years only really 1, so if we get the right imports could be a good upgrade.

My ideal imports would be something along the lines of Kevin Lisch and Donta Smith or players of there mould.

Agree with Jonno about Schenscher. The second import should be a better import than Montreal last year. Think they need someone athletic who can shoot.

Yea, its a pity we couldnt do both, i like Schenscher, but it doesnt make sense to have a back up C on $100k+ behind DJ who is gonna play bulk of the minutes, so using the $$$ on a import scoring fwd is a good move, hopefully they can be a bit of an excitement machine too help win and put bums on seats.

Don't know if will be a star but should be able to get someone decent. How about Torrey Craig???

I look at it this way, with the team we had, with Wilson and Motum both firing we were almost favourites to win it all. The Motum gets injured against Perth and we were down to one starish import and got smashed. This team will need 2 stars.

Yea i think they need similar calibre to Wilson and Motum, even if different styles of players, that level of player is needed, but DJ will also be better than he was at the end of last season, which will also help.

Serious question...

Has anyone ever seen Waxy play 1, 2 or 5?

@Kobe24...Last season's roster was NOT budget.

When did the 36ers announce Gibson, Petrie and Teys as returning ? Is this the first time they confirmed them as returning ?

Get the right imports (calibre has to be at least that of Wilson/Motum) and this team will be fast and athletic....just how Joey likes them!

C Johnson/Hodgson
F Import/Petrie
F Creek/Walker
G Import/Teys
G Gibson/Sobey

It's odd having Walker or Creek on the bench.

@Marcus Camby I didnt the roster was budget, but breaking it down it started out more than budget. But they were able to turn DQ and BJ basically into Motum and DJ by the end of it.

198cm sounds a bit specific....wouldn't be surprised if Joey already has someone in mind and is in preliminary talks.

Walker is a good signing, solid bench player, good defender and rebounding and well suited to Wright's style of game. Of course, where on the spectrum between 2014 Walker and 2015 Walker this version sits will determine how good a signing it is.

I'll pay that anon - I remember people being generally impressed with Walker playing for Australia.

Walker has all the tools he just needs the right environment imo...hopefully that's in Adelaide and he has a career year.

Had a big game in the SEABL this round I think? 26 and 13 or something?

No South Aussies in the team, can I get my money back?

I found it difficult to identify with the team last year, it's going to be even harder this season

Bake,
It might be a bit tough, but it's professional sport. Just think of them as adopted South Aussies.

Better still, grab a couple of pie floaters and some frog cakes and take them into the Sixers with a slab of Coopers to make them feel they wish they weren't born interstate.

It's not an inspiring signing but I wouldn't mind having Walker as a 6-8th man. My main issue is we haven't had a great import since Willy Farley. I don't want more budget bums from SEABL or Belarus.

No South Aussies in the team, can I get my money back?

I just don't understand this mentality, and it seems to be a very South Australian thing. Who cares where the players come from? When they're with the Sixers, they represent the Sixers and the state.
Just because they weren't born here shouldn't mean you can't relate to the team.

A - Great
B - Decent
C - Average
D - Pretty Terrible
F - Complete Failure
----

Charles Thomas - B-
Dusty Rychart - B+
Nick Horvath - C
Adam Ballinger - A-
Mike Chappell - D
Julius Hodge - A
Mark Tyndale - F
Rod Grizzard - D
John Gilchrist - B
Cortez Groves - C
Craig Winder - D
Troy DeVries - D
Eddie Shannon - D
Ron Howard - F
Chris Warren - B-
John Williamson (never played) - F (lol)
Diamon Simpson - B-
CJ Massingale - D
Scott Christopherson - F
Gary Ervin - A-
Jarrid Frye - D
Jamar Wilson - B-
Daequon Montreal - D

Been a Sixers fan since I was 10. Have never understood why poeple get caught up in us having no South Aussies on the team?

The only thing that bothers me is when good local talent such as Jingels and Madgen etc end up somewhere else and light us up.

Okay, maybe there have been some solid imports, but we have just not had the crowd pulling type. I loved Farley as a kid. He had the right mix of skill and swagger.

Yea I loved Farley too, the ones i think who have got close since are Hodge and Ervin, so not many of that level in the last decade unfortunately.

Hopefully they get a couple of awesome imports this year.

Horvath wasn't well-rounded, but averaged 19.4 and 8. First three games as a Sixers were 20 and 10 games. Rebounded in double figures his first six straight games.

Farley averaged 19.7 PPG that year.

Gilchrist averaged 16.9 PPG.


BTW, you might not care about the origin of players, but there is such a thing as feeling connected to your team. I remember the season Timmons played in Adelaide when Smyth was the coach, it barely felt like the 36ers at all. 2006/07.

I miss the early Farley days...

GWB "He had the right mix of skill and swagger." You are forgetting about his last season where he was lazy and shot it way too much.

Walker not 7.5 and 5 at 50% Try 5.1 and 3.9 at 38%.
Nice story tho! And use him like Sam MacKinnon.
Matt Hodgson could be the best shot blocker since Simon Dwight. He couldn't get off bench at St Mary's. ( Ben Allen way better player and had much better College career ) Joey certainly talking these guys up - not sure why. Will need a great starting group because his bench will stink.

Boti quoted his 2012-13 stats and said last season.
Interesting that his fg% has been very similar throughout his entire career in the high 40s, up to just hitting 50 (low of 47.9, high of 50.3), then he suddenly dropped all the way to 38% last year. How does someone regress that severely in their 5th season? That's a very alarming drop.

Sign of the times not having SA people i the team.
Potential to have a 9th/10th player from SA though i would have thought.

There might not be any South Aussies but at least we have a core group of guys in Gibbo, Peach, Creek, DJ that have been at the club for a while. It helps to form a connection with the team when it is the same team not just the same uniform, regardless of who is in it.

ADELAIDE 36RS without ANY SA players? After 20 years as a proud 36ers supporter unfortunately I will no longer b there supporting my team as it is no longer our team in any way. Shame

The problem is with local talent, is who out of guys playing NBL (ie not Ingles and Newley) are 'must have' SA players?

Sure they could keep Schenscher but would likely have to let Petrie go. I love Schenscher but he is fairly expensive i believe and you cant spend too much on a back up C when you have DJ.


Sure they could sign Hill, Holmes and Forman, but would have to let Walker, Teys and Creek go.

They could sign Daly and/or Maynard instead of Sobey,

Would any of these moves to increase SA talent be a good idea when building a winning team. I think in most cases the guys we have signed are better than the SA guys.

I dare say Joey is just trying to build a winning team regardless of where they are from.

Would a team of

DJ/Schenscher
Forman/Holmes
Import/Hill
Gibson/Maynard
Import/Daly

be better than what we have, in some spots you could probably argue yes, but there is no real stand out 'must have'. ie is Holmes or Hill a upgrade on someone like Walker who we have bought in?? assuming Forman is being paid more than these guys so couldnt be a straight swap.

also bear in mind if we didnt have guys like Petrie, Teys, on the team and Joey coaching Gibson and DJ may also look elsewhere.

The obvious simple one, would be to give Sobeys spot to Daly or Maynard, but what if Sobey turns out to be a far better player, would people still be happy with this??

Why are South Australians so narrow-minded?? I just don't get it. Where players are born should have no influence on whether you follow your team or not. They are still representing the state on a national platform. You do realise they live here while playing, right?
It just makes zero logical sense.
All SA teams have players from other states in them - Crows, Power, United, T-Birds, Bite - honestly it just doesn't matter where the players are from.
I'd love for someone to actually explain where this misguided philosophy comes from.

No problem with non SA guys. Great to have local players obviously more SA players mean much easier for fans to connect. My issue is the signing of a guy like Sobey for three years over a Daly who is playing great basketball in SEABL.( Sobey solid but not great at this level) Teys has had some good NBL games earlier but form diminished - not even in top bracket of Aussie SEABL guys. Walker has some runs on board even tho last season was poor.
Throw in Hodgson (ave resume)and you start to wonder. Joe continues to bring development players from interstate where his mates/connections are. There is a pattern. I hope his judgment is correct.

I thinks it just a hangover from the "kick a vic" attitude.
Id bet the posters here saying they were long term members who are not renewing are just trolls or even interstaters just stirin the pot. but the attitude is definitely still there.
That all being said this site does seem to highlight south aussies alot more than people from other states being a SA based forum (no other team besides sixers has its own topic choice when u start a thread) but the site is now drawing more national traffic.

There's like 4 players in the NBL who are from SA. Holmes (we've had him, years ago, he's pretty much retired now), Forman (we've had him, years ago, good player, would sign if we could), Hill (we've had him, years ago, had potential, hasn't reached anywhere near it) and Schenscher (had him last year, was surplus to our needs last year and cost too much).
Daly has been with the team for 5 seasons on and off as a development player, then part of the 10. He's very rarely shown that he has what it takes to make it in the NBL. We've given him plenty of chances, he hasn't taken them.
Madgen left for Europe. Newley left for Europe. Ingles left for Europe.
So that's 8 South Aussies, only 1 of which is available and I'd be happy to have at the Sixers. So we're 0/1 of actual viable options. If SA can only produce 1 player worth having, then who cares if the Sixers don't have them? The 4 SA players in the NBL all have played for the Sixers at some point. All for extended periods of time. We missed out on Newley and Ingles and Madgen, that was a shame, but they aren't in the NBL anymore anyway.
I'm assuming we'll have at least 2 South Aussies as development players. If we get Sam Johns back, that fulfills the SA requirement for me, because I see a future in the NBL for him, but he's not main 10 level yet.
You don't gift spots to players, there's only 10 players on a team. We did that with Molitor, when they had the 'must have someone under 21' rule a few years back. He did exactly nothing for the whole season. So we had a 9 player roster, which meant any injuries meant we had an 8 man rotation.
I don't know enough about Sobey to say if he's an upgrade on Daly, but you'd have to hope he is, which justifies that change. Schenscher isn't an upgrade on Johnson, Walker or Petrie. Forman wasn't available. Holmes is too old and also isn't an upgrade on Johnson, Walker or Petrie.
We picked up Creek as a junior out of AIS. He started his NBL career here and has played with us since he was 18. Sure, he wasn't born in SA, but he's for all intents and purposes a 36er born and bred player. To me, he counts.

An Adelaide-centric recruitment drive isn't going to yield championships. Our best players aren't in this league, and the ones which are have been more than ably supplanted by other talents. It would be nice to have a South Australian development player or two, but I doubt 99 percent of basketball fans think twice about what state the players are from; they care about an exciting, winning team and over the past 2 seasons we have had that (or near enough)

Exactly Im quite happy for Joey to build the best team he can each year, he has got us to playoffs both years so far, so i reckon we should trust his judgement and get behind what is looking to be a good and exciting team for next year.