I think your Sydney comments are very generous. They had an outstanding game against Cairns including an unbelievable 3p%, but I'd say they're far from polished. I don't think Cadee has improved, he's just his usual self which is play well when the team is already in a winning position.

Melbourne were very impressive and deserve to be favourites. Look very balanced, I think it helps them not having Barlow available.

Worthington is a good fit in Cairns but it's obvious they've lost a lot with Wilbekin and Sobey gone. Starks needs to find his feet very quickly. Loughton still trying to force too much.

Don't agree with your assessment of Cadee.

He orchestrated the big run last night and was very smooth offensively against Starks and Gliddon (and Bruce momentarily) who aren't slouches on D.

I think he will have a break out year this year.

Cadee now looks like he believes he should be out there....a break out year has been building.

Both Cairns imports need to step up very quickly or they're headed for 5th or 6th place this year. I don't see where the spark is going to come from at the moment. Starks has been woeful, he doesn't seem to be fitting in at all, and TC seems to be set to continue his frustrating on-again-off-again streak from last season.

I agree with much of the OP.

However, it's still early days. I note that Illawarra has fallen back to $10 with Sportsbet after coming in from $9 to $7 last week. But having watched both of their games in full- both road games- I think they did exceptionally well considering they were missing their starting back court. They could have easily won both- especially Cairns.

And they do still have Penney and Ogilvy. Two great players. That's an indication of how tough it will be to get a top 4 spot.

The big change I noticed from Cadee is that he played with patience on offense Saturday night. So far in his career he really rushes it when he's inside the arc and takes a lot of awkward floaters going away from the basket, but he kept his dribble alive last week, and took his time finding a good look. I imagine that is probably closer to how he plays in NZ when he puts up big scoring numbers. I liked the fact that Garlepp looked more active on defense and the boards than usual. His touches are going ot be way down this year, so it looks like he's making an effort to stay involved by focusing on other areas of his game.

Melbourne look like a handful. I think they have lapses where they stop running plays and rely a bit too much on one guy to hit a big shot, but hey, Goulding/Kickert/Blanchfield/Holt... they all seemed capable of it. And then there's Warrick... Majok Majok has been a nice surprise and is solid on the boards, but Warrick is a dunk or a foul every time he gets the ball near the basket, so I think I would be playing him ~30 mins a game.

The Hawks also caused some problems for them with the press, which was how they kept it a game whenever United would peel off a run. Hawks have shown a lot of fight, but some head-shaking play by a couple of guys and bad misses and turnovers down the stretch in both losses.

Cairns look a bit shaky so far which I expected post-Wilbekin. Starks hasn't put up numbers, but I think he looks OK. Handle is a bit shaky when pressured and his shot hasn't dropped, but he hasn't hurt them too bad by himself. I don't think the frontcourt is 'dynamic' enough for them this year, without a great import. Loughton/Burston seem to have too many nights like last Saturday where they don't really make an impact on any area of the game.

The Crocs are going to be fighting an uphill battle every game this season. The talent just isn't there. I thought Jett looked pretty good against NZ as a positive.

NZ looked better against the Crocs, but then I think everyone will look better against the Crocs this year.

Perth are Perth. They will win games with their defense and their rebounding, but Beal is going to need to have some big nights to keep them in games where the other team are knocking down their shots.

Adelaide need McNeil to heal/perform and Ebi to knock down his 3s. The rest of their roster just isn't of the same calibre as the top teams in the league.

I was impressed with majok majok. He puts a body on his opponent when defending, and he attacks the boards hard.

What worried me was that even though I couldn't find many faults in majok’s defense, Ogilvy was still hugely influential. It’s more that Ogilvy is a superstar at NBL level than a negative reflection on majok- who worked hard and mostly did the right things.

At a point during yesterdays game, I thought to myself that if Melbourne had majok last season, instead of say Lucas Walker or David Barlow then they probably would’ve won the championship. There was a massive weakness in the team and majok is exactly the type of player they were missing. For all the talk of team cohesion, egos, personality clashes etc last season the fact is no one talks about that stuff when teams are winning. And for stretches last season United did play impressively. But ultimately from a basketball perspective they just needed a low post target on offense, and more importantly at the other end- a big body to protect the ring and more rebounding. Patton was impressive in his opportunities but majok is a bit more physical in his approach and seems to be a better defender.

But- the problem is this season’s NBL is much better. You’re playing either Jawai/Knight/Jervis, Khazzough and Childress, or Ogilvy almost every second game. I can’t remember a time when the NBL had 3 legit 5 guys at the level of those guys in Jawai, Khazzough and Ogilvy. (Daniel Johnson is in the league too but he’s more of a mobile, inside outside 5 who relies less on inside play than the other three.) . So United still has their work cut out for them in this regard.

I think it's more the Hawks are using Ogilvy well. Beveridge knows he's not a guy who will dominate with isolations in the low post, so instead they're moving the ball and hitting him on high-low seals, cutting to the hoop or opening up o-board opportunities.

Majok is a strong rebounder but he is very undersized for centre in the NBL. Matt Knight has pulled off playing C at that height but he's a high-quality player.

The interior will be a weakness in some ways for Melbourne, but Kickert, Warrick and Majok also have skills that will make it a strength as well. It will be an intriguing battle each time against the likes of Ogilvy, Jawai/Knight, Pledger/Jackson, Khazzouh, Burston/Tragardh, Johnson/Hodgson etc.

Yeah I do agree Paul that they are using him well.

He will get so many O board opportunities this season (he had 7 yesterday and Davidson had 3) with the number of 3's they will put up.

It will be interesting too seeing if Majok keeps his spot in the starting 5.

I like it- I hope Majok keeps his spot. It creates a nice balance having a scorer like Warrick coming off the bench.

I like it too, it also takes the pressure off either Warrick or Kickert having to guard a bigger player and potentially picking up early fouls if teams have a plan to attack inside early.

Can't wait for Melbourne v Adelaide this Friday, is going to be a track meet!

The surprise for me was how many teams played very poorly in Round 1. I know that most were missing key players but there were some very ordinary performances from all but a couple of teams. As such it's hard to judge whether teams like Sydney & Melbourne are as good as their preformances suggest or were just lucky to face some fairly dismal opposition on the day.

My thoughts were not really changed that much after week 1, i still think the same as I did before week 1, but I am looking forward to this season more than most in the past for a number of reasons.

Obviously the TV coverage is the biggest reason, but the influx of talent is also something I have observed to be better than previous years, not so much one or two explosive players but overall the talent pool is of a higher quality.

There is still those usual things that have to sort themselves out, but overall I am pleased as much as I expected to be...

LV, As good as Majok was in the first round, I think UTD's turnaround from last season has more to do with the introduction of Goulding and Blanchfield.

Wilson- Blanchfield and Goulding might well have been 1 and 2 in POTW (Are they awarding POTW anymore?). I'm stoked that they’re both on the team.

But I was more making a comparison in terms of relative strengths and weaknesses and team balance. United had Barlow- who despite disappointing some by not being the same as pre Europe Barlow, still played a role last year. He was solid defensively and was dependable in making open 3’s- shooting 47% from range. McRae - who despite sometimes making poor decisions, sometimes having poor shot selection and appearing emotionally fragile, was still one of the best flat out scorers in the comp last year. And Walker- whose season was his poorest since his rookie year (perhaps due to various ailments and niggles he appeared to me to be carrying) but still played a valuable role coming off the bench.

Whereas Majok gives them a legit 5 man. An undersized 5 man to be sure, but still a legit 5 man in terms of the way he plays. Patton could score a bit but still only averaged 2.3 rebounds in his 11 minutes a game last season. Majok appears to be a much better rebounder than anyone United had last season based on the Blitz (21 boards vs Sydney), yesterday and his stats from Slovenia last year where he was the 4th leading rebounder in the Slovenian National competition with 7.4 rebounds a game, despite playing only 22.8 minutes a game. That’s 13 rebounds per 40 minutes.

We’re talking about a team that was consistently out rebounded last season and had a completely unbalanced roster with only one guy with any power who could score inside (a development player in his first pro gig!). In that context, someone like Majok might turn out to be a more valuable addition to the team overall than upgrading from a strong wing combination (McRae and Barlow) with an awesome wing combination (Goulding and Blanchfield).

Maybe you should try watching a sport that's more your speed, then. Snakes and ladders, perhaps.

cleary anon you didn't watch the Illawarra and Melbourne game that was a very high quality game considering it was only the first week of the season.No tight games the Perth vs Adelaide went down to the last quarter as did the Cairns vs Illawarra

I'm the same as Bear, nothing's changed too much in terms of big picture, but it was a fascinating opening round.

NZ - Horrible against Adelaide but showed some really nice team ball in patches against Townsville with Abercrombie and Pledger back, and they need Vukona back for this week's double. Bartlett has played the best ball of his life the past two seasons for the Tall Blacks, and he'll need to be big v Penney and Beal this round.

Cairns - The opposite of NZ, showed some excellent patches against the Hawks but were terribly reactive against Sydney and made to pay the price. Gliddon and Worthington both looked very good against the Hawks, but no one really shone on Saturday. Should and must beat the Crocs at home this week.

Perth - Were clinical in a huge win in Adelaide. Had so many different pieces contribute throughout that game, and their defence stood tall without Martin. Loved the way they fed off Jawai's passing, but I'm not sure NZ will be as generous with their double teams this week, so could be a different offensive test.

Adelaide - Huge win over NZ which showed off their athleticism and versatility, but the opposition was very poor. They continued that early v Perth but when confronted with a physical half court grind later in the game had no answers. Some lessons to be learned but a number of positive signs from both games too, Sobey and Hodgson look like valuable bench pieces.

Sydney - Big statement early on without Childress with their key Australian pieces firing. Hard to know what to take from it though, because Khazzouh and Cadee won't perform at that level every night, and not every team will double the low post to allow their offece to zip the ball for open shots. Game v Hawks should tell us a bit more.

Melbourne - Showed off their versatility and unselfishness in two games against line-ups they should have beat and did. A whole heap of star power behind Blanchfield, Goulding, Warrick and Holt, they'll be tough to guard in a quick game or in the half court, but questions still remain about their interior D. Should be a cracker v Adelaide this Friday.

Townsville - With their talent level really needed to start quick but look like they are very much still putting the pieces together, Jett personifying that with his up and down play. Pretty much all their guys showed a bit at seem stage across the two losses, but which combos work well together and which guys can be consistent? Conklin doesn't look to be in the same elite condition as last year, which hurts, while Steinl hasn't been connecting, which really hurts.

Illawarra - A really plucky start from a team which looks versatilite, fast, aggressive and talented, and they look to be using their pieces well. Rhys Martin's arguably the most important piece and they need him back fast, with Lisch not far behind. Penney used to be the king of NZ hoops but is into his declining years, still, if there's one game where he'll wind back the clock it's the Breakers this week.

Brisbane - a bit thin on their roster I thought.

And some media issues with their assistant coach...

Lol.. so sad its funny.

He'll do fine, but he is the shortest starting centre in the NBL this year. That qualifies him as undersized, just like Knight! If he can be 2/3 the player Knight has been he'll have a very good career, minus the injuries hopefully.

Yep.

He won't play enough minutes to win rebounding title. But if he can average 13 per 40 mins like he did in Slovenia, play reasonable D and provide an inside target getting the odd bucket around the hoop then I'll be happy with that and I expect the coaching staff will be too.