^^ love it :::)))))

United by 20, hard to just get back from Perth and play well. Creek rolled his ankle as well, not certain he'll play..

Vickerman needs to calm down with the constant subbing & actually let his players try get some rhythm.

Liking the whole commentary team, certainly this jack bloke calling the action.

Agree with above post, not only vickerman, to many coaches subbing like they think it's a 48 minute game.

United need a distributor next year,

(i)/Ili/short
Goulding/Mccarron
Hopson/Baba or McDaniel
White/Peatling
Local/acuil


Landale nba
Barlow retire

Vickerman has played 11 players in the first half...

Good game, Mitchell has done very well with this squad.

I'd back Humphries ahead of Landale from this season form.

Who will be first to beat United this year? Surely they can't go undefeated?

Everything is stacked in their favour, even more than usual this year. They have less travel than anyone else (not just with 2 Melbourne teams, but when you consider Breakers "home" games are in Melbourne, so are essentially more home games for Melbourne teams).

Hopson should have stayed with the Breakers. Much better fit for him than this United team.

Hawks can easily beat Melbourne.

Phoenix without Pineau, Gibson and Creek on one leg did good. White looking a great pick up for United, hopefully Adelaide and hawks can match up on United in the close future. Season been great so far.
Great job from the whole commentary team today compared to the commentary from yesterday's game that was total rubbish.

Yes it's nice to have commentary that’s not yelling at you all game and good analysis from Gaze and Santamaria not to bad. I’d still go with one analyst in hub and one onsite. You don’t need that many, it’s the nba way and they throw to a panel at games end and half. Save the money LK and put it into the teams.

Doesn't matter who Phoenix were missing, they’re not going very far relying on Te Stinky for 25-30 minutes a game.

Te Rangi was ok, there is more to basketball than just scoring points.

So what exactly is Te Rangi giving Phoenix for 3/4 of a game?

You want to judge him on one game, he defended and hustled well today, things you don't get on the stats sheet. Check his game in Perth where his stats match his hustle.

Hopson is terribly out of form. He looked shell shocked after game, but he's quality so expect it to turn around at some stage. Then United look real scary.
As for commentary, Gazes story about the tiger shitting on his shoe and him taking it as good luck and not cleaning it off is probably best laugh I've had in ages.

Surely Hopson is not going to miss every shot all season. A few too many long 2s though
I thought his body language was ok, especially considering how badly he was shooting

'20 Perth & Sydney > ‘21 United. Change my mind.

"They do it every year"

LOL, I love how people make crap up. Every year? Baseless BS, back it up.

They signed Prather after their own import Rashone Moore was poached by Adelaide, and after Perth low-balled him.

They signed Melo Trimble after Sydney poached Casper Ware

They signed Hopson after NZB poached Lamar Patterson from Brisbane, effectively leaving Hopson unemployed. If Melbourne didn't sign him, Hopson is not even in the NBL. He is discarded for something more shiny.

But yeah.. The "heartless and soulless oirganization" are undefeated playing with essentially 0 imports right now, just home grown Australian talent. Which other teams can claim the same? I'll wait.

Sorry Zodiac, not many overly convincing counterpoints there. I think you brought a water pistol.

^ just goes to show, the contract United offered must have been *significantly* more than what the Breakers could afford.

This league is not an even playing field.

#410 no league is

Zalgiris out clause was for the nba, he also only had a one year contract. United spend more than everyone though Perth were close last season, it's how sports work, the haves and have nots.

Prather was injured pretty much all season so would not have been a good fit anywhere...
The major problems last season seemed to be on the defensive end more so than the offensive end.

Melb have grabbed Hopson because its better to pay him to sit than play for another team

"It's how sports work, the haves an have nots"

Not really. The NBL just wants Melbourne to win.

"The NBL just want Melbourne to win".
Did you watch the 3rd game of the semi against Sydney last year? Seemed they don't always want Melbourne to win.
In fact it’s like every team gets favourable treatment sometimes and unfavourable some other times...
Just like any sport league in the world, due to human error and/or subjectivity.

I'm not talking about the refs. United winning is good for business. Melbourne is the biggest market, and United is part owned by the league. It’s all about money, unfortunately.

They were LV, kings roster was put together on the cheap except for Ware and Bogut.

Newley took a massive pay cut, Cooks came in mid season to play under Weaver and it was this season where he got the pay rise, Moller also wanted home to play for Weaver, Kickett,lol, Brisbane didn't want him, Sydney was always his last stop for less money. Didi paid for by the league so doesn’t cost kings.
Trimble and Long were budget imports, lmao.

Bogut contract (marquee) had the ownership deal so he was on less money. Casper was on 2yr 700k
Tate was less than 100k
Cooks took Kuany deal over so that wasn't much (This season was the money but covid cuts)
Lisch (Marquee) contract

United shouldn't have lied to Casper’s face about the contracts. DJ Kennedy shouldn’t have been paid more

"United do not poach Hopson. Breakers gave up on him and signed Lamar Patterson"

Breakers couldn't afford him. If the Breakers had United’s budget, then Hopson would still be playing for them. United can always offer more money than other clubs, so they can get the best players. I think people wouldn’t dislike them as much if they did their own scouting and bring talented players into the league, rather than throwing money at other teams successful imports.

LMAO. Where did NZ get Patterson from? Where did Sydney get Ware from? Or Randle from? Or Lisch from? Where did Brisbane get Trice from? Or Torrey Craig? Did Adelaide scout and sign Moore themselves?

Yeah, Melbourne. EEEEEVIL.

"Breakers couldn't afford him."

Whether they could afford Hopson or not, they had signed a replacement (who I doubt is much cheaper, if at all), meaning Melbourne didn't poach him.

Except for his food bill