Not a matter of, "It's the 2nd game on here where no one cares about starting a game topic for the poor Jack Jumpers."

Just that Jack is such a hard act to follow, are you game to take it on (and cop comparisons and criticisms). In fact, the only reason we miss the previews is that they were on the money and entertaining. Both were Jack, not the preview.

Here's a thought. What if a devoted fan of each team wrote on their own team for each game. Yes, that would mean 2 previews per game and each coming from an opposite angle. Could be fun (in a diff way)!

Like it, RobT

This game should be Sydney's to lose. The Kings will walk into this one walking tall, expecting to win, just 'cos they turned up.

Obviously, the JJs will have different ideas but IMO, their grit is by far their best asset. Their skill levels, chemistry and form (of a few of the roster members) are all lacking but will come during the season.

With Sydney getting Vasiljevic and Adams back, the odds are heavily with the Coat Hangers. Truth is the Kings could afford to rest them an extra game and still win this one.

Sydney by convincing margin, either side of 20 pts.

Yeah bring the King fans on, need their insight.

A good bit of fishing by anon, actually it was not that good!

These commercials are weird.

1st half showed that I should NOT make predicts. Settled!

Why does everyone on Jackjumpers have a goofy running style?

Nick Kyrgios sighting.

Jumpers are doing a good job of making us care about this game due to the Kings losing.

Magnay still recovering from injury?

Terrible free throw shooting and massive shooting dry spell during the 4th cost the JJs opportunity for victory.

JJ's definitely lost that one. Kings played like dog shit until the last quarter, even then it was mostly the JJ’s that shot poorly that lost it.

Agreed with everyone on Bayles though, he is looking very good so far.

JJs really laid an egg in that last quarter

Feel bad for the JJs players. Giving their all. Not their fault that the organisation has put together a non NBL level team. Needed massive allowances to be up to standard first year. Bench players having to play as starters and everything breaks down when no one can hit a shot for 5 minute spells. Changing an import will not cut it. Have to get a high standard (Besson style) next star, top import and 2 high quality Australians (Dante Exum and Thon Maker) to be competitive.

Not a single commercial the entire game. Bizarre. Jack and Liam kept talking through the quarter breaks so they were obviously aware, but during half time and post game it's just a wide shot of the arena. No idea what's going on.

Where did the vJJ's learn how to close out games? The Sydney Kings or New Zealand Breakers?

We're you watching on Kayo KR?

ESPN.

JJs still played better than Adelaide have all season.

"Buford gets a T. But Vickerman never gets a T."

Buford already had a warning, and was arguing a call he was blatantly wrong about: he didn't even know the rule regarding lane violations.

Magnay not getting a lot of minutes, though similar to must of their starters in this game. Doesn't seem to be foul trouble hindering him.

No ads on ESPN was indeed bizarre considering they love their ad breaks. Someone was missing from the control room.

So every time the JackJumpers lose, we're going to get the same two or three posters saying the same things about how dreadful the players/coach/CEO are? It really is going to be a long season.

OK, so they're not great, but they're nowhere near the worst expansion team ever to be admitted to the NBL. The '03-'04 Pirates went to Cairns twice and scored 122 points. Across two games. In the 48-minute era. They were borderline unwatchable at times.

Tasmania, I would imagine, is a harder place to start up a team than Melbourne. That $2 million/season from the state government will keep them afloat while they find their feet, get more buyers for their corporate boxes, and improve the on-court product. It might take them a while, but that's okay.

An expansion team struggling early shouldn't be news to anyone.

kobe, I switched to ESPN a few minutes before the telecast began and there was nothing airing except a message on screen apologising for the break in transmission. I'm guessing ESPN was still having some issues during the game.

Also on ESPN2 at the same time (non-live) programming was off by 15 minutes.

Maybe the staff Christmas party was on.

What did you expect them to say? "Sorry guys, we're only going to win five games this year"? If you're in the competition, you're trying to win it, even if you don't have the cattle to realistically be a shot. Otherwise, what's the point in turning up?

I'd like to think most people in Tasmania would have a bit of patience during the JackJumpers' formative years, but no, according to you who knows all and sees all, if they don't go undefeated people are going to run screaming for the exits.

Oh, and for the love of heaven, turn your spell check on.

Good posts Dave Marshall; think there are some anons here who applied for roles at the JJ's without success and like having a crack. If they didn't maybe they should have.

The majority of Tasmanians understand the context of a new team. As Roth said it is fair enough to expect wins but foundations need to be in place. Nothing wrong with healthy discussion, a lot of what I read on here on the JJ's is just cheapshots.

As someone who lived in Newcastle for the Hunter Pirates, I can tell you, the JJs are in a much better position than that shambles.

I find these comments bizarre quite frankly. I mean, look at the line up they're working with. What kind of success did you expect them to have? It is literally the players no one else wanted, plus Will Magnay, and a Jack McVeigh who would be a bench player on any decent team turned into a starter. The fact that they're competitive in most games is actually a credit to them. I expected far worse.

As for all the talk of instant success, what planet are you guys on? It cant have been easy to convince anyone to play in a new expansion team in Tasmania of all places. You're lucky you have a team at all. A lot of people had to pull a lot of weight for you to have the privilege to sit there and complain about your team in their very first ever season, when anyone with reasonable expectations would understand the road would be rocky. They've been given a very difficult job in this league, and at least they're out there slogging their guts out trying to do it. I have infinitely more respect for them than the current 36ers.

As for all the talk of instant success, what planet are you guys on?

Perthworld, it's interesting how all these complaints seem to come back to Roth, isn't it?

Roth promised instant success.
Roth (allegedly) abused a volunteer.
Roth (allegedly) wants out after three games.

Of course they're going to talk up their chances lol. Only the biggest Clint Dogg would look at that team and think they should succeed just because they said they would. Maybe they should have tempered expectations...

Inability to coach at a high level? The guy has taken an NBL1 team and made them competitive in the NBL. The team flat out doenst have the horses to do better than theyre doing.

You act like the first season is the only season being played. Tasmanians have been "dudded" because everything didn't go perfectly in their first season, and completely irrelevant platyer Duffelmeir plays for a different team. Come on, that's laughable. If that is your home grown hero maybe you guys dont need a team.

Maybe Dufelmeier got a better offer from Adelaide? It's not always as easy as "oh, we need this player, let's go out and get him". When I was with the Pirates, Adrian Hurley wanted us to sign a certain player from another club. We negotiated with his agent, but were eventually outbid by the team he was already playing for.

In Tasmania's case, you also have the problem that there's not very many current NBL or NBL-level players that come from, or have a strong association with, the state. Again, patience is the key, there will be more Tassie juniors in the pipeline as a result of the JackJumpers being established.

The personal vendetta against Roth by some anons on here is sad.

As a Tasmanian I understand patience is needed as do most rational Tasmanian's.

Chill

You have to give Roth and the front office a bit of grace.

Its hard building a team from scratch, and its not like they didn't try for players (Kay, Norton).

SOme of the players they do have have proven to be useful in roles (Steindl, Bairstow, McDaniel) but they need the time to get them into the system.

Yes, the squad is not great and needs tweaking.

Going after the coach and front office after a handful of games doesn't serve anything other to make the poster feel better.

I knew this was going to come up. How exactly do you know they lowballed Kay, Moller and Norton?

Steindl, Bairstow and McDaniel are not and have never been promised as game winners.

They have all been complimentary pieces to higher profile players on their respective teams.

The imports and Magnay are the ones you would expect the highest production from.

Anon - #574 did you apply for a coaching role or another role with JJ's. Curious why you are so bitter towards Roth.

"Lets not ignore the truth Scout. The sensible people see the reality. The outsiders think mediocrity is ok. Its clear now why Roth has always been 2nd banana at elite level.
"Roth picked yes men and has probably over paid them, not a great way to set up a team" That right there is the truth. Quote of the year."

Quote of the year? Wow way to take yourself a tad seriously mate.

Who are these outsiders - does that make you an 'insider'??

Relax mate I am sure Scott Roth does not give a fat rats a..e about the opinion of a anon on here.

Has Scout asked your missus out?

Surely have something against him.

So according to D2.0, Perth re-signed Norton during the past NBL season, and he was never a free agent in the first place.

According to Anons on here, he was a free agent and the JackJumpers gave him an insultingly low offer.

According to Norton himself, both are full of shit:

Norton said he approached free agency determined to stay in Perth, but admitted Tasmania did a superb job of trying to change his mind.

"They were fantastic," Norton told thewest.com.au's The Dribble Podcast.

“They were looking at different options with (fiancée) Sascha for work. They had a really good plan and they had time to prepare for that.

“Recruitment wise, any time you have Scott Roth and Jacob Chance, they are pretty good coaches. It’s hard to go away from them.

“The relationship we had built from years before and championships before, it’s always hard to say no to someone because you feel like you are letting one of your best mates down. I was glad they were able to respect my decision.

“It’s a tough decision. Anyone who says they enjoy free agency are lying. It really is a tricky situation.

“You’re thinking about everything involved - from moving costs to what rent would be, to what Sascha would do if we moved interstate. All these things are real possibilities and you can’t think of the answer.

“I was lucky to be in my position where I didn’t want to leave Perth. I love it here and I think that summed up how I made my decision. I love the city. I love the weather and everything we do outside of basketball played a massive part.”

I wasn't saying D2 was right, I was saying you're both wrong.

Yeah anon #600 - can get you in strife!

I get the frustration anons to a degree.

It needs to be balanced with the fact that it is 5 games into the first season of a new season.

Yep critique the list, rotations and strategy.

Roth has owned it and taken responsibility for the losses. Believe the abuse hurled at Roth is unwarranted.

Yep I was frustrated with the Sydney game, have also been looking forward to a team being here.

guess what there is a team here not need get all agro so early, chill enjoy the season. I'm looking forward to the development of the team and will enjoy the season and future seasons.

Chill anons seriously.

Ok so we've confirmed players weren't low balled. Scott Roth also has a reasonable international pedigree so must be able to coach. None of the Tasmanian players these anoms want were really any good anyway. Craig Moller - who is overrated anyway - is now playing in Germany and easily making more than Tasmania could have reasonably offered him. Really this all sounds like whinging for the sake of whinging, maybe from an ex-Huskies owner or something, just looking to find problems in a team that started basically yesterday and is still figuring a lot of things out.

Yep agree ME or someone who applied for the Ops role without success and is on the whinge.

Yep agree ME or someone who applied for the Ops role without success and is on the whinge.

Roth was also on record suggesting he (his offer) made Norton a lot of money.

@ Perthworld, I enjoy your posting, in this instance you are so far off the mark, Tasmanians have been dudded, those in the basketball community down here know it. There are some good young players that never got a look in, Duffelmeir ahead of weeks, lmao.