Sixers beat the Kings in Sydney earlier in the season so they know they can get it done but I have a feeling after the incredible second-half comeback against Cairns 36 hours ago they might not have much left in the tank.

Get DJ off the court FFS

Another bad defensive effort to start the game.

Cooks dominating, Sixers got put a body in front him, can't be that hard. Cooks still missing free throws though.
Sotto just can’t move his feet, Dech got play longer, Franks do something

Kings by 10, Sixers so inconsistent, Johnson playing well, as much as Sixers probably need a guard, defensively Johnson, Franks aren't getting it done, Johnson actually better D than Franks, Sotto not going to give you anything at either end, so probably better trying for a five that can defend.

Every game 36ers get wrecked in the interior, every game I am a broken record and say we need an interior defender.

Adelaide, please please please sign an interior defender. Doesn't need to be an import. Doesn’t even need to be a defensive minded player or a defensive stud.

Just needs to be a big that can play a semblance of competitive defence without looking terrible otherwise on the court.

It could be Bairstow, it could be Salt. Just please, someone. 15-25 minutes of competitive defence in the interior would be a godsend.

Above all else, even an import guard.

Sotto on a poster hahaha

Considering Sixers were talked up as three best imports before season started, ones gone and the other haven't been anywhere near great, Cleveland been fine, Franks not great when you look at both ends of the floor.

Not as good as the Humphries one but still very good.

LOL 36ers defense is horrid.
You are not winning anything with rotten defense

Does anyone know why not playing, suited up , no minutes

^^^ noi

Daniel Johnson, Franks etc are nothing more stat w#ores.
They have no interest or desire wasting energy defending.
Only on the court for offense.

Mccaron is no longer elite at either end. Sydney more reliant on Cooks than Perth on Cotton, if some team can play a bit D kings are beatable, it's still daylight though

I'll go as far as saying Bruce off kings bench is better than Mccaron.

Franks having a stinker, trying to do too much.

They mentioned in the broadcast that Noi was out due to a back injury.

No I got back soreness

Sixers get back to 6 in 3rd subs Mac out and it's all over.

Probably the arse kicking we needed to shake the team up and realise we need a third import asap.

Kings up by 17 and jacking up shots 6 seconds into the shot clock.

Good stuff

No game awareness
It is like they are all just trying to get on the stat sheet

Any sort of import should have arrived weeks ago and been playing. A lot of Bruton crap about names coming across his desk just doesn't make sense. It's not like Adelaide have been dominating since Randal left, been ok, so should have got a potential game changer in. Even if it didn't/doesn't work out, do the due diligence in actually getting a body in, rather than just sitting pat. Could be a guard, or a defensive big, just anybody.
If it's really CJ not wanting someone, then it's really time to get rid of him this offseason.

I don't know why Adelaide think they suddenly have all this time to spare in signing a third import purely on the basis of mild improvement.

They are 6/6 in a season many thought they were likely to challenge, and right now let's be honest, they do not look that great. Far too loose and at times very lazy.

They had that break to bring in import in and still has not happened.

Again, unwise to rush a decision, but hardly in a luxury position to waste time.

Adelaide are a below average team at the moment I think..

Thats it, 20 point difference and the stat wh#oring comes out

Any sort of import should have arrived weeks ago and been playing.

That bit defence by Deng Acouth was as bad a bit of defence I've ever seen, it would not be acceptable in u/12.
Kings far to good, Sixers will play finals but won’t trouble the top two, three.

Adelaide definitely got some issues, last 2 years they bought in guard to help back court, but chemistry issues for both, not the fix they needed. If Sotto was up to the hype then another guard would be a no brained. But as others have stated with no interior presence then having another guard ain't going help there.
They sure do need another body and soon. Due to the deficiencies, players are being over played and just ain’t good enough to cover. Good luck to trying fix this in a hurry

Going with a guard would be an overreaction to issues that can be resolved IMO.

Interior D is not solvable without a new player.

If the defence isn't set and you’re playing run and gun, Adelaide will look a lot stronger offensively. But they just can’t do that without interior D.

If they want to splash cash then do both, fine. But get going asap because you have to have chemistry and get the volume of ball for players right.

No excuse for being slow to adjust!

Cost saving if they're going after a superstar that'll guarantee results, but with all the money spent on the team already, be best to get best player available, get some chemistry going then hopefully steam through playoffs with that new player fully acclimatised.
If they wait too late to save a couple of dollars, then season is over. That guy will just show up to be paid for a couple of months and may well just be sitting on the bench anyway if they don't fit in. And remember they've not been paying for that 3rd import for awhile.

I'm not certain any player on his own can turn Sixers around, just to many poor defenders.

Without any knowledge to the contrary I suspect the whole looking for a PG thing is a smokescreen, there's always plenty of guards about, I think we're hoping a gun import big shakes free from somewhere and we're able to snap him up on the cheap.

At least that's what I hope is really going on. If we can hang in there until then it might work out for us ala Josh Childress, although his shoulder injury in the GF probably cost us the championship that season.

"Stat padding" by our 3rd/4th stringers? Well yeah, duh.

KET, you're not the only one who thinks that. But do you think McCarron can run the point what seems to be 99% of the time, and with no balance or variety behind him, and keep it up all season in a poor offense?

The roster construction is biting them back either way it seems.

Could Marshall provide a bit of PG spark off the bench if they sign a big?

I think Jack Salt is only signed to the NZNBL right now. What are peoples views on him? Definitely looks like a physically imposing type. Why did they sign Acouth?

I guess it doesn't matter anyway. NbL clubs don't typically cut locals during the season.

I think they can cope with Cleveland/Dech/Marshall bringing the ball up providing MM assistance.

The caveat being ofcourse that their defence is aggressive to avoid the opposition pressing or trapping too much.

Cleveland/Dech are decent at pushing the ball up as part of run & gun offence - and that's what the team is built to be, ultra aggressive defence into run & gun offence.

Drmic open threes from the wing, DJ trailing threes, Frank variety between threes and close to the basket shots, Cleveland drives.

Obviously hindsight suggests DJ/Franks/Sotto is an offensive glut and no true PG makes for a pretty bad overall balance.

Ideally they reflected a guard structure similar to the Irving/Gibson year - have a PG Import, MM SG, Cleveland SF, DJ at PF and import C that’s defensive (or Humphries I guess). With Drmic/Dech nice pieces off the bench. But alas Franks was too good an opportunity to give up. Perhaps Adelaide would have preferred he got his euro role.

Ervin even

I love how people put so much emphasis on one game. Remember the last game Sydney played, they got done by Cairns. Just happens to be the same team the Sixers had to dispose of a couple of days earlier. Sydney at full strength, Sixers down 1 import and Drimic.
The legs fell off throughout the third compared to Sydney who were only playing their 3rd game in 3 weeks.

Without Sydneys owner talking smack all week, the real team to beat this season for the Sixers was Cairns. Mission success.

That's why I'm not too concerned with NZ dropping that game to the Wildcats on Saturday Kev. They've played 15 games with a ton of double headers and still have 11 wins and only 4 losses. It's even better when you consider the past couple of seasons where wins were few and far between for NZ.

A few teams will only get better as the season progresses and wins against them will become a lot tougher, Adelaide is def in that category.

Drimic and Ian Clark wouldda helped, although we didn't pass the ball very good.

Adelaide's interior D and PG issues have been every game, not "one game"

Adelaide don’t need to make grand changes - if they did sign salt and release acouth or something and get a backup PG with some scoring, then they’d be in a very happy place I’d imagine

Hard to say.

I think there are signs that the end result of what CJ is trying to do has some promise, but there are patterns noticeable in both his seasons so far; turnovers, standing around, lapses etc. So I think CJ is the elephant in the room right now even more so than a lack of defensive interior.

I really hope he does well, but he's also in a unique position in the way of being an inexperienced coach with the added pressure of expectation from a talented roster. I guess those two things don't always work well together, but there's definitely hope in what he's trying to achieve.

On what we have seen from Sixers, can anyone really see them winning it. Franks is going to have to improve a lot, Mccaron as well, I'm not saying they terrible but to win it those two got get to the next level. Johnson has been reasonable, even defensively but again is it a level to take on the Cooks, Pinder or those two NZ imports, Pardon and Brantley, I don’t see it.

I wouldn't call either DJ or Franks reasonable on defence...

Adelaide have too much offence that is either a player trying to take his player on with iso and then gives off to another player that tries to do iso, or ball movement that isn’t meaningful and doesn’t really achieve moving the defence.

It just results in forced shots aplenty, and then players like DJ and Franks don’t get the volume of ball they should have and they end up jacking shots up.

Obviously my take is the best way they can get through that is for the defence to simply not be set - grab rebounds and go or cause turnovers and go. But you can only do that if you’re strong defensively.

If they brought a PG in, the team will need to get its act together offensively and be smarter. It starts with focussing on DJ early because he can stretch the D with shots in the face of tough defence.

Then you use Franks inside with his feet, or midrange with Cleveland cutting hard to the basket for the drive.

They need to focus closer to the basket for scores unless it’s DJ or Drmic, I’m happy for those two to fire away.

I think Johnson D has been ok, better than previously, I see transitioning back a lot quicker and staying in front his man more than usual. Franks, I'm surprised how scrap it’s been. I’m not certain of the guard Sixers had a few seasons ago, was good till he started trying to score himself to much, if he’d stuck to D and pass first he’d be great for this team, might’ve been Shorter.

Shannon Shorter is 33 or something, playing in the Adriatic League/Croatia.

I think he'd be too slow for the NBL these days.

"I think Johnson D has been ok, better than previously, I see transitioning back a lot quicker and staying in front his man more than usual."

It was crazy trying to play him at the 4 the past couple of seasons, he can at least stay in front of centres and then has a mobility advantage over many at the other end.

What I saw of DJ's defence yesterday was appalling especially early not even putting his hands up and letting Soares lay it up over the top of him, another play a Kings guard drove to the hole on him and he only put up a half-arsed attempt. He's getting worse defensively if anything. All he cares about is trying his hardest to avoid picking up a foul by playing minimal to literally zero defence.

That's why I'm not too concerned with NZ dropping that game to the Wildcats on Saturday Kev. They've played 15 games with a ton of double headers and still have 11 wins and only 4 losses.

"He's getting worse defensively if anything. All he cares about is trying his hardest to avoid picking up a foul by playing minimal to literally zero defence."

As Dunkman said he is sprinting back in defense more and staying infront of his players. He has always been one of the better bigs at guarding the PnR. He would also be leading the team in charges taken. Has Mccarron taken any this season? DJ's effort has gone up a lot this season on defense.

"What I saw of DJ's defence yesterday was appalling especially early not even putting his hands up and letting Soares lay it up over the top of him"

I could say the same thing about Mccarron. He shot a brick 3 then didn't bother to get back on defense. He had his back to the ball once and cooks just makes an easy pass to the guy he is defending for an easy layup. Other players had similar break downs.

Dunkman

"I'll go as far as saying Bruce off kings bench is better than Mccaron."

You are correct!

So your telling me if you swapped Bruce and Mac, Bruce would be of more value with his skill set than Mac? How do you think Mac would go if he came off the bench for Kings?

Not as good as Bruce, just on fitness alone. Bruce really has improved in Sydney and understands there system, Mccaron imo has regressed.

I'm not sure the fitness comment stacks up. McCarron plays 32 minutes per game, Bruce plays 17. Comparing apples with oranges.

I agree that MM has regressed. I don't see the energy or bursts of speed or confidence in his shot, or passion and commitment on defence, that he had at United. (There were times he was the ONLY guy showing those.)

Different coach, different system, different players around him, ... who knows? I just get the feeling that his heart’s not in it. And I’d say it’s more the situation he’s found himself in than that he’s well-paid and so less motivated to work as hard.

He took the big superstar money on offer from JVG & the Sixers so the onus was on him to provide more than being a fringe starter level player. I can't see it happening but hopefully he declines to pick up his option and leaves at the end of the season and takes his 6-7 points a game with him.

He had pressure on him at United, Illi was fit and ready to start at any time. Just an observation but he seems to be carrying extra kilos.