Japan I believe, under Dennis

Glad that saga is over. Can now get the guard they need

Hopefully they learnt from what could have been a very expensive stuff up, but this type of decision making unfortunately seems to be happening too often

Franks gone,hooray so when are we gonna see Sixers sign this new PG ,is there any names of potential point guards or Sixers are keeping their cards close to their chest . Curious here on this new guy,hopefully it's a new fresh face .

Saw on twitter that Smith-Milner is the last local, and still trying for next star.

Apparently new import won't necessarily be a true point guard.

Seriously? What is it with these crap bigs we sign?

Last year it was Acuoth who had fallen out of the league the year before played in Georgia and now Smith-Milner who couldn't even get a spot on a roster last season and had to settle for being an injury replacement player with SEM, which said plenty given they demoted him from the roster. I would much rather give the last spot to DJ than Smith-Milner.

Zodiac, who else is left though? (If DJ is gone. Not a sarcastic question.

DJ won't play for minimum, Smith-Milner will barely hit the court if at all.

Majok Majok, Harry Froling, Sam Timmins, Tristan Forsyth even Tohi's SEM teammate Grant Anticevich would all be upgrades on Smith-Milner.

Tohi is a poor defender, rebounder and shot blocker doesn't like being in the low post, short arms, unathletic and thinks of himself more as a SG just wanting to jack up 3's when he gets court time, an absolute waste of a 6'9" body. Tried and failed at two NBL teams already and his hometown team has never signed him either.

Pineau was a FA for months instead he then opts for relocating to another country and we seemingly offer a contract to arguably the worst big left on the FA list from last season. Even Deng Acuoth might consider himself unlucky, as useless as he was.

Aside from Smith-Milner being virtually unplayable, you can't play him at centre so we're going with Galloway as the back up centre? What the hell are we going to do if Humphries gets injured?

Humphries/Galloway
Wiley/Smith-Milner
Cleveland/Starling/Marshall
McCarron/Dech
Import/Cadee

Sixers went cheap on this spot so can get a good guard I'm guessing.

Smith-Milner can shoot unlike Pineau and Majok

That's great how about someone who can defend, rebound or block shots at a back up PF/C spot?

Anticevich playing in Germany. This is a minimum budget signing, who else plays for minimum.

Smith-Milner not exciting, but its good the Franks situation has finally been resolved. No chance of DJ coming back. He and CJ have fallen out from what I hear.

Fingers crossed CJ really nails an elite guard. The Sixers will need one to have any hope of making the finals I think!

Roster is looking like CJ wants to play up-tempo, offensive basketball, so back to the Joey Wright formula I guess?

Can Humphries stay healthy playing at a fast pace all season? You can't play effective up-tempo ball if you can't get stops and that all hinges on Humphries rim protection and rebounding. I'm really hoping the big guy can deliver!

Adelaide need:

1) team to be entirely healthy including Humphries all year
2) the PG to be a total gem capable of nailing 18-20ppg
3) MM to play his best shooting year yet
4) Dech to have a big step forward
5) Cleveland to be in the MVP conversation

For them to be a 4th-6th proposition, with the assumption that Melbs, Perth, Sydney have the top 3 spots locked up.

Zodiac is correct. This is as bad a signing as possible. The guy should never be in the NBL. I can only imagine CJ once again got confused and thought "Harris was alright so maybe this guy will be good". Unfortunately this is as dumb as it gets.

All we can hope for now is a NS big like Hukporti but we all know that is not happening.

Again this season hinges on Humphries' health.

If injured for extended period, the front line becomes quite thin.

Which season has Humphries played with out being injured for at least a month or two.

Rookie year at Sydney.

His rookie year at kings was on short minutes, no time for injury

2016/17 - 38 games
2017/18 - 38 games
2018/19 - 46 games

Since then his best year was last season with 23 games.

Just saw on twitter that Adelaide have done the typical thanks & good luck post to Robert Franks.

Seriously, regardless of what has gone on with DJ, would most agree that a professional club would at the very least do the same for a player who has been extremely loyal, and one their best players for how long now?

I just think that's really poor from Adelaide.

Master Chief I think they are just waiting until the entire roster is finished before doing so

SixersFan, maybe, but don't see why that stops them.

I dare say DJ probably has a standing offer on the table from the Sixers and once the due date for him to accept passes and Smith-Milner gets signed, FFS, then DJ might get some glorious send-off before he retires or ends his career in Guatemala or something.

That's a good point MasterChief! DJ should definitely be recognised for his years of service. But you’d think that would be obvious to ownership!

Perhaps there is still some hope from ownership that things can be patched up and DJ will come back as the backup centre? I don’t think its likely, but it would explain why nothing has happened yet.

Zodiac, it's not about having a glorious send off, it's about the club being consistent and professional.

If you're going to thank Robert Franks (who supposedly wasn't on terms with the club either), then don't you think you should do a media release that congratulates one of your greatest and most loyal players?

Franks has a deal elsewhere, Johnson doesn't yet. If he were about to sign somewhere else you could bet there'd be a farewell message.

Master Chief, I agree but currently there are still two vacant spots on the roster and once they're filled I bet they do give DJ a send-off.

I'm pretty sure Adelaide doesn’t have a local spot available so DJ’s time in Adelaide is done. We have a next star spot and import spot (which will be filled with a PG/SG)
He will be farewelled but the fact no other team has offered him anything should tell you all his value is zero

We do, the two vacant roster spots are for a back-up PF/C and an import guard.

Smith-Milner is only a rumour at this stage it hasn't been officially announced.

At what stage does the light shine on CJ coaching record? Do we think he wins our next title?

Let's hope you're right then!

Frogface19, no, I don't have confidence in CJ.

CJ can't even talk with any fluidity let alone coach a professional basketball team.

xrm to the 36ers?

CJ can't even talk with any fluidity let alone coach a professional basketball team.

I could handle XRM at the Sixers even though he sees himself as the first and second option on offence it's a bit like that saying always bet on self-interest, at least with him he won't die wondering and some of our guys shirk the big shots like McCarron and to a degree Cleveland. Plus XRM isn't enough of a knucklehead to go all Craig Randall on the team.

I think XRM wouldn't be a bad signing at all probably as good as we could hope for.

Zodiac smith-Milner is set to be announced in the next day or two. There are no local spots available!

Next star and import are all that are left

"He will be farewelled but the fact no other team has offered him anything should tell you all his value is zero"

Not necessarily. We don't know if he talked to other teams but the reality is he most likely priced himself out of the NBL

Yeah I don't think DJ has priced himself out of the league lol The reality is there wouldn't be much interest in a 35 yo former star who doesn't like coming off the bench and has always been paid more than an average player.

DJ probably isn't willing to take enough of a pay cut and/or willing to move to another state for said pay cut so finds himself in the position he's currently in with his career ending a year or two earlier than it should've if he had been willing to take an ego check.

Who is XRM?

Xavier Rathan-Mayes, import who played for United last season and then the Hawks the season before that where he and Cleveland were teammates. He's engaged to an Aussie girl, wants to stay playing here in Australia and intends to become naturalised in two years time, which would likely keep his price down too.

Did we get any explanation for why this whole process took so long?
It was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Franks wasn't returning like 2-3 months ago. We even officially signed his replacement a couple weeks ago (after that being all but confirmed as happening a couple months back too).
Just seems weird how this whole thing went down. Was Franks just hanging out for a better pay out from his contract release or something?

He's also currently building a house in Sydney.

If we want someone that will run the offence and not over dribble the ball then jack it up with 3 seconds left, then XRM is not the answer.

He will win one or two games with good shooting and scoring but he will also stagnate the offence.

We already have McCarron to do that

Cotton still waiting for citizenship, how does xrm get it in two years. He is not what Sixers need though.

You can apply for and usually get citizenship after four years hear, XRM is two years away. I can't remember the specifics of Cotton's application but I think he took his time applying and then buggered up the application supposedly from bad advice, but Ballinger and plenty of other former imports got it after four years here.

@Zodiac an imports value increases when they are going to naturalise

Cotton's won't that's for sure.

He is the highest paid player in the league , even more valuable as an Aussie

No to both.

How could naturalising possibly decrease his value?

Age, unless you think players like Ricky Grace, James Crawford, Scott Fisher, Leroy Loggins etc. were getting paid more as naturalised players rather than when they were star imports.

How does naturalising make him older?

after a few weeks of the season with XRM, Goorj said he had to institute a rule at training that no player was allowed to dribble the ball more than twice.

if they could not get their move/option off after two dribbles, they had to move the ball. Pretty sure Goorj said that he had to institute this rule because of XRM.

Please no to XRM. Very average guard who doesn't shoot it well from the free throw line or from three. Not what the Sixers need, especially when they’ve already cheaped out on Wiley. I’d rather have Isaac White as my shooting guard than XRM! If they can’t do better than that, just leave the slot open or sign a good defensive big man. Looks like another season in the cellar for the Sixers. Does the owner want to actually compete or not?

How the hell does an import naturalising lower their value?

Locals, or naturalised players, are always worth more than the same player would be as an import.

There is literally a whole world of imports out there. Australians (and other locals) are much less plentiful.

I think that, typically, a player who naturalises extends their career, and prolongs their bigger pay checks because franchises know that they will not be taking up an import spot for much longer.

Just think of Starling for next season, and long ago Dwayne Nelson for the 36ers. No way would any franchise sign them as imports (Nelson had dropped out of the NBL I believe)?

Cal Bruton, Ricky Grace, Leroy Loggins, Al Green, Scott Fisher and many others have all done this. If a longer term import wants to settle in Australia, they should always naturalise to prolong their career, and retrain or invest their money to secure their future playing career.

Surely Adelaide have higher hopes if CJ is in the US?

Would be a pretty sweet paid holiday hanging out at SL in Vegas.

There was an article that suggested right now its slim pickings for what CJ is after (could also be constrained by money).

The complaint with the Sixers for a long time has been we don't have a true PG that can run the show.

This has gone all the way back to Gibbo, Cadee, Randle, Sobey, and now McCarron.

So I'm eager to see an import PG run CJ's offence.

He's since clarified that by saying they're looking for more of a combo guard now, like I said would happen with McCarron playing the point. We can't play MM who doesn't score, scared to shoot and such a poor 3pt shooter at the SG spot.

Given the problems with Craig Randall,
Over dribbling and breaking the offense ( whether or not he was clearly told that and understood that is another thing )
And the fact that Goorj has publicly documented that XRM had the same traits (albeit he did deal successfully with it)
You would think that there is no way CJ would put himself through that again.
Although the owner does seem to like recycled players...

Sixers should then start McCarron with the Combo guard import.

McCarron is a better playmaker, plus ability to play some D and get rebounds than he is a scorer / shooter.

He still needs to be able to keep the defence honest like he did in his first year at the club. Not sure what happened last season.

What about Josh Maggette? Not a gun import but one that provides stability, high IQ and can also shoot.

Magette shot 35.5% from the field (31.6% on 3pts) last season, no thanks.

Late to the convo, but the rumoured Smith-Milner signing is terrible for the Sixers if true. Laughable even.

Even if it's a money thing, surely there are better options available.

Ben it is a comedy show every year with CJ's final pick pretending he knows how to coach. Here are his selections:

Manny Malou (Although I did give him some props for his shooting but ended up a bust and no where to be seen now)
Deng Acuoth
Tohi Smith-Milner

If smith-Milner gets fit he can be useful, far better than Acouth and Malou.

Smith-Milner is the least of our concerns.
The import needs to be a stud. Not XRM that's for sure.
A NS big would be handy as well.

Anyone know what kind of money top imports are on in Puerto Rico? Could the Sixers realistically chase a vet like Brandon Knight? (Ex Piston, now 32 y.o. but just averaged 23ppg).

Unless the sixers can get an MVP level import, I think everyone can see that they just don't have enough talent, or the coaching, to have a chance at finals