Great news, well done Aaron.

Here is the link

http://linky.com.au/wwoxx

shows how bad the league is. he had a shit year and still go rookie of the year. he sucked this season.

he sucked compared to who hoops 54?

Congratulations Aaron, hopefully we can retain him for years to come and fans can appreciate and watch Bruce in action. The boy has some skills he's coped alot of flak on here and sometimes his performances are compounded by those failing to catch some of the great passes he throws.

For a rookie put in the situation he was in I was quite happy with his overall performance. Sure there were some bad games, but there were also some great ones and all the while the potential shone through.

Hit it on the nail DJ. Well said.

he was a deserving winner

He needs to wear a headband next season. Then everyone will love him.

Seriously though, he was tied for 4th most assists per game in the league and, despite the amount of criticism he recieved for his carelessness, was only was 9th in turnovers. That's not bad for a PLAYMAKING point guard, no matter what way you look at it.

Hopefully he steps up in Mahers place next season and looks to attack a bit more on the offensive end, as I think he showed more than enough to suggest that his 10 ppg was well below what he is capable of.

Boti suggested it was not a dominant year for rookies but I think that was being a little harsh - there won't be a Newley every year, and this year was better than the Travis Lane season for rookies.

Hopefully we'll see more post-season recognition for 36ers players, maybe in the All Star Five.

Agree 100% 24.

Well done Brucie.

He was pretty ordinary considering his reputation coming in.

It's more of a blight on the league than it is on Bruce.

You can't have the cake and eat it too. He was either a pretty good rookie if his role was that of a rookie or a pretty poor starter as that's how he was used for much of the season.

EC, can you please get a clue? 4th in the league in assists puts him miles ahead of a "pretty poor starter".

billo, lets also talk about where he stands in turnovers. How about trying 6th in the league? Good assist numbers does not equate to good ball handling skills. Do I now qualify as having a "clue"?

No EC, you don't. You thought he should be a development player. He was inconsistent, so was Maher in his first year, so was Davidson last year. What's your answer, Matt Sutton?

Well done Aaron!

Good point by EC with the Turnovers. Just looking at the stats it seems he had one of the worst assist to turnovers ratio's by point guards. This means his high number of assist weren't as beneficial as you would like to believe.

Lets also add he was a liability on defence. Team's would purposely target him with the pick and roll play as they knew he couldn't guard it.

He also at times was a liability on offence as he was too predictiable that he would pass. Also he shot at a pathetic 37% from the field.

Yes what an amazing Rookie of the year he was! I Still can't believe it took the coaching staff 90% of the season to finally bench him!

I agree with Andy "He was pretty ordinary considering his reputation coming in."

Bruce was also rated a 10 point player. Can anyone find me a worse 10 point player in the league? Hopefully his points drop for next season otherwise I see no benefit in having him in the team.

lol u idiot, kingjames u have no credibility. he isnt even a 10 point player he is only a 3 point because he came out of college so yes i think he actually is the best 3 point player in the nbl as you can see by the voting results all the coaches and captains agree with me as he was voted the best out of 22 of a possible 27.

and he must of been so bad that the coaches voted him the fouth best player on the team in the mvp voting? and everyone knows that he played better than jocob holmes this year, coaches just have a soft spot for jacob.

Since when was a 10? He's a returning college player, which made him a 3.

What ever happened to these former winners?
2000 Derek Moore (Sydney Kings)
2002 Travis Lane (Sydney Kings)

I am going by NBLStats.com whom have him rated as a 10. He is a returning college player that also played for the Australian team.

If the NBLStats.com rating is incorrect, I am wrong about that one then.

He is a 3 at least until the end of next season.

Congrats Aaron,

Look forward to see him line up with the Sixers next year and improve on his Rookie season.

I sit courtside and always check out what kicks players are wearing, as a Nike (Sneaker Head) Bruce rocks multiple pairs of fresh basketball shoes throughout the season. Rarely wearing the same pair every week. Those Blue Hyperdunks are insane.

EC and KingJames - why so harsh on a young kid thrown into a major role? First out-of-college rookie we've had in Adelaide in years and you're throwing around "pretty poor starter", "pathetic" and liability.

I don't care if you can justify those comments, but how about finding a more pleasant way of phrasing those thoughts for a rookie new to Adelaide and to the 36ers?

When he retires early from professional basketball in a couple of years, I don't think he'll miss fans like that.

King James time for a little reality check, sometimes i think Aaron must have slept with your mum the way you pick on him.

thats right i went there.

Anyhoooo

lets compare Aaron Bruce's first season with that of the great Brett Maher

PPG

Maher 6.35 at 36% with 13% on 3's
Bruce 10 at 37.3% with 33.6% on 3's

win Bruce

Assists

Maher 3.13
Bruce 5.1

Win Bruce

Rebounds

Maher 3.74
Bruce 2.6

Win Maher

Steals

Maher 1.13
Bruce .9

Win Maher

Blocks

Maher .1
Bruce .1

even

Turnovers

not collated in Maher's first year but career is 2.15 and would no doubt be higher as the stats are not kept for his first 9 seasons which would skew his average down

Bruce 3.0

I am calling this even because i remember Brett not being the best ball handler or decision maker and reckon if this stat is found it will comeout about even.

Free Throws

Maher 75%
Bruce 78%

Win Bruce


Maher.1992 Sixers finish 8th and miss playoffs.
Bruce.2009 Sixers finish 6th and make playoffs

Win Bruce

So are the stats lying or is Aaron's first year much better than Brett's? Also don't bring in the defense argument to this comparison because it is well established that Brett was soft on d.

King James, I was wondering how long it would take to you to bob up you negative prick.
Firstly, as stated Bruce is a 3 point player not a 10. You stated it like it was gospel so don't try and hide behind an unreliable source. Check your facts.
Secondly, you keep rabbiting about the coaches taking 90% of the season to work out benching Bruce.
Here's one for you then Einstein, could it be that Davidson was barely injury free for ANY part of the season?
Fact is, Davidson started when he was healthy which was early on in the year for a home game that we won in which he injured himself and missed the next couple of games.
When he finally got his body right towards the end of the season, he started the rest of the year.
Yes, Bruce is very inconsistent and must improve his decision making and a number of other areas in his game.
What he did do was have a MUCH better year than Davidson because of the reasons above.
But hey, don't let any part of the truth affect your skewed opinion.

ahhaha thank god ppl are sick off kingjames the same as i am! he really doesnt add any decent views or opinions he just slams players and there abilitys.

If we all agreed and didnt have different views then this site would not excist. If you disagree let them know, dont get too personal is my view.
There are many that think Aaron had way to many turnovers. With Aaron is down to do you see him as spoken when recruited as fringe Aust. plyr or as a raw rookie.

Lost a lot of respect for you KingJames. Not EC though, I already knew she was an idiot.

However, I don't think it's fair to compare Bruce's rookie season to Maher's - Brucie came in far more experienced.

Agree with anon#228053's points.

crowfan, agreed, those hyperdunks are nice. He wears the old plain white Kobe's a bit too much though.

For the record, Bruce finished 13th in the league in turnovers per game, 7th in total turnovers while coming 4th in APG and 4th in total assists (12 behind leader).

It's not an issue with offering reasonable or constructive criticism, but just the way in which it's been said here. Bruce didn't talk himself up, others had those raised expectations based on his first year at college or chance at the Boomers squad or whatever. He came in, good value at 3 points, and had a reasonable year as a rookie. He started more often than planned with Davidson's injury issues.

(And don't raise the NBA draft as an example of him raising expectations himself - if you were anywhere near a chance, you might as well give it a crack just in case.)

Isaac, what's so harsh about what I said. I said he is a pretty good rookie if used as a rookie, hence that's what he has been awarded for. However as a starter, he is out of place.

"why so harsh on a young kid thrown into a major role?" Your comments Isaac only emphasises what I have said all along and that is Ninnis has a lot to answer for for how he has used his team. Let's not gloss over things when you only have to look at the result at the end of the season. Eliminated in first playoff game.

XztatiK, don't know where you get your facts from, the official NBL site has him listed as 6th in turnovers. Where do you get 13th per game and 7th overall? Now whether your source is more reliable than mine, I just have to reflect on the games I watched this season (every home game plus 2 away) and shudder at the number of turnovers I witnessed. That's convincing enough for me.

Mutley, the difference between Maher and Bruce in their first year was the way they were used. This also reflects my comments to Isaac above relating to coach. Also how can you ask if my answser is Matt Sutton when I have said several times in the past that an import should have been looked at in the point guard position if there wasn't a suitable one here.

My problems with Bruce have never been personal to him but the amount of responsibility placed on someone not qualified for that level of responsibility.

"XztatiK, don't know where you get your facts from, the official NBL site has him listed as 6th in turnovers. Where do you get 13th per game and 7th overall? Now whether your source is more reliable than mine, I just have to reflect on the games I watched this season (every home game plus 2 away) and shudder at the number of turnovers I witnessed. That's convincing enough for me."

Good for you then, but I doubt that's convincing anyone else. The stats are from nblstats.com:

http://linky.com.au/umcmy

http://linky.com.au/alg5r

Also from NBL site, All that aside, it doesn't change the fact that the turnover rate is too high.

He was meant to come off the bench, but Davidson was injured or not fully fit at times. Why does Ninnis have a lot to answer for?

Import point? Weren't you arguing for Dusty into the team in place of Holmes before the 08/09 season?

we dont need a import point guard would b stupid with bruces development.

start bruce in 2010 and have davidson off the bench, then kersten can back him up. get a two guard who can shoot like maher and who can play d

lilleyton, any mention of Kersten having a future in the team immediately causes me to ignore any further argument.

Isaac, with Davidson's injury history and Bruce being a development player means the importance of the point guard position was ignored. My arguments for Rychart instead of Holmes does not relate to the point guard position. Its a separate issue that didn't bear on the point guard problem.

What injury history did Davidson have? None.
So obviously if we needed a point guard and Dusty in for Holmes we don't have Ballinger?
Your right about 1 thing, we all need to avoid any further argument because your an idiot.

no shit anon. no one saw davidsons injuries coming, bruce is not a development player and your dusty argumemt does relate to ur point guard argument because if we got dusty we couldnt get an import pg. or did u want to dump ballinger. doubt it would suprise anyone.

As others have said, what "injury history"? A few games last season? Before that, his games played each season list going back have been: 34, 33, 33, 33, 30, 30, 37, 31.

Bruce wasn't a development player, they were Burdon and Hoban.

He was an out-of-college recruit brought in as a back-up that started while Davidson was injured. The idea would've been around 30 MPG for Davidson and 20 MPG for Bruce - nothing wrong with that. Once Davidson was fully fit, that's how the minutes were usually split.

Bruce's APT is fairly similar to that of starting and back-up point guards like Hinson, Franklin, Martin, Carter, Robertson, Mee, Heal, Caporn, etc. And not far behind Davidson's either.

No we filled the 2nd import spot with Tyndale instead. Also a young inexperienced player. Wow, how exciting.

The older experienced Chappell wasn't any better last season. Sometimes imports don't turn out as planned.

Here's what you said in the pre-season:

If the 36ers were not so actively seeking Hodge with no guarantee whatsoever, I would be filling the import spot with Rychart. He is still a free agent and available.

An import point guard came about when the 2nd import spot was not filled with Rychart and the realisation that we could have done better in the point guard department. Instead we failed in both areas bringing in Tyndale. At that early point, I had no idea who Bruce was and what to expect from him. By the way, Davidson did have injury problems the previous season as well as missing all of the preseason through injury. The season hadn't even started and there were already tell tale signs that the point guard position was lacking. His age should have been a precaution against putting too much reliance on him also. Doesn't matter which way you look at it, this past season has been well below expectation and if its good enough for some, it was not good enough for me. I expected that we could have been more competitive than what we were. Even if 4th-6th was a prediction before the season started, I already protested against such a mediocre expectation. I would not have settled for anything less than a home playoff game.

Ever the optimist. "Well below expectation" based on fantasy land, the roster they could've had, or the roster they did have from the first game?

You were touting Rychart as an import in that team before they'd even signed Bruce. That's when the backcourt combo was all of Davidson (with the injury history you were already aware of) and Kersten (a signing I remember you not really liking).

I dare say Ninnis might have anticipated a bit more consistency from Bruce and effort from Kersten. Taking away some of the recent prodigies (Newley, Ingles, Jawai), Bruce was decent in his first professional season - similar output to Worthington in his ROTY season.

Get an import point guard instead of Tyndale/Bruce (only reason they could get Bruce was because Tyndale was fairly cheap) and your SF combo is Holmes and Winitana (who they lost to injury for bits of the season).

The 36ers were one game off that home play-off game you would've settled for, big loss in NZ or not. Of the five teams ahead of them, 3-4 would've had more expensive rosters (and at least one team below them too) - Ninnis' fault, or something you might want to take up with the owner, already likely running at a loss?

Would've been nice to finish higher and have more success on the road, but a big part of my following the team is watching them at the Dome and they had an excellent record there.

ec's team: schenscher, ballinger, rychart, maher, davidson, cooper, winitana, hill, someone, someone. development players: bruce, burdon? absolute clown ec, youre digging your stupid self deeper every post.

When Tyndale was released, that was a great opportunity to re assess the team and bring in an import that was going to fill in the gap. At that stage it was known that Bruce was struggling with the pressure being put on him and Davidson was not 100% fit.

Don't ever underestimate my support of the team. I have missed 2 home games in 7 years. I have been to countless away games. I have thoroughly enjoyed the excitement at home with their win record here but that makes it all the more frustrating when they can't back it up away. That always raises questions of how they can be so good at home and so lousy on the road. It also stands to reason that no matter how good they are at home, they won't go far if they can't win on the road.

manbearpig, I am interested to hear about the level of support you have for the team. Do you attend games? If so, how regularly? If your level of support is as good as mine, then I fail to see why we are on different pages. We should be speaking the same language. Regardless of what my ideal team would have consisted of, the team we did have did not perform well overall.

ec i go to every home game and please dont compare my level of support to yours, i am loyal to my club and dont go bagging the coaches and players every week because theyre 'not good enough for me'

And I don't go calling people idiots because they have a different opinion.

That's because if you did you'd be a hypocrite.

I believe the word "bagging" came from you. Would you like to rethink who the hypocrite is? No I am not a hypocrite, I have strong views but never use personal insults towards anyone with a different view. I attack the comment not the person.

sometimes when someone has as many dumb comments you have to attack the man. and let the record show that i am bagging you rather than posing as a loyal supporter then bagging our players.

"I have strong views but never use personal insults towards anyone with a different view." -EC

"XztatiK, sometimes I think your mouth is on a different part of your anatomy (try the rear side)." -EC

"Again XztatiK talks from his rear end." -EC

"No I am not a hypocrite" -EC

XztatiK, put your comments into perspective and not just use the words you want to to make an impact. My comments to you as quote above came after you said these words -

"NO POINT in having a guy like Dusty whether you rate him or not or even if you have a shrine dedicated to him in your bedroom as I suspect you do."

Is that not talking out of your rear end? How could you even pretend to know what I keep in my bedroom and then think it was an intelligent comment? No hypocrisy there. Just a deserving answer.

Actually EC, that comment of mine came AFTER yours (and I still think you might have that shrine) but either way, you are saying a personal insult is fine when you think it's warranted. Well then, I think manbearpig's insults are completely warranted because you are talking like a complete and utter idiot.

When Tyndale was released, that was a great opportunity to re assess the team and bring in an import that was going to fill in the gap. At that stage it was known that Bruce was struggling with the pressure being put on him and Davidson was not 100% fit.

...and Judas played a point-forward role most of the time anyway.

Well done Aaron,

Like some i was just a little disappointed with some of his turnovers, but as someone who has worn the green and gold, he was always going to get a lot of defensive attention.

Pretty pleased that his defense improved as it did during the year.