Isaac
Years ago

Ballinger announced as 36ers captain

The 36ers have announced that coach Scott Ninnis has selected Adam Ballinger as captain for the 2009/10 season.

Announcement at adelaide36ers.com

Great news. No doubt many 36ers fans have admired Ballinger's ability on court from his very first years in the NBL and have definitely come to appreciate his talents during his time in Adelaide even more so.

When announcing this in a quick speech to the playing group on Sunday, Ninnis made special mention of the two club champs to have held this position before Balls - Mark Davis (7 years) and Brett Maher (13 years).

Hopefully Adam has another great season here with the 36ers.

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Mutley  
Years ago

A little surprised that Holmes didn't get it, but Ballinger is a great choice.

Reply #249540 | Report this post


Jack Toft  
Years ago

Well done AB

Reply #249545 | Report this post


DJ  
Years ago

Great decision by the club IMO. Hopefully we can keep Balls around for many years to come.

Reply #249546 | Report this post


Camel 31  
Years ago

I've learned to choose my idols well.
When I take people to the game, I always tell them to watch Adam Ballinger - that's how the game should be played.

Reply #249547 | Report this post


Anonymous  
Years ago

Well put Camel, a great choice and looking very forward to having someone like Balls as a long term player and captain, his is a great role model.

Reply #249552 | Report this post


Jack Toft  
Years ago

Well done AB

Reply #249556 | Report this post


LC  
Years ago

A good choice for the team and the club.

Reply #249557 | Report this post


Jack Toft  
Years ago

Does that mean that Holmes' new nickname is "C"

i.e. comes after AB?

Reply #249558 | Report this post


DB5  
Years ago

No, but AB will have C on his singlet now won't he?

Reply #249559 | Report this post


NVS  
Years ago

Excellent news but i still cant get over how bad the red t-shirts, jackets, etc look in the photos. I hope they look better in the flesh. They look very cheap. Maybe we were spoilt by the well known brands in the past.

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Camel 31 - tell them to look away when he's at the defensive end. He plays no defence at all. Great scorer and shooter so he makes up for it at the offensive end.

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Isaac  
Years ago

NVS, I think it could be the red as it's very 'default' (it's like 0000ff blue on the web, which drives me nuts). Same thing happens with the backgrounds for Liam's YouTube interviews.

The Season Launch invite and other things coming out in the red are looking decent and it's probably because they're darker or have a bit of depth/variety to the colour.

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hereschenes  
Years ago

Someone should buy AB an AB to celebrate!

Reply #249572 | Report this post


Jordan  
Years ago

I'm going to buck the trend and actually say I don't like this move one bit.

Before you al blast me let me explain:

Ballinger is our best player, no doubt, but i've never been a subscriber to making your best player your captain simply because they are you best player. Your captain needs to be a leader, a motivator, someone who can inspire not just on the court with actions but also off the court with words.

Thats the part that concerns me, Ballinger has never been a vocal player, and I don't see that suddenly changing now that he's got a "C" on his back.

Having said that, given that Davo's no longer on the team I accept that there is no real standout choice on the roster.

I would've picked Holmes though, good South Ozzie boy, capable of inspiring with his tenacious D and rebounding, but who also has a knack of knocking down clutch shots despite his terrible action. And no doubt he would be a more vocal leader.

I guess my real point is that when picking a captain you want to pick someone who will grow with the captaincy, and I struggle to see how Ballinger will improve as a player from wearing the "C". Hopefully he proves me wrong though!

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Anonymous  
Years ago

I tend to agree as well, i think it's a little bit of a kick in the guts to homles. Balls is the best player, but leader?

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Hear what you are saying, but fair to say Brett was very quiet when he got the gig

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Anonymous  
Years ago

Ballinger is the closest we have to Brett Maher. It's not just about what they do on the court. It's also the way they are perceived out in the public eye, the way they conduct themselves etc.

Ballinger is not a vocal guy on the court YET and to say he only got it because he is the "best player" is IMO junk.

IMO Ballinger was the best appointment because he has very close similarities to both Mark and Brett, both who served our club tremendously. But then people whinged and complained about their appointments back then too!.

Similarities that stand out to me like Mark coming out here, making a name for himself and being naturalised, playing his career out an Aussie, and like Brett Maher, an established player, zero ego/arrogance, quiet family man, sound role model etc.

The shoe just fit. He'll wear it good.

Reply #249594 | Report this post


hereschenes  
Years ago

Ninnis explicitly said that Balls put his hand up for the role". You don't volunteer for a leadership role if you're not interested in being a leader.

Besides, captain of a basketball team is a more of a symbolic role than anything particularly tangible (no disrespect to any basketball captains out there)... it seems a bit silly to suggest that Ballinger's game might be affected because he's worried about his new responsibility. (I would agree if you were talking about a cricket captain). And it's not like those who are already fairly vocal on the team will stop asserting themselves because there's a new captain.

Bring on the season!

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Camel 31  
Years ago

Captain Ballinger in the radio fivaa studio at about 6.30 pm tuesday,
(and the shannon seebom story on ch7 news also tonite)

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XY  
Years ago

Excellent appointment. Well done, I think the best man for the job got it.

The main point people are raising against his appointment is that he 'is not very vocal on court'. I agree, but I don't believe that either Davis (particularly) or Maher were particularly 'vocal on court' either. Both showed leadership by getting it done when the chips were down, and being the go to guy down the stretch. Balls is all of that. As for off-court, Balls conducts himself well enough to fill the role just fine.

Congrats Adam, do us proud, hopefully for a long time. Big shoes to fill when you take over from long term championship winning captains in Mark and Brett.

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Camel 31  
Years ago

Adam (and Liam Flynn) interview and taking calls about everything (including Hodge etc.) was 6-6.30,and fiveaa will have someone in from the sixers every Tuesday.
(So I missed the TV news about the sixers)

Reply #249615 | Report this post


XztatiK  
Years ago

You know what people do when they want to criticise a player but can't find a fault? They take advantage of the people who don't watch close enough and tell them he plays "no defence at all".

Reply #249619 | Report this post


Isaac  
Years ago

He's not really known for his defense though and Camel did invite some level of criticism in putting him up as a top example to learn from. It's nit-picking from anonymous, not miles out of line, but a bit unnecessary in a thread celebrating his captaincy.

Reply #249634 | Report this post


Isaac  
Years ago

For those interested, Ballinger was interviewed on 5AA and we've got a copy of that interview up on the 36ers site: 36ers on Radio.

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