Amazing that someone like Kirk Penney isnt given a chance, he is far better than many, many players in the NBA. A case in point is Navarro who has similar so-called 'physical limitations' but was still an effective NBA player.

I would add that it might be worth Adelaide considering Leon Henry as a short term replacement for Mitch Creek. Apparently he was quite solid in the Breakers pre-season games, and as a 6'7 sf who can rebound he could be handy.

If he goes well they can keep both of them when Creek returns.

Don't know what more he could have done in his only pre-season game.
9 points on 4/9 shooting, no turnovers in 17 minutes of play. Maybe he really struggled defensively?
Oh well, good for the league to have him back.

Paul, good option regarding Henry.
Received the MVP award of that Chinese tournament that the Breakers won a few months ago (they played some good teams including Unicaja, two teams from the CBA, and a USA select team). Was a Tall Black in 2009 also for their European tour.

I could've taken Penney over Phill Jones :'(

Good call paul.

So could Sean Marks still come and replace Braswell or is that deal off now?

Skip is now pulling himself stupid with that 6th round selection of Penney...

@paul, every time an NBL player gets cut from an NBA roster there is almost always people saying things like "I don't understand" or "Why doesn't he get a run when so-and-so does." Come on, we're talking about the San Antonio Spurs here. Along with the Lakers, they are easily the most successful NBA franchise over the last decade. I'm fairly certain they know what they're doing.

If Penney is abck to the breakers can the 36ers look at Marks to bolster the front court?

Marks deal could still be on the table for NZ, Braswell or Wilkinson would be culled to make room for him and based on current form I would say it would be Braswell. That would give NZ Wilkinson, Marks and Pledger to rotate at PF and C and then you have very capable small forwards in Abercrombie, Vukona and Boucher and the rest of the team are guards.
Shame Penney couldn't get a spot for the Spurs, their loss is the Breakers gain and the Breakers will be feeling pretty confident right about now about the clubs first Championship. Breakers have shown that they are competitive without Penney in the preseason and having him back will be a huge morale boost.
I won't be surprised if Penney goes on a scoring rampage this season just to show the NBA scouts and coaches what they missed out on.

Just read a Stuff article suggesting that Henare might start at PG with Braswell coming off the bench? Might be Lemanis' way of keeping some defence in the starting group while Boucher is on the bench?

Projected starting five is apparently:

Henare
Bruton
Abercrombie
Wilkinson
Vukona

with Penney to push Abercrombie to the bench when he returns.

Whichever way you arrange Wilkinson and Vukona, that frontcourt is currently little bigger than Adelaide's. Vukona is undersized like Holmes and Wilkinson is presumably best at PF, like Ballinger.

Henare started ahead of Braswell last year too. Braswell is a strong defender too, but Lemanis obviously likes the Bruton-Henare combination, which had something like an 11-5 record when starting last year.

The big difference in the two frontcourts is Vukona, who is a phenomenal power athlete in contrast to Holmes. But it will be an interesting season with Perth, Adelaide, NZ and Gold Coast going small, Wollongong, Cairns and Sydney someone between, and Melbourne and Townsville going big.

OOI, almost half the league is 200cm or bigger this year, which I believe is the tallest the league has ever been.

To Peter Lemonjello, my comment is more to do with my time watching a lot of games and a lot of the world's best players at the FIBA World Championship.

He was clearly one of the elite players in the tournament, with the ability to do it all offensively, and an improved player defensively. Having followed international basketball closely for some time I am certain that there are many, many players in the NBA who couldn’t hold a candle to Penney.

Let’s not forget that Euroleague clubs are competitive with NBA clubs when they play in Europe, and the WCs is a big step above the Euroleague, so for Kirk to dominate the way he did tells you how good he is.

As for NBA clubs "surely knowing what they are doing" simply because they are NBA clubs, that is a big assumption and one that I don’t necessarily subscribe to, especially after hearing the Spurs coaches had told Penney it was unusual for a player to improve their game between 25-30.

This is completely naïve in my opinion, and I think if you track players between those two ages that is often when the most significant improvement occurs in that period. A classic example would be Michael Jordan, but there are many, many others.

I agree with Paul but think San Antonio already had a few guards signed to contracts and as they aren't running a big roster this season they were prob looking for a bigger player to cover a forward position than Penney @ SG. Prob more a case of being a position that was already loaded than a case of not being good enough.