Their chances will be greatly helped by returning the Dome to the fortress it once was, staying respectable on the road and then closing out the tight games. I'm hopeful they can improve on that last point, but we'll see.

Not even necessary to close out the tight games Isaac - more a matter of holding on to 10-15 point leads in the last quarter where we fell down regularly last year.

Tom Daly signed , today.

(Anyways - Devries probably will give us the option to close out the fourth.)

I can see 36ers keeping teams honest and getting the odd upset, but can't see them challenging the heavyweights on a regular basis.
Stick with DJ, he will be OK offensively. Just a matter of whether he can stay in game defensively.

Lack of height shouldn't be an excuse. 2007 Bullets championship team had Bradtke and then next tallest was Rychat. This 36er's team has more height than the 07 Bullets.

Yet as pointed out before the Sixers are actually taller than the title favourites Perth perception is a funny thing

i still think its early days. yeh we wooden spooned last season and we have sacked over half the roster to make up for it. we wooden spooned in the top end challenge initially to Perth by two points, yet they took it out and won with bigger buffers than that, so i think we will be able to mix it up with the rest of them.

In saying that though, this is going to be one very close season still, there will be alot of upset wins and i dont mean for the sixers i mean for the other underdogs in the league, and i for one cant wait to witness this season.

What will we have achieved this coming season if the team doesn't make playoffs. We may as well have kept Ninnis and continued with the same rubbish we have the last 2 years. I don't believe for a second that the 36ers have not aimed for an improvement on the previous years. I wonder if Marty Clarke himself would be this pessimistic about making playoffs.

" If your in the competition , " Clarke said,
"then finals is a possiblity. "

Sometimes I wonder whether Daley Johnson Creek is more about next season.

Carter 8 assists Winder 20points Devries 18.
Guards are good.

Maybe we lack a bit forward - as McQuade (and others) suggest.

Sometimes it nots what you got its what you do with it that matters. Biggest differnce this season hopefully is a team which is organised and cohesive. All those close losses last season will be wins this season as we will show more discipline with the ball which was lacking last season and this puts us back in the mix with a bit of luck. Sixers will surprise!

McQuade makes a lot of reasonable points about the Sixers: Balls at centre, lack of frontcourt depth, coach an NBL rookie, new imports. Basically, he is right, there is a big question mark over the Sixers to start the season.

I think if Winder and DeVries prove to be top notch and Johnson and Hill step up to support them and Balls, the Sixers are a top 4 team.

But I'll be happy if the Sixers show they can compete with everyone and players show growth on both ends of the floor this season. Most important of these is Johnson, followed by Hill. If Marty can turn these two guys into quality starters then the Sixers future starts looking pretty good.

I place little value on pre-season predictions for a national competition comprising only 9 professional teams and with talent so evenly spread that on any given night any team can knock over another for any number of reasons. I expect most teams to hit purple patches. Even Sydney will pinch wins.

Adelaide were around the mark for much of last season until the wheels seriously fell off late in the season. Every team has lost significant pieces from last year and must adjust to new players, new plays and remodelled opponents. We won't know which teams are legit until mid-season.

Still pre-season predictions makes for great discussion points and personally I would prefer my team be under-estimated than having a target on their back before the season has even started.

I believe the sixers will be pushing for a finals spot, I've seen enough of their preseason games to believe they have a unity and backbone that won't crumble as easily as last season's unit.

EC, of course he is aiming to make top four (said as much in his Q&A at the season launch), but a big part of it is building towards the future (e.g., signing Creek and Johnson).

Anon 291878, height would be good, but Vanderjagt has gone unsigned. I guess he's an example of someone who's available, but you have to wonder how useful he'd be if the interest hasn't been there from anyone.

I'd just like to see Marty start DJ and bring Carter and Holmes in as the early subs. I was talking with someone about Ballinger-as-centre recently and their concern was that he'd get hamstrung by early fouls as Horvath always was in his time here.

Balls rarely defends the opposition centre though, Jake usually takes that. His output at the other end is the worry for me.

They should have kept coopers and not gone with Hahn!

For those interested, Centrebet have adjusted their championship figures so that the 36ers have improved from dead last ($21) to equal with Sydney on $17. Minor change, but $21 and bottom was probably a stretch IMO, even for an unproven team.