Where did you hear this from?? Hard to know if its legit when posted by an Anon nick with no backup sorry.

that's great.

The Replacement is already in the works. Will surprise some of you but I believe he can help the team and contribute immediately. Should be announced shortly. Actually has played with Rhys before too....

Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy, Billy? Billy Hoyle is hurt? Replacement to be Sidney Deane. Remember you heard it here first.

That might've been too cryptic for some. See photo below of Rhys Carter with Sidney Deane. Played together for a while many many years ago.

Any idea how he did his back? Training accident, game, or somewhere else?

wow, pity we seem to have lost Carter to injury, but Bruce coming back would be awesome (if true).

Is this a sign we may have a Bruce/Carter PG rotation next year, that sounds great to me if it happens, especially if we cant retain Shannon as we have seen how much luck we have had finding a top notch import pg lately.

Moses, guy on the left is Craig Winder.

If Bruce is coming back, expect ticket sales from women to soar

And I'd expect 36ers shooting percentages to plummet.

On that note, Rhys Carter has been shooting 33% from the field and 28.8% from long-range.

" 28.8% from long-range."

Thats alot better than when I last checked, he was at 17% then!!

Really Bruce coming back thou?? Has he even been playing lately?

It would be a shame if Carter was lost for any lengthy period to injury, as he has been a positive in most all games and I have enjoyed watching him play. That said, if he is out and Bruce is the replacement, then that would be the third time the club has quickly moved to find a replacement player this season, and that is impressive to me. It would certainly be a shift from previous years.

Isaac, I had wondered what Carter's FG% was (I had been too lazy to look it up), but he had thrown up a few bricks this season. He seems to be the guy who ends up with the ball when the offence stalls, which happens to Holmes a bit as well (and in my opinion that doesn't help your FG%).

Nice attempt at a bail out for Holmes there Mutley! He barely gets the ball at the end of the offense.

Turnovers would definitely be up if Bruce returns. I can't see it is a positive as the guy hasn't played let alone probably picked up a basketball in 2 years!

I would welcome Bruce back if he was coming as i think he was harshly dealt with by people here who did not seem to put much stock into it being his first pro year and under a new shot clock. That said i really like Carter and though he was the best pickup this year, really has a stabilising influence over the team.

Lol never noticed how much he looks like Woody.

Bruce would be an upgrade at his peak IMO. Doubt he'll be at his peak after the last few years though. Or if this rumour has any merit...

no rumour it seems

http://www.nbl.com.au/36ers/news/news/article/2010/december/rhys-carter-in-doubt-for-new-years-eve-clash/

KB3

Thanks for posting that link.

It appears the public are welcome to watch the training sessions on Wed and Thurs 9am-11am.

Sounds like it's worth a trip.

A big blow if Rhys is injured for a while.
Carter and Herbie will be a good combo next season once the Herb is recovered from his ACL injury.

If Carter doesnt pull through can Bruce suit up straight away to fill in? Assuming he wouldnt need international clearances given he is a Aussie and the 36ers were his last pro club

sounded to me like bruce was just coming back to help kickstart his career and get some training with the club done. I wouldnt expect to see him until next year if thats the case.
Article also states carter is trying to play friday

Lindsay Tait?

... is a good player, but he plays for Cairns.

If there is an issue with any of the guards for the rest of the season Bruce will be a handy player to be able to bring in. He is a good player and had a solid rookie year, and had he been willing to play for the same amount of money as other NBL players of his ability then I am sure the Sixers would have re-signed him in a heartbeat.

Sounds like it could be the case now, and he has only just turned 26 so plenty of time for him to still reach his excellent potential.

We don't need to replace Carter IMO if he is in fact injured. Give Ng, Howard, Shannon, Hill and Creek more minutes. It will shorten the rotations and let the team establsih themselves.

No point bring in Bruce or Kendall or anyone else IMO. We only play 40 minute games so not that taxing.

" if he is in fact injured"

I think Carter would be infact injured, hes been playing to well for them to put him on as a fake injury, especially if you think they are replacing him with Bruce who wouldnt be match fit
As for Ng, Hill they have never been very strong bringing the ball up court. Though if Ng could improve his ball handling skills he could push himself to be a starter if he keeps shooting the way he is.

Seems Bruce is here for Christmas (family in horsham)
and having a bitta 36ers practice for 2 days.
Carter expected to respond ok to treatment..
Reading news adelaidenow by Nagy, today.

do you guys want bruce back?

I really liked Bruce. Would take him back for sure.

Skud...........if you refer to the posts above there seems to be a lot of confusions if Carter is injured. Some posters indicated long term injury, others are unsure if he is injured etc....that's all I was getting at - not disputing the injury.

Obviuosly todays tiser article confirms he has a minor back problem.

I am sure Shannon and Howard would be able to handle bringing the ball up in a 40 minute game - if we need to bring in someone to cover this we are in trouble.

We are getting too deep IMO and I would prefer a 8 - 9 man rotation so players get used to their roles and have the opportunity to get some consistency.

Maybe they are getting in early for next year. I wouldn't be disappointed with a PG rotation of Carter/Bruce next season.

No Deal! - Same. The added bonus would be that Bruce would likely only be worth a 5 at best on the points system now.

Anon, that article you posted say he is possible to play and on Rhys' Twitter said he will be fine by Friday.

Went out, this morning, to take a look around.
Carter - a few shots on another court with a stiff back . It's hard to think on, that he'd play Fri.
Bruce - when you think that he that he's not fit and hasn't trained with us for a few years, just got better and better as the training session went on.
Shannon v Bruce was worth a look.
Bruce to Ng .. Oh my goodness .. Ng was outstanding.
That shooting is amazing.
Shannon a bit quiet. Howard not bad.
Ng the first you'd pick , on today.

Ng's form has been getting better and better. While Shannon hasnt been a star, he is certainly good at getting people open shots and that is all Darren needs to be effective. Most pleasing bit has been the other aspects of his game have improved.

In Regards to Ng I would really like him to work on his ball handling, I dont think he is at a PG's level yet. If he could improve this to the point he's comfortable and confident bringing the ball down the court he would deff be pushing for a starting 5 spot if his recent form continues.

Out of interest, Ng has scored 50 points in 68 minutes at over 50% since Shannon arrived.

Yes - " Get the shooter . " They yelled. But they couldn't.
Bruce was very good, on his team.

Camel 31, if Carter cant play, would you try and sign Bruce up and get him to play on Friday? Was he upto NBL standard already?

You'd be tempted to.. by some of the plays he did.
At first.. I thought, no.. he's struggling, subbed himself out.. puffing a bit. But, sure got a whole lot better. I liked the way he fitted in... the way players slapped his hand after his assists.

Skud do you think we should put Ng in to replace Hill? ;)

Radford - " This is where Oscar will be. " As they worked on a bitta D for Friday..

Bruce moves around pretty quick.

I really don't think think I've ever seen a catch and shoot as quick as that and shoot 100% threepointers as Ng did today. I was thinking.. in a little bit of excitement.

Its been mentioned before.... Bruce's season with us was his first as a pro. Think he should be given a little slack as he had some very good moments.

The boy can play.

If he can regain his passion for the sport (and get past his beef with old management), he's definitely worth considering for a future guard rotation. His first couple of games as a 36er were statistically impressive for anyone, let alone a rookie.

Bruce might only be worth 5 points, however going back 3 weeks ago, Brad Hill couldnt make a layup to save his life.
From my perspective, if coach wants him in the mix, thats all thats needed being said and done.
End of the day, we all want the best players who can play, but sometimes, scoring isnt the only thing we need to do to win a game. Look at the game Taipans V Crocs. How many points were scored in the game? Just on or over 100. Yet in regulation time against Crocs we had 87 up. You need great offense and great defensive structure. I think Aaron brings that regardless of what people say

Anon, he was a rookie.

And was named rookie of the year

Thanks for the stats on Bruce Anon. Interestingly his stats are better than Carters this year, yet everyone bagged Brucey (except for maybe me and a couple of others) and everyone loves Carter. Add to that the fact that Carter is more experienced and it was Bruce's first year.....go figure?!

yea Bruce is a great talent, if he had stuck with the nbl he would be starting somewhere in the league if not in adelaide, he is in the same level as guys like Gibson IMO, wasnt heaps far off in his rookie year and if he had continued would have continued to develop. People expect too much from rookies sometimes, no one is saying Mitch Creek is bad and he is averaging less than Bruce did.

Bruce was something like 5 years older than Creek is during his rookie year. Carter is loved because of his defence and effort, not his numbers.

I think the issue with Bruce is that he was pumped up to be a star because of his amazing freshman year in college, but the reality was he hadn't reproduced that form since and was always going to have his ups and downs adjusting to pro basketball. But he certainly has talent and I hope he comes back and reaches his potential.

Must've been a 90minute travail , there today.
For, yesterday at 10.30 they were kinda at their best.
Today, I went in (nextdoor) at 10.30 - it was just about done.. A bit of a shoot around and they sure looked weary after the travail... While Ng missed a few today.. looked sore.. said he was 'tight'
Carter (I heard ) had rode the bike for a little while and that's all.. not fit.
No one really shot any good at the 30min shoot around
sure looked like they needed to be sprung loose agen
Bruce , maybe shot the best of 'em.
Maybe a dozen or so spectators.

Anon, I agree with you so far as if you're getting paid the big dollars then put up the big numbers and so does the Sixers new management if you refer to departing imports. Bruce has the potential to put up big numbers but until he does it consistently then he shouldnt be on the big bucks. However, I dont think Bruce would be demanding massive money if he returned to the Sixers and if he gets macth fit could be a steal for next season?!

My guess would be that Bruce's figure was half of that. No way would he have been getting 250k!

I would take Carter over Bruce any day of the week. Carters stats are very close to Bruce in only a 40 minute game as well as getting less minutes then Bruce. Bruce was a liability defensively. Each team targeted him. Daniel Joyce ended up with his highest scoring game of 22 or more points on him. Also don't bother giving Bruce the ball when the game is on the line either.

He came to the Sixers part of the Australian squad and was shown to be massively over rated in his rookie season.

He was then not mentally strong to continue on to get better to prove his ability by playing the next few seasons. If he comes back next year and has a great season then good on him however I just feel his season with us he wasn't very good and I don't buy the excuse that he was just a rookie when he had college experience as well as international experience.

Perhaps the break was exactly what he needed and that he will be successful now.

Carter out - disc injury, Bruce in if the paperwork is done in time for tomorrow night. Rumour true.

http://www.nbl.com.au/36ers/news/news/article/2010/december/rhys-carter-placed-on-injury-waivers-1/

The Sixers offered more than a club in Italy for Bruce's services at a time when the Aussie dollar wasnt as strong as it is now, so I think the $200-250K mark isnt that far off the mark.

That's all history though, let's hope he can make a good go of it second time around. We need some competition at the pg spot in Australian basketball with CJ now retired from international ball.

Agreed. If Bruce finds any kind of form at all, it will be good for him, good for the 36ers, good for the NBL and good for the Boomers. I can't see that he would actually make the Olympic team though, as to do so, he would have to rank top three (or four at the outside) out of Mills, Markovic, Gibson, Martin, Cadee, Dellavedova and Greenwood amongst others. That group looks fairly healthy to me, but if that's not good enough, maybe BA should work on naturalising Gary Ervin or bringing Kyrie Irving into the fold ;)

Bruce's second year was to be $180k (not $250k) before the ownership imploded. That was at a particularly free-spending stage of the 36ers. Can't remember what his first year (the one he actually played) was - high for a rookie, but that was at a time when player spending was a lot higher at a few clubs around the league.

Isaac aint that far off it though.
That is what he wanted ex college and signed a very large/ ridiculous deal for a rookie.
Goorjian even commented about it at the time.

Goorjan commented about it because he wanted Bruce on his Dragons team but he cost too much at the time. Dragons ended up with a back court pairing of Gibson and Carter.

Had Bruce signed with the Dragons then it might have lead to Carter missing out on a spot with the Dragons and possibly leaving basketball to have another go at pursuing AFL ambitions.

How things change.....

Indeed! Hopefully Carter's injury isnt debilitating.

A bit silly arguing over Bruce's old salary though. If one person heard $250K and one heard $150K, if one is gross and the other net they arent really much different. Same if one includes car, super and accommodation etc and the other is just $$. Regardless, he was very well paid for a rookie but that was the market at the time and he simply accepted the offer made - not his fault.

It is great to have another talented young Aussie back in the league.

I agree with Paul, I don't see what the problem is with what he earned a couple years back. He sure as hell won't be on that sort of coin now or next season. Fact is he is a quality player with a high ceiling. Definately a potential starting quality PG going forward.

The other thing most of you aren't taking into account is that garbage that was going on around him that season with the club slowly going under and the Hodge debacle. Thats alot for a rookie PG to take on board. Also ninnis didn't really have a great record with young players did he? Clarke has brought the best out of Hill and Ng this season, I see no reason why he can't do the same with Bruce.