He is a very good player no doubt, but consider also that the Tigers were 0-4 against top 5 teams before he arrived, and they are 0-4 against top 5 teams since he arrived.

I think Eddie Shannon is a good fit for the Sixers, and with the exception of Sunday's woeful effort the team has been very competitive since he arrived.

Comes down to whether you want to win the championship or run in the pack. I think he can do enough to win a share of games, but jury is out on whether he can lead a team to go the whole way.

The critics have a field day with this guy,

why is he called Homicide? what/whom has he killed??

from the little i have seen, he has certainly the Tigers Schuffle Offence,
his lack of a jumpshot has keen known to kill his teammates,
but the rest of his skills can kill his opponents,
while his matches always revolve around what he is or is not doing.

And his attitude is hard to fathom some times,
He always seems to talk about himself in post game interviews,
and why didn't he collect his MVP Trophy last season?
No regard for his own personal accolades or Disrespect for the league ?!?

He just seems to be a risk, he will win some games, but down the track, will the Tigers be a better club for having him there this season?
Interesting that a few are already saying that they are still not winning enough for the talent that this Melbourne Tigers team has.

Perhaps Williams is similar to Robert Rose in that while he is a very good player and capable of dominating games, he also is not a Championship winning player. For all of Rose's achievements, he only won one Championship and that was in his first season with South East Melbourne Magic. He then went on to play with four other teams without success, although Townsville did make the final series, losing in three games.

Myself and two mates sat front row at the tigers game, when homicide inbounded a baseline ball the three of us were getting in his ear telling him where the "real" fans were and that he should come to Adelaide. I think he liked it, Dont be surprised people..... imagine what he would do feeding off our home crowd. look at hodge, yeah he was a dick but the dome was rockin and look at how the whole team lifted,even with no jumpshot I think we woulve made the finals that year if none of that shit went down with Judas and the club.

I think judging by whether or not they have won a championship is a poor indicator. There is many factors in winning a championship. You could put Ervin on Sydneys team and they might not win a championship ever. That doesn't mean he is a bad import it just means he wasn't in the right team.

Williams would have brought in the crowd, we would win consistently and know what we are getting from him. It would be up to the coaching staff and other players to determine whether we would win the championship or not. One thing is for sure that we know we would have a go to guy in the clutch. I wouldn't have said have him or Shannon but rather have them both. Either way it should have been a serious consideration at the start of the season rather then getting Deveries!

I need to get up, walk away from my desk, leave the office and do a lap of the city before I respond to the Rob Rose comparison.

Totally agree with KingJames, very well said!

Loco, likewise I am going to have to go for a walk around the block and possibly find a shooting range before I respond on the Rose comparison.

JOaRiDrAN were you guys the ones on Fox, yelling every free throw?

Here's a thought - is the aim of a professional basketball team to entertain the spectators or win games. I think if I was an owner, I would prefer the team to win games and the Championship. A winning season and especially a Championship winning season means more sponsors, more corporate box sales, more season ticket holders, more walkup ticket sales and more merchandise sales. It enables better coaching and support staff, along with better training facilities. Therefore the running costs of the team are covered and it may then attract players who may not otherwise come to Adelaide. Just look at the financial benefit that AFL Premiership teams rake in.

Williams would be a great addition to Adelaide and great to watch, but one Champion player doesn't make a Championship winning Team. It is the overall team balance,structure and the Coach. That is the point I was making in the analogy with Rose.

Clubs want to win it all and they will follow the lead of Perth (structured, defence-oriented team) to do it. Would Perth get Homicide? Doubt it (look at their guards!). Do they even have a show-time player? Not really. Do they get strong crowds and a good atmosphere? Certainly seem to from what I've seen on TV.

Not for the Sixers,shannon is a good fit and team man while Homicide is a great player wants to take the game into his own hands and shows whose boss on basketball court.Townsville got rid of him because he was getting too cocky oncourt other players didnt like it.

Just hate the written word, what seems to make sense in the context of what I have written can so easily be interpreted another way when read. By "overall team balance,structure and the Coach", the context I was refering to was the right ratio of Centres, forwards and guards, veteran and young players, along with a Coach that gets the best out of the players at his disposal.

When the 36ers were at their most entertaining back in the 1998 - 2002 era, it was the right balance of quality players that not only were entertaining to watch but also won games and Championships.

Go back to the 1984-5 era under Ken Cole and they were great to watch, as well as winning games. Look what happened when Gary Fox had almost the same group, won games but no Championships - no flair.

Dollars, Player Points, enforced Salary Caps and Team Budgets play a big part in modern NBL competition. Get the import players right and it can make a huge difference. What is harder is getting the right Australian content right. Melbourne has too many bigs and Adelaide too many smalls. Perhaps doing a mid season trade of Aussie content would be a lot more beneficial that getting a Corey Williams type.

Adelaide crowds would be better if the team were winning more games and fans had confidence in their players (e.g., comes from winning).

Sydney crowds have been pretty good this season despite their horror record and near-unwatchable games.

I don't think I agree or think it's crucial. The NBA fans who say 'NBL is lame!' will never come around and are best ignored. The NBA will always be faster, bigger and brasher.

I take average (non-basketball) people to games all the time and everyone enjoys it but these people don't jump to become season ticket holders and I don't think they're the target market. (Just like I enjoyed a United game or a Crows game but don't buy season tickets or go regularly.) They don't care about huge blocks and dunks - they have probably never even really seen many.

Target kids via clinics, playing at school, district comps, etc - and none of them make their decision based on the quantity of dunks and blocks but because they like the game. From there it's a matter of awareness, price the parents have to pay and so on. Of the guests I've taken, the one this season that's been the most likely to turn into a regular attendee has been a father with a son who plays school/club and enjoys it.

For one thing, the European style of game is not going away. Australian basketball now is gear towards international success whether we like it or not - 40 minute games, defensive grind, etc. Going against that is just wasting time IMO and we're better off working out how to succeed with what we can change.

People who have never seen a game or don't even know what the NBL is

Also did a team Rose was in ever miss the playoffs? I believe that is a better indicator

(Added a bit more to my post since you replied.)

Just a coincidence. There are a load of factors which is why your comment "entire reason" is meaningless exaggeration.

Crowds are pretty normal (as in no wild swings in years) across the league save for Melbourne (two crappy years in a row) and Adelaide (a bunch of crappy years in a row). The days of 10k+ crowds are long gone and part of a seriously different sporting landscape (NBA was everywhere in Australia, AFL nowhere near as strong).

8k+ to Sydney's opener and the big Dragons crowds at Melbourne derbies show that show-time isn't everything. That Sydney game with the big crowd would've been pretty vanilla with mediocre imports, etc. The early Dragons days had guys like Groves, Horvath - they only got Smith towards the end.

The NBL does not play a European style of basketball. Teams are moving closer to the international style but our league is still very distinctive in the way it plays. Take the time to watch European games on the net and you will see the difference (within Europe as well as to here).

As for crowds, Adelaide is 2nd and Perth 4th, with a NSW team 1st and a QLD team 3rd. In terms of Melbourne, the Tigers are like Port Adelaide in the AFL, you either love them or hate them. Most Melbourne basketball people hate them. That is why when the Dragons came in they averaged 4000-5000 and Melbourne's crowds werent affected at all.

Crowd figures show that away teams have very little impact on crowds, which suggests to me that crowds are all about the home team and how well they promote themselves in the community.

I don't watch enough European basketball to make any claims of similarity, so I'll clarify my remark as "not-NBA" and that it won't change in a hurry. BA's pressure (rules, etc) are towards preparing Australian players for international competition from what I can tell.

Good point about visiting teams. Other factors are probably day of the week and time, time of year and things like that. Likeability/character of your team would be important too. Drawcards help but I don't think they need to be block-and-dunk types, just energising. Homicide isn't really a block/dunk type of player for example.

Dragons had decent crowds before Donta Smith. They were also winning games.

They're banking on international success bringing more funding for the sport. Those crowds are because they're play-off games and Melbourne derbies and they were winning. I think you're overestimating the impact of Smith.

Crowds aren't really dropping and the league is on the up. If you're in Melbourne, you're just seeing first hand what the Tigers do, and that's not very much - they've always been heavily criticised for making weak attempts at marketing and that hasn't changed in years.

Not enough data out there to say whether crowds have improved since the Tigers got Homicide.

The Dragons biggest drawing year was their first year when they had a non-flashy but very hard working team, averaging just under 5000. They also got out into the community a bit. The next year started well crowd wise but the team sucked and they ended up averaging just over 4000 from memory.

The third year Goorjian came in and the regular season average was in the low 4000s despite being on top and getting two derby games at home. Their semi final games drew less than 4000 from memory, their first GF game had just over 4000 but the last two were around the 9000 mark.

Donta Smith had little impact other than on the court and in merchandise sales! He was the perfect fit for that team and he and Wortho were the ultimate unselfish, hardworking but deadly when it mattered frontcourt duo.

League wide, crowds were steady from about 2003 to last year, and this is the first year there has been a significant increase - on track for more than 10%.

In terms of style, I think youll find the real grinding style was in the mid 90s, when teams started to get professional about defence and teams didn't yet have enough shooters to counter. The higher scoring returned in the late 90s early 2000s when more teams went with a versatile PF who could shoot the ball (Brooks, Timmons, Reidy etc) to spread the ball and allow them to play a fast pace.

The NBL’s style is further from the European style now than it has probably ever been because teams look to push and quick shoot the ball even if it means bypassing the point guard, and most teams apply ball pressure all over the court, whereas it is more common in Europe (but there is variation) to play a containment style of defence.

We will never have a return to the care free style of the late 80s and early 90s though, the defence is just too good.

I dont think the government, through the ASC, judges its funding on league crowds.

Smith was great, it's just that numbers didnt increase after he arrived and their playoff numbers were poor until the last two games.

Paul, are the crowd sizes bigger at each game or overall because there is 1 more team?

wasn't this post about whether the 36'ers should've picked up homicide? i think yes, he's clearly a lot better than eddie shannon. the tigers are 4-4 with him and 0-5 without him and he's top five in scoring, rebounds and assists (first) and just had a triple-double against the 36'ers. for some reason when confident, for lack of a better word, americans don't play for the team you support then they just get mocked.

Yes DB5, just got my voice back. Not the best game to go on a road trip with the boys. Atleast the crown casino felt the wrath of Adelaide