at least you know what you are going to get with him.
worst case he is a big body to suck up some fouls
best case he gets back to Boomer form and rips it up.

Could be interesting. Didn't think he was too good at the Tigers, but at least he's big. Worst case, he's a big tenth man. Best case, they make something of him.

he is a big body and bangs and defends inside, which should compliment Ballinger and Johnson well.

Avegared 4pts 3 rebounds in 14 mins last season,

his career averages are 10pts 6rbds, in 23 mins,

so if he gets close to his career averages backing up Johnson he should be a very useful back up C.

Good point anon, one of the worst cases of not doing homework on a player that I can remember.

He is a good signing for the right price though. Nothing more than a 10 minute back-up to rebound, defend and set screens, but that is something Adelaide need. He is also a very hard worker and very solid pro with vast experience, nice pick up for the 9th or 10th spot on the roster.

a really good signing by the 36ers.

a 'heads up' filling out of the roster which shows the first signs of experience from clarke and co.

I like it a lot
we can be quick and athletic, isolation, play pick and pop and now we have a legit banger inside.

Guess that answer the Q about Ballinger playing the 5 spot this season.

Oh , well , he's steady , experienced. A big unit. Passes first , screens away. Rebounds.
A little foul prone.

He is like a new age Paul Rees. So I like this signing as it will give us great size and make it so that Ballinger probably wont be playing center this season. Looks like a great season ahead

Ballinger will have to play some centre when other teams are exploiting the Sixers for quickness or perimeter shooting at the 5 spot. But there will be no reason for him to be overmatched by a big guy at that position with two other bigs now on the roster.

yeah i agree if he plays anything like a ol Rees ill be happy, there's worse/unproven big men to sign i guess, never been a massive fan but once the 6ers uniform is on him im sure ill support him lol

oh no I can't stand him - he looks like a girl

The Paul Rees comparisons are a bit much, but good signing for the tenth man. Rounds out a nicely balanced roster this year.

Yes, Helliwell is a big plodder, but his size is important for certain matchups and I think his experience will help him be a consistently effective contributor when called upon.

I also thought he was a little unfairly maligned last season with the Tigers. He was simply put in a position where he was destined to fail - they had no guards who could get him the ball where he could score effectively and he was forced to dribble the ball and guard players out on the perimeter too much.

When I watched him in a few games, there were flashes where he was able to play to his strengths and he was quite effective.

As long as we only see

Ballinger and Helliwell

or

Williams and DJ

on court than I'm happy with this signing. Don't like watching balls and DJ together. Probably happy to see Williams and Helliwell together but will wait and see

Can't see us paying anywhere near 155k - heard we had peanuts left.

Coach Clarke now has a lineup that can present many different looks, and Helliwell this time joins a squad that is far more balanced, so it should suit him more.

Interestingly it looks like half the team now is left handed... I count 5 leftys now anyways, could be wrong

Who are the leftys ?

He is terrible and you will all be slagging him by Christmas mark my words

Reality is that Helliwell will take on the Cooper role in playing limited minutes but is a big backup body. If he plays more than 10 minutes a game behind Johnson, Ballinger and Williams, he would have to be playing well and that can only be a positive.

The Tigers wasnt a good fit for him last season. I think this is a great signing by Clarke & no one has anything to lose. I'm starting to feel Adelaids roster is better than Cairns. All bets still on however...

I agree with Beantowns post completely

Anon, already have Ballinger who isn't cheap, then two "more" imports and then have added Weigh over Hill.

Surprised you 6'er fans are mostly positive about this signing. I thought he was terrible and a liability last season. To be honest I'd rather have Vanderjagt!

I'd have to agree with Mr B; I thought he looked terrible in the televised games that I saw. Granted part of the reason behind it can be the lack of a big role on a team; but I remember seeing quite a large number of fluffed layups and turnovers off sloppy play.

I'm fairly sure if Brad Hill was a Pokemon, he'd evolve into Wade Helliwell.

Wow this is a good signing......lol!!!

He is well and truly cooked all he is a big body to clog up the end of the bench!

that anon who said he wont renew tickets
36ers hav a good roster

As long as the imports are decent then the 36ers are legit finals contenders with that roster. The only concern is finding minutes for everyone, if Clark & co. can keep everyone happy then we are in for a good season (generally 1 or 2 players go down during a season- Ng, Carter, Balls etc - and we look to have good depth.

Bring on the season, Go Sixers!

Helliwell found himself in a can't win situation last season.
Playing behind Tragardh, Burston and Nevill as just the junk minutes player.
Now he's behind Ballinger, Johnson and Williamson. Johnson is our future, Ballinger is our captain and best player, Williamson is our import.
Give him too many minutes and we suffer by cutting back on the other 3. Play him not enough and what's the point in having him?
With Marty's tendency to give his players all equal minutes, it could be a good or bad thing to have 4 legitimate bigs.
Good signing though. Injury or foul trouble and we have another quality player ready to go at the end of the bench.
The article just says he's come into contention for a spot. Doesn't say we have signed him yet.

Hendo, he's signed.

Whilst he did look awful at Tigers last year .
He definetly had some ability and is big and I think that a good gamble on Clarkes part and feel it was necessary to have a big strong back up for DJ who can lose his influence on game especially on D.
I like the look of this team a lot .
But thought last years looked ok on paper too although wasnt sold on last years imports from signing and have hopes for this years

Great post by anonymous showing that this team is much better then last seasons and with Clarke hopefully learning from his mistakes last season (playing everyone equal minutes, playing no center, playing people out of position, playing Holmes etc) this will be a much better season.

I wasn't impressed with Helliwell last season, but I'm willing to wait and see how he goes. He really was the scapegoat last year for the Tigers, when that roster was complete rubbish from the start. Marty will play him to his strength and he will protect the rim and throw his weight around, can't ask for much more than that from your 10th man.

So with the roster set, who will be the starters? I'd assume this signing would mean DJ is the starting C but does williamson or weigh start at the 3? Finally we have some healthy competition for the starter spots.

I wouldn't be picking starters until the team was together and training. You'd want to see how various combinations worked first.

I'm with Beantown too.

Not many teams can say they have a veteran big who's spent time in US College, 7 years in Europe, ex Boomer sitting on the end of their bench ready to go.
Quality isn't that much of a stretch. Sure we are all clouded by last season, but he's done enough in his career to suggest that's not to be expected again this season.
He brings to the table what our other 3 bigs don't. Defence, legitimate size (height and bulk), rebounding. We don't need him to come in and dominate the offense, but having a big unit in the middle is a piece that we didn't have. We have mobility with our other 3, he can be the house that sits in the middle and fills up the key.
Noone expects much from him, but when do you ever expect dominance from a 9th or 10th man?

Isn't the main benefit here that Adelaide will never be required to play Ballinger at center? That has been a major downfall for years because it isn't his natural position. It gives Adelaide some defense and a banger inside (with a very reliable left hand hook shot if i say so myself).

He was a victim of a terrible situation last year in Melbourne. I predict Adelaide coming 5th this year or pushing for that 4th playoff spot. Very competitive roster.

Helliwell has almost always been a simple banger, and he will be a good signing if that is what he is expected to do in his limited minutes. Hard to see Johnson and Ballinger not getting the overwhelming majority of minutes at centre though, with Williamson and Ballinger taking up pretty much all the PF minutes.

With the starting 5 able to present so many looks,
do you go big?
do you go up tempo with pressure defence?
do you balance out and split up the experienced guys?
it makes the whole discussion about who the starters will be very interesting,

but at this stage i would imagine Coach Clarke just wants to see who is coming in fit and in shape,
which combinations might work,
who is rusty and has not played for a while,

certainly will be a more interesting pre-season for the coaches than last year.

5 on 5 off aye Ballingerfan and all in the 1st quarter!

On a serious note good signing. He will be a lot better than last year and has some hardness about him.

Hopefully the imports are good and we are back to the top 4.

i think 36ers could push for number 2 or 3 if were lucky maybe win the minor.
look at last years breakers

BREAKERS 36ERS
we have a star: penney ballinger
a hardnose pg: henare crosswell
around the rim guy: wilkonson DJ
banger on the bench: vukona williamson
playmaker: braswell warren {hopefully}
rebounder: pledger helliwell
versatile swingman: abercrombie weigh
stopper: boucher herbert
shooter: CJ NG
good to me

except that Penney's points output per game takes a dump on Ballingers.
Wilkinson made NBL first team first season
Vukona is a starter not a bench warmer
and lastly you cannot even compare Ng to CJ Bruton, CJ can get to the rack, CJ can create his own shot, CJ can defend and CJ can run the point.

I do agree that this seasons Sixers squad is a big upgrade on last seasons (as long as the Imports are also upgrades). Looking forward to seeing how the season pans out

except that cj is 5000 years old, 30kg over weight and slow as shite
only way he gets to the rim is by taking a dive every time a defender breathes on him.

CJ still got to the rack with ease on many occasions last year despite slowing down. Will be interesting to see how much he has got left this season, as he will certainly get a lot more shots with Penney gone.

CJ didn't look interested at all last season from the games I saw

I had some very positive thoughts about this signing until I just had a very disturbing deja vu type experience between this signing and the 2007 signing of a certain former fringe Boomer bigman also recruited from the Tigers and coming off a poor season that we were hoping would recapture some form: Axel Dench. Sorry to remind everyone of the similarities to that signing, lets hope it turns out very differently. If nothing else, Wade will hopefully at least not be allergic to that painted area on the court.

In the final end - Dench off the bench , just for a second - shotta airball , then subbed out by Smyth.
With A.Sturt - the excitement is like steam in a kettle.
Bruton - best player in the grand final , in a winning team.

That was ch9 news , just then.
36ers sign a 7footer.
And, Adam Ballinger going for ankle surgery.

I'm genuinely stoked with this signing.

Watch this space.

He's not a scorer, dont expect him to be. He will rebound and set screens.

I like the signing, as Helliwell is a good fit alongside Ballinger to me as he is the inside banger and frees up Ballinger to shoot his jumpshots.

I hope we see the big man combos of (1) Helliwell/ Ballinger and (2) Johnson/Williamson, could basically split the minutes between the 2 combos, as Williamson also looks like the style of player to compliment Johnson well, this looks like a decent front court rotation to me.

I commented on a post couple of months ago I think 36ers will look at Helliwell, interesting no one commented back then

Good signing, fits in well

Give Helliway a break, he is the #10 man signed as a minimum minutes big - not the starting centre.

Muzz Buzz, I agree that CJ has slowed with age but he can still light up the scoreboard in the 4th and carry his team to victory offensively.
I believe he will play at SG and get a lot more looks this season as will Mika Vukona and Tom Abercrombie.

Since when has 211cm been 7 foot tall. Richard hill needs to head back to Mt barker primary school.

You're seriously whinging about 2.36 centimeters?
Most people who didn't grow up with feet and inches go on the idea that 1 foot is roughly 30 centimeters (it's 30.48, but that's such a negligible difference), so he's close enough to be considered 7 foot.
He's taller than 6 foot 11, is it really such a crime to round up?

He's often listed as 212-213cm anyway. I remembered him as 213cm from Brisbane days maybe?

Helliwell, 33, trained on Tuesday and again today with the 36ers and gives the club the final "big" piece it needs to challenge for a play-off return this season.

The problem was he still had two years on his contract with Melbourne, although the Tigers completed their 2011-12 roster on May 24 and he was not in it.

TJ, good idea to matchup the Sixers v Breakers for a comparison; but unfortunately the Breakers are a full unit that work together. We haven't had a stable team for long enough. Replacing imports isn't an issue; replacing half the team each season is.

Mystro, agree that this past season Penney crapped on Balls points wise. Then again, Balls ended up being 3rd on offence because we tended to pick imports who wasted shot clock or had a "me first" persona.

Wouldn't expect Penney to score as well if put into the same situation either.

Good point Big Marty, I agree

Kirk Penney is one of the best players in the world. Adam Ballinger is not, even though he is a very good player. NZ last year has three guys who had just performed very well at the WCs, CJ Bruton and two good imports, as well as two very good, internationally experienced role players in Boucher and Henare.

It is a non-comparison, but having said that I like the balance of this yaer's Sixers team, they should certainly be a lot more competitive and consistent than the past two years.

It's always nice to hear an Australian give Kirk Penney the recognition he deserves, props Paul.

Usually they shrink from America to Australia , maybe the flight from Melbourne is deadly as well.

Yes it might have been the flight over,
or from the look of the photo in todays paper i think he has just had a hair cut.

Anon, he didn't seem to have many problems outscoring Kevin Durant at the WC's and in NBA preseason with the Spurs his points output per minute was very very close to Tony Parkers so I guess Haters gonna Hate ;)

Your funny Mystro, when it comes to International play I will say he is one of the best, very similar to Andrew Gaze in that respect (but not skill wise). I would put him on par with Brett Maher and Shane Heal. The only difference with Penney and Maher is Penney got the opportunity to show what he had at international level.

I am now predicting big things for the 36ers after round 12 when we gel at least we are more optomistic about this season go 6ers.

swap "opportunity to show" with "consistently prove" ;).

Penney has helped/carried a Country of 4.41 million who's number 1 sport is Rugby to a Ranking of 12th in the World (currently 18th but we did just beat the 10th and 11th and 13th placed teams) not to mention recent series wins over Australia with a population of 22.68 million.
I like the Gaze comparison, he could play and he also rates Penney highly.

yup you can go down that road if you like, when was the last time Queensland or Vic beat the Boomers ;)
NZ must be a Super State?

Helliwell in true form - get excited Adelaide!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFcxbktioXM