The chances of Ballinger being resigned are not good, atleast not at his inflated salary he is on at the moment. I think the chances are good, the SOS group need to be prepared to spend some money to make some money, and these 2 imports come at minimal risk of failure, both are just very good basketball players. Would love to see them back as a season ticket holder.

agreed
think of what could happen if they released Balls 10 points and almost 1/5 of the salary cap to play with

A MUST!!!!!!!!!

You must be crazy not to sign these players for next season ,look at their stats.

Warren 17ppg
Havent had a solid point guard since Darnell Mee.
Simpson 14ppg 10 rebounds
Havent had a solid scorer rebounder since Mark Davis

I think if we can win against Sydney on thursday away and NZ at home we are on way up ladder.

Melbourne will probably nick them both off you guys next season

Ballinger wont even be rated for 10 points next season. The sixers may or may not get rid of him. If he stays it will definitely be for less. But at the same time he has had no pre season and its still early days. He may improve yet!

Im hoping he can just improve so his shots back, give some score off the bench when you need it and then rest him heavily if he doesnt have his mobility etc back

Yeah, and take Johnson with them :P

Good point about Ballinger's points rating. He's better than he's playing at this point. I'd be quietly offering a sports psychologist or whatever else might help. It's always puzzled me that teams don't do more to ensure they get the best from their investments in players.

Observer

I think Dusty has a right to be offended by the reference to Simpson being the first solid scorer/rebounder the Sixers have had since the great MD.

In the 2004 and 2005 seasons, Dusty averaged about 22 points and 11 rebounds a game, albeit in the 48 minute version of the game. Not taking anything away from Simpson, but Dusty was pretty good in his day. I would agree that Simpson is the first dominant post player we have had in a goodly long while.

A shout out has to go to EC at this point. I'm surprised I got in first.

Isaac ..... sports psychologist or chaplain or both? Interesting point. I would've thought they'd have a psychologist already.

Maybe teams already use them - haven't really heard of it being a common thing though.

Still on Ballinger, he is persisting with the three trying to shoot his way out of a slump (30% last year with the long arc, 10% this year). I wonder if he might have more success scoring inside (second chance points, or arranged plays) to build confidence and rhythm and then moving out to the long baseline jumper, then go from there.

Sports Psychologist....?

When will modern athletes harden the F**k up and fix themselves. There's far too much babying nowadays.

Players get paid a fortune, then teams have to pay out the arse in upkeep and maintenance.

Now players are so friggin soft because they get pampered. Just tell him to get out of the slump himself or that's it.

It's a business.

AH forgot about Dusty Rychart,he did well at both ends but didnt stay with Sixers for long,love to see Simpson stay another season,but knowing sixers always since Smyth days havent signed players til after season finished.

If we do good in 2nd half of year i be asking clarke to sign up most of players,get a college player instead of helliwell.

Isaac I couldn't agree more. Right now Balls seems to be concentrating on his mid to long range in games and leaving the inside work on O to Simpson and DJ and sadly his missed shots are hurting him and the team (though thankfully not last Sunday). Maybe he needs to start getting inside more because getting some good buckets from underneath might start helping his scoring confidence. He's 6'9 and 113kg, he should be going inside a lot more, especially playing the 4 and 5 spots that he does.

As for keeping Simpson and Warren, I hope we can keep them here. Finally we have a pair of imports who are living up to their reputations from college ball.

Just a thought - sign em both?

absolutely keep them both - excellent units

Anon - the 6ers will have the same price range as every other club in the league, next season. Are you saying Simpson will be playing in an overseas league? That might be a more significant risk than losing him to local competitors.

Sorry for not completing that thought but a similar thing happened with Ervin this season, didn't it? The difference may be Simpson is younger and still developing as a professional player. Maybe that will foster greater loyalty?

Marty, there's that and it's a fair point. This isn't a rookie we're talking about. But it's been a few games now and he's a confidence player. If the player isn't getting back on track themselves and isn't going to seek that help out of their own pocket, the club could do worse than quietly offer the opportunity. It doesn't need to be a divisive thing ("This is YOUR responsibility.") that adds more pressure, just an offer of any and all help that may be needed. Like I said, a few hours from a professional in that field will pay for itself if a major player ups their shooting percentages or confidence on court.

Totally agree Isaac. If his shots not working bring in the shot Doctor, if his body is struggling, speak to a Doctor, if he mentally isn't fit, get him in to a psychologist!
He is here for the season, try and get the best return out of your investment.
I personally would be trying to ink a new contract with these two now. Marty is talking up this young group as going through a developing stage and he has recruited two young imports. He obviously doesn't seem to want to make any drastic changes to the group, maybe tweek it here and tere but if that is the case, stitch up a deal now and stick in an NBA out clause to keep both young fella's happy.
These two will only get better by the end of the season and will benefit this even more next season.
Try and add a Newley for Ballinger next season and we are flying!

I asked Simpson on 5AA if there was any NBA interest. Apparently there's not and he's a classic tweener in the NBA anyways. Warren would be a long shot.

I think Simpson will be back. The team needs to think about what backcourt structure it wants. I'm still more for a US playmaker PG and a slasher who can hit the 3(would need to be Aussie) or using a Creek/Ng combo. Our current backcourt was made up about 2 weeks into the season when it was made obvious Crosswell is a better playmaker than Warren and Warren prefers shooting.

im a big fan of simpson and think warren is a keeper at this stage too but its silly to think that they have priced themselves out of the nbl already. its been one season and they are both young. honestly if kazzouh lisch and wortho arent priced out of the nbl then we dont have too much to worry about. ild hope we stitch simpson up for next year pretty early. him and johnson are starting to make a formidable pair. in a way i really think its the best thing for simpson to build his career here, he really is a tweener and even by alot of the better euro comps are gonna tower over him and he may not have the impact he does here. with our smallish run and gun league of 6'7/ 6'8 pf's ( particularly many are great offensively poor/average defensively) it allows him to play to his strengths.