36ers only Crosswell is under contract but Weigh does have an option for next season. Given the season he's had will in all likelihood pick up the option but could walk.

FWIW, Schenscher can opt out from the Crocs after the season too.

If the rumours are true that Ballinger is on around 200k per season, and say both our current imports are on around 150k each, why dont we say offer Ballinger 60k next season, to see if he rediscovers his form and he should be willing to take reduced pay given he was paid big money and barely played this season, if he walks so be it, and offer the spare 140k + 150k import salary totalling 290k to a top Aussie like Newley or Markovich, or a proven import like Cedric Jackson, Gary Ervin, Donta Smith. If there is no max salary to stop it I think we should try this given we have finished bottom 2 the last few years and only have 2 players signed we should have plenty of cap space.

Lets just say 290k is enough to get Gary Ervin, i remember reading rumours that Newley is on around 700k, but am guessing Ervin playing in lower Europe leagues is on closer to 300k so 290k may be enough, i would then try to build a team like this, assuming the salary cap stays at 1 mil and it is stuck by.

Assuming Weigh and Crosswell are undercontract, and have guessed there salaries as 100k and 50k.

I wouldnt pay much more for anyone on that list, we would be better letting them walk and spending the money wisely IMO.

C Johnson (150k)/Helliwell or cheap big, doesnt overly matter 9th-10th man spot (40k)

PF Simpson or Williamson (120k)/Ballinger (60k)

SF Weigh (100k)/ back up sg/sf can be more of a guard as Creek can slide to SF id pick out of guys like Herbert, Tait, Bruce, Ng, ill pick Tait, puts up great numbers in the NZBL, 2nd best league in oceania and i reckon his career NBL numbers would be as good if not better than the others whilst being of similar age, even though he hasnt been in the league for a few seasons, will be good just to bring in a fresh face also, not a big deal as this is basically 9th-10th man spot(35k)

SG Creek (go for Cadee if Creek leaves) (110k)/Bartlet (45k)

PG Ervin (290k)/Crosswell (50k)

I have listed Creek as starting SG, as i cant see him agreeing to come off the bench and if him and Weigh are going to start together he needs to play SG, he has the athleticism for it so id give him the Dave Thomas style SG role of defending the best oposition perimiter player and slashing on offense whilst developing a jumpshot, i hope we can retain Creek as i can see him being a Abercrombie/Mackinnon/Saville type in the near future.

Having Ervin (or import Guard) aswell as Crosswell and Bartlett gives us plenty of ball handlers to go against clubs like Perth.

I would then distibute the minutes like this

C Johnson (30)/Ballinger (10)
PF Simpson (30)/Ballinger (10)
SF Weigh (25)/Creek (15)
SG Creek (10)/Bartlett (15)/Crosswell (10)/Tait (5)
PG Ervin (35)/Crosswell (5)

That team should be competitive with everyone, we have 3 good young Aussies, a stud import and a good solid young import in Simpson.

With the coaching, I would like to see someone like Guy Molloy bought in either with Clarke or replacing Clarke, depending on what they do with Clarke. He was very good at building the Taipans into a playoff team from basically scratch i think he took over in the 2nd season after they won 2 games in the 1st, and overacheived in most of his seasons IMO. A simple call to Goorj and a few players he has coached like Brad Davidson would also help SOS determine/confirm if he is the right man to bring in. Basically put him in charge of match day coaching and strategy if Clarke stays on and have Clarke more of an assistant/development coach role, no matter what the job title says. He has been coaching SEABL and under 18 Vic sides i think so would still be upto date with coaching styles/trends and the top players in and around the NBL and some of the better juniours coming through with his u18 coaching.

If we do manage to say land Newley for 290k, id like to see a line up of

C Johnson (150k)/Helliwell (35k)
PF Simpson or Williamson (120k)/Ballinger (50k)
SF Creek (110k)/Weigh (100k)
SG Newley (290k)/Bartlet (35k)
PG Cheap import or a Tait/Bruce type (60k)/Crosswell (50k)

Is 60k enough to get a NZBL import a chance to prove themselves ala Josh Pace, or would John Gilchrist come back for that to prove himself fit to NBL clubs with hope of a bigger deal the following season? With Crosswell and Bartlett on the roster the import doesnt need to be a pure PG but does need to be able to play the point for atleast 10-20 mins per game, which is why i dont mins the idea of a Josh Pace, from what I know he is a Hodge style of player, can play PG-SF, and wouldnt be too hard to scout/find out about given he is playing NZBL and has done for a few years now.

If we cant go for the best PG/combo guard you can get for 60k, targets would include Tait, Bruce, etc.

If we can get Ervin/MVP level import for less than 290k, then great i was budgeting as much as possible, if Warren is only on 100k than call it 240k, should hopefully be enough for a MVP level import/Aussie, which i think is one thing we need, almost regardless of position.

Agreed with defense with Ervin, could swap him for a Cedric Jackson, Donta Smith if preffered, just named Ervin as probably one of the more realistic known MVP level imports we could get, would be happy to get Ervin still, as Creek, Crosswell,Bartlett are all ok-good defenders and atleast one at times 2 (Creek plying SF) of them will be on with Ervin so that should be ok, given guys like Martin, Gibson are not available and import lock down defensive guards are not the easiest to come by i would be happy to give that guard rotation a go. Ervin for Warren is a definate upgrade, FWIW Cedric Jackson would be my first choice, i just named Ervin as i didnt think we would get Jackson out of NZ given the way they have gone this season and their organisation seems to be one of the bigger spenders, but would definatly receive my first offer.

Bringing back Ballinger and Crosswell assuming they can find pretty good form and not get injured will help this team greatly and i'd tip we would have won atleast 2-5 more games with them in the line up as is.

Tait i consider an upgrade on Ng, i would put it to him to outplay Crosswell and Bartlett at training and have a very strong NZBL season to earn more minutes, and he would be nice insurance if Crosswell went down again. Could easily end up playing 15-20 mins a game. I was making 35k the min salary. As i also wouldnt spend much in the 9th-10th spots. If Tait doesnt bother than would be happy to slot Ng back into that spot.

With 3pt shooting, no one including Ng have been setting the world on fire from 3pt land this season, i think Tait, Bartlett, Weigh could all average 35-40% from 3pt land which is as good as Ng and any current 36er player, especially with a Jackson, Ervin type driving in drawing the defense, would also be happy to see Ng kept and receive some of these passes and increase his 3pt % if we cant get someone like Tait, I just find Ng a bit too one dimensional, doesnt do much if his shot isnt dropping and he is among the worse defenders in the league, so consider Tait a upgrade all round, Ng is a better shooter, Tait is still ok and better in most other areas.

The 10 guys who played the last half/most of the season are

Johnson
Simpson
Weigh
Bartlett
Warren

Creek
Ng
Herbert
Helliwell
Daly/Warbout

So i basically swapped out

-Warren for Ervin - Upgrade
-Ng and Herbert for Crosswell and Tait - Upgrade, but not too fussed if we keep Ng or Herbert for Tait.
-Daly/Warbout for Ballinger - Upgrade.

So definatly an upgraed roster, bringing in a MVP level import and Ballinger and Crosswell back from injury.

We are definatly still have weeknesses defensively and possibly 3pt shooting, but would still pick this team to win atleast 5 extra games which puts us in the playoff hunt or very close.

Still definatly has its flaws, not sure who we could realistically get to improve defensively in our guard rotation, short of an untried import with a defensive reputation, i think most of the Aussies ie Gibson, Martin, are locked in to their current teams, or we could try and find a similar style of player in NZBL and SEABL.

Could go for a guard rotation, of Crosswell and Bartlett sharing PG and a import like Donta Smith at SG or a gun 3pt shooter, not sure who is available/realistically gettable though, James Harvey is one, but he comes with baggage also, but would rather not play PG by committee with those guys would rather have the stud PG and play SG by committee, both methods have their flaws, but i think we are stuck chosing one or another.